Education Jobs

The Task Ahead: Finance Manager

As The Difference moves from its early start-up phase into the delivery of our 2025-30 strategy, our programmes and sector-influencing work are expanding to reach more schools and to deepen our impact. Alongside this growth, our team - and the operational function which supports them - is also growing.

As Finance Manager, you will be a key member of the Finance & Operations team. You will hold end-to-end responsibility for the finance function, from reconciliations to budgeting. You will decide where and how our existing processes could be improved, as well as developing new systems that will underpin our work as a larger and more established charity. You will be supported by the Director of People, Finance & Operations, as well as our external auditors.

The Difference is still a small and growing charity. This means that our work is fast-paced, our roles are broad, and there is a culture of being reactive and flexible, as the needs of the organisation evolve. If this sounds exciting rather than daunting, then this could be the role and team for you!

Areas of Responsibility

The Difference is looking for a Finance Manager to lead our finance function in the following ways:

• Oversee our internal bookkeeping, payment, and accounting processes, and improve these systems ongoingly.

• Lead on budgeting and forecasting across the organisation, supporting teams to predict income and expenditure and make sound financial decisions.

• Lead on the production of management accounting information, including internal monthly management accounts, quarterly reports for Trustees, and financial reports for investors.

• Lead on The Difference’s audit process, with external auditors.

• Work with the Development & Impact Manager to update fundraising pipelines, and ensure the availability of high quality income projections for Trustees.

• Support accurate budgeting and reporting for grant funding, including tracking spend of restricted funds.

• Support business planning by working with teams to model potential future work - e.g. costs of expansion of an existing programme; modelling potential new programmes.

Person Specification

Essential – We are looking for the following skills, aptitude and experience; though you may be stronger in some areas than others:

• Values – Your experience evidences shared values with The Difference (see below) and a personal commitment to our mission to improve life outcomes for vulnerable people.

• Finance experience, operational and strategic – Experience across all areas of finance, from accurate invoicing, payments and record-keeping, through to setting and managing budgets, financial modelling and forecasting, and working with external accountants or auditors.

• Finance process development – Experience of developing finance systems; the ability to recognise how processes could be continuously improved, and enact this improvement.

• Leadership of self and others – Confident in identifying skills or information gaps within your team, and drawing on the expertise of others to address these gaps. Able to show how you've continually grown your own skills and those of your team members so that together you can efficiently cover workload and plan ahead.

• Proactive problem-solving – Ability to thrive in a fast-paced start-up environment and to problem-solve: from rolling sleeves up and diving into detail to working collaboratively to build capacity.

Desired – You are more likely to be successful in your application if you have one or more of the following additional experiences: 

• Accounting qualification and experience - Some form of accounting qualification and post-qualification experience.

• Early-stage charity/social enterprise experience – You may have specific experience growing charities or businesses for social good at the early or start-up phase.

• Experience of charity finances – You may have worked for or supported other charities, and have experience of working with philanthropic grants, charity accounting, and governance.

• Insight into schools – You may have experience working in the education sector, whether that’s through working for a business or charities that partnered with schools, or through working in a school yourself. 

Why Work for The Difference?

Schooling isn’t working for the children who need it most. Every week in England 109 children – equivalent to three full classrooms – are permanently excluded. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Since the pandemic, school suspensions have risen significantly, as has persistent absenteeism. 1 in 5 children are missing more than 10% of their time in school. Children who are excluded or persistently absent are much more likely to already be experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage. They are more likely to live in poverty, have additional learning needs, suffer mental health challenges, or experience a lack of safety outside school. Certain ethnicities are also disproportionately affected, notably Gypsy Roma Traveller and black Caribbean children. 

Exclusion and high rates of absence can have a dramatic effect on life chances. These young people are more likely to drop out of education or employment, become vulnerable to long-term mental ill health, or be at risk of criminal exploitation. The Difference believes that children and young people deserve better and that the education system has to change.

Our Organisation 

The Difference is a young education charity, founded to change the story on lost learning.  By 2030, we want rates of exclusion and absence to be falling nationally and for schools to be better equipped to support all children, including those who may be vulnerable. The Difference was born out of a year of research into school exclusions with think-tank IPPR. This research identified a lack of inclusion expertise in schools and proposed a new leadership development programme to fill this gap. In 2018, Difference founder Kiran hired the team who took this idea from concept to reality, beginning work with our first schools.

The Difference is now a 22-strong team delivering multiple school leadership programmes, alongside a growing research and policy arm. The team is supported by our Youth Advisory Board, made up of young people who have experienced exclusion and who provide their expertise and insights on how school inclusion work should be done. This work is needed more than ever. Effects of COVID-19, coupled with the spiralling cost of living, have substantially increased levels of vulnerability. Schools serving excluded pupils face under-funding. The Difference has had excellent early impact but there is work ahead to capture this, share learning with schools and policy-makers, and grow our capacity to lower exclusions across England.

