Water and sanitation jobs

Title:  Head of Campaigns

Salary:        £60,000

Contract:      Temporary

Hours:  37.5 per week (Monday to Friday) 

Holiday:  25 days per year plus bank holidays 

Location:  Home based with regular across the UK

Probationary Period:  3 months

Reports to:  Chief Executive

Benefits:  An additional 3 days holiday between Christmas and New Year

Flexitime policy

5% pension contribution

Anticipated contract duration:  9th November 2026 - February 2028 

We are River Action

We are a small and agile campaigning organisation on a mission to rescue the UK’s rivers from a toxic cocktail of agricultural, sewage and industrial pollution and water shortages. We support community action, galvanise and mobilise public opinion, influence government policy, take legal actions and call out destructive industrial practices to incentivise changes that end river pollution and secure freshwater. 

We are a talented team of positive disrupters and stakeholder mobilisers delivering our strategy to urgently protect and restore our rivers for the benefit of communities, rivers and wildlife.

Our rivers are our life support system and they are dying. We need urgent action to bring them back to life.

Who we are looking for

We're looking for an exceptional campaigner to lead an ambitious environmental campaigning  programme for just over a year to cover maternity leave. This is an exciting opportunity for an inspiring leader who can develop bold, strategic campaigns that shift public debate, influence decision-makers and deliver tangible environmental outcomes.

You'll be an experienced campaign strategist who understands that lasting change rarely comes from a single tactic. You'll know how to bring together compelling communications, evidence and investigations, grassroots mobilisation, political engagement, legal interventions and partnerships into integrated campaigns capable of changing policy, behaviour and corporate practice.

We're looking for someone who combines strategic vision with practical delivery. Someone who is comfortable making decisions in a fast-moving environment, spotting opportunities as they emerge and adapting campaigns to maximise impact.

Experience in environmental campaigning would be highly valuable, but above all we're looking for someone with an outstanding track record of leading successful campaigns that have shifted opinion, influenced policy or held powerful institutions to account.

We’re looking for someone who brings energy, creativity and courageous leadership. Someone who is excited by building campaigns that challenge the status quo, comfortable navigating complexity and able to combine bold thinking with sound judgement. You'll know when to disrupt, when to collaborate and how to inspire others to believe that together we can restore the UK’s rivers. 

If you're motivated by creating change, thrive in a dynamic environment and want to lead campaigns that make a genuine difference to one of the UK's greatest environmental challenges, we'd love to hear from you. 

What you’ll be doing:

As Head of Campaigns, you will be developing and delivering bold, integrated campaigns that drive lasting change for the UK's rivers. You'll lead and inspire a talented team of campaigners, helping them to develop innovative, impactful campaigns while fostering a collaborative, ambitious and supportive culture. You'll work closely with colleagues across communications, policy, legal, fundraising and research, ensuring our work is strategically aligned and greater than the sum of its parts.

Leading River Action's Campaigns Team, you will shape the organisation's campaigning strategy, ensuring our work is innovative, evidence-led and designed to influence public opinion, hold polluters to account and secure meaningful political and systemic change. You'll create campaigns that connect compelling storytelling with community mobilisation, strategic communications, political advocacy, legal action and partnerships, ensuring every part of our work contributes towards our mission to rescue the UK’s rivers.

You'll provide strategic leadership across the full campaign lifecycle, overseeing campaign planning, delivery, budgeting, resourcing and evaluation. You'll ensure our campaigns are informed by robust evidence, guided by clear objectives and measured against meaningful outcomes, using insight and learning to continually strengthen our impact.

You will lead River Action's communications and public profile, ensuring our campaigns cut through the national conversation, inspire public action and strengthen our reputation as one of the UK's leading environmental campaigning organisations. You’ll oversee media, messaging and campaign communications that amplify our voice and build public support for change.

Internally, you'll work in close partnership with the Head of Public Affairs to ensure our public campaigns reinforce and accelerate our political influencing work, while ensuring community campaigns and grassroots action inform our national priorities. You'll also work alongside the Head of Legal to develop campaigns involving strategic litigation to achieve change within and outside of court and legal processes, using legal action as a catalyst for wider public awareness, policy change and industry accountability.

As a member of River Action's Senior Management Team, you'll help shape the strategic direction of the organisation and contribute to organisational leadership beyond your own department. You'll work alongside the CEO and fellow Heads of Department to deliver our organisational strategy, embedding collaboration, innovation and impact across all areas of our work.

