Investment manager jobs in belfast
The National Youth Agency is looking for a new Chief Operating Officer to join our Executive Leadership Team.
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full-time - 37 hours per week
Salary: £85,000 per annum
Remote: This role is homebased (within the UK) with occasional to meetings, events and conferences.
What we do
As the national body for youth work, the NYA has a dual function. We are the professional statutory and regulatory body (PSRB) responsible for qualifications, quality standards, and safeguarding for youth work and services in England. In line with our charity mission and aims, we also champion youth work through research, advocacy, campaigns, and programmes.
We work in partnership and believe in collaborative leadership, listening to youth workers and the youth work sector so that we can understand their needs and respond to the challenges they face. We are ambitious for youth work and for young people and integrate youth voice and influence across our work
About the Role
Responsibilities will include:
- The COO leads the day-to-day functioning of the organisation to ensure smooth, efficient, and effective delivery of services. This is vital for maintaining operational stability and achieving strategic outcomes.
- They design and execute strategies that align with the organisation’s mission and long-term goals ensuring resources are used effectively and priorities are clear.
- They promote a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement through supporting employee engagement, productivity, and organisational success.
- The COO collaborates closely with the CEO/CFO and other senior leaders to drive strategic initiatives and business growth, ensuring unified leadership and coherent decision-making.
- They partner with the CFO to manage budgets, forecasts, and resource allocation. Financial oversight ensures sustainability and supports informed investment in strategic priorities.
- Strengthen governance and risk management frameworks, aligned to regulatory expectations and best practice while proactively managing reputational and operational risks.
- The COO cultivates strong relationships with partners, clients, and stakeholders to enhance service delivery and reputation. These relationships are key to influence, collaboration, and impact.
- They lead efforts to improve processes and adopt best practices across the charity to enhance efficiency and keeps the organisation competitive and responsive.
- They ensure that daily activities support the charities long-term objectives.
- The COO mentors other directors and departmental heads and fosters leadership capabilities across teams.
- They establish and track KPIs to identify inefficiencies and guide improvements through data-driven decision-making to enhance accountability and results.
- They evaluate and refine workflows to boost productivity developing efficient processes to reduce waste and improve service quality.
- They act as a bridge between departments and the CEO to ensure cohesive execution of strategic plans preventing silos and promoting organisational synergy.
- The COO serves as a senior figure in national and cross-sector forums, conferences, and strategic partnerships to strengthens the organisation’s voice and influence.
- They demonstrate commitment to Equality, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging in both internal culture and external programmes to foster a fair and inclusive organisation.
- They work with the CEO, CFO and Director of Growth to identify and pursue new revenue streams and strategic partnerships. This expands the organisation’s reach and sustainability.
- They engage in public speaking, media interactions, and external representation demonstrating clear communication, credibility, and stakeholder engagement.
- They develop and embed evaluation frameworks to assess progress against strategic goals. The measuring of our impact ensures accountability and informs future planning.
- They promote the organisation’s brand at events and through networking.
The COO takes on other responsibilities as needed to support the organisation’s mission.
About You
Essential competencies of the Chief Operating Officer:
- Extensive experience in senior leadership with a proven track record in operations, financial and risk management, and delivering high-performing teams, ideally in the charity sector.
- Strong understanding of business functions such as HR, Finance, Marketing, etc.
- Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to think strategically and execute effectively.
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities. Commercially astute, process-driven, and highly pragmatic in approach.
- Experience in driving performance and fostering a collaborative culture.
- Bachelor’s degree in business administration or related field; MBA preferred
Why Work for NYA?
- NYA operates as a people-first organisation, prioritising the well-being and needs of its employees.
- NYA offers an exceptional flexible working approach which encourages our team to balance professional responsibilities with their personal life.
- A remote based team, spread across England, fostering inclusivity and diverse talent. Despite geographical distances between team members, NYA maintains a highly motivated and connected team through the optimisation of digital tools.
- NYA is committed to supporting the continual personal and professional development of our team and helping them achieve their ambitions.
- We provide 25 days leave plus 8 days, life assurance scheme, 5% employer pension contribution and a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme via Spectrum.life with unlimited specialist support available to all NYA employees.
How to Apply:
To apply, please submit the following via our online application platform by 11:59pm on Monday 29th September 2025:
A detailed CV setting out your career history, with responsibilities and achievements in line with the person specification in the About You section.
A covering letter highlighting your suitability for the role and how you meet the requirements in the About You section.
We will request data for our EEDI monitoring purposes, providing this is optional.