Our Values

• High Expectations - We are ambitious for excellence from young people, colleagues and ourselves.  We don’t believe in writing off someone’s potential because of their identity or experience of crisis. 

• Strong Relationships - We prioritise genuine relationships over transactional interactions, and know that this requires deliberate relational practice. We see colleagues and partners as people first and their roles second; and know this greater trust allows us to take more risks, gain more feedback and have greater impact.

• Internalised Locus of Control - We work hard to reframe difficult situations to discover what we have within our power in terms of solutions. We take it upon ourselves to walk towards challenges and can take a high level of ownership and agency in our work/

• Pragmatism - We believe leadership means recognising current limitations and striving for improvements within and beyond them.  We develop consensus and chart new ways forward, challenging false and extreme positions like “zero exclusions” or “no excuses”.

• Scientific approach - We take a diagnostic approach to unpicking causes of problems. We are loud and proud of our failures, recognising failing fast and often is key to finding the best solutions. We test solutions and are willing to use data and feedback to make adjustments and choose new directions. 

• Not Squeamish about Structural Inequality - We believe patterns of inequality can and should be disrupted. We strive to be clear-eyed about these inequalities, and both the individual practice and system-changes required to address them. We push ourselves to overcome awkwardness in talking about this; and begin by acknowledging our own biases and blind spots.

• Asset-based - We work hard to avoid deficit thinking and aim to start with what’s strong, not what’s wrong. We are careful not to frame our colleagues and stakeholders - particularly young people and families – as victims but instead to recognise their agency.

• Wise selves - To both enjoy work and do their best, we want to make decisions and work with others in our “wise” - or regulated - selves. We also want to bring our compassionate self to those we work with, externally and internally, to support one another through challenging times. 

How To Apply 

To apply, please complete all sections of the application form by midnight on Sunday 19th May.

First round interviews will be held during the week beginning 27th May, over video call. Please indicate if you would not be available to attend an interview during this week.

If successful in this stage, second round interviews (including a task to be completed the same day) will take place on the week beginning 3rd June, at our office in Bethnal Green. 

We are committed to building a diverse team and strongly encourage applications from under-represented groups in the charity sector such as people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, people with experience in the care system, non-graduates and first-in-family graduates. 

As part of our commitment to fairer recruitment, all applications will be assessed with names and any protected characteristics redacted.

Recommended Reading 

If you’d like to understand more about The Difference and what we are trying to achieve, we would recommend the following:

• The research which underpins our organisation.

• Our latest Impact Report, sharing our work in 2023

Unifrog’s mission
 

We’re on a mission to level the playing field when it comes to young people finding and applying for their next step after school. We're achieving this by bringing all the available information into one single, impartial, user-friendly platform that helps students to make the best choices, and submit the strongest applications. We also empower teachers and counsellors to manage the progression process effectively.

Our outlook is global - we work with schools and universities all over the world, from the US to New Zealand, and from Italy to Hong Kong. We want to make it so that young people can compare every opportunity taught in English, wherever it is in the world, and have all the support they need to make successful applications.

We have a clear social purpose, and we’re hugely ambitious. We already work with over half of UK secondary schools, and hundreds of international schools. We are growing rapidly in terms of the number of our customers, in terms of how much they use our platform, and in terms of the breadth of products we offer (check out this video to hear more about the Unifrog platform).

Our team is at the heart of our business and is integral to our success. We work hard to foster a culture of openness, happiness and innovation, and we commit to helping every individual learn and grow so that they can reach their full potential. We want to hire talented people, whatever their background. If you are excited by our mission and are ready to work hard, please don’t hesitate to apply. We look forward to hearing from you!

We believe in the power of diversity. If you are from an ethnic minority background, we would like to strongly encourage you to apply. 
 

Content at Unifrog

Whether we are communicating through images, video or text, we always try to be straightforward, honest, and to show respect for the people with whom we are communicating. 

Clear communication is particularly important for us because our mission is to level the playing field when it comes to access to opportunities, and a big part of this effort is fair and straightforward access to information. It’s also important for us to be fun, while not talking down to young people. 

Over the last few years, with only a small and mostly non-specialist team, we have created hundreds of videos aimed at students and teachers. We now have an exciting slate of new video projects that we want to produce. We want to use video: 

• To develop some of the most popular parts of the Unifrog platform, currently used by hundreds of thousands of young people every week to explore different careers, different subjects at university, and topics that matter to them like Climate Change and Wellbeing.

• To help us create brand new tools within the platform, expanding what Unifrog offers to young people, and how we interact with external partners like employers and universities.

We also want to improve the quality of the videos we create, making them slicker and more useful to our users.

What you’ll lead on

As an Assistant Video Editor, your role will be to edit new videos for students aged 11-18. You will also help to keep our existing content up to date and in line with our high standards. Unifrog publishes videos and written content on a variety of topics for students including: applying for university in the UK and overseas, preparing for college or work, and taking care of your wellbeing. 