You'll also play a key role in securing the resources needed to deliver our ambitions. Working with the Head of Development, you'll help develop compelling funding proposals, inspire funders with our vision and demonstrate the impact of our work through robust monitoring, evaluation and reporting. Working with the Finance and Operations Manager, you'll oversee campaign budgets, ensuring resources are managed effectively and strategically.

Main Duties 

• Provide strategic leadership as a member of the Senior Management Team, supporting the CEO to deliver River Action's organisational strategy, theory of change and long-term vision.

• Lead the development and delivery of River Action's integrated campaigning strategy, ensuring our public campaigns drive measurable environmental, political and societal change.

• Develop and oversee a portfolio of ambitious national campaigns, identifying opportunities to influence public opinion, policy, regulation and industry practice through innovative and impactful campaigning.

• Lead River Action's communications, media and public engagement strategy, ensuring compelling storytelling, strong brand visibility and effective use of traditional, digital and social media to grow our influence and supporter base.

• Lead the planning and delivery of River Action’s creative interventions and actions, from polling, petitions and shareholder actions to public protests and high-profile actions.

• Serve as a senior public representative and spokesperson for River Action, building the organisation's profile and influence through media engagement, public speaking, stakeholder engagement and high-profile external events.

• Oversee River Action's digital campaigning platforms, including the strategic development of our website and digital engagement tools.

• Work closely with the Head of Public Affairs  to ensure campaigns and political advocacy are fully integrated, maximising opportunities to influence government, regulators and decision-makers.

• Work closely with the Head of Public Affairs to ensure grassroots action informs national campaigns, and national campaigns empower and amplify community action.

• Work with the Head of Legal to identify, develop and deliver strategic legal interventions that strengthen campaigns, increase accountability and drive systemic change beyond the courtroom.

• Build and maintain influential relationships with campaign partners, coalitions, NGOs, academics, community organisations, funders and other key stakeholders to maximise collective impact.

• Lead campaign planning, governance and delivery, ensuring campaigns are effectively resourced, managed and evaluated against agreed objectives, budgets and monitoring, evaluation and reporting (MER) frameworks.

• Lead, inspire and develop the Campaigns Team, fostering a collaborative, creative and high-performing culture that enables colleagues to thrive and deliver exceptional work.

• Work with the CEO, Head of Development and senior colleagues to secure funding for campaign activities, contributing to funding proposals, donor engagement and impact reporting.

• Work with the Finance and Operations Manager to develop, monitor and manage campaign budgets, ensuring resources are used effectively and strategically.

• Support organisational reporting by contributing to Board papers, quarterly and annual reports, organisational planning and performance monitoring.

Other Duties & Responsibilities 

• Adopt a positive approach to personal and professional development; engaging in one to one meetings and relevant training.

• Be aware of, and act on, relevant health and safety responsibilities as an employee of River Action and adhere to these wherever you are working.

• To maintain confidentiality in all areas of work at River Action.

• UK travel will be required. Training & operational activities may require overnight stays away from home, in which case standard River Action procedures apply.

• Demonstrate a strong commitment to creating an inclusive, equal and diverse workplace and a positive organisational culture.

• Work collaboratively with colleagues across River Action to collectively deliver our ethos and mission.

What you’ll bring

The position will suit a strategic, well organised, energetic, passionate and dedicated person. The ideal person will be an excellent leader, a people person, and thrive within a dynamic and fast-paced environment. The person will have a passion to protect and restore our waterways and hold those responsible for environmental destruction to account.

• Ability to think strategically to deliver campaigns that are positively disruptive and meet River Action values.

• Line management experience of highly experienced professionals, bringing out the best in your team.

• Creative attitude and skills for solving problems and raising awareness of problems and solutions.

• A head for organisation and excellent time management, bringing others along with you in planning and delivering interventions and projects at short notice and under pressure.

• Experience in public and/or political campaigning either within or outside the environmental sector.

• Experience and contacts in communications and PR. 

• An understanding of the issues that are impacting our rivers, and their solutions.

• The ability to establish and maintain effective contacts and relationships with senior and influential external individuals and bodies.

• The ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with a wide range of people both verbally and in writing including the media, community groups, other NGO representatives, government, industry leaders, supporters and followers on social media.

• Exceptional IT literacy and a head for figures and budgeting.

• Ability to work independently and take initiative to solve problems.

• Ability to work flexible hours as necessary.

• A good team player with a willingness to muck in as and where required.

• Ability to think clearly even when working under pressure.

• A passion for River Action’s mission and vision.

Diversity and Inclusion

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies show that women and people of colour are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single criteria. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace. So if you like the look of this role but your past experience does not align perfectly with everything in the job description, we would still like to hear from you. You may be just the right person for this or other roles. 

