Director of charitable operations jobs in Cambridge, cambridgeshire

About Advantage Mentoring

We are specialists in partnering The NHS with the charitable arms of professional football clubs: known as Club Community Organisations (CCO).

We harness the power of professional football club’s community organisations to deliver mental health mentoring programmes which provide solutions to key community challenges. 

Our vision is to create a transformative network where anchor institutions and CCOs collaborate seamlessly to deliver sustainable, impactful mental health and well-being support to local communities.

We aim to fill the gaps in existing healthcare and wellbeing services by harnessing the unique position that CCOs have in local communities and providing effective programmes that meet people at their point and place of need.

Our goals are to continue tackling and reducing health inequalities, increase equal access to mental health support and provide better experiences and outcomes for our participants.

About the role and its purpose

· You will be responsible for Advantage’s income and business development activity

· You will lead a broad range of income generating activities and manage relationships with stakeholders

· You will be responsible for growing income from a variety of sources, income streams and relationships

· You will have a clear priority focus on converting pilot and seed-funded contracts to longer-term sustainable contracts and developing donations and project funding

Key tasks & responsibilities

Income generation

· Use your skills, creativity and experience to develop our income generation strategy

· Develop ideas for creative sponsorship and funding opportunities, putting together and submitting proposal and tender documents; identifying suitable partners; presenting proposals and closing deals

· Converting pilot and seed-funded contracts to longer-term sustainable contracts e.g. current Postcode Lottery agreement in the North-East converting to a long-term contract with North-East and North Cumbria ICB (more information to this can be given at interview stage)

· Support drawing up and negotiating contracts and ensuring delivery

· Work with stakeholders and our internal team to scope and develop exciting new opportunities

· Develop and steward fundraising and donor relationships in order to increase income

· Deliver on agreed income targets

Partnerships and Networks

· Build and maintain a network of strategic key external contacts that can support Advantage Mentoring’s work. Stakeholders will be from private, public and third sector groups. Take an active role in representing Advantage Mentoring to appropriate Trusts and Foundations

· Develop a work plan for private sector and philanthropic engagement to achieve a joined up and coherent approach to engaging with commercial organisations across multiple outcomes (financial, brand awareness, influencing policy and support-in-kind)

Communication, marketing and external relations

· Work with Communications colleagues to create materials that will attract new strategic partners, for example highly targeted work aimed at specific sectors being clear about the value of partnering with Advantage Mentoring

· Represent Advantage Mentoring with external audiences (in the media, at events, in meetings with senior stakeholders)

Strategic Leadership

· Develop and implement Advantage’s income generation strategy and policies, as a part of the Leadership Team

· Ensure that partner organisations understand and commit to our values

Management

· Oversee the business development pipeline and ensure that enough proposals are being submitted to make the achievement of income targets probable

· Provide income generation information to the Managing Director and participate in Executive Team meetings and Board meetings

· Report to the Board on income generation as required.

· Maintain a thorough understanding of financial targets and progress

· Work alongside the Head of Operations & Projects to make sure projects are properly initiated and well managed to ensure all contractual obligations are achieved

· Work closely with the PR/Comms Manager to support the awareness of the organisation’s work on a national and local level

Reporting

· Utilise the project bids pipeline spreadsheet and capacity spreadsheet to inform planning and resourcing

· Maintain an effective database of Grants, Trust and Foundation contacts

· Monitor digital income streams to ensure they are effective and opportunities are secured

· Work in collaboration with the communications team to build brand awareness, and promote income generation and impact developing content for key messaging, PR, and branding materials to support effective marketing of the organisation

· Design and develop key income generation materials to enhance our external visibility including extending our profile via submissions for awards and recognition programmes

· Plan and support events for awareness raising and dissemination of our work

· Ensure systems and processes for managing data comply with the organisation’s data protection obligations, charity law and GDPR

· Develop robust systems for the effective stewardship and reporting to supporters of our work

Essential Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Personal Qualities

Experience

· Substantial experience of income generation and development activity, including

• Handling key clients

• Preparing, costing, pitching and closing proposals

• Completing tender documents for submission

• Ensuring delivery of initiatives on time and within budget to the satisfaction of all parties

· Experience of working with corporate partners, establishing and delivering impactful, strategic partnerships with the commercial sector 

· Experience in developing and stewarding fundraising and donor relationships

· Experience of building and sustaining relationships and partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders

· Understanding of impact measurement frameworks

Knowledge & Skills

· Skilled in working with a wide range of organisations and stakeholders

· Excellent communication and influencing skills

· Good knowledge of the public, private and third sector

· Excellent organisational and planning skills

· Ability to set and meet deadlines

· Excellent written communications skills, including ability to write persuasive and engaging content

· IT skills (able to use Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and databases)

· Ability to work in a pressured environment and work to deadlines. 

Personal Qualities

· Gets things done, delivers to highest of standards and takes responsibility

· Entrepreneurial, innovative, personable, collaborative and good at working both in a team and under your own initiative 

· Able to represent Advantage Mentoring, reflecting its values and priorities

· Able to encourage contributions and involvement from a broad and diverse range of staff by being visible and accessible

· Flexible and dynamic, with an ability to adapt and respond quickly to a fast-changing environment

· Ability to negotiate and influence others in a positive manner and confidence to deal with different priorities and differing views.

