It support team lead jobs in Belfast

Macular disease is the biggest cause of sight loss in the UK, with around 300 people diagnosed every day. The Macular Society is the only charity determined to beat the fear and isolation of macular disease with world class research, and the best advice and support.

To support people affected by macular disease now, the Macular Society provides a range of support, information and services. Our research programme is focused on finding new treatments and a cure to beat macular disease forever.

We’re looking for someone who can lead on community engagement across Wales – helping to grow and strengthen our local peer support services. You’ll work collaboratively with colleagues and volunteers, develop partnerships, and help us reach more people affected by macular disease. You’ll need to be organised, adaptable, and confident managing multiple projects at once. If you feel you have the attributes above, we would love to hear from you.

In return, we provide a great working culture and offer flexible working options, 26 days annual leave, the ability to buy or sell annual leave, supportive family policies, and a 6% pension contribution.

We are an equal opportunities employer, and we welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons.

This role is predominantly home-based; however, travel will be required across Wales and occasionally to Andover in Hampshire.

To move social entrepreneurs from the margins to the mainstream will require us to amplify the voices, stories and impact of our social entrepreneurs, working with them in an equitable and inclusive way. It will require us to deepen our work around impact, be open to the learning opportunities failure creates and seek out opportunities to share insights in new and powerful ways to influence stakeholders to make the changes needed for social entrepreneurs to flourish. 

As a Researcher at UnLtd, you will be responsible for a range of research and evaluation activities on key programmes and projects. You will work across the project lifecycle, developing new work, as well as collecting, analysing, and interpreting data to produce insights and reports that inform and influence internal and external stakeholders.  

Alongside this, you will contribute to developing a culture of learning, ensuring that insights and evidence generated by our research and evaluation activity feed back into the organisation, allowing UnLtd to iterate our work and be an impact-driven, agile, learning organisation. This is an independent role within a dynamic delivery organisation, so we are looking for an implementation researcher to help elevate our research to the next level.

Fundraising Relationship Manager

Hours: 30-35 hours to be discussed. Overnight travel required occasionally
Annual leave: 28 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays (FTE)
Pay: £33-40,000 FTE depending on experience.
Location: Home-based, England. The North West and the Midlands are of particular interest - however, other areas could include: North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, East of England, South East, London and Wales
Closing: Midnight, 11th January 2026.
 

What you'll do

We’re looking for a Fundraising Relationship Manager to nurture and grow a portfolio of corporate partners, identify new opportunities, and help shape our exciting Gaming for Good work. Whether you’re an experienced fundraiser or you bring transferable skills from sales, account management or marketing, you’ll play a key role in securing income that directly benefits thousands of children each year.

You’ll build warm, purposeful connections, create tailored, compelling proposals, and provide inspiring updates that keep supporters engaged and motivated. This role is perfect for someone who loves meeting people, spotting potential, and telling stories that bring our mission to life.

About you

We’re open to applicants who are new to fundraising but have excellent communication skills, creativity, strong organisational habits, and a genuine passion for what we do. You’ll work from home, with occasional travel to meet supporters and visit our programmes, supported by a friendly and collaborative team spread across the country.

About The Country Trust

The Country Trust is a growing, energetic charity helping children in disadvantaged children connect with the land that sustains us all. Through food, farming and countryside experiences we provide opportunities that build confidence, curiosity and real-world learning that can transform their futures. 

Closing: Midnight, 11th January 2026.

Salary:  £37,000 (FTE) 

Days:  Part-time, 3.5 days (25.9hrs) p/w – flexible working patterns available 

Benefits:  25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays; pension with employer contribution of 3%; flexi-time working (core hours 10am-3pm); access to Employee Assistance Programme 

Contract type:  Fixed, until 31 March 2027

Location: Remote, from home (within Great Britain), with occasional travel

Direct reports:  None, but responsible for liaison with project partners 

We are seeking a dynamic, experienced manager to manage our part in “On track for inclusive train travel”, a research, scoping and piloting project, aiming to make rail travel more accessible and inclusive for disabled people.  This project is being delivered alongside RNIB as lead partner, and funded by Motability Foundation, working with our members Community Rail Lancashire (CRL) and Gloucestershire & Oxfordshire CRP (GOCRP) to engage disabled people and shine a light on lived experience.

