Social development research officer jobs

Lloyds Bank Foundation 

Strategic Communications Lead 

Starting Salary: £60,139 
Contract: Full-time, 18-month Fixed Term Contract (we are open to conversations about flexibility - so please ask) 
Location: London-based role with expectation of hybrid working from our London office 
 

About Lloyds Bank Foundation 

Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales is an independent charitable foundation, backed by Lloyds Banking Group and the people within it. We want everyone to be in a good place - personally, in a home that’s a good place to live, and in a community that’s a good place to belong. 

We play our role by connecting and catalysing community-led change, providing the money, time, tools and connections that build organisations’ capacity and capability, to make people’s lives better and their communities stronger. 

We back people and communities across England and Wales, to make that happen, because when you back brilliant people, brilliant things happen. Our communities are full of ambitious, energetic and determined people stepping up to make their neighbours’ lives better and their communities grow stronger. Day in, day out. 

About the Role 

This is a key role supporting the transformation of communications across the Foundation. You will help shape how we engage, inspire and connect with priority audiences, ensuring our messaging is clear, consistent and impactful. 

As Strategic Communications Lead, you will play a central role in evolving how we communicate - strengthening our organisational narrative and supporting a shift towards more proactive engagement with new audiences, including colleagues across Lloyds Banking Group and wider stakeholders. 

This is a hands-on role with strategic influence. You will support the development of communications campaigns, processes and ways of working, while leading the delivery of the Foundation’s new website as a core part of our digital transformation. 

About You 

We are looking for someone with strong experience in strategic communications, campaigns or content-led roles, ideally within a complex organisation. You will bring experience of supporting organisational change through communications, alongside strong digital and project delivery skills. 

You will be confident working across teams, managing external suppliers, and developing clear, engaging messaging for different audiences. 

A commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging is essential. 

How to Apply 

Please click ‘Apply’ to be redirected to our website, where you can download the Candidate Information Pack and find details of how to apply. 

For an informal conversation about the role and application process, please contact our recruitment partner, Atkinson HR via the information in the Candidate pack.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

We hold Disability Confident Employer status (Level 2) and are working towards full status by 2027. If you are a disabled applicant and your CV and application answers clearly demonstrate that you meet the essential criteria, we will invite you to interview. 

We are committed to building a diverse team that reflects the communities we work with. We actively welcome applications from people under-represented in the charity sector, including Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities, disabled people, and those with lived experience of the issues our funded charities address. 

Key Dates 

Closing Date: Midday, Monday 25th May 2026 

Optional Q&A Session: Wednesday 6th May 2026 at 09:00-10:00 

First Interview: Thursday 4th June 2026 

Second Interview: Tuesday 16th June 2026 

Bible Society is on a mission to increase Bible confidence in the Church and change the conversation about the Bible in culture.  We are ambitious to see the Bible ‘translated’ into every part of life and society.

We see a huge mission opportunity in England and Wales and increasingly our attention is focused on growing Bible confidence in the Church and inviting the spiritually open to engage with what the Bible has to say in their own lives.

As Director of Domestic Mission you will be responsible for:

- Leading and implementing programmes to mobilise the domestic Church for Bible mission, and to enable spiritually               open people to discover and engage with the Bible.

- Embedding a mission culture marked by prayerful humility, relational partnership and inter-confessional                                 collaboration.

If you are content with the state of contemporary Christianity in modern society and the place of the Bible in popular culture, then this is not the role for you. On the other hand, if you are provoked and stirred by the confusion, misunderstanding and lack of knowledge about the Bible in society; if you know the transforming power of Scripture to bring us into an encounter with Jesus by the Holy Spirit and change our lives and relationships; and if you want to harness your excellent leadership, relationship-building and missional vision-casting skills to help mobilise a Bible movement in our generation, then we are excited to be talking to you.

The Youth Endowment Fund  

Senior Change Manager, Children’s Services 

Reports to: Head of Change, Children’s Services 

Salary:£54,300 per annum, depending on experience  

Location:  Central London or Hybrid*(see below) 

Contract: 2-year fixed term contract

Closing date for applications: 12 pm on Monday, 1st June 2026 

Interview dates: Week commencing 15th June 2026 

About the Youth Endowment Fund 

All of us will experience violence at some point in our lives. For many children, it is a daily reality. Each year, tens of children are killed, hundreds are hospitalised, 1 in 5 teenage children are victims and the majority admit to feeling afraid of violence. It scares them when they travel home from school, prevents them from going out and makes the most vulnerable feel like they don’t matter. It is taking lives, traumatising families and dividing communities. It robs potential, progress and hope.    

