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We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced events professional to join the Living Wage Foundation team as an Events Manager. You will be responsible for developing, delivering, and supporting the team with innovative events to promote the Living Wage movement, support the existing employer network, increase public support for fair pay and encourage Living Wage accreditation.

You will be responsible for our annual Champion Awards ceremony and organising parliamentary events, roundtables and webinars for our network of employers and beyond, as well as providing strategic oversight of events at our annual Living Wage Week in November where we celebrate Living Wage Employers nationwide with multiple events.

The ideal candidate would be an energetic and organised events manager, with strong project management skills, the ability to communicate with senior stakeholders internally and externally and the skills to establish strong relationships. They would have experience running online and in-person events with clear objectives and connecting them to organisational strategy.

This post will be joining a Communications team that spans events, media, digital communications and research, with colleagues based across the UK with monthly in-person team meetings. They will be responsible for the line management of the Events Officer. They will report to the Senior Media & Communications Manager.

Person Specification

(D) Desirable, (E) Essential

Experience

· Experience managing in-person and online events (E)

· Experience communicating effectively with senior stakeholders (E)

· Experience using project management tools. (D)

· Experience using Microsoft 365 apps including Loop and Planner (D)

· Experience of line management (D)

Key skills and knowledge

· Knowledge of risk management protocols (E)

· Project management skills (E)

· Monitoring and evaluation skills, including analytical skills and ability to evaluate the impact of an event (E)

· Excellent attention to detail  (E)

· Ability to build strong relationships with colleagues and external stakeholders (E)

· Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with a wide variety of stakeholders  (E)

· Excellent planning, organisation, and prioritisation skills, including the ability to manage competing demands and deal with unforeseen issues  (E)

· Good IT skills, including experience using Microsoft 365 apps (D)

· Knowledge of marketing and communication best practice (D)

· Creative thinker and problem solver (E)

Personal qualities & values

· An interest and enthusiasm for planning strategically aligned events, and the mission of the Living Wage Foundation (E)

· Highly self-motivated with ability to work well independently as well as part of a team (E)

· A commitment for Diversity and Inclusion (E)

Social Finance is an ambitious non-profit that designs, funds and scales solutions to complex social problems. Our vision is a fairer world where together we unleash the potential of people and communities. We work with governments, funders, communities and the social sector to tackle some of the most persistent challenges facing society in the UK.

Our multidisciplinary team brings together experience from the public, private and charity sectors. We are known for our collaborative and intellectually curious culture and for delivering systems change, improving how entire systems operate so they produce better, lasting outcomes.

One of our most significant initiatives is IPS Grow, which supports the national expansion of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) employment services across England. IPS is an evidence-based approach that helps people experiencing severe mental illness, addiction and other health challenges find and sustain competitive employment with tailored support.

IPS Grow works with commissioners, healthcare providers and delivery partners to expand high-quality IPS services, improve quality and learning across the system, and ensure the data and evidence behind IPS continue to demonstrate its impact. Scaling IPS has been a priority for Social Finance since 2015 and continues to be an integral part of our work today.

With IPS Grow transitioning from a fast‑growing initiative to a mature organisation with expanding reach and influence, we are now looking for an experienced Chief Operating Officer to join the IPS Grow and Social Finance Senior Leadership Team.

The COO will provide strategic leadership across IPS Grow’s operational infrastructure, ensuring the organisation has the systems, processes and capabilities required to deliver impact at scale. You will strengthen financial oversight, resource planning and risk management while helping develop IPS Grow’s data and digital capability. The role will also help shape the organisational structures and culture needed to support sustainable growth.

We are looking for a senior operational leader with experience in finance and the non-profit or publicly funded sectors, ideally with a track record of helping organisations scale. You will bring strong financial literacy, sound strategic judgement and the ability to build effective operational frameworks in complex environments.

You will be a collaborative partner across IPS Grow and the wider Social Finance organisation, building trusted relationships, bringing clarity to operational challenges and fostering a strong “one team” culture across a distributed team.

This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the next phase of IPS Grow’s development. If this resonates with you, we would be delighted to hear from you.

To download a full copy of the candidate brief and learn more about the role, please click the ‘Apply’ button, where you will be redirected to the website of our recruitment partner, Tall Roots.

Applications should include a CV and covering letter responding to the following questions:

1. What is motivating you to become our new Chief Operating Officer for IPS Grow? (200 words)
2. Given what you have read about us so far, what do you believe would make an effective Chief Operating Officer for IPS Grow? (200 words)
3. Please describe your experience ensuring an organisation had the right systems, processes or capabilities in place to use data effectively. What was your role and what difference did this make? (250 words)
4. Please tell us about a time when you built strong partnerships across teams or organisations to deliver a shared goal. What approach did you take and what was the outcome? (250 words)

Use your leadership abilities to strengthen and encourage the persecuted church around the world.