Please note: The covering letter is an essential part of the application process and will be assessed as part of your full application. We use AI detector software, so cover letters or CV’s with over 80% AI generated content will be disregarded. We understand that AI tools can offer support to candidates who have learning differences, which is why we will accept applications with some AI assistance. CV’s will not be accepted without a cover letter.
The National Youth Agency is an equal opportunities employer.
At NYA our inclusive culture means that we embrace individual differences and understand that we need a diverse team to achieve our organisations mission.
We wish to recruit candidates from all backgrounds to ensure our team reflects the rich diversity of the communities we serve. We encourage applications from anyone regardless of disability, ethnicity, heritage, gender, sexuality, religion, socio-economic background and political beliefs but we particularly welcome applications from global majority candidates and those from other minoritised ethnic groups in the UK as they are currently underrepresented in our team.
Youth Work changes lives
Which is why we’re committed to ensuring that as many young people as possible get to benefit from it.As the national body for youth work in England, the National Youth Agency (NYA) exists to champion its transformative power. We believe all young people should have the opportunity to benefit from the life-changing impact of extraordinary youth workers and trained volunteers.
We help to grow youth work provision in ways that keep it effective, relevant, safe and engaging, to help millions of young people reach their potential and thrive. We do this by providing guidance, support, advice, training and staff development opportunities for youth workers and youth work organisations. At the heart of everything we do are young people themselves. We work hard to ensure their voices are integrated into all our work, to develop provision that truly meets their needs.
REF-223747
Position title: Health and Wellbeing Lead
Reports to: Head of Shed Development and Sustainability
Direct reports: None currently
Location: Remote (with regular travel)
Key stakeholders: UKMSA Volunteers, Sheds and Shedders, Head of Shed Development and Sustainability and team, Head of Volunteering
Salary: Level 3 – £30,000-£35,000
As Health and Wellbeing Lead, the purpose of your role will be to work with volunteers and colleagues to support Sheds and Shed Networks to improve men’s health and wellbeing across the UK. This work is within the context of informal, peer-led, self-determined spaces, where the emphasis is on activity not health prevention, which suits many men and works well for them.
This role involves engaging directly with Sheds and Shed Networks, supporting them to foster partnerships with local health and social care organisations, as well as supporting local health and social care organisations to understand and engage effectively with Men’s Sheds in their area.
You will work with volunteers, colleagues and external experts to gather and share accurate, accessible and relevant resources, information and case studies related to men’s health and wellbeing with Sheds and Shed Networks. This will include developing and engaging with digital health tools, information and training, as well as taking an empowering and capacity building ‘train the trainer’ approach to the design and delivery of all training and workshops related to men’s health and wellbeing.
You will work closely with the Head of Volunteering to support volunteers to promote the role of Men’s Sheds in preventative and community-based health locally and will work with colleagues to support volunteers to actively contribute to promoting the role of Men’s Sheds in preventative and community-based health at a national level.
You’ll be the main contact for volunteers, Sheds and Shed Networks for all things related to Sheds and men’s health and wellbeing.
Key responsibilities:
1. Sheds and Shed Networks
· Be the main point of contact for all Sheds and Shed Networks for all things related to Sheds and men’s health and wellbeing – ensuring you are approachable, responsive and consistent.
· Empower volunteers and colleagues to support Sheds and Shed Networks to foster partnerships with local health and social care organisations.
· Empower volunteers, colleagues and the wider Shed community to support local health and social care organisations to understand and engage effectively with Men’s Sheds in their area.
2. Information and resources
· Work with volunteers, colleagues and external experts as part of the UKMSA Advisory and Guidance Group to continuously gather, develop and update relevant resources, information and case studies related to men’s health and wellbeing. Regularly share clear and accessible information and resources with Sheds and Shed Networks.
· Work with volunteers, colleagues and external experts as part of the UKMSA Advisory and Guidance Group to build knowledge and understanding of relevant organisations and services related to men’s health and wellbeing. Regularly share clear and accessible information about organisations and services with Sheds and Shed Networks.
· Work with Sheds and volunteers to gather case studies and develop resources highlighting Sheds that demonstrate innovation and best practice in the field of health and wellbeing.
3. Training and workshops
· Work with volunteers, colleagues and external partners to develop an empowering train the trainer model to enable Shed Leaders and Shedders to plan, deliver and evaluate training and workshops related to men’s health and wellbeing.
· Work with volunteers, colleagues and external partners to co-design and deliver training and workshops related to men’s health and wellbeing at UKMSA events.
· Support peer-to-peer learning amongst Sheds and Shed Networks through regional events, online forums, and learning networks.