Check out some of our recent videos to get an idea of what we work on:

• Employer Profile

• Careers Library Guide

Your key responsibilities:

• Video editing

  • Edit and polish videos for various sections on our platform, including University Profiles, Employer Profiles, and Careers Library Profiles, with a keen eye for detail and quality.

  • Work within assigned deadlines to ensure timely delivery of videos.

  • Mix and equalise interview audio with soundtracks to create a seamless viewing experience for our users.

  • Implement pre-existing video templates and consistently improve them over time to ensure visual consistency across all platform sections.

  • Edit webinars and internal videos to meet platform requirements and user expectations.

• Communication

  • Maintain effective communication with the Video Team, including project managers, producers, and other stakeholders, to ensure that video projects meet the required standards and are delivered on time.

  • Proactively suggest creative and innovative ideas to improve the quality of our videos and enhance the viewing experience for students.

• Quality Control

  • Perform quality checks on all videos before they are published to the platform, ensuring that they meet the required standards for visual and audio quality, accuracy, and completeness.

  • Monitor subtitles generated by in-house subtitling software and performing a complete quality-check before making the video live on the platform

Working together

You’ll be managed by our Post Production Manager, and work closely with an in-house Video Producer/Director and Video Editor. You will also work with our partner-facing teams, as well as with external bodies where necessary.

The Video Team is part of a wider Content Team, where we often brainstorm new ideas as a group, provide feedback on each other’s work, and get feedback from teachers and students at our partner schools. We promote good ideas regardless of where they come from.

What we’re looking for

• Excellent technical skills

  • You need to be highly proficient at using Adobe Premiere to edit your projects as well as a basic understanding of After Effects.

  • Basic understanding of audio editing software to sound-mix and equalise interviews with soundtracks.

• Strong planning and organising skills

  • You will need to be able to prioritise your workload and manage competing demands, and ensure that upcoming shoots are prepared for.

• Effective and efficient at managing media

• Self aware and able to respond effectively to feedback

• Ability to take direction and follow project briefs

• Proactive nature and self-starter attitude

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

• Keen attention to detail, ensuring videos are edited to a high standard

Benefits

Head to our jobs page for a full list of the excellent benefits we offer our team.

• Join one of ‘the best organisations to escape to’ and help transform careers and destinations in schools. 

• Become part of a committed, dynamic, and growing company. We want to build our team for the long term: if you do well, we will do our best to make sure you want to stay at the company for a long time.

• Professional development is important at Unifrog. You will define your own 6-month objectives and will be supported by your line manager and the rest of the team to achieve them. You will have an annual training allowance to spend on what you need to grow and progress.

• Influence the company’s direction: we love to promote great ideas, wherever they come from.

Key details

• Start date: as soon as possible, though we will be flexible for the right candidates.

• £31,500 per year (Grade A) and a share in a company-wide performance bonus.

• Full-time. 12 month fixed term contract.

• Work remotely, or flexibly in our London office.

• Working hours are 9:00am to 5:00pm, Monday to Thursday, and 9:00am to 4:30pm on Friday.

• 28 days paid holiday per year (plus bank holidays).

• We can only consider candidates who have the right to work in the UK.

Application process

• Deadline: 10:00AM (BST) on Tuesday 7th May 2024

• Stage 1: Application form (~1 hour) ✍️

• Visit our website to upload your CV and complete the questions and tasks below. Please note that we do not review CVs at this stage of the application process so please be as specific as possible about your experience.

• i. Post a link (WeTransfer, Dropbox, Google Drive or similar) to 3 examples of your best work including a link to your showreel/website if you have one. Across these 3 examples, you should show off your skills in editing. If you were working with others to create this work, please explain what you did.

• ii. ‘Here is an example of a Unifrog case study (link to the video).Please outline your approach to editing such a case study, from receiving the footage to delivering the final cut. Explain the stages involved your decision-making process for cuts, transitions, music, and any additional elements you might consider.’ (250 words)

• iii. With reference to the job description and your experience, what makes you an excellent candidate for this role? (250 words)

Stage 2: Task (~3 hours)  

• We will share with you examples of our visual style, plus some footage we have shot, and you will have a week to send us a short edit back.

• Given the time this task can take, we will send £60 to people who participate in this round (within 1-2 working days after the task has been received).

• Stage 3: Video call interview (1 hour) ��

  • Standard Q&A from a panel of three, including questions about your experiences and how these relate to the role, and scenario questions based on common situations you might face (plus time for your questions).

• Video call interviews will be held on w/c 20th May 2024.

• Your answers are an opportunity to let us know more about your motivations and experience. While we understand that candidates might want to use AI to improve parts of their application, we strongly encourage you to write your answers independently. 

