About Action Tutoring
At Action Tutoring, we believe every child should be given the opportunity to succeed in school. But in the UK today, young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to
achieve the grades they need to progress in life. This isn't because they are any less able; they have less access to the tools to help them reach their potential.
We don't think this is fair. We know tutoring is an effective way of improving academic attainment and so we harness the power of volunteer tutors to bridge the gap and ensure this help can be accessed by every pupil who needs it, not just those who can afford it.
We specifically help pupils facing socio-economic disadvantage and who are at risk of leaving primary or secondary school without reaching national standards in their exams. We work in partnership with schools in different cities and regions across the UK, delivering weekly tutoring in English or maths to those pupils who need it most.
About the opportunity
The Director of Finance and Operations works closely with the CEO to build the organisation, operations and systems to enable us to scale and respond to emerging opportunities. A critical strategic role, they are a hands-on financial leader that brings strategic insight and challenge. Passionate about our mission, they lead a small team and use their experience and expertise to make our strategy a practical reality.
Closing date: Sunday, 17th May 2026
Interviews:Thursday, 28th and Friday, 29th May 2026, in our London office. There will be a second round of interviews.
Start date: Ideal start date is asap. However, we’re happy to wait for the ideal candidate.
Contract and hours: Permanent. Full time. We offer flexible hours with 9.30-4 as core hours. A full working week is 37.5 hours.
Place of work: Hybrid/flexible. This role requires 6 days a month in our London Office, Fivefields, Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W 0DH.
Duties and responsibilities
Finance
Lead financial strategy and long-term planning to support the development of the organisation, as well as holding overall responsibility for finance processes and controls.
Operations
Drive continuous improvement of operations to increase productivity, quality of delivery and value for money. With the operations team, provide oversight of all operational matters to ensure compliance and the smooth running of the organisation.
HR and team development
Action Tutoring has a Head of People & Culture who oversees day-to-day HR operations. However, with a permanent staff team of around 60, this role holds strategic responsibility for talent development and HR processes. This includes training and development strategy, effective diversity and inclusion policies and regular reviews of performance and reward systems.
Senior Leadership
As one of the four members of the Senior Leadership Team of Action Tutoring, you will contribute to leadership decision-making, representing your own areas of expertise but also advocating for the best strategic options for the charity as a whole.
Legal compliance, risk management and governance
This role ensures legal compliance of the organisation.
Line management
Overseeing a small team, this role has direct line management responsibility for the Head of People & Culture, the Operations Manager, and the Senior Finance Officer. You will also, with support from your team, manage relationships with external support agencies, including the outsourced management accountant, IT support company, and HR and employment law consultancy.
This role also plays a key part in a number of internal working groups, including leading the Digital Systems working group and serving as a member of both the Sustainability and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion working groups.
A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found in the job description attached to the BreatheHR advert.
Person specification
Qualifications criteria:
- The right to work in the UK.
We are looking for some of the following attributes, though you might be more experienced in some areas than others:
- Deep finance and operations experience as well as a track record of strategy development. You will have significant experience overseeing finances and managing budgets and be able to demonstrate a high level of understanding of financial management and forecasting within a fundraising setting. Familiarity with charity accounting and SORP will be essential.
- Someone with the ability to see the big picture and lead long-term strategy while being able to zoom into the detail and set high-expectations for the team and wider organisation.
- An excellent eye for detail and an experienced project manager who relishes delivering long-term projects through to completion, you will be a self-starter with a strong ability to take initiative to drive change.
- An ability to identify areas for organisational development and growth. You are someone who leads change and development. Alert to reputational risk, proactively preventing errors.
- An established track record in delivering results in a growing environment at the management level.
- Experience with a range of business functions and systems, including budgeting, finance, legal, IT and human resources or a willingness to build expertise in these areas.
- Understanding of developing policies and procedures; experience in good governance practices, including:
- Familiarity with routine HR legislation and processes.
- A good understanding of GDPR compliance and processes.
- Familiarity with reporting at Trustee level (or equivalent).
- Excellent team leadership skills.
- A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
- A commitment to the mission and values of Action Tutoring.
- A commitment to promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children.
- Always aiming to help more pupils and have a bigger impact, we continually seek ways to improve tasks, processes and culture.
You will likely be more successful in this role if you have:
- Additional formal qualifications relevant to the role (e.g. qualified accountant, MBA, CIPD Level 7).
- Experience or knowledge of safeguarding procedures.
- Digital transformation project management.
- Experience in the charity sector or the education sector, particularly in charity legislation and accounting.