How to apply

To apply, please submit to jobs at riveractionuk dot com with the subject ‘Head of Campaigns’’:

• your CV (2 pages max), 

• a cover letter (2 pages max) explaining why you want to work for River Action and how your skills and experience meet the requirements of the role, and 

• a written submission (2 pages) as described below. 

Only applications including all three documents will be accepted. Please provide your documents in pdf format. 

Written submission

River Action is looking to develop a campaign around water security in the UK to launch in 2027. Please put together a campaign brief setting out the challenges faced, how we would develop and deliver this campaign including campaign asks; campaign outcomes; public, political and legal tactics; routes for funding and resource requirements.

Your campaign brief should be no longer than 2 sides of A4. 

Application process

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until 23:59 on 19th July.

Should your application be shortlisted, the next stage will involve an initial 30 minute interview on 28th July via video conference. You may then be invited to attend a second interview with a panel on 3rd August. 

Please indicate in your covering letter or in a covering email your availability for interviews on these dates.

If you have any questions about the role or your application, please contact us on jobs at riveractionuk dot com.

Earthwatch is recruiting a temporary Project Manager for twelve months within our Programmes team. This role requires a driven and well-organised individual to plan and deliver projects with a focus on urban nature, early career scientist engagement and community engagement activities.

You will be the central point of contact for multiple internal and external stakeholders. You will ideally have experience in working with local authorities, corporates, communities and/or schools. You will be required to travel to project sites across the UK to support with delivery of community and school events. You will be effective at planning and working to agreed / developing processes to deliver results, demonstrating collaborative working across different partners, internal teams and functions. You are able to set and communicate priorities effectively and deliver project objectives to time and budget.

At Earthwatch we work together with businesses, scientists, civil society and policy-makers to drive the change we need to live within our means and in balance with nature.

About the role

Do you have a passion for delivering impactful environmental projects and restoring rivers for people and nature?

We are looking for an experienced Project Manager to join our Restoring Rivers & Catchments team. In this role, you will oversee a portfolio of large-scale environmental projects, typically valued between £300,000 and £1 million, working with key partners including water companies, the Environment Agency, local authorities and consultants.

From river restoration and habitat creation to fish passage improvements, floodplain reconnection and water quality schemes, you will play a vital role in ensuring projects are delivered successfully and achieve meaningful environmental outcomes.

Working closely with project leads and multidisciplinary teams, you will provide oversight of project performance, governance, budgets and stakeholder relationships, helping to ensure projects are delivered on time, within budget and to the highest standards.

What you'll be doing

• Managing a portfolio of environmental projects from initiation through to completion.

• Building and maintaining strong relationships with clients, funders, regulators and delivery partners.

• Monitoring project budgets, programmes, risks and quality to ensure successful delivery.

• Working collaboratively with project leads and colleagues to plan resources and resolve challenges.

• Producing reports and updates for stakeholders, regulators and the Trust's Leadership Team.

• Coordinating project meetings, tracking actions and ensuring robust project governance.

• Collating evidence and documentation required by funders and regulators.

• Supporting and mentoring colleagues with project management best practice where appropriate.

• Helping to drive efficient, collaborative and effective project delivery across the team.

About you

You are an organised and confident project professional with a proven track record of managing complex projects and budgets. You have excellent communication and relationship-building skills and are comfortable working with a wide range of stakeholders to achieve shared objectives.

You are proactive, solutions-focused and able to balance multiple priorities while maintaining attention to detail. You enjoy working collaboratively, can influence and engage others effectively, and remain calm when managing competing demands.

Experience of environmental project delivery, working with water companies or delivering WINEP schemes would be advantageous, as would an understanding of river restoration, catchment management or environmental regulation.

Most importantly, you share our commitment to creating healthier rivers and are excited by the opportunity to make a lasting difference to the natural environment.

Why work with us?

You’ll be joining a supportive, values-led organisation where your work really matters.

We offer flexible hybrid working, opportunities to build Project Management experience, and the chance to be part of a team making a positive impact for the environment

Site locations

The SERT region, covers the south east of England, extending from Hampshire in the west to Kent in the east, with the northern border being south of the Thames, extending down to the English Channel.

Our office is based in Leatherhead which you will be required to attend up to 4 times a month.

The amount of travel required depends on the role, and can be extensive. Most travel for an individual will be to work on project sites, which can be remote, or attending external meetings within the SERT region. The geographical range and frequency of travel is role dependent.