4. Digital health and wellbeing
· Work with volunteers and colleagues to test and empower Sheds and Shed Networks to use digital platforms for hybrid training, remote participation, or digital inclusion efforts.
- Work with volunteers and colleagues to utilise and adapt data tools (e.g. CRM, health analytics and dashboards) for monitoring health and wellbeing related outcomes and for reporting impact.
5. Monitoring and Reporting
· Work with volunteers, Sheds and Shed Networks to collect and report data in relation to men’s health and wellbeing to demonstrate the role and impact of Men’s Sheds in preventative and community-based health.
· Work with volunteers, colleagues, Sheds and Shed Networks to contribute to relevant evaluation and research projects relating to Sheds and men’s health and wellbeing.
6. Stakeholder Engagement
- Work with volunteers to build relationships with local and regional health, community, and voluntary sector organisations.
- Represent UKMSA at relevant networks, events, and conferences.
- Contribute to the planning and delivery of the annual Shedfest and other key events, coordinating and supporting volunteer involvement in relation to men’s health and wellbeing.
- Work with colleagues, including the CEO, to build effective working partnerships across the UK men’s health sector
Key expertise required:
- Knowledge, skills and experience in men’s health and wellbeing.
- Some knowledge of how to effectively improve men’s health and wellbeing in the Shedding context, and a willingness and interest in working with volunteers to develop and share expertise in this area.
- An understanding of the importance of taking an empowering train the trainer approach to planning, delivering and evaluating training and workshops related to men’s health and wellbeing.
- Ability to build relationships with local and regional health, community, and voluntary sector organisations, and to support others to do so.
- Skilled at actively collaborating with volunteers and subject matter experts.
- Confident communicator - able to build rapport, deliver training, and manage sensitive conversations.
· Strong relationship builder - able to connect with people, build trust and maintain long term engagement.
· Willing, able and confident to travel to meet volunteers and attend Shed events regularly.
· Confident working with data and systems - including CRM tools and digital tools.
· Proactive and creative - always looking for ways to improve how things are done.
· Self-motivated and able to manage your own workload without needing close supervision.
· An understanding of the nuances and limitations of how Sheds can support health and wellbeing
What success looks like:
- Strong, collaborative relationships established between Sheds, Shed Networks and local health and community partners.
- Demonstrable improvements in the health and wellbeing of Shedders through supported activities and case studies.
- Volunteers, Sheds and Shed Networks feel empowered and equipped to deliver activities that support mental and physical health.
- Health and care organisations view Men’s Sheds as trusted, valuable partners in preventative health and social prescribing pathways.
- Resources, training, and support materials are well-received, practical, and widely adopted in Sheds and across Shed Networks.
- Clear and impactful reporting informs and supports UKMSA’s work at a national level.
This job is not:
- An expert, clinical or therapeutic health role—you will not be expected to deliver personal care, therapy, or counselling.
- Solely office-based or desk-bound—this is a varied, outreach-focused role that involves relationship-building, travel, and hands-on support.
- Focused only on one region—this is a national role, requiring awareness of regional variations across the UK.
- A short-term fixer—you’ll be building capacity and confidence in communities for long-term sustainability, not quick fixes or prescriptive solutions.
This job description is intended to outline the general responsibilities and expectations of the role. It may be reviewed and updated as the organisation evolves, and from time to time you may be asked to take on other reasonable tasks that fall outside this scope - we’re a small team, and flexibility is part of how we work.
Closing date: 9th October 1200 hrs
Interview: 17th October
We are the support body for Men’s Sheds across the UK. We work hard to inspire and support the development of Men's Sheds.





The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
This is a new role at Befriending Networks, as we seek someone who is up for the challenge of fundraising to support the continuation of our work in supporting the network of befriending organisations and ensuring that meaningful social connection is available to all.
The role will work closely with the CEO to deliver a fundraising strategy, which will focus on trusts, grant-givers, and corporate collaborations across the UK.
You will be a skilled communicator, and you will be influential in how you present our work. You will be a self-starter and someone who takes pride in producing high-quality work. You will be courageous and curious as you work to position Befriending Networks as an investable charity.
The key focus of this role
1. Generate income from small grants from trusts and foundations for specific projects and activities over the short to medium term.
2. Assist the CEO in the preparation of strategic grant applications for work across the UK, with an initial focus on England, Scotland and Wales to deliver key priorities of our Strategic Plan over the longer term.
3. Development of potential corporate partnerships and collaborations.
A society where quality befriending support is available to everyone who needs it, and the importance of meaningful connection is recognised.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.