Benefits: 39 days annual leave (including bank holidays), company pension
Lead. Inspire. Serve. Transform Lives.
Are you a Christian leader with a heart for young people and a passion for community transformation?
Do you believe in the God-given value and potential of every person?
Are you ready to guide one of the country’s oldest and most trusted Christian youth movements into its next chapter?
YMCA North Staffordshire is seeking an exceptional Christian Chief Executive Officer to lead our mission, embody our values, and continue shaping a movement that is transforming the lives of thousands of young people and families.
With a proud 160-year history and an award-winning campus at the heart of Stoke-on-Trent, this is a rare opportunity to lead a charity that is deeply rooted in Christian faith, committed to radical inclusion, and driven by a vision where all young people can belong, contribute and thrive.
Our Christian Vision and Values
YMCA North Staffordshire is an inclusive Christian movement.
Our mission flows directly from our faith and is grounded in four core values:
PROTECT
We provide sanctuary and safety, ensuring every young person feels seen, valued, and respected.
HOPE
We see young people not through the lens of their past, but their God-given potential.
PERSEVERE
We walk with young people through challenges, setbacks, and breakthroughs.
TRUST
We act with integrity, accountability, and belief in the dignity of every human being.
Because these values are Christian in origin and practice, and because the CEO is the guardian of our mission, this role has a Genuine Occupational Requirement (GOR) for the postholder to be a practising Christian.
About the Role
Reporting to the Board of Trustees, the CEO will lead an organisation of 130 staff, a £5m+ budget, and a £35m estate, helping strengthen community through youth development, education, housing, healthy living, and social responsibility.
The next CEO will:
- Provide strategic leadership to deliver the 2026–2029 Business Plan
- Champion youth voice and empowerment in all areas of work
- Sustain and grow financial strength, partnerships, and social enterprise
- Uphold and deepen our Christian identity, ensuring values-led practice
- Drive innovation, digital transformation, and organisational development
- Represent YMCA NS locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally
- Be a visible advocate for young people in Stoke-on-Trent
- Strengthen our “village” culture: welcoming, relational, rooted in Ubuntu and Asset-Based Community Development principles (ABCD).
Purpose of the Role
To lead YMCA North Staffordshire in fulfilling its Christian mission, as described in the Associations charitable objectives
We develop young people; they develop their world.
Key Responsibilities
- Strategic leadership in alignment with Board governance
- Upholding Christian ethos, values, and culture across the organisation
- Financial stewardship, compliance, and sustainability
- Community development and partnership building
- Youth advocacy and empowerment
- Oversight of housing, programmes, and impact measurement
- Staff leadership, pastoral care, and organisational culture
- External representation and communications
Person Specification – Summary
Knowledge
- Housing, youth services, and community development
- Charity law, governance, safeguarding
- Understanding of Christian ministry, mission, and values
- Organisational development and change leadership
Experience
- Senior leadership in values-led or Christian settings
- Track record of strategic development and organisational growth
- Experience working with young people, housing, or community sectors
- Experience nurturing Christian ethos across a diverse organisation
Skills & Abilities
- Inspirational leadership and people development
- Strategic planning and delivery
- Excellent communicator and ambassador
- Partnership building and stakeholder engagement
- Ability to articulate and embody Christian faith
- Deep commitment to Christian values and the Aims & Purposes of the YMCA
The Leader We Are Looking For
The landscape for young people is changing — and so must we.
We need a CEO who is:
- Faith-filled and prayerful
- Values-driven and courageous
- Relational, compassionate, and community-minded
- A champion of excellence, innovation, and good governance
- Grounded in Christian mission and committed to radical inclusion
- Able to inspire hope, build trust, and persevere through challenge
As George Williams, YMCA’s founder, said:
“You are not alone, and you can be more.”
Our next CEO must believe this not only for themselves — but for every young person we serve.
How to apply
An application pack can be found at the YMCA North Staffordshire website. This role is subject to enhanced DBS and reference checks.
Key Recruitment Dates
- Closing Date: 18th January 2026
- Interviews: Week commencing 9th February 2026
We are a safe recruitment Organisation and an Equal Opportunities Employer, we run the disability confident guaranteed interview scheme.