• Please note, we compare all answers to an AI generated answer. Where we suspect AI has been used to write the majority of the answer, this will be taken into consideration when scoring

Inclusion and diversity at Unifrog

• Within the company we try to foster a culture of innovation, and a happy working environment, both because this is the right thing to do, and because we think this results in the most effective team. To this end we believe in open communication, celebrating successes, supporting each other, not being afraid to be wrong or to fail, and promoting good ideas wherever they come from.

• As a platform that supports teachers and students from a huge variety of backgrounds it’s important that our team and leadership reflects this diversity. This is something we are actively working towards and prioritising. We want to embed diversity, equity and inclusion across everything we do, continually evaluating policies and practices to make sure they are inclusive and equitable.

• To make sure everyone’s voice is heard and people have the opportunities to learn to be better allies in the workplace, we encourage the team to share what they’re celebrating, facilitate training and group discussions, and seek regular feedback about what more the company could do to help people feel included.

• To ensure that our recruitment process is consistent and fair, we anonymise your application and therefore do not see your name, personal, educational or professional background. We also randomise the order of responses so that it’s less likely that a candidate is advantaged or disadvantaged by where their answers appear compared to other candidates.

Unifrog’s mission
 

We’re on a mission to level the playing field when it comes to young people finding and applying for their next step after school. We're achieving this by bringing all the available information into one single, impartial, user-friendly platform that helps students to make the best choices, and submit the strongest applications. We also empower teachers and counsellors to manage the progression process effectively.

Our outlook is global - we work with schools and universities all over the world, from the US to New Zealand, and from Italy to Hong Kong. We want to make it so that young people can compare every opportunity taught in English, wherever it is in the world, and have all the support they need to make successful applications.

We have a clear social purpose, and we’re hugely ambitious. We already work with over half of UK secondary schools, and hundreds of international schools. We are growing rapidly in terms of the number of our customers, in terms of how much they use our platform, and in terms of the breadth of products we offer (check out this video to hear more about the Unifrog platform).

Our team is at the heart of our business and is integral to our success. We work hard to foster a culture of openness, happiness and innovation, and we commit to helping every individual learn and grow so that they can reach their full potential. We want to hire talented people, whatever their background. If you are excited by our mission and are ready to work hard, please don’t hesitate to apply. We look forward to hearing from you!

We believe in the power of diversity. If you are from an ethnic minority background, we would like to strongly encourage you to apply. 

HE Partnerships at Unifrog

After successfully launching the HE Partnerships arm of Unifrog in 2020, we now support 175+ universities globally with raising brand awareness, inspiring the next generation, and developing a talented and diverse pipeline of prospective applicants. We also connect universities with teachers, advisors, and international school counselors through the Unifrog online community and in-person events.

Our focus remains on continuing to grow our global university partner numbers and building ever stronger relationships with our current partners. We are constantly exploring how we can develop our UK and international partnership offerings to make sure they are best-supporting universities in their marketing and recruitment aims, while at the same time making sure our student and teacher users have access to the best resources and opportunities possible.

There are three main areas of work:

1. Insights - We provide university partners with aggregated user data from the Unifrog platform to uncover trends at subject and regional levels, with the aim of informing universities’ marketing, recruitment, and portfolio planning.

2. Conferences, webinars, fairs, and other events - These in-person and online events enable universities to interact directly with our huge community of students and teachers. We’re focused on making them both useful and fun.

3. Content collaboration - We co-create written and video content for students and teachers to do with progression, learning, wellbeing, and careers, which all end up on the Unifrog platform. The content could be anything from interviews with an admissions tutor about how their institution is unique, to a guide on what career pathways are available after studying a particular subject, or a Course on how to approach medieval literature.

The foundational principle of our HE Partnerships work is that everything we do has to be useful to students and teachers.

The role and your key responsibilities

You’ll be responsible for the success of the HE Partnerships team. You’ll set the team’s overall approach, line manage the team, and be responsible for meeting our HE growth and partner retention targets. You’ll need to foster the positive and innovative team environment that we expect at Unifrog.

Here are some of the main responsibilities within this role:

• Work with other people at Unifrog to continually refine how we make sales and better support our partners through our partnership offering. For example, you’ll work with our Data analysis, Marketing, and Events teams to:

  • realise requests from partners for new data insights and reports 

  • identify insights and develop narratives for conference presentations

  • improve the events we run with universities

• Work with the New Business Lead (HE & Employers) to design and oversee the execution of different prospecting campaigns, always considering the audience (university’s location, job role of recipient, university’s priorities) and tailoring each campaign accordingly. 

  • You’ll need to assess which conferences, sponsorship, and other marketing opportunities we should take advantage of.

• Determine the timing and key messaging for communication with our HE partners, and work with our Marketing team to deliver this communication.

• Manage our relationships with HE network organisations (e.g. HELOA). Seek out further opportunities that help position us as thought leaders in the undergraduate recruitment and admissions spaces. 