· Ability to manage expectations.

· Diplomacy and ability to deal with difficult situations.

· Strong delivery focus, with the ability to drive progress forward and a concern for results and achieving goals.

· Confident communicator

· Ability to quickly build credibility internally and externally

· Ability to work in partnership and with flexibility

· Excellent attention to detail

· Proactive, thinks ahead, generates innovative ideas

Other

· Ability to undertake travel around England if/as needed with possible overnight stays

Values & Behaviours

Collaborative

Advantage collaborates with anchor institutions and CCOs to deliver preventative, engaging, and accessible healthcare to those in the community who need it. Our programmes are co-designed and tailored to local needs whilst building sustainable local and national networks.

Inclusive

Advantage aims to give people the opportunity to access our programmes regardless of their race, gender, or socioeconomic class. We believe in creating equal opportunities and breaking down barriers to ensure everyone can benefit from our services.

Supportive

Our mental health programmes increase equal access to care, delivering better experiences and outcomes through evidence-based practices and continuous improvement. Advantage widens access to services closer to home, reduces unnecessary delays, and unburdens other anchor institutions by building capacity to support people.

Impactful

We specialise in creating sustainable partnerships between CCOs and anchor institutions harnessing each entity’s strengths to form a unified support network. Our tailored project and performance management packages ensure ongoing quality assurance, improvement, and responsive adaptations to meet the evolving needs of our partners and their communities.

Advantage Mentoring CIC positively encourages applications from suitable qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity.

We are looking for a passionate and creative Head of Brand, Communications & Marketing to lead the next stage of our journey.

This is an exciting, strategic and hands‑on leadership role for someone who can confidently amplify our brand in the public sphere, drive meaningful engagement, and increase both supporter and beneficiary acquisition.

What You’ll Do

Reporting to the Director of Income Generation & Marketing and leading a small, high‑performing team, you will:

Brand, Communications & PR

• Lead and evolve Life’s brand strategy, ensuring clarity and consistency across all channels.
• Raise Life’s visibility with powerful campaigns that engage beneficiaries, supporters, volunteers and the public.
• Oversee media relations, PR activity, reputation management and crisis communications.
• Support and strengthen internal communications across the organisation.

Marketing Leadership

• Develop innovative marketing strategies that grow reach, impact and sustainability.
• Drive supporter and beneficiary acquisition through targeted, insight‑led campaigns.
• Use data, analytics and performance metrics to continuously improve marketing effectiveness.
• Provide inspiring leadership and development to the Marketing & Comms Team.

Digital Strategy

• Lead Life’s digital marketing approach, including SEO, paid social, PPC, email, content and inbound marketing.
• Create effective user journeys and optimise conversion rates through testing and analytics.
• Oversee engaging social media content and paid advertising campaigns.
• Ensure high‑quality digital design, content, and brand guardianship.

Website & Content

• Support the development of Life’s website, focusing on optimisation, content quality and user experience.
• Oversee high‑quality storytelling that reflects Life’s values and mission.

About You

You’ll be a confident, creative and strategic leader who brings:

• At least 5 years’ experience in digital marketing, communications or brand roles (charity sector experience desirable).
• Proven experience developing and delivering brand, digital and communications strategies.
• Strong understanding of digital marketing trends, analytics and audience insight.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience managing budgets and leading a team.
• A warm, values‑driven approach aligned with Life’s mission of humanity, solidarity, community and compassion.

About Life: 

Life is a national pregnancy support charity that helps over 60,000 people a year. Through our services, we help people – whoever they are – to meet pregnancy or pregnancy loss with courage and dignity so they can flourish. 

Our services include:  

• Supported housing and community support   
• Counselling and skilled listening   
• Free pregnancy tests and baby supplies  

Our values :

All our work is underpinned by the following universal human values: 

• Humanity – All people are special and equal 
• Solidarity – We’re with you and for you 
• Community – We’re better together 
• Charity – Doing good for one another 
• Common good – Building a better world 

Information about the role: 

For further information, please see the attached job description. 

Salary: £40,000 – £44,000 per annum

Hours: 35 hours per week (part time considered)

Location: Remote

Benefits:  

At Life we are passionate about providing our employees with a supportive and engaging environment. As well as ongoing development and training, we offer our:  

• Generous holiday allowance, starting at 25 days per year, plus 8 Bank Holidays (pro rata for part time hours) 
• Birthday Leave  (applicable after 1 years service)
• Additional annual leave for long term service  
• Company Pension Scheme  
• Signed member of the Menopause Workplace Pledge 

Safeguarding and Equality: 

Life is committed to protecting all staff, volunteers and service users from harm of any kind. Life expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct.   

We are committed to ensuring diversity and equality within our organisation by encouraging applications from all backgrounds.  

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks. Life takes its obligation to protect the rights of children and vulnerable people very seriously; therefore, the successful candidate for this post will be also subject to extensive background checking, including an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS) which is paid for by the Charity.