But it doesn’t have to be this way.    

The Youth Endowment Fund believes that no child should be affected by violence. We research violence to understand it; we find, fund and test what works to prevent it; and we are building a movement to end it.   

A big part of the movement that we need to build is in the world of children’s services. We need to inspire and connect with senior leaders in England and Wales to spread what works and make our country safer for some of our most vulnerable children. We need someone who can deliver this whilst understanding and working within the context of the major sector reforms that are currently being delivered via the Families First Partnership programme. 

Key Responsibilities  

We are at an exciting moment in our work. In June we will publish our children’s services practice guidance, setting out the evidence for what works to reduce serious youth violence in the children’s services sector. 

We have plans to work with the sector over the rest of the financial year and beyond, including designing a self-assessment tool to help senior sector leaders benchmark their existing practice against the evidence. We will also launch a new change programme, working hand-in-hand with the sector to implement the evidence for what works, gaining valuable insights in the process.

Your role is to help us turn these plans into a reality. 

This will include launching the self-assessment tool and promoting its use within the sector. It will also involve planning, designing and delivering the change programme to turn the theory into reality.

You will also contribute by designing and delivering a range of sector engagement activities, such as webinars, events and learning opportunities, that reach the sector, helping to build momentum, understanding and commitment across children’s services.

Lastly, you will support the Head of Change for Children’s Services with government engagement as required and support the establishment of a new network for senior sector leaders to share the latest evidence and best practice. 

Key responsibilities will include: 

• Supporting the launch and roll-out of the children’s services self-assessment tool, driving up demand and ensuring widespread completion of the tool across the sector; 

• Work hands-on with Local Authorities to help them put evidence into practice via our change programme; planning, delivering and learning as the work continues; 

• Continuously capture and act on learning from the self-assessment tool and deep dive change programme to inform future work; 

• Supporting the design and roll-out of a children’s services network to spread learning of what works to reduce serious youth violence; 

• Spend time genuinely understanding the pressures, priorities and constraints facing children’s services leaders to inform our longer-term approach to change. 

As part of your wider contribution to the organisation, you will also: 

• Build a culture where it is natural to perform well and support colleagues brilliantly.

• Contribute to setting the strategy, delivering results and building and modelling the culture that we need to succeed.

You are this sort of person: 

• You are fascinated about change and are experienced in making it happen. You have outstanding analytical judgment alongside the emotional intelligence and experience needed to identify the right opportunities for change, then make them happen. You understand why people find change difficult. You come alive talking about how people make decisions and why they do the things they do. 

• You understand the children’s services sector. You understand how the sector really works. This could include experience of working with/supporting senior sector leaders to facilitate change and improvement that improves the lives of young people.

• You win people over. People tend to warm to you and respect you. You have built good relationships with very senior people and with very junior people. You are good at chairing meetings, connecting people and having good introductory meetings. You are comfortable talking to a government minister, a youth worker, a company CEO, a social worker and a 15-year-old student. Listening to people from all backgrounds matters to you.

• You have experience of developing resources which support children’s services. You understand and take a curious approach to learning about the needs of sector leaders. You are able to skilfully translate these insights into helpful resources and tools which support leaders to improve practice. 

• You learn fast but remain humble. You are very quick at getting your head around things. You like learning. You are very good at synthesising information. You know how much you don't know. You know that you can learn more. You know that it's easy to assume you know when you don't. You care more that good things happen than who gets the credit. You are a great and supportive team player. 

• You don't want your days to pass without making a difference. You want to play a significant part in reducing violence.

• You understand young people. You understand what the lives of vulnerable young people can be like, and you understand some of the organisations that work with them, ideally through first-hand experience.

• You are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. 

You must have this sort of experience 

• Delivering positive change within children’s services: You have significant experience of working with sector leaders to support the development and improvement of practice.

While it’s not a criteria, we’re especially interested to hear from applicants who have lived experience of violence affecting children and young people. 

It’s also important to us that the people we hire do not discriminate. We believe in being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation, transgender status or social economic background.

All appointments will be made on merit, following a fair and transparent process. In line with the Equality Act 2010, however, the organisation may employ positive action where candidates from underrepresented groups can demonstrate their ability to perform the role equally well. 