• Line-manage the HE Partnerships team, for example:

  • Shadow HE Partnerships Managers on demos and review calls, supporting them to keep improving in their role.

  • Oversee successful partner engagement, auditing, and Matching campaign strategies led by our HE Partnerships Coordinator

  • Conduct Performance and Development Reviews with the HE Partnerships team. Support them with their personal development goals. 

• Be the point person for escalating issues related to partners at risk of not resubscribing.

• To help you stay close to the realities in the marketplace, you’ll manage a small number of university accounts, and be directly responsible for their growth and retention. 

Working together

You’ll line manage our four HE Partnership Managers (who are responsible for bringing new university partners on board and building upon the relationships we have with our current partners), our HE Partnerships Coordinator (who is responsible for tracking partner engagement, flagging universities of concern, and supporting better usage of partnership activities such as Matching campaigns), and work closely with other team members in our marketing, data analysis, content and school-facing teams. 

You’ll be line-managed by Unifrog’s Partnerships Director for International Schools and Higher Education.

What we’re looking for

• Resilient, and motivated to exceed targets

  • Our sales and resubscription targets are achievable but ambitious. You’ll need to be determined to meet and exceed them.

• Strong communication skills

  • You’ll be in frequent communication with many different people, both within Unifrog and externally – this will be in person, written, over the phone, and via video call. You’ll need to be an outstanding communicator.

• Personable, with a track record of excellent relationship management

  • At Unifrog we’re known for our excellent customer service. You’ll need to provide fantastic support for your partner universities and make sure your team are doing the same.

• Previous experience as a line manager

  • Supportive, motivational line management is a central element of this role. You’ll be helping your team both to meet their targets and to develop professionally.

• Sector insight 

  • We work with universities around the world that are often very different from each other; you need to be quick to understand how we can be useful to them, and how they can be useful to our students and teachers.

• Attention to detail

  • Whether it’s marketing collateral or a new Insights Report, it’s important you have the skills and discipline to carefully check our HE-focused content.

• Proactive attitude and willingness to get stuck in

  • You need to be excited about going beyond the core responsibilities detailed above to improve what we do and make it a success.

Benefits

Head to our jobs page for a full list of the excellent benefits we offer our team.

• Join one of ‘the best organisations to escape to’ and help transform careers and destinations in schools. 

• Become part of a committed, dynamic, and growing company. We want to build our team for the long term: if you do well, we will do our best to make sure you want to stay at the company for a long time.

• Professional development is important at Unifrog. You will define your own 6-month objectives and will be supported by your line manager and the rest of the team to achieve them. You will have an annual training allowance to spend on what you need to grow and progress.

• Influence the company’s direction: we love to promote great ideas, wherever they come from.
  
   

Key details

• £57,000 to £59,000 (Grade D) plus commission and a share in a company-wide performance bonus.

• Full-time. 

• 28 days paid holiday per year (plus bank holidays).

• Working hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday to Thursday, and 9:00 am to 4:30 pm on Friday.

• Work remotely or in our London office. (If remote, then some travel to London will be expected).

• Start date: as soon as possible, though we will be flexible for the right candidate. 

• We can only consider candidates who have the right to work in the UK.

Application process

• Deadline: 10:00AM (BST) on Tuesday 7th May 2024.

• Stage 1: Application form (~1 hour) ✍️

• Visit our website to upload your CV and complete the questions and tasks below. Please note that we do not review CVs at this stage of the application process so please be as specific as possible about your experience.

• i. Why do you want to work at Unifrog? (250 words)

• ii. With reference to the job description and your experience, what makes you an excellent candidate for this role? (250 words)

• iii. Tell us about a time you have had to meet or exceed targets. What was your approach? (250 words)

• Stage 2: The next stage of the application process will be two short tasks. We will schedule these tasks throughout the application window so we encourage you to apply early.

• Stage 3: Video call interview (1 hour) ��

• A short demonstration of a Unifrog tool (resources will be provided) (20 mins)

• Standard Q&A from a panel of three, including questions about your experiences and how these relate to the role, and scenario questions based on common situations you might face (plus time for your questions) (40 mins).

•  Video call interviews will be held w/c 20th May 2024.

• Your answers are an opportunity to let us know more about your motivations and experience. While we understand that candidates might want to use AI to improve parts of their application, we strongly encourage you to write your answers independently.

• Please note, we compare all answers to an AI generated answer. Where we suspect AI has been used to write the majority of the answer, this will be taken into consideration when scoring.

Inclusion and diversity at Unifrog
 

• Within the company we try to foster a culture of innovation, and a happy working environment, both because this is the right thing to do, and because we think this results in the most effective team. To this end we believe in open communication, celebrating successes, supporting each other, not being afraid to be wrong or to fail, and promoting good ideas wherever they come from.