- Experience in monitoring and evaluation processes and/or school data.
- Experience in improving systems and processes.
Registered Charity
51 - 100
Award-winning national education charity working towards a world in which no child’s life chances are limited by their socio-economic background.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
The Director of Finance will be an integral part of the Senior Management Team, with responsibility for the strategic and day to day management of Cathedral Finances. They will support the ongoing development and implementation of its multi year financial plan to underpin the Cathedral’s Strategic Plan.
The postholder will ensure law and regulatory compliance and that all aspects of financial planning and management are conducted to provide accurate, relevant and timely financial information to both budget holders and Chapter.
The Director of Finance will be pivotal to the delivery of the Cathedral’s vision and strategy. Last year, Chapter (the Cathedral’s equivalent of the board of trustees) approved its Strategic Plan for 2026-2030. The Director of Finance will be an integral part of the Senior Management Team, with responsibility for the strategic and day to day management of Cathedral Finances.
Key issues include:
- Working towards financial sustainability with the Senior Management Team and the Cathedral Finance & Risk Committee.
- Working with the Chief Operating Officer to ensure that the Cathedral’s Strategic Plan is underpinned by a multi -year financial plan.
- Producing and overseeing the detailed annual budget, rolling 3-year financial plan together with re forecast during the financial year.
- Supporting the COO and Heads of Department with project development by advising on financial and commercial plans, supporting the generation of business cases and financial forecasts for projects.
- Supporting with fundraising applications and regular submission and reporting to Church Commissioners and other funders
Full details on the main responsibilities can be found in our downloadable Recruitment Pack.
Registered Charity
51 - 100
Birmingham Cathedral is a Christian Church of the Anglican Communion and the seat of the Bishop of Birmingham. As the Church of England cathedral chur
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Using Anonymous Recruitment
This organisation is using Anonymous Recruitment to reduce bias in the first stages of the hiring process. Submit your application as normal and our system will anonymise it for you. Your personal information will be hidden until the recruiter contacts you.
Do you want to join an organisation committed to addressing low literacy and numeracy levels amongst people in the criminal justice system?
We’ve made substantial progress in recent years, with improvements and expansions to our delivery model and significant growth in our staff team. In Spring 2026, we will launch our refreshed organisational strategy, which will shape our work over the next three years and beyond. To support this growth, we are recruiting for a full time National Director of Operations to lead our delivery across England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and emerging community settings, with an ambition to reach Scotland. This is an exciting opportunity to play a central role in scaling our impact and strengthening our presence across the criminal justice system and beyond.
As National Director of Operations, you will provide strategic and operational leadership for our learning programmes in prisons and community settings. You will ensure high‑quality, consistent and accessible delivery, overseeing a team of six Regional Managers and a wider workforce of around 65 staff, volunteers and over 2,000 peer mentors trained each year.
Working closely with senior colleagues, partner organisations and national bodies such as HMPPS, you will drive programme excellence, innovation and partnership working. You will also play a key role in new business development, operational strategy, contractual delivery and ensuring we can reliably demonstrate the impact of our work.
The role requires an experienced operational leader with a deep commitment to improving outcomes for people facing disadvantage. You will bring:
- Senior leadership experience in a complex, multi‑site environment.
- A track record of delivering large-scale programmes and leading distributed teams.
- Strong strategic thinking, problem‑solving and relationship‑building skills.
- Experience working with statutory bodies or large public-sector partners (e.g. HMPPS).
- Excellent judgement, communication skills and the ability to influence at all levels.
- Understanding of the criminal justice system, safeguarding, or alternative education environments (desirable).
- A collaborative, inclusive leadership style aligned with Shannon Trust’s values.
We want to hear from applicants who are as committed to the cause as we are.
This is a home-based role but will require travel around the UK including overnight stays. This role is 5 days per week (35 hours) with working days/hours to be mutually agreed in line with business needs.
Employee benefits include a company contribution to pension scheme of up to 5%, 30 days holiday plus bank holidays, life insurance, paid volunteering days, discounts via Reward Gateway and an Employee Assistance Programme. The biggest benefit though is our culture – our people really want to work for the organisation.
We welcome job applications from people with lived experience of the criminal justice system and do not routinely ask for details of any criminal convictions. This role does require prison security clearance, so we will need to ask for details of any relevant criminal convictions before an offer of employment is finalised.
Interviews, which will be held online, are planned for the w/c 18th May.
All applications must include a CV and covering letter of no more than 2 pages which outlines your suitability for the role and how you meet the person specification.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.