Hybrid Working 

The office is based in Central London. Those living in and around London are expected to be in the office a minimum of 2 days per week. If you live outside of London and work remotely, you’ll be expected to work from the London office 2 days per month. 

To Apply 

Please click on the "Apply for this" button and submit your CV, your completed monitoring form and ensure your covering letter answers the following three questions below. Please submit your application by Monday 1st June 2026 at 12pm. 

Application Questions 

1. How have you used evidence to deliver effective change and improve outcomes? How did you gather and use the evidence and influence senior leaders to act differently? 

1. Describe your experience and understanding of working in or with the children’s services sector, in particular working with senior sector leaders. Please be specific about the context and impact you made.

1. What personal and professional experiences shape your understanding of the children’s services sector and its role in preventing youth violence? 

As part of our commitment to flexible working we will consider a range of options for the successful applicant. All options can be discussed at the interview stage. 

Interview Process 

This will be a two-stage interview process. Interviews will take place the week of 15th June 2025. 

Please Note: We do not sponsor work permits and you will be required to provide proof of your eligibility to work in the UK. 

Benefits Include 

• £1,000 professional development budget annually 

• 25 days annual leave, 3 days end of year shut down, plus Bank Holidays 

• Four half days for volunteering activities 

• Employee Assistance Programme – 24hr phone line for free confidential support 

• Volunteering days - 4 half days per year 

• Death in service - 4 times annual salary 

• Flexible hours. Core office hours 10am – 4pm 

• Financial support including travel and hardship loans 

• Employer contributed pension of 5%. 

Your Data 

Your personal data will be shared for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes our HR team, interviewers (who may include other partners in the project and independent advisors), relevant team managers and our IT service provider if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles. We do not share your data with other third parties, unless your application for employment is successful, and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you. We do not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area. 
 

Martingale Postgraduate Foundation (Martingale) exists to fund and support the next generation of talented researchers. We believe that family income should not be a barrier to the pursuit of excellence, and our mission is to enable and nurture talented individuals from low-socioeconomic backgrounds to thrive within world-leading postgraduate research.

Martingale’s flagship programme is the Martingale Postgraduate Scholarship, which supports students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds to pursue and excel in postgraduate degrees, by providing:

• A fully-funded Living Wage Scholarship to pursue a one-year Masters degree or a four-year PhD.
• All tuition fees and research expenses, including a tax-free stipend for living costs.
• Tailored support to apply for Martingale courses at our partner universities.
• Access to Martingale programmes, including leadership training and connections with top academic and industry professionals.
• Membership of a pioneering community of talented researchers.

In the three years since Martingale launched, we have supported over 100 Scholars to undertake postgraduate degrees across our ten partner universities and have committed over £7.7m in Scholarships. We are continuing to expand our offer, bringing on new partners each year.

As Operations Manager, you would ensure the smooth running of day-to-day operations and to lead special projects that tackle big organisational questions. Working closely with the Director of Operations, you will support the development and improvement of Martingale’s systems and processes. You will also have the opportunity to lead standalone projects that require structured problem-solving and strong judgement including preparing Martingale for spin out. You will bring clarity and traction across multiple workstreams, working closely with senior colleagues and external partners.

We are looking for a strategic thinker with a proactive approach to their work, who can identify and help resolve issues, and recognise opportunities. You will bring excellent organisational skills, strong attention to detail, a proactive mindset, and a strong alignment with Martingale’s mission. We welcome applicants from a range of career paths who are excited to be part of a growing, fast-paced charity delivering meaningful impact.

Martingale Foundation is incubated by Purposeful Ventures who provide operational and strategic support. The Operations Manager will be employed by Purposeful Ventures.

About Purposeful Ventures

Purposeful Ventures partners with social entrepreneurs and philanthropists to improve the education and well-being of young people from their earliest years.

We define and diagnose the issues affecting children and young people, analyse evidence and explore the most promising solutions. We then select, accelerate and, where we find a gap, incubate organisations which tackle those issues. We offer more than just funding to our charitable organisations. Our expertise, operational experience and networks enable us to deliver tailored, hands-on support with a relentless commitment to system change.

We are working with a wide range of organisations across the following portfolio areas to build and strengthen outstanding organisations that deliver systemic impact.