• As a platform that supports teachers and students from a huge variety of backgrounds it’s important that our team and leadership reflects this diversity. This is something we are actively working towards and prioritising. We want to embed diversity, equity and inclusion across everything we do, continually evaluating policies and practices to make sure they are inclusive and equitable.

• To make sure everyone’s voice is heard and people have the opportunities to learn to be better allies in the workplace, we encourage the team to share what they’re celebrating, facilitate training and group discussions, and seek regular feedback about what more the company could do to help people feel included.

• To ensure that our recruitment process is consistent and fair, we anonymise your application and therefore do not see your name, personal, educational or professional background. We also randomise the order of responses so that it’s less likely that a candidate is advantaged or disadvantaged by where their answers appear compared to other candidates.

LSE is committed to building a diverse, equitable and truly inclusive university

Philanthropy and Global Engagement

Philanthropy Proposal Writer (maternity cover)

Salary from £50,606 to £58,505 pa inclusive with potential to progress to £65,157 pa inclusive of London allowance

This is a fixed term appointment for 12 months

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning and research in the world. Founded in 1895, LSE counts 18 Nobel prize winners among its alumni and staff.

In November 2021, we launched the public phase of Shaping the World, our major £350 million philanthropy and engagement Campaign to underpin LSE 2030 goals and help shape the world for good. More than 80 per cent of our Campaign goal has been raised so far and there is huge momentum building as we advance the public phase.

The Philanthropy and Global Engagement Division serves, engages and works in partnership with alumni and friends, staff and students, volunteers, donors, global partners, organisations and the wider community to further the strategic aims of the School. These reciprocal relationships increase engagement with LSE across the world and increase philanthropic income and strategic partnerships for agreed School priorities.

We are seeking a Philanthropy Proposal Writer, on a one-year fixed appointment to cover maternity leave. You will be responsible for creating persuasive content for use in bespoke proposals for potential donors and funders, most particularly for 7-9 figure opportunities. As well as developing and delivering compelling concept notes and proposals to solicit leadership philanthropic gifts, you will contribute to Campaign content that demonstrates the need for and impact of philanthropy, to help inspire more supporters to invest in and partner with LSE.

You should have exceptional written communication skills with the ability to influence and persuade through use of words, style and tone, an ability to translate complex academic concepts into persuasive content for donors and funders, and confidence in in coordinating activities and people to achieve success.

We offer an occupational pension scheme, generous annual leave, hybrid working, and excellent training and development opportunities.

For further information about the post, please see the how to apply document, job description and the person specification.

 If you have any technical queries with applying on the online system, please use the “contact us” links at the bottom of the LSE Jobs page. Should you have any queries about the role, please contact Liz Jaggs 

The closing date for receipt of applications is Sunday 12 May 2024 (23.59 UK time).

Regrettably, we are unable to accept any late applications. Interviews will take place during the week of 20 May 2024.

Role Overview:

The Talent Set is thrilled to be working with a fantastic membership organisation as they search for a Senior Sales and Marketing Executive to support them for an initial 2–3-month period.

This role is ideal for someone skilled in copywriting, data management/CRM, sales, and account management. Your main tasks will include collaborating with the Events, Marketing, and Membership teams to execute successful strategies.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop effective sales and promotional email campaigns for 12-14 annual events, aiming for an annual event revenue of around £1m.
• Craft engaging marketing emails to boost engagement and increase ticket sales.
• Utilise email marketing best practices, such as A/B testing, segmentation, and personalised targeting.
• Proficiency in using email marketing platforms, with a preference for Dot Digital.
• Manage CRM systems to oversee sales pipelines and utilise external data sources and desk research.
• Develop and manage target lists for marketing campaigns.
• Strong administrative skills, particularly in Excel and Word, to manage ticket sales documentation.
• Assist in budgeting, financial mapping, and modelling exercises for ticket sales.
• Handle event bookings and related administration tasks.
• Analyse sales trends, feedback, and market trends, providing regular reports to colleagues and senior management.
• Foster relationships with both members and non-members, understanding their interests and needs to match with our events.
• Generate sales through various communication channels, including email, phone calls, and face-to-face meetings.
• Represent the organisation at events and network with members.
• Develop a high level of understanding of the organisation’s members and events to effectively target and sell events.
• Support the membership and commercial team with ad hoc project-based activities related to member relationship management.

Person Specification:

• Proficiency in CRM systems, particularly Microsoft Dynamics.
• Advanced knowledge of MS Office, especially Excel for data management and analysis.
• Self-motivated with a positive attitude and strong work ethic.
• 3-5 years of marketing/sales experience preferred.
• Excellent copywriting skills and the ability to present ideas effectively.
• Organised, methodical, and able to manage multiple priorities.
• Strong relationship-building skills with the ability to influence at all levels.
• Professional and persuasive communication skills.
• Collaborative and consultative approach.
• Knowledge of private capital/financial services is an advantage, but not essential.
• Interest in or eagerness to learn about the private capital industry.