To support travel costs, SERT pays mileage at the current HMRC amount for travel within the SERT region. We do not pay mileage, time or any other costs for travel outside the SERT region, nor for any commutes to the office. Toll charges cannot be claimed.

Interested?

Apply now, see the full job description for more information Project Manager Job Description

Application process:

• Closing date for applications: Sunday 26th July at 11.59pm

• Interviews online: Monday 3rd - Friday 14th August

• We reserve the right to close this job advert early

For further information on the application process please see our FAQ's

Strategic Partnership Development Manager

Contract type: Permanent, Full-time, 35 hours per week

Location: London, UK

UK hybrid working – a minimum of 40% of working time is spent face-to-face (London office, external meetings or travel). 60/40 hybrid working at WaterAid means roughly three days wherever you work best and two days together in person.
 

Salary: £47,423 per year with excellent benefits

*We offer competitive, market-aligned starting salaries. While most roles are offered at the advertised starting salary, we may adjust this in exceptional cases depending on a candidate’s experience, skills, and potential.

Change starts with water. Change starts with you.

Every day, millions of people live without clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. WaterAid exists to change that – for everyone, everywhere. Join us, and your energy will help unlock people’s potential and create a fairer future.

About WaterAid

We’re a global federation driven by one vision: a world where everyone, everywhere has clean water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030. Powered by our values of Respect, Accountability, Courage, Collaboration, Integrity and Innovation, we work alongside communities, partners and supporters to make change happen.

About the team

The Corporate Partnerships Team is responsible for developing high value, high impact strategic partnerships with companies, where the value goes beyond financial alone to meaningfully contribute towards WaterAid’s mission, including finding ways to contribute to programmatic, policy and advocacy objectives.

About the role

As our proactive and driven Strategic Partnership Development Manager you will lead partnership development for a range of priority corporate sectors - working closely with global partnerships, programmes and policy colleagues - to secure new multi-year partnerships and drive sustainable change.

In this role, you will:

• Lead on partnership development for strategically important sectors including food and beverage and agriculture, as well as other sectors to be determined. Effectively utilising your commercial awareness and corporate partnerships expertise to present WaterAid’s partnerships offering and value-add externally to these industries.
• Develop and manage a pipeline of potential high value, annual and multi-year new business opportunities, ensuring there is sufficient lead generation, active movement and conversion to secure annual and multi-year 6-figure+ partnerships.
• Collaborate with colleagues across the WaterAid federation including partnerships, communications, programmes and advocacy to identify and develop high-quality propositions that meet both partner and WaterAid needs.
• Lead WaterAid’s presence at global events and conferences, building a network of contacts amongst companies and actively cultivating this network.
• Champion WaterAid’s commitment to equity, inclusion and safeguarding.

Requirements

To be successful, you will need:

• Proven experience in generating six-figure strategic, new business partnerships from cold in the charity sector or in a commercial setting and proven ability to meet and exceed personal targets.
• An externally focused and proactive attitude, with the energy and passion to engage people and excite them about WaterAid, alongside the ability to forge effective working relationships with stakeholders at all levels, including internal and external C-suite.
• Excellent presentation, verbal and written communication skills with an aptitude for writing high-quality and engaging proposals for a corporate audience.
• Strong working understanding of charity-corporate partnerships, corporate sustainability, Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Although not essential, we’d prefer you to have:

• Understanding and experience of international development
• Understanding of and active interest in the agriculture and food & beverage sectors, including key materially important sustainability topics.

Closing date: Applications close 12:00 PM UK time on the 10th July 2026. 

How to apply: Click Apply to complete the pre-screening questions and upload your CV.

Can I use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in my application?

At WaterAid, we strongly advise against using AI technology at any stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure a fair and transparent process that provides every applicant with an equal opportunity to succeed. We value hearing about your unique experiences and perspectives in your application, and, if shortlisted, during the interview as well.

Pre‑employment screening

To apply for this role, you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in the respective country. All pre-employment checks will be carried out according to local law and WaterAid’s Safer Recruitment policy. All UK based roles require a basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Benefits

• 36 days’ holiday (including 8 Bank Holidays)
• Option to buy an extra 5 days’ annual leave
• Employer pension contribution up to 10 %
• Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
• Season ticket loan
• Free annual eye tests
• ‘Give as you Earn’ charitable giving scheme
• Enhanced parental leave (maternity, adoption/surrogacy, shared parental and paternity)
• Sabbaticals
• One paid volunteer day each year

As part of our annual leave policy, all employees receive three additional days of annual leave on top of their standard allocation of 25 days. These days are designated to cover the period when our UK office closes between Christmas and New Year, allowing all UK WaterAiders to take a well-deserved break.