You will work closely with RNIB and their project manager, forming part of a small project team to ensure the success of this exciting project. You will support CRL & GOCRP in their coordination of local engagement with disabled people, helping to facilitate a pan-disability, empowering approach that draws on and champions expertise by experience. Ensuring excellent collaboration with railway partners is also key to this role, enabling us to co-create an effective, adaptable model for training, learning and culture change that can be deployed across the railways as they are reformed and renationalised.
 

About us 

Community Rail Network is a not-for-profit organisation, working across Britain to support a growing ‘community rail’ movement. Community rail promotes sustainable and inclusive travel, coordinates volunteering and place-making projects, and brings people together. 

Community rail is made up of 75 community-based partnership organisations, 1,300 station friends volunteer groups, and other community-led initiatives around Britain. Their activities range from creative projects with young people, to advising train operators on service improvements, to building travel confidence with families and marginalised groups, to biodiversity projects at stations, to promoting greener travel and tourism by rail. 

Our enthusiastic team of 23 works mainly from home in different locations, but we come together regularly in person and online. We work collaboratively to advise our members, provide training, events and resources, run campaigns, and champion community rail and its insights via decision-makers and the media. We believe in developing our team and supporting everyone to reach their potential while having a good work-life balance. 

Responsibilities

Project and local engagement coordination  

• Work closely with the RNIB project manager and as part of the project team to help ensure effective planning, coordination, management, communication and the overall success of this project, in line with its purpose and aims; 

• Ensure excellent coordination and communication with the two community rail partnerships, supporting their delivery of empowering, high-quality engagement, in line with project plans, requirements and objectives; 

• Ensure CRL and GOCRP are enabled to play their part effectively, using their expertise and local relationships to bring the experiences, ideas and voices of disabled people to the fore, while engaging railway staff constructively, to research, develop and test our model, and forge ongoing dialogue and understanding between the disabled community and railway; 

• Take a particular lead in utilising and championing co-creation principles and empowering ways of working, across this project and its partners, and in building a legacy; 

• Coordinate closely with our core railway partners helping to develop and test our model, and work across the rail industry, including engaging existing inclusion and accessibility forums and networks, to support the research phase and generally build on community rail’s positive relationships and ability to support inclusive railway practices; 

• Manage Community Rail Network’s budget and monitor the CRPs’ budgets in partnership with their project leads, ensuring these are in line with agreed grant funding; 

• Maintain and uphold our partner agreements and MoU with RNIB.

Research, evaluation and reporting 

• Work as part of the project team to engage railway partners and jointly deliver effective research, to understand current practices and issues within the railway around accessibility and inclusion, and opportunities to improve this;

• Support the CRPs and their interaction with RNIB’s research and innovation staff and our academic advisor, and involving the disabled community and railway staff members;

• Support effective recording and evaluation by the CRPs, ensuring this is in line with project requirements, and serves our goals around legacy-building and empowering those involved; 

• Advise and feed into RNIB on the completion of grant reports and financial statements, including coordinating and reviewing input, data and reports from the CRPs; 

• Maintain strong relations with Motability, as part of the project team.

Legacy building, communications and influencing 

• Continually feed into our senior team and the project board on insights emerging from the programme to help us advocate for more inclusive, confident (rail) travel for disabled people; 

• Support and feed into Community Rail Network and RNIB’s strategic work engaging with rail reform and transformation, such as attending meetings and providing briefings, reports and recommendations, to help us seize opportunities to advocate for positive change; 

• Attend and speak at community rail and other relevant events to develop awareness of the project, share its lessons, and promote our model; 

• Work with Community Rail Network and RNIB’s communications teams, and other colleagues and partners, to promote the project and its achievements, and amplify the voices/views/needs of disabled people, across our networks and build a legacy. 