Today 388 million Christians experience high levels of violence and oppression for their faith. And the shocking thing is that most people in the UK don’t know about it. Open Doors UK and Ireland raises awareness about the growing levels of persecution and enables people to join a huge underground global network which is keeping the church alive in the most dangerous and difficult contexts - despite the determined efforts of extremists to eradicate Christianity.

As we identify with people suffering for their faith, through prayer, giving and taking action, we see our faith grow. We see the church here become the mature body that we are called, in Scripture, to be.

We are now seeking a Chief Executive Officer to lead this work through a season of missional growth, opportunity and ambition. The CEO will be pivotal in raising the profile of the persecuted church, deepening connections with the church in the UK and Ireland and influencing Government to protect Christians around the world.

To that end, the CEO will be a strategic leader, highly relational in approach, agile and nimble in mindset, delivery-oriented and passionate about strengthening the church.

If that sounds like you please see the job pack attached and prayerfully consider applying. You can expect to have your own faith, reading of Scripture and prayer-life, transformed!

Closing date for applications is 8th May 2026.

JOB TITLE:                         Centre Based Assistance Dog Instructor (Maternity Cover) 

LOCATION:                        Based at our Centre in Milton Keynes, with travel up to 3 hours 

SALARY BAND:                 £26K - £32K per annum, depending on experience. Line management experience desirable.

JOB TYPE:                          Full time and Part time applicants considered. Fixed Term of 12-18 months 

REPORTS TO:                    Interim Head of Assistance Dog Programme 

Medical Detection Dogs trains dogs to save lives. 

We train specialist dogs to detect the odour of human disease, providing life-saving alert assistance dogs to people with complex health problems across the UK and collaborating with NHS Trusts and other researchers and Universities both in the UK and internationally to advance the early diagnosis of disease.

We have an exciting new opportunity to join this small but fast-growing charity that is a world leader in its specialist innovative field. 

The Role 

We are looking for a passionate and driven person who has previous proven experience and skills working as an Instructor within an Assistance Dog organisation, who has worked with clients and partnerships. The role includes supporting both clients who have had a MDD dog placed with them and also our own dog applicants with their puppies and young dogs to ensure they receive the highest standard of socialisation and early training in terms of obedience, public access and developing an alert to the applicant’s condition, with the aim to reach an accreditable assistance dog partnership status. The role will also include carrying out client specific and odour training for MDD own dogs, placing these dogs with their new clients and looking after a number of established partnerships. This role would suit somebody residing up to an hour from our centre in Milton Keynes.  

Duties that encompass the role of an Instructor include:  

• Be the first point of contact for the allocated partnerships in your area. To provide guidance and instruction to applicants who have applied to the charity to have their own dogs considered for the training programme guidance and instruction on handling, behaviour and obedience and odour training as well as newly placed partnerships.

• Alongside the Instructing team, to run puppy classes, public access training, recall sessions in small groups for applicant own dogs that are in line with the charity’s quality standards and in accordance with timescales and targets. 

• To also carry out support visits and home interviews for applicants and clients that have been allocated to you.  

• Regularly monitor progress of any young dogs and partnerships in training in your area and provide detailed, evidenced feedback to Interim Head of Assistance Dog Programme.

• To carry out client specific training with any MDD owned dogs that have been matched, including the required odour scent training.

• Instructing, guiding and supporting new assistance dog clients in managing and handling a Medical Alert Assistance Dog effectively, via pretraining, placement training and aftercare visits.

• Supporting partnerships in training in successfully reaching an accreditation standard and in maintaining this standard throughout the life of the partnership.

• To support a number of established partnerships in the form of aftercare, refresher training and yearly re-accreditations, assisting further afield on occasions as required.

Responsibilities  

• To escalate issues and problems to the Interim Head of Assistance Dog Programme as appropriate.

• To carry out scent assessments on any MDD dogs in socialising as and when required with the support of the rest of the Instructing Team.

