Charity People is delighted to be partnering once again with Maudsley Charity to recruit an External Affairs and Influencing Manager.
A hugely exciting new role within the Communications team at the charity, the postholder will work across media, external affairs and influencing to engage with key stakeholders, boost the charity's profile, and promote learning and adoption of the solutions the organisation funds. You will be responsible for sharing evidence and learning in order to influence the people who fund, adopt and commission mental health care and services, and will work closely with the CEO to increase engagement with policy work which the Maudsley Charity undertakes through it's work in coalitions.
External Affairs and Influencing Manager
Contract: Full time, permanent role
Salary: £48,000 per annum
Location: Hybrid role between home and London office, with two days per week in the Denmark Hill office
Closing date for applications: 9am on Tuesday 28th July
First round interviews will be held remotely on: Thursday 13th August
Second round interviews will be held in person on: Thursday 20th and Friday 21st August
About Maudsley Charity
Maudsley Charity funds and supports clinical, academic, and community partners to ensure that everyone experiencing mental illness can access the right care, while using insights from their work to drive wider improvements across the UK.
Recognising the profound impact of mental illness and the inequalities in access, experience, and outcomes - particularly those linked to social deprivation and racism - the organisation focusses on addressing gaps in care.
With an approach that combines evidence, lived experience, and a commitment to equity, the organisation backs impactful, evidence-based solutions, ensuring services are shaped by real-world insight, and prioritising support for those most underserved to drive improvements that benefit all.
About the role
This is a core role within the organisation's influencing strategy, and your primary responsibilities will include:
External Affairs & Influencing:
- Develop and deliver influencing plans to promote adoption of effective mental health care initiatives being funded by the charity
- Develop productive relationships with key stakeholders (journalists, NHS trust leaders, ICBs, ICSs, VCSE orgs) to gather intelligence and shape strategy to inform the charity's positioning
- Lead the charity's thought leadership development providing strategic advice to senior leadership on political, NHS and mental health policy developments
- Strengthen the charity's role in mental health policy and advocacy coalitions, by contributing to collaborative advocacy, media and communications outputs
- Lead the charity's response to government mental health care consultations and calls for evidence
- Monitor funder sector trends and conversations, and actively seek out opportunities for the charity to strategically engage and influence by sharing learning from its grant making practice
Media management
- Develop and implement integrated external affairs campaigns that support the charity's influencing work
- Create persuasive materials, including press releases, op-eds, spokespeople briefings, comment pieces, and digital content and pitch to relevant outlets
- Maintain and grow relationships with journalists, broadcasters and sector media to secure relevant high-quality coverage of the charity's activities, grant holders and their projects
- Act as first point of contact for media enquiries, managing proactive and reactive press activity
- This role is expected to grow and develop and the postholder will be fully supported from across the organisation as the position evolves, within an organisation that offers a friendly, values led culture.
We would love to hear from individuals with the following skills and experience:
- Demonstrable track record of developing and implementing successful influencing strategies in the mental health sector
- Experience of stakeholder management within mental health care, including NHS Trust leaders, Integrated Care Boards, commissioners and senior clinicians, and with academics and researchers
- Strong experience in media relations, including briefing senior spokespeople, drafting press releases, media handling, and securing media coverage with a good understanding of the needs and expectations of different outlets and publications
- Keen understanding of the NHS, mental health policy landscape, and the related environment, key stakeholders and sector drivers
- Understanding of the key components and considerations of successful external affairs media and influencing
- Understanding of the sensitivities around mental illness, including working in an empathetic manner with people with lived experience
- Understanding of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion principles and a commitment to apply them in your work and as an organisation
- Influencing skills including confidence and credibility in working with stakeholders,
- Communication skills and the ability to produce clear and effective communications and the ability to confidently and accurately represent the organisation externally
- Written and editorial skills including the ability to craft narratives for different external audiences and communicate the charity's work in press releases, articles, policy briefs
How to apply
Maudsley Charity is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and strongly encourages applications from underrepresented backgrounds. We welcome applications from non-graduates.
Applications are managed via Charity People and involve a structured, anonymised process focusing on your experience and potential. Please send your CV to Alice at Charity People in the first instance.
Please see full job pack and job description attached.
There is also an optional 'Ask Us Anything' Webinar via Zoom on Thursday 16th July at 12.30pm where the Maudsley staff will answer questions. Please get in touch with Reception at Charity People if you'd like to register for this and they will send you the link. Please submit questions in advance to reception at Charity People before 9am on Wednesday 15th July 2026 in order that we can ensure all of your queries are answered.
Equal Opportunities monitoring
We ask that applicants complete our DEI monitoring form when submitting their CV for this role.
Maudsley Charity is an equal opportunities employer, and makes no discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and sex. Specifically, we will also oppose unfair discrimination of those with mental health issues.