General team working  

• Contribute to the wider objectives and development of Community Rail Network, especially by sharing project progress and learnings, and offering advice and input.

• Help our member support & development team to embed lessons from the project on involving and empowering disabled people.

• Contribute to the maintenance and development of our internal systems (e.g. shared drive, CRM) such as by data capturing relevant contacts and saving documentation.

• As a member of the Community Rail Network team, assist with more general work as needed. 

Skills and competencies 

1. A proven track record in project management, including coordinating between multiple delivery partners and ensuring project/funding requirements are met, and supporting/overseeing effective monitoring and evaluation. 
2. Demonstrable experience in supporting community engagement, ideally related to inclusion, disability and/or mobility, and a good understanding of and confidence using engagement, project planning, and evaluation techniques to develop and support such initiatives. 
3. The ability to collaborate and communicate with community groups and other local partners, draw on their views and expertise, and support them to build capacity and confidence. 
4. Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work confidently with stakeholders at all levels and facilitate positive discussion; articulate and assertive, and a great team player. 
5. A proven ability to bring partners and groups together, develop and maintain mutually-beneficial partnerships, deliver joint activities, and form professional networks. 
6. Good writing, research and analysis skills, including the ability to draw on quantitative and qualitative evidence, produce case studies, briefings and reports. 
7. Awareness of accessibility, social mobility and social inclusion issues, and an appreciation of the importance of rail, sustainable travel and mobility to communities and disabled people.
8. A demonstrable ability to manage time effectively and juggle a range of activities in an organised, professional, productive manner, including planning and scheduling, coordinating with colleagues and partners, and bringing projects to fruition.
9. Proactive, positive and self-motivated, able to work on own initiative and inspire and enthuse others, and overcome hurdles to achieve results. 
10. IT literate with a good working knowledge of Microsoft Office and the internet. 

Other information

This post is home-based, but with travel (including occasional overnight stays) for project meetings, events and external meetings. Applicants will need local access to a train station to enable rail-based travel for work as needed.

This is a fixed term contract and includes a probationary period of three months from the date of appointment. Successful applicants will need to provide proof that they have the right to work in the UK and provide two references.

We are committed to being a flexible, supportive, inclusive and understanding employer.

Summary

EduSpots is an innovative, dynamic, and community-orientated UK and Ghanaian registered charity which connects, trains, and equips grassroots voluntary educators (named ‘Catalysts’) to drive community-led change through education spaces named ‘Spots’. Our vision is of a world in which communities unite to create the futures they want to see, through education.

Since 2016, through collaborating with over 400 local voluntary community educators and actors – named ‘Catalysts’ – who take a central leadership role in the development of the network, we have supported 50 communities in creating and running community-led and owned education spaces named ‘Spots’’. Together, we are developing a model for a community-led education space with accompanying network engagement that could have global relevance. 

Our Ghana-based team creates collaborative learning opportunities through three leadership programmes for Catalysts which are increasingly facilitated by the EduSpots app: the Ignite, Catalyse and Inspire Mentoring Programmes. These enable the Catalysts to lead EduKidz (early years education), DigLit (digital literacy), EcoSTEM (STEM and environmental education) and Ignite Equity (gender equity) clubs for learners typically aged 3-16, alongside locally designed education projects, reaching over 10,000 learners of all ages annually. 

We are in an exciting period of our development, having more than doubled our income, programme breadth and reach in the last two years, with a recent independent evaluation by Expectation State offering further evidence in support of our model’s outcomes. We have been recently selected for two accelerator programmes, who are supporting us as we consider the scaling potential of our model. In the period, we are aiming to double our network reach, bringing an additional 50 Spots into the network.

