Position: Head of Service Development
Hours: Full-time (35 hours a week)
Contract: Permanent
Location: Office-based in London, with flexibility to work remotely
Salary: £65,118 per annum, plus excellent benefits
Salary Band and Job Family: Band 4
About us
We make sure people living with MS are at the centre of everything we do. And it’s this commitment that unites us across the UK.
Our strategy is based on what people affected by MS have told us is important to them. It gives us a clear and determined focus.
Our work is based on the hopes and aspirations of our MS community. Together we campaign at all levels, fund ground-breaking research and provide award winning support and information.
Our people are our greatest asset and the key to our success. We offer a vibrant, progressive working environment where you'll be able to make a difference.
About this job
This year, we’ve embarked on introducing a bold, exciting new operating model and structure to improve our services and support to help everyone affected by MS.
We’re making it easier for people who use our services to find and connect to the support they need. And we're looking at ways to make our support more accessible and personalised to meet people’s individual needs, no matter where they are on their MS journey.
We’re creating services that are flexible so that, when someone's circumstance changes, we’ll change too. As demand for our services grows, we’ll always be ready to support everyone who needs our help.
Our new structure and our new ways of working will bring all of these services together under one delivery model launching next year. We're creating a new virtual support hub to bring together everything our community needs to manage their MS or support and care for someone living with MS.
Our Services Development team are responsible for: UK-wide service development and experience design, community development
Our Head of Services Development will be:
- leading the development and continuous improvement of our UK-wide and community-based services, ensuring they are inclusive, accessible, and aligned with organisational strategy. And also working alongside our Digital Services Product Manager on all of our digital services.
- overseeing the full-service development lifecycle, using evidence to drive continuous improvement and ensuring that lived experience is embedded into design.
- ensuring that our new or improved services are operationally viable. Supporting our Fundraising to ensure that new services are funded.
- Developing and managing our service development roadmap.
- With the Director of Service Development, acting as an organisational lead for coproduction / lived experience. Driving best practice and upskilling in coproduction and lived experience involvement and participation across the organisation.
We’re looking for:
- significant experience of leading coproduction and service experience design, and ability to support others to deliver these activities.
- ability to lead organisational discussions and be an authoritative champion based on subject expertise (for coproduction, service development and innovation).
- experience of effectively implementing change and improvement across an organisation, and ability to drive continuous improvement across a department.
- experience of leading service development and managing the service lifecycle (including horizon scanning, research, coproduction, piloting and using monitoring and evaluation data to make improvements), ideally in a health or third sector setting.
- substantial experience of people management, in a team of similar size or complexity. Demonstrable ability to lead, manage and support others to deliver high-quality results.
- Proven experience in policy implementation, compliance and risk governance (and with an understanding of Safeguarding and demonstratable experience implementing Safeguarding policies).
Closing date for applications: 9:00 on Monday 2nd February 2026
Interested?
PLEASE PRESS THE 'HOW TO APPLY' BUTTON FOR MORE INFORMATION.
We particularly welcome applications from disabled people and or people from minoritised ethnic backgrounds.
We’d be grateful if you downloaded and completed the equality and diversity monitoring form and submit it with your application.
Disability Confident Employer
We’re a Disability Confident Employer and we’re committed to promoting equality and diversity.
You can ask for reasonable adjustments as part of both our recruitment and new starter on-boarding processes.
If you need any help or adjustments to apply for this role, please contact us. You can also ask for the application materials to be sent to you in a different format. Such as for them to be sent to you by email or in a larger word format.
More about our recruitment and selection process
- The first round of our recruitment and selection process includes an interview with competency-based questions.
- Our recruitment and selection process might also include extra tasks. For example, a written or Microsoft Excel test or making a presentation.
- We’ll let you know what the selection process will include when we invite you to interview. You can ask for any more reasonable adjustments for the interview as part of the invitation.
- You might also be invited for a second interview. We’ll let you know about this during the selection process.