Charity People is a forward thinking, inclusive organisation that actively and deliberately promotes equity, diversity and inclusion. We know organisations thrive when inclusion is at the forefront. We evidence our commitment by matching charity needs with the skills and experience of candidates irrespective of background e.g. age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We do this because we believe that greater diversity leads to greater results for the charities we work with.
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Location: The role is national, managing teams in Northern Ireland, Wales and across England. You will need to be able to work at one of our BookTrust offices in London, Leeds, Belfast or Cardiff for an average of 8 days per month whilst some of these collaboration days may be worked in partner locations, at events or stakeholder meetings in any part of the country. The position will require regular travel to BookTrust office bases and to visit and engage as needed.
BookTrust is the UK’s largest children’s reading charity. We know that children who read are happier, healthier, more empathetic, and more creative. They also do better at school.
Working with every local authority and across every region in the country, and supported by Arts Council funding, we reach over 3 million families a year via partners in schools, children’s centres, health visitors and libraries. This incredible network helps us to get children reading across the country.
This is a new role within the organisation and the new role holder will have a chance to shape and build the role over time. You will be a strong leader with great people skills -experience of working with and leading teams working in geographically dispersed locations is advantageous.
You will have a clear experience the public sector landscape with a track record of relationships building, and an understanding of the local government policy landscape. With a collaborative approach to working across interconnecting complex work areas, you will be comfortable working within a matrix style of management for your won direct reports and those of other teams.
You may have charity or statutory setting experience, and will have the ability to set out a strategic direction for partnerships team members as well as being hands on in developing new relationships to support our work as well as being able to produce high quality written materials, analyse complex data and respond dynamically to a changing external landscape.
You will be an excellent communicator who manages up effectively and who is comfortable working across a matrixed managed team. You will have the ability to work closely with the Director of Partnerships in building relationships, and developing and delivering on strategies that support impact in our early years programmes by guiding the work of our partnerships team. You will be working closely with key role holders such as but not confined to the Head of Partnerships Delivery, and Head of Programme for Vulnerable Children.
The Head of Partnerships Development will ensure increasingly effective pathways to families by setting out ways of working that ensure delivery teams can access these routes, influence decision makers and develop and build the right relationships for greatest impact. Along with the Director of partnerships the role holder will aim to both influence and respond to central, local and regional policy initiatives in the sector to support BookTrust’s mission to get all children reading, especially those from low income and vulnerable family backgrounds.
The role holder will ensure internal stakeholders are briefed on the local government landscape and that risks and opportunities are clearly articulated.
This work spans the organisation – from within our partnerships team to our research and impact, communications and external affairs, design and innovation, growth planning, communications, profile-raising and income generation – and requires strong collaborative working to draw on skills and capacity in all these areas.
The role will work internally and externally to ensure the right inputs to ensure success for our scaled programmes, supporting everything from design to upskilling our team and relationship building across the local government and regional and country landscape.
To apply, please complete the application along with a copy of your CV.
Want to join us? To find out more about who we are please go to our website.
We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups and welcome candidates from all backgrounds and communities,
Please note that this advert may close early should we receive a high volume of suitable applications.
Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusivity
We aim to provide an inclusive recruitment process and actively welcome applications from diverse talent pools: minority ethnic candidates, candidates with disabilities and long-term conditions and candidates from underrepresented communities.
We are committed to equality of opportunity and want to ensure we have an accessible application process for all candidates. If you need any reasonable adjustments or would like us to do anything differently during the application process, please contact our HR team (contact details are available on our website).
BookTrust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. The recruitment and selection process reflect our commitment to safeguarding therefore, the suitability of all prospective employees will be assessed during the recruitment process in line with this commitment, and pre-employment checks.
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Bowel Research UK is looking for a permanent Research and Grants Manager to coordinate and evaluate the management of the charity’s research activities. This role covers all aspects of pre- and post-award research management, impact reporting, grant finance management and governance, co-ordination of the Charity’s scientific committees and shaping external scientific communications to supporters and other stakeholders. Additionally, you will foster and maintain strong relationships with researchers, serving as the primary point of contact for engaging with the research community.
Bowel Research UK are bringing this permanent role following time spent with an interim postholder in position to create a solid foundation and understanding of what the role needs.
This is an opportunity to work with the UK’s leading specialist bowel cancer and bowel disease research charity. Bowel Research UK believe that a cure for bowel cancer and effective treatments to mitigate, or entirely eradicate, other bowel diseases is possible – but only if vital research is funded and investment made into the scientific and medical communities today, to see the benefits tomorrow.
Bowel Research UK are a flexible employer, for this post they are looking for someone to be comfortable with joining the team in the London office once a month. If the post holder would prefer to work more regularly from an office base, the charity has office space at Royal College of Surgeons in central London. Most team members work from here on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
For further information and to apply please follow the guidance in the Candidate Pack to arrange a conversation about your suitability for the role and next steps.
Closing date: midnight Wednesday 22nd July
The selection process will involve a two-stage interview process.