We won the Tes International Award in 2018 and the Big Give Supporters’ Choice Award in 2022, and we were recently selected as a finalist for the 2023 Their World Scale-Up Innovation Prize. In 2021, our Founder was a Finalist in the UNESCO-backed $1 million Global Teacher Prize.

We are excited by our future. 

About this role 

The Global Head of Operations is a new role being introduced in 2026 with the core purpose of strengthening systems, processes and strategic delivery across both EduSpots Global and EduSpots Ghana, offering hands-on support to the CEO and wider staff across a range of areas.

In this senior role, you will work closely alongside the CEO, offering her the advice and skills needed to move EduSpots successfully through a complex period of growth in a challenging fundraising context, enabling more learners and Catalysts to participate in a unique community-led model of education, whilst sharing our practice more widely.

We are looking for an organised and empathetic strategic leader, ideally with strong or developing skills across project management, finance, HR and MEL skills and an ability to work independently in a fast moving work environment.

This role has the potential to grow into a Director of Global Operations or Deputy CEO role in time for outstanding candidates, and carries significant organisation-wide responsibility.

Candidates should hold a genuine passion for educational equity, a strong belief in the power of community-led models to transform lives at scale and a high level of flexibility in a fast-changing yet friendly and playful work environment.

Whilst this role is remote, and open to all global candidates, you will need to have understanding and experience of UK law, accounting and policy development, or a strong appetite to build experience in this area quickly.

Main duties and responsibilities 

Systems

• Work with the CEO and staff to proactively strengthen systems and processes across the organisation, including monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks and operations. 
• Support the wider team with IT, including general skill development, leading the Google Space system. 
• Monitor compliance to organisational policies and lead the quarterly review of the organisational risk register, working with the Ghana Head of Operations. 

Finance 

• Work with the Finance and Admin Officer to produce monthly and quarterly global management accounts, cash flow analysis and to complete the annual audit. 
• Lead the financial planning of the organisation, working with the CEO and the Ghana Head of Operations to create the annual budget. 
• Work with the Ghana Head of Operations to strengthen financial systems, processes, and training across the organisation. 
• Work with the Ghana Head of Operations to prepare budgets for funding bids as needed.
• Work with the grants team to track grant spending and produce consolidated financial reports (including expenditure from the UK and Ghana) for donors. 
• Ensure EduSpots’ new accounting software (QuickBooks) is fully embedded and utilised.
• Oversee bank account management, including payments, checking bank statements, and reviewing bank reconciliations for UK and Ghana.
• Ensure staff payroll (likely to be outsourced) and payments to freelancers / consultants are done accurately and in a timely manner.

HR

• Work alongside the CEO, Head of Operations, Safeguarding and Inclusion Managers  and wider staff to develop strategies to sustain and strengthen a high performing and friendly work culture. 
• Work across the team to strengthen HR and performance management structures, informed by best practice and legal frameworks. 
• Lead the recruitment of staff, consultants and volunteers in the UK (advertising roles, drafting contracts, contacting referees and completing all filing and administration relating to recruitment).
• Onboard new staff, provide training on policies and procedures, and track key information (leave, appraisals, etc) for UK staff. 
• Regularly review and keep the Staff Handbook up to date.
• Depending on skill-set, work with the CEO to lead professional development for staff across the organisation, liaising with trustees and advisory group members.

Administration & Governance

• Manage and maintain databases and our Google Drive system. 
• Ensure compliance with GDPR and adherence to our child safeguarding and protection policy. 
• Maintain insurance renewals, tracking and filing.
• Review and keep up to date all organisational policies in line with current legislation, working with the Trustees and Directors. 
• Assist the CEO in the administration relating to EduSpots’ governance, including board meeting arrangements and minute taking.
• Support the CEO in all ad-hoc tasks that arise, working closely alongside her to ensure the smooth running of the organisation. 

Strategic insight 

• Work closely with the CEO and staff/Catalysts across the organisation to ensure all EduSpots’ decision-making is strategic and in the best interests of the Catalysts, Sparks and Communities we partner with. 