More about our employee benefits:
We have a wide range of employee benefits including (but not limited to):
Encouraging work life balance
- 39 days paid annual leave (including bank holidays), pro-rata for part-time
- More annual leave entitlement, based on length of employment
- Smart working options (with the opportunity to work remotely and find a smart working pattern that suits both you and us)
- Flexible working options
Caring for you and your family
- Generous sick pay entitlement
- More sick pay entitlement, based on length of employment
- Opportunity to buy and sell annual leave in each calendar year
- Free access to a GP virtually 24 hours a day/7 days a week allowing you unlimited advice, reassurance and where appropriate diagnosis
- Enhanced leave for new parents
- Free access to a confidential 24 hours a day/7 days a week helpline service for both you and your family with a specialist range of support and information
- Special leave options (such as up to 5 days paid leave for domestic or personal emergencies a year)
- 10 days paid disability leave a year, pro-rata for part-time
- 10 days paid carers’ leave a year, pro-rata for part-time
- Cycle to work scheme
- Death in service scheme
- New family-friendly benefits, including paid leave:
- In the event of miscarriage or still birth
- To support fertility treatments
- For antenatal appointments for both parents
Thinking about your finances
- Enhanced salary sacrifice pension scheme
- Discounted season ticket loan and interest-free emergency loans
- Give as you earn to support other charities of your choice before tax
- New employee portal including lifestyle savings vouchers and personal wellbeing
Enriching your life at work
- Personalised development plans with a wide range of training courses and opportunities to source additional training options with your line manager
- Yearly internal apprenticeship opportunities
- New, modern offices that embrace working together both in-person and remotely
- Various opportunities to influence how we internally operate (including surveys, and focus and committee groups)
- Active and supportive internal employee networking groups for collaboration and peer support
- 2 days paid leave a year for volunteering for MS Society activities during normal working hours (such as fundraising events, or campaigning in the local community)
- 2 days paid leave a year for volunteering with other charities during normal
Safeguarding
We’re committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of everyone who uses our services and we come into contact with.
This is regardless of Gender, Race, Disability, Sexual orientation, Religion or belief, Pregnancy, Gender reassignment.
We recognise our particular responsibility to make sure vulnerable adults and children are protected.
We have measures in place to protect everyone we come into contact with from abuse and maltreatment of all kinds.
Your right to work in the UK
You must have the right to work in the UK to work in paid employment with us. You’ll need to share documents showing you’re eligible to work in the UK if we offer you employment.
You can find the UK visas and permits granting you the right to work in the UK on the UK Government website. We currently don’t have a Sponsor Licence agreement with the Home Office and aren’t able to support you with your visa applications.
No agencies please.
Registered Charity
101 - 500
To fund world-leading research, share the latest information and campaign for everyone's rights. Together we are a community. Together we can stop MS
Thank you!
Working closely with the Fundraising Manager and Head of Philanthropy, you will support a range of fundraising activities, most predominantly researching new avenues for funding within trusts, foundations and corporate partners, completing grant applications, carrying out communications and reporting to existing funders and raising the profile of the charity through representing Action Tutoring at funder or networking events. This is a fantastic opportunity to gain experience in the world of fundraising activities, working with a passionate, committed and driven team.
Closing date: Sunday, 15th February 2026
Interviews: Wednesday, 25th and Thursday 26th February 2026
Start date: Tuesday 7th April 2026
Contract and hours: Full time permanent contract. We offer flexible hours with 9.30-4 as core hours. A full working week is 37.5 hours.
Location: This role is remote. The candidate can be based anywhere in the England. Our London office address is: x+why, 8-10, Fivefields, Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W 0DH. Occasional travel may be required for this role.
Duties and responsibilities
- Research new opportunities for Action Tutoring to explore for fundraising and carry out initial enquiries to determine suitability to apply to trusts and foundations.
- Prepare and submit grant applications to suitable trusts, foundations and corporates, carrying out careful research to ensure the applications are as strong as possible and include relevant data and case studies.
- Work alongside the Corporate Partnerships Team to encourage corporate support through donations or grants.
- Identify and lead on local fundraising opportunities in Action Tutoring’s nine key regions, for example researching and submitting applications for local grants and to local businesses.
- Research and determine suitability of profile raising opportunities or awards for Action Tutoring to apply to, such as corporate Charity of the Year opportunities, the Third Sector Awards and Charity Awards.
A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found in the job description attached to the BreatheHR advert.
Person specification
Qualifications criteria:
- Previous experience in fundraising, or transferable experience that shows strong writing skills.
- 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:
- Outstanding communicator; strong written and verbal communication skills; able to make an exciting and compelling case for support.
- Creative and ambitious.
- Proactive and tenacious personality; willing to seek out and pursue opportunities.
- Highly organised; able to prioritise, multi-task and manage work to deadlines.
- High computer literacy.
- Adaptable and open to learning and feedback.
- Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion.
- Committed to promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children.
You will likely be more successful in this role if you have:
- Prior experience of fundraising work, particularly if it is within trusts and foundations. This could be in a paid role, or on a voluntary basis or as part of work experience.
- Experience of building relationships with stakeholders.
How to apply:
To apply for this position you will need to complete and attach an application form to your application. To do this, please download the attached application form, complete the sections in full and save the new file, and then click the 'apply' button.
You will be able to upload the completed application form on the next page.
Applications without an attached application form will automatically be discounted. We want you to have every opportunity to demonstrate your skills, ability and potential; please contact us if you require any assistance or adjustment so that we can help you with making the application process work for you.
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.