We are an organisation with Christian values, committed to Equality and Diversity in the Workplace. YMCA is committed to the safeguarding of children, young people and vulnerable adults.
Registered Charity The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Salary: £34,596.75 per annum plus £5023.71 London weighting allowance
Location: Old Street with hybrid working
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time 37.5 hours
Closing date:Sunday the 25th of January at 11:30pm
Are you passionate about engaging supporters, being audience-led, and building outstanding supporter journeys, with a proven track record of working on projects and campaigns to engage, retain and develop supporters or customers across a range of direct marketing and digital channels? Then join Shelter as Senior Direct Marketing Executive in our Retention team and you could soon be putting your skills and experience to excellent use at the heart of our Individual Giving team.
About the role
This pivotal role will see you working with colleagues across the IG team and with wider fundraising colleagues to deliver the Individual Giving (IG) and Retention strategies, working to:
- Increase lifetime value of cash, regular giving and lottery supporters
- Manage key projects and exceptional fundraising campaigns with significant income and expenditure targets
- Give supporters more control of how they give, when we contact them and the content that will mean most to them at their stage in their supporter journey.
- Make sure that each campaign builds strong supporter relationships and long-term commitment to Shelter
- Develop inspiring multi-channel integrated campaigns to create accurate, consistent and engaging experiences at every supporter touchpoint.
- You’ll have the opportunity to deliver audience-led new product and propositions to engage and retain supporters in innovative ways.
- You’ll work across teams as part of our matrix colleague, collaborating on new strategies for creating
- Manage budgets for individual campaigns and help with forecasting income and expenditure targets
About you
Passionate about outstanding supporter experiences and maximising income opportunities, you have demonstrated experience of direct marketing and digital channels such as direct mail, SMS, telemarketing and email.
You’re also used to optimising and reviewing campaigns and aren’t afraid to share both failures and successes. You’ll be highly collaborative, flexible and diplomatic in your approach to managing internal and external stakeholders to deliver results.
What’s more, you excel in analysis and intelligent use of data, are great at utilising insight, including the motivations, interests and behaviours of supporters to guide decisions and have a demonstrated knowledge of project management and development, and will be able to manage multiple projects at once.
You’re happy to challenge the status quo and introduce new ideas, methods and processes too, like to horizon scan and keep ahead of emerging trends and are comfortable working in matrix teams.
Apply to be part of our team and be the change you want to see in society.
Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave, enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.
Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice, support and legal services. And we campaign to make sure that, one day, no one will have to turn to us for help. We’re here so no one has to fight bad housing or homelessness on their own.
We are happy to talk about flexible working, personal growth, and to promote a workplace where you can be yourself and achieve success based only on your merit.
About the team
Our Individual Giving team sits within our successful, growing Income Generation directorate and consists of three programmes - Supporter Acquisition, Direct Dialogue and Supporter Retention and Development. Together, we deliver a diverse programme of work with ambitious income targets that support our organisational strategy, across cash, regular giving and lottery products. We’ve grown quite a bit over the past few years and benefitted from both investment and opportunity for innovation. That’s resulted in us generating over £20m of unrestricted income every year. We’re also welcoming and supportive, firmly believe in developing our people and can offer you every opportunity to progress.
How to apply
Please click ‘Apply for Job’ below. You are required to submit a CV and a supporting statement. Please provide specific examples of how you meet the criteria in the 'About you' section of this advert approximately 1 page in length, following the STAR format, and ensure you demonstrate how you address the following behaviours listed below throughout your responses:
- We enable decision making
- We create change and align behind our strategy
- We are open to risks and learning from our experiences
Any applications submitted without a supporting statement will not be considered.
About Shelter
Home is a human right. It’s our foundation and where we thrive. Yet everyday millions of people are being devastated by the housing emergency.
We exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything.
We need ambitious, passionate people to join us. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.
Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. To win this fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, equitable and transparent. We are committed to combating racism both within and outside Shelter. We welcome you on our journey to becoming truly anti-racist.
Safeguarding statement
Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.
Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.
More than 1000
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.