What’s On Offer:

• Immediate start in a full-time role
• Competitive day rate of £181.82 per-day + £22.63 daily holiday pay = total of £204.44 per-day PAYE.
• Hybrid working with just days per-week in Central London
• 2–3-month contract with possibility of extension or even going permanent.

How to Apply:

To apply, please submit your CV demonstrating your suitability for this role. 

Commitment to Diversity:

The Talent Set and our partner charity are committed to diverse and inclusive recruitment practices, ensuring equal opportunities for all applicants regardless of race, sexual orientation, disability, age, or gender. We actively encourage applications from a wide range of backgrounds and are always happy to make reasonable adjustments to ensure a fair recruitment process.

As a Trust & Corporate Fundraising Officer, you will support thousands of young people each year by engaging with companies, trusts, foundations and other funding bodies and securing funding for our programmes. Our fundraising team create opportunities for thousands of underrepresented young people to access the jobs of the future. At EDT we are passionate about providing accredited skills development programmes that support young people to reach their potential.

ABOUT EDT: EDT is a UK-wide charity with over 35 years of experience developing and delivering industry-linked STEM educational content. Our mission is to connect young people with industry and inspire STEM futures. Our programmes are designed to engage a wide range of young people and meet the needs of industry and education, through face-to-face and virtual delivery. Young people are at the heart of what we do and through providing industry informed, curriculum enhancing learning experiences, we help them develop personal and interpersonal skills, fulfil their potential, and make informed decisions about their future. We recognise their achievement through Industrial Cadet accreditation and awards, an industry-led quality benchmark. Our mission is to connect young people with industry and inspire STEM futures. Our core values include being 'passionate, collaborative, dynamic and showing respect'.

Salary: Band B, £24k to £30k, depending on skills and experience.

Benefits: 25 days annual leave per year plus bank holidays, pension (up to 10% employer contribution), life insurance (3 times annual salary), volunteering days, flexible working and well-being support and activities; including employee assistance, wellbeing and health programme, WeCare.

Hours: It is a permanent, full-time (37.5 hours a week) role and we offer remote, hybrid and flexible working options (EDT have a UK network of regional offices West Midlands, Plymouth, Glasgow, Manchester, Hertfordshire and Southampton).

Key Responsibilities:

· Identify and maximise opportunities to raise funds from companies, trusts, foundations, and other funding bodies.

· Manage a portfolio of existing and prospective partners from across companies, trusts and foundations.

·  Research and maintain an on-going, sustainable pipeline of prospects including new trusts and foundations, companies and industry sectors.

· Plan, prepare and write compelling applications for funding.

· Build effective relationships with funders in order to secure long-term funding and support. Achieve income targets that support the delivery and fundraising goals.

· Keep accurate, relevant, timely records on our CRM and maintain regular communication with relevant teams including operations, finance, marketing and fundraising teams.

· Create inspiring reports and updates for funders that bring to life the impact of their support and demonstrate first class stewardship.

· Where appropriate, attend events to meet funders and/or promote EDT.

· Work closely with relevant teams to embed monitoring and evaluation throughout the funding process. Report on progress, results and income in a timely manner.

· Work with the Fundraising Manager with analysing trends to support the fundraising strategy.

Competencies and Attributes:

· Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

· Strong organisation skills - can manage workload and deadlines and proactively work to achieve timely delivery.

· Experience of securing funding from grant makers and/or companies.

· Experience of planning, preparing and writing high quality bids, funding applications and reports.

· Knowledge of managing funders' relationships. Knowledge of databases/data management, including producing reports.

· A strong team player, who can communicate effectively and engage colleagues at all levels and develop strong and productive relationships.

· Attention to detail and IT proficiency.

· Understanding of applicable legislation.

· A knowledge of the not for profit/charity sector.

· The ability to travel to locations across the UK on occasions to meet colleagues, funders and partners.

The successful candidate will be required to fulfil an enhanced DBS/PVG check.

Closing date: Friday 10th May 2024.

Interview dates: Week commencing 13th of May 2024.

Unlock your potential: Join Our Client in Shaping Quality Education Globally as a Product Development Administrator (Fluent Mandarin Speaking)!

Role: Product Development Administrator (Fluent Mandarin)

Organisation type: Membership Organisation

Salary/rate: £15.48 - £16.48 per hour

Working arrangements: Hybrid role! 2 days per month in office.

Location: London

Employment type: Temporary (4 months Approx.)

This position offers a hybrid working system, primarily home-based with some onsite work at the London Office.

Short description of role:

Our client, a professional membership organisation, is seeking a Product Development Administrator (Fluent Mandarin). The organisation manages an extensive array of training courses offered by over 100 training providers across the globe and are hoping to expand this by offering to include exams in Mandarin. To support this, you'll be responsible for facilitating the translation of all exam questions and learner resources into Mandarin. We're looking for a candidate who is proficient in both English and Mandarin languages, self-motivated and eager to learn.