Other areas 

• Depending on experience, you may in time take on management responsibilities for some staff, but this role is principally a systems strengthening and quality improvement role, working closely with the CEO to offer advice and additional capacity. 
• Depending on experience, you may support with grants writing / management and/or community fundraising. Experience of fundraising would be of significant benefit to the organisation in this key leadership role. 

Personal Specification 

Essential 

• Minimum of 7 years’ experience of operations in a small/medium charity context. 
• Self-starter with the ability to hit the ground running and work with minimal supervision with high levels of flexibility.
• Self-motivated, with an ability to motivate and energise others.
• High level strategic understanding, critical thinking and the ability to strengthen systems in a fast-paced high performance environment.
• Excellent communication, both oral and written.
• The ability to thrive and adapt in a fast-paced, creative and impact-driven culture. 
• Strong administrative skills with a high level of attention to detail. 
• Experience in creating user-friendly tools and processes to support project and quality management.
• Experience using Google Suite, with strong Excel skills.
• Tech savvy – ability to learn new tech tools efficiently.
• Experience coordinating others. 
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills with strong empathy and cultural sensitivity 
• Strong personal alignment with the mission, vision and values of EduSpots. 

Highly desirable 

• Experience supporting charity Boards, and working with external bodies including auditors, tax authorities, and other official bodies is highly desirable.
• Experience complying and strong familiarity with UK charity regulations and requirements.
• Experience preparing budgets and financial reports for donors/grants. 
• Experience of working in a cross-cultural team.
• Experience of working with an international charity would be advantageous. 

Please send a tailored covering letter and CV addressed to the CEO Miss Cat Davison by Wednesday 31st December with a hope to meet shortlisted candidates for a first-round interview in the week starting Monday 12th January. 

The postholders will work with the Area Engagement and Partnership Managers to identify, communicate and engage with the range of voluntary sector organisations working with individuals and their families within the CJS ensuring Clinks provides effective support to help voluntary organisations better meet their aims. To enable Clinks to share information about the sector with HMPPS and other stakeholders. 

They will also work closely with the National Influencing and Networks Team.

It is essential for the postholder to be based within, and have strong knowledge of the geographical area they will be covering.

Please visit our websiter for more information about our area based work.

Please note: Clinks would welcome the opportunity to discuss potential secondments from locally or regionally based voluntary organisations. 

About Clinks  

Clinks supports, promotes and represents the voluntary sector working with people in the criminal justice system and their families. 

Our vision is of a vibrant, independent and resilient voluntary sector that enables people to transform their lives. 

Job purpose

To identify, communicate and engage with the range of voluntary sector organisations working with individuals and their families within the CJS across a geographical area ensuring Clinks provides effective support to help voluntary organisations better meet their aims. To enable Clinks to share information about the sector with HMPPS and other stakeholders

Job summary

These roles will increase awareness and understanding of the criminal justice voluntary sector operating within East of England and the South Central & South West. The post holder will undertake an initial analysis project to identify place-based voluntary sector organisations and the range of and types of services and support provided to people in contact with the criminal justice system and their families. They will identify place-based needs and lead on the collation and sharing of information across the Clinks team and with stakeholders, to highlight the challenges and opportunities. The post holder will need to build new, and nurture existing relationships, with key partners and a range of agencies across sectors.

The post will work within the Area Engagement & Partnerships Directorate and with other Clinks’ staff to identify new members and engagement opportunities, deliver events and training, and provide opportunities to support the capacity and capability needs of the voluntary sector, with a focus on place-based small and specialist organisations working in the CJS.

The post will deliver activity to meet funder requirements, aims and objectives.

Reports to: Area Engagement and Partnerships Manager

Responsible for: N/A 
 

1. Duties and key responsibilities

Area Engagement and Impact 

• Identify and increase awareness of voluntary sector organisations based in the East of England and the South Central & South West, the range of and types of services and support provided to people in contact with the criminal justice system and their families, where they deliver and how they are funded. 