Key Responsibilities:

Special Projects

A significant and distinctive part of this role involves leading standalone analytical and operational projects that tackle substantive, open-ended questions. These will vary over time and will require intellectual curiosity, the ability to work with ambiguity, and the capacity to produce clear, high-quality outputs such as reports or proposals. Current and anticipated examples include: 

• Designing a model for calculating discounts or adjusted contribution rates for funders committing significant multi-year funding, balancing financial sustainability with funder relationship management.
• Preparing for spin-out: contributing to Martingale’s readiness for independence from Purposeful Ventures by scoping and delivering specific workstreams across governance, operations, finance, legal, and data.
• Leading other ad-hoc analytical or operational projects as they arise, including research into sector practice, policy analysis, or internal process design.

Operational infrastructure and continuous improvement

Liaise with colleagues across the organisation to understand business needs and issues, and develop and implement appropriate solutions to drive efficiency and impact, including: 

• Strengthening systems and processes: leading a structured review of Martingale’s operational infrastructure – including CRM, finance systems, HR processes, and information management – and implementing improvements that will support a larger, more complex organisation.
• Identify and codify operational processes and ways of working and proactively propose improvements where relevant, including ensuring that individual roles and responsibilities are clear.
• Manage cross-functional initiatives that require coordination across our departments.
• Identify and implement tools, technologies, and processes that can improve our ways of working.
• Lead exploratory projects, such as assessing how AI can be integrated into our work to enhance impact and efficiency.
• Provide project management support across different teams to drive key organisational goals.
• Manage the rollout of new processes and tools, supporting colleagues to adopt changes effectively.

Generalist Support and Cross-Functional Contribution

The Operations Manager will be a flexible and collaborative colleague, capable of contributing across different parts of the organisation’s work where needed:

• Provide high-quality analytical and operational support to the Director of Operations and CEO on a range of organisational questions.
• Contribute to the preparation of materials for the Advisory Board, governance bodies, and key external stakeholders, including papers, briefings, and data summaries.
• Support the Programme and External Relations departments on operational aspects of delivery, including events logistics, supplier management, and cross-team coordination.
• Represent the organisation professionally in communications with external stakeholders, including partner universities, suppliers, and service providers.
• Support Director of Operations with financial processes including preparing management accounts, building and refining financial forecasts and for growth, and onwards grants.
• With Director of Operations, liaise with outsourced providers including Purposeful Ventures to ensure effective working relationships and back-office support.

Other

• As duties and responsibilities change, the job description will be reviewed and amended in consultation with the post holder.
• The post holder will carry out any other duties as are within the scope, spirit and purpose of the role as requested by the line manager

Key Requirements:

Essential Criteria

• Right to work in the UK

Experience and skills

Essential

• Strong operations and project delivery experience in a fast-paced environment (e.g., charity, start-up, university, public sector, or professional services).
• Demonstrable experience leading projects end-to-end, including creating plans, managing stakeholders, and delivering outcomes.
• Experience leading or making a significant contribution to complex, standalone projects or pieces of analysis, including analysing ambiguous problems and turning them into clear outputs (e.g. reports, presentations) and actionable recommendations.
• Experience improving systems/processes (e.g., designing workflows, implementing tools, documenting processes, driving adoption).
• Experience of contracting, invoicing, and other operational finance processes, as well as procurement and supplier management.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to produce clear documentation for internal and external audiences (experience drafting papers, briefings, or analytical reports is desirable).
• Experience working with CRM systems, project management tools, or other operational platforms, and a track record of improving or implementing systems and processes

Desirable

• Experience working with universities (partnerships, funding arrangements, research administration, or related).
• Experience supporting governance processes (papers, decision logs, approvals) or preparing materials for senior stakeholders.
• Experience working in a start-up, scale-up, or fast-growing charity. 

Personal Characteristics

• Highly organised, proactive, and able to prioritise effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent interpersonal skills: able to build rapport and trusting relationships, able to work co-operatively in a multidisciplinary setting.
• Strong judgement, discretion and professionalism, including ability to handle confidential information appropriately.
• A commitment to Martingale’s mission to support postgraduate students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Comfortable working in a rapidly growing and changing organisation with a degree of ambiguity – confident to create processes and ways forward where they might not yet exist.
• Intellectually curious and analytical – someone who enjoys getting into the detail of a complex question and working out a clear, defensible answer.
• Proactive and self-starting: able to identify what needs doing and take ownership without needing to be directed at every step.
• Resourceful, able to act on initiative, hardworking, detail-oriented, and systematic.

The Talent Set is delighted to be partnering with the Henry Smith Foundation to recruit three Programme Assistants to join their Programme Teams. These roles sit at the heart of the organisation, providing high quality administrative and coordination support that enables colleagues to focus on meaningful, impact driven work.