• To plan, organise and deliver practical and theoretical training to clients, meeting their individual needs in line with agreed standards to include areas such as dog welfare, appropriate handling, commanding and overall management. This will involve working with the parents as Team Leader and child as Client and working with adult clients.
• Assess the team dynamics of the family & balancing the needs of all family members as well as those of the dog.
• Assess the individuals preferred learning style and amending as relevant to aid a client.
• To accompany the client into all regular environments that they will take the dog to, ensuring the dog behaves in an acceptable manner and that the client and others are aware and clear in terms of where they dog should reside and behave for e.g. public transport, place of work. To complete a check list of environments for any applicant own dogs in training who are on the programme to be assessed within.
• To support and advise clients in transferring the odour training from pot training and recognising alerting behaviours to establish real life alerting.
• To ensure all partnerships are in line with the ADUK regulations with regards to behaviour, obedience and welfare and branding.
• Due to the nature of the role, flexible working hours may be required in some instances to facilitate the effective delivery of the work e.g. working during the school holidays with school age clients.
• To monitor the correct and false alerting percentages of allocated partnerships via data analysis, advising where necessary until the correct alerting levels are achieved.
• To complete comprehensive reports and paperwork for any time spent with applicants or partnerships in training or established. Maintain accurate records by providing verbal and written information with agreed timescales about clients, dogs, applicants and apprentices as appropriate.
• To work alongside allocated partnerships with the aim of the partnership reaching an accredited standard and feeding back to the Interim Head of Assistance Dog Programme if there are any concerns that the accreditation cannot be achieved.
• To provide clients with appropriate aftercare services at regular intervals in their own homes in the form of annual visits, support visits or at refresher workshops run at the Centre to agreed standards.  This will include continual re-assessment of the dynamics of family and dog, formulating and training on appropriate solutions, as well as offering additional dog training advice.
• To deliver handling days as part of an applicant’s pretraining to include ‘Introduction to Assistance Dog’ ‘Advanced Handling’ and Family Handling.
• To scent train and seizure proof advanced dogs in preparation to be partnered with an adult or child client and ensure that applicant own dogs have received this at the earliest opportunity.
• To maintain the ongoing public access training with any advanced dog in scent training that has been allocated to them.
• To liaise with Independent Contractors as relevant.
• To provide support to the Charity’s public relations and fundraising functions as required, specifically in your area.
• To act as the ‘contact’ person for the assistance dog programme in relation to training policy procedures with clients and their families, other professional service providers and members of the public.  This will include on-going research and development of the project.
• As required, to liaise and provide support for Volunteers of the Charity.

Other 

• Share best practice with colleagues across the charity.

• Any other duties or tasks that are required to ensure the successful running of the Medical Alert Assistance Dog Department and the Charity overall.

PERSON SPECIFICATION 

SKILLS AND ABILITIES 

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• High level of preparation, organisational and co-ordination skills
• Strong and clear teaching and instructing skills
• Experience of running puppy classes, carrying out public access training and recall sessions
• Able to develop training plans for any dogs in training under your care
• High level of self-motivation and planning
• Approachable, calm and empathetic to children and adults with debilitating and life-threatening conditions
• Happy to travel alone within the UK to visit any clients as necessary
• Willing to be on call for partnerships as and when required
• Willing to stay away from home in local accommodation when client locations are too far to travel back home
• Happy and able to have Medical Alert Assistance Dogs in training reside in your home
• Good team player, but equally able to work independently
• Positive, empathetic and calm attitude
• Able to embrace a constantly evolving organisation
• Flexible

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE 

Essential 

• Previous Assistance Dog Instructing and Dog Training experience
• Knowledge of AD(UK) and ADI regulations
• Law in relation to dogs 
• Knowledge of medical conditions relevant to puppies between 8 weeks and 2 years of age
• Knowledge of dog and human psychology
• Proven evidence and experience of dog handling and training skills
• Previous experience of teaching and instructing
• Sound dog training and dog behaviour knowledge
• IT literacy and report writing skills
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, Teams, Zoom and SharePoint
• Full UK driving licence
• Pass a DBS (CRB) check due to regular contact with children

Preferable  

• Knowledge of debilitating medical conditions and understanding of how they can impact people, both physically and psychologically, particularly when they are unstable and fluctuating
• Previous knowledge of odour/scent training
• Previous line management experience 

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES ​

• Strong and clear teaching and instructing skills 

• Approachable, calm and empathetic to children and adults with debilitating and life threatening conditions 

• Able to embrace a constantly evolving organisation

• You should be supportive of the charitable aims of Medical Detection Dogs and capable of working as part of a team, as well as able to motivate yourself

• You should be adaptable and positively embrace change by not only being flexible towards the ideas of others but also putting forward ideas to colleagues. This will involve creativity in problem solving and making appropriate responses to new ideas and unexpected situations

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

• You should be supportive of the charitable aims of Medical Detection Dogs and capable of working as part of a team, as well as being able to motivate yourself.
• You should be adaptable and positively embrace change by not only being flexible towards the ideas of others but also putting forward ideas to colleagues. This will involve creativity in problem-solving and making appropriate responses to new ideas and unexpected situations.

DIVERITY, EQUALITY & INCLUSION

We are a welcoming, diverse, and inclusive Charity. Medical Detection Dogs thrives when everyone feels comfortable bringing their best self to work. We celebrate difference, whilst striving to create an environment where colleagues feel respected and valued for their unique potential. We are committed to our values on equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Charity Values

All employees are expected to uphold the charity’s core values in their daily work. This includes demonstrating respect through open and considerate communication, fostering cooperation by working collaboratively, maintaining honesty in all interactions and ensuring fairness through just and transparent decision-making.

Finally, the successful candidate will also be expected to: 

• Hold a full UK Driving Licence 

• Provide proof of identity and eligibility to work in the UK. 

• Undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check 

• Work some evenings and weekends 

• Be willing to travel to the Centre based near Milton Keynes