• Understand the work of local and regional voluntary sector infrastructure organisations in a the East of England or South Central /South West to strengthen the support offered by Clinks and increase partnership working and collaboration. 

• Work alongside the National Influencing & Networks team to use this intelligence to influence key decision making at a local and national level.

• Gather intelligence from the sector to identify and understand the needs of place-based organisations and share feedback with HMPPS and other key stakeholders to develop operational processes and influence future commissioning opportunities. 

• Provide support to voluntary sector organisations, keeping the sector informed and up to date and capturing the support provided and its impact. 

• Respond to requests from voluntary sector organisations in need of support and signpost or consider what assistance Clinks (and others) can provide. 

• Work alongside the Area Insights and Impact Officer to capture the needs of the sector and influence and inform future activity. 

• Provide regular area specific communications to organisations utilising Clinks communication channels to share good practice, resources and publications.

• Produce regular blogs, case studies and social media activity to showcase the work of place-based voluntary sector organisations.

• Develop and build upon existing place-based networks to support collaboration and co-ordination between the voluntary, statutory, and private sectors in the criminal justice system. 

• Provide information to help statutory partners and key stakeholders to understand the voluntary sector, its structures and how to work with it. 

External Relationships

• Identify and explore opportunities to develop relationships with area-specific agencies working within criminal justice including Probation, Prisons and local statutory agencies to increase knowledge of locally based voluntary sector services and establish, and embed Clinks’ support 

• Provide representation at various meetings, both internally and externally with partners and stakeholders.

• Work collaboratively to ensure effective information flow across directorates and to and from the sector and stakeholders 

• Develop relationships with regional and local infrastructure organisations to widen Clinks reach and identify joint working opportunities. 

2. General responsibilities

• Represent and be an ambassador for Clinks 

• Work to support the mission, ethos, and values of Clinks 

• Be flexible and carry out other associated duties as may arise, develop, or be assigned in line with the broad remit of the position 

• Support and promote diversity and equality of opportunity in the workplace 

• Work collaboratively with others in all aspects of our work 

This job description does not form part of your contract of employment and can be amended from time to time as the needs of the organisation require.

Person specification 

Experience, Skills and Abilities  

• Significant experience of working or volunteering in the voluntary sector in the East of England 

• Relationship building and management with a range of stakeholders and networks. 

• Good attention to detail and ability to maintain effective records, utilising a range of different methods. 

• Ability to think strategically about the voluntary criminal justice sector, and to analyse and respond to change. 

• Ability to prioritise, multi-task and work under pressure, juggling a busy and varied workload.

• Excellent IT and digital skills, including use of Word, Excel, Outlook, SharePoint, Teams and Zoom. 

• Adaptability and flexibility in being able to deal with new situations quickly and efficiently.

• Good interpersonal and communication skills, both written and spoken, and ability to communicate with a range of stakeholders, at all levels of seniority.

• Convening meetings, arranging and chairing events both in-person and online. 

• Ability to support and coordinate a complex network of organisations including representing diverse views, and promoting their work and issues. 

• A collaborative approach to working with colleagues but also able to work alone. 

• Highly organised with good project and time management skills. 

Knowledge  

• Role of the voluntary sector in addressing social exclusion. 

• The criminal justice context and related policy. 

• Understanding the role of national and local infrastructure organisations 

• An understanding of East of England geographical area 

Personal attributes and other requirements  

• Able to travel extensively across the East of England with occasional travel across England and Wales. 

• Able to work evenings and weekends and stay away from home overnight where necessary. 

• Work well as part of a small team and independently, with a flexible approach to work. 

• Commitment to anti-discriminatory practice and equal opportunities. An ability to apply awareness of diversity issues to all areas of work.  

• Commitment to the values and ethos of supporting people in the criminal justice system.