This role plays a vital part in creating the conditions for good collaboration, inclusive ways of working, and well run decision making. It combines strong organisational skills with relationship centred working, care, professionalism, and a strong commitment to the Foundation’s values.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide high quality administrative and coordination support to Programme Teams, helping ensure effective day-to-day operations

• Manage diaries, meetings, travel arrangements, correspondence, and documentation for Programme colleagues.

• Coordinate meetings, panels, webinars, and events, including agenda preparation, papers, note taking, and follow up actions

• Support grants and governance processes, including maintaining accurate data on the grants management system

• Act as a first point of contact for enquiries from applicants and external partners, providing clear and timely responses

• Support basic budget tracking and financial administration in line with internal controls

• Maintain shared resources, guidance documents, contact records, and knowledge banks to ensure information is accurate and accessible

• Work collaboratively across teams to support inclusive, well run ways of working that reflect organisational values

Person Specification

• Experience in an administrative or team support role within a busy office or organisational environment

• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and competing priorities

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• High level of accuracy and attention to detail, particularly when working with data and records

• Confidence using standard office IT systems and databases

• A calm, professional, and proactive approach, with the ability to work both independently and as part of a team

• Empathy and alignment with the Henry Smith Foundation’s values, including a strong commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

What’s on Offer
Salary: £32,000 per annum
Hours: Part time, 28 hours per week
Contract: 18 Month Fixed Term Contract
Location: London, 2 Days Per Week in Kings Cross Office

Interviews: Monday 15th & Tuesday 16th June 2026

How to Apply
To apply, please submit your CV demonstrating your suitability for this role by clicking the 'apply now' button (please do not apply via email). We aim to get back to all successful candidates within 48 working hours.

Commitment to Diversity
The Talent Set are committed to diverse and inclusive recruitment practices, ensuring equal opportunities for all applicants regardless of race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, disability, or age. We actively encourage applications from a wide range of backgrounds and are always happy to make reasonable adjustments to ensure a fair recruitment process.

Requesting reasonable adjustments
We are committed to creating an inclusive recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support you during the application or interview stages, please let us know. You can share your needs at any point in the process. Adjustments can be tailored to suit both physical and mental health needs. Our team will work with you to ensure you have what you need to perform at your best.

Our approach to candidates using AI in applications
We recognise that technology, including AI tools, can be helpful when preparing job applications, and we welcome the use of tools that support you in presenting your experience clearly. However, it’s important that your application genuinely reflects your own skills, experience, and voice. We therefore recommend reviewing any AI-generated content carefully to ensure accuracy and authenticity.

If you are invited to interview, we’ll want to hear directly from you about your skills and experiences. Any significant differences between your application and how you present yourself in person may negatively impact your application.

You will provide clinical direction and maintain oversight of elop’s counselling services, bringing understanding and experience of delivering trauma-informed approaches to support the emotional health and psychological wellbeing of LGBTQ+ people.

You will oversee and contribute to clinical operational responsibilities, service coordination and delivery, ensuring a professional, safe, smooth running, efficient and well managed service is maintained.   You will work alongside the senior leadership team across both strategic and clinical operational levels ensuring lead responsibilities for our counselling teams and services. Working collaboratively with the senior leadership team, implementing clinical delivery decisions, ensuring the counselling service effectively maintains ethical and professional standards of practice and communication across key staff, other agencies and service users. 

You will proactively contribute to building a robust and compelling evidence base that continues to demonstrate impact, improved wellbeing, and increased resilience, and have a key role in monitoring, evaluation, and supporting the wider counselling team with reporting and using data to drive operations, and evidence-based best practice. 

Your role will also include overseeing referrals and allocation of clients; undertaking client assessments; providing role-management, and clinical support and supervision to trainee and sessional counsellors; line-management of key service personnel; some clinical support work with more complex or acute needs clients; recruiting, inducting and training key staff and volunteers; and liaising with the clinical supervision team. 

Full Time: 37 hours per week

There will be one regular evening/ week, and occasional other evening and weekend working required. 

Salary: £34,000 inclusive London Weighting

Closing deadline for submission of application: 10.00am Monday 1 June 2026

Initial Interviews: taking place Wednesday 10 June between 9.00am – 3.00pm

N.B. at this current time all elop services are operating via a mix of in-person and remotely via online platforms, whilst we await completion of building works and relocation to new premises.