These days are automatically scheduled and cannot be changed or moved. Annual leave is accrued based on your start date. If sufficient leave has not been accrued by the time of the closure, the 3 days will be taken as unpaid leave or pro-rated, depending on your circumstances.

Our People Promise

We will work with passion and focus to make sure everyone everywhere has clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. WaterAid is a place of purpose – where people have a real commitment and shared responsibility for the impact we have. We are a global community with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, motivated by inspiring, stimulating work. We are determined to be a place where people feel safe and able to contribute their voice and truly live our values.

Equal Opportunities

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, beliefs, customs, traditions, ways of life and status. This includes, but is not limited to, race, ethnicity, caste, colour, gender, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, disability status, neurodiversity, age, marital and family status, sexual orientation and gender identity, health status, place of residence, economic and social situation.

Safeguarding

We are committed to protecting everyone we come into contact with. We have a zero- tolerance approach to abuse of power, privilege or trust across our global work, and to any form of inappropriate behaviour, discrimination, abuse, bullying, harassment, or exploitation. Safeguarding the people and communities we work with, our staff, volunteers and anyone working on our behalf is our top priority, and we take our responsibilities extremely seriously. All offers of employment are subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks (which can include counterterrorism, safeguarding and criminal records checks).

Together, we’ll change the world through water.

Join us and be part of the change!

Charity People is delighted to be partnering with Amref Health Africa UK to recruit for their next Senior Data & Insights Officer.

Senior Data & Insights Officer

Location: Hybrid - home working with time in the London (Bermondsey) office
Salary: £28,800 (£36,000 FTE)
Hours: 28 hours / 4 days per week
Contract: Permanent
Closing date: 6^th July
Interview date: 1^st interview w/c 13^th July (virtual) and 2^nd interview w/c 20^th July (in person)

Are you looking for a role where your technical expertise can support truly life-changing work, while also giving you the flexibility, trust and balance that can be hard to find elsewhere? Amref Health Africa UK is looking for a collaborative, data-savvy professional to take ownership of a pivotal role at the heart of a friendly, purpose-led team.

Why This Role Matters

This is a chance to help shape how a remarkable charity uses data to deepen supporter engagement, strengthen fundraising and make smarter decisions across the organisation. You will be the go-to person for data and insight, helping colleagues turn information into action and ensuring systems, reporting and processes genuinely support growth.

About Amref Health Africa UK

Amref Health Africa is the largest Africa-based international health development organisation, working in 35 countries to bring about lasting health change. Its programmes span maternal and child health, disease prevention, water and sanitation, health financing, and wider social determinants such as education, gender and climate resilience. The UK team exists to grow support for this work and is known for being warm, collaborative and deeply committed to the mission. It is a small organisation where people know each other well, work closely together and genuinely value kindness, flexibility and shared purpose.

What You'll Do

• Lead the day-to-day use, maintenance and improvement of Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• Develop reports, dashboards and visualisations that support fundraising and decision-making
• Translate complex data into clear, accessible insight for non-technical colleagues
• Work across teams to improve processes, data quality and ways of working
• Support data governance, compliance and integrations with other systems
• Build confidence across the organisation by providing practical support and training

What You'll Bring

• At least 3 years' CRM experience, ideally including Microsoft Dynamics
• Strong reporting and data visualisation skills, ideally with experience using tools such as Power BI or Qlik
• The ability to communicate confidently with a wide range of stakeholders
• A collaborative approach and the confidence to build trust, offer solutions and challenge constructively
• Excellent attention to detail, sound judgement and a genuine interest in helping colleagues use data well
• Charity sector experience would be very welcome, particularly in a mission-led, collaborative environment.

What's In It For You

• A genuinely flexible part-time role, with scope to shape working patterns in a way that works for you
• Hybrid working with a practical, trust-based approach to office time
• A supportive, close-knit team where people enjoy working together
• A strong pension contribution, enhanced parental leave, volunteering leave and a personal celebration day
• 25 days' annual leave, rising with service, plus bank holidays and additional time off over Christmas
• The opportunity to use your skills in a role with real purpose, autonomy and impact.

Success Looks Like (6 Months In)

• You are confidently managing CRM workflows and reporting
• You have built strong, credible relationships across the team
• Colleagues trust you as a valued expert and partner
• Your insight is helping to shape smarter decisions and stronger fundraising outcomes.

Before you decide whether or not to apply, please ensure you have read all of the information provided above and make sure that you have the relevant skills and experience for the role.

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.