Main responsibilities of the role include:

• Utilise online translation tools to translate multiple-choice, multiple-response, matching, and sequencing questions into Mandarin.
• Revise Mandarin questions based on feedback from subject matter experts, ensuring accuracy in grammar and spelling.
• Conduct testing on the online exam system's user interface to ensure instructions and error messages have been translated correctly.
• Contribute to the creation of instructional videos and guides in Mandarin to aid learners.

The successful candidate:

The successful candidate will be fluent in English and Mandarin, have excellent written skills, grammar, spelling and punctuation and possess strong attention to detail. The candidate will be self-motivated and a willingness to learn, able to work to deadlines and comfortable when navigating around new systems and using online translation tools.

How to Apply:

To apply for the Product Development Administrator role, please reply and upload your CV quoting reference J81113SOH and we can provide more information to you.

We eagerly await your response.

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 with making the application process work for you.

About the opportunity
As our Digital Marketing Officer, you will play a pivotal role in supporting the Marketing Manager and broader team in volunteer and school recruitment efforts, while managing our social media presence. Your primary responsibilities will include managing and curating content for Action Tutoring's social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and TikTok.

In addition to social media management, you will contribute to the creation of diverse content, such as graphics, videos, and photography, with occasional visits to our school programmes and events. You will also monitor and report on the impact of our social media campaigns, staying abreast of industry trends to optimise our digital presence.

If you're creative, passionate about education, and thrive in community engagement, we'd love to have you on board.

Closing date: Sunday 19th May 2024
Interviews: 28th and 29th May 2024
Start date: June 2024

Location: This role is remote. The candidate can be based anywhere in the UK. Occasional travel to London is required.

We use anonymised applications for our shortlisting process.

Duties and responsibilities
• Responsibility for managing Action Tutoring’s social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok and YouTube). Plan content (in collaboration with wider Marketing and Communications team) in line with the charity’s wider campaigns, volunteer recruitment rounds and key messages, ensuring regular diverse posting.
• Work with the Marketing Manager to develop engaging content which encourages the recruitment of high quality volunteer tutors, enquiries from potential partner schools and raises awareness of the charity to potential fundraisers, donors and employees.
• Promote the breadth of Action Tutoring’s activities and projects on social media, working across the whole team to gather content to raise brand awareness (including Programme, Philanthropy, Operations, Policy and Impact).
• Contribute to the development of content for social media channels including graphics, video and photography, with the occasional visit to school programmes and other charity events.
• Regularly analyse and report on the impact of Action Tutoring’s social media content through weekly analysis, quarterly reporting and campaign analysis.
• Monitor social media trends and industry developments to ensure we’re maximising content across all channels.
• Lead on blogger, influencer and community outreach (e.g. Facebook community groups, Next Door) to help raise awareness of Action Tutoring's volunteering opportunities and encourage applications.
• Manage our national digital adverts (such as Indeed, CharityJobs, Do-It). Respond to any direct enquiries sent through these and other digital platforms, including the Volunteer Facebook Group and Google business.
• Identify national digital advertising opportunities for volunteer and school marketing, and support with content for regional adverts. Work with the Marketing Manager to analyse impact and decide where our budget is best spent.
• Support the day to day management of Action Tutoring’s website, editing content with updates upon request. Support with creating high quality, engaging content for the Action Tutoring website to ensure it’s optimised.
• Create external marketing materials on request and support with ad-hoc visual design work.
• Support with the attendance at volunteering promotion events, mainly university fairs.
• Any other duties deemed reasonable by the Chief Executive Officer.

Person specification

Qualifications criteria:
• 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:

• Excellent knowledge of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and TikTok.
• Copywriting skills: able to interact with a range of audiences and have outstanding verbal and written communication skills. The role involves representing our brand on various channels and you will need to be able to adapt your communication style to different audiences and inspire them to engage with the charity.
• Able to work independently and use initiative in a range of situations.
• Able to think creatively and generate content to effectively convey messages and motivate audiences.
• Adaptable and open to learning. You will need to be willing to adapt and to grow and develop with the organisation.
• Efficient and able to work under pressure when required, able to multi-task and juggle a varied workload.
• Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Committed to the mission and values of Action Tutoring.
• Committed to promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children.

King’s College London offers an intellectually stimulating environment, where staff are dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and learning in the service of society. We are a multi-faculty institution, providing high-quality research, education and innovation across the social sciences, humanities, health, law, dentistry, and sciences. As a member of the Russell Group, we are committed to maintaining the highest standards in research and education.

The Finance, Procurement, Strategic Planning and Analytics directorate, led by the Chief Financial Officer / VP (Finance), comprises c.150 roles located across our campuses in central London.  The Finance department of c.100 roles provides various accounting, assurance, advisory, decision support and financial processing functions for the whole university.

The Director of Finance Business Partnering (Operations) is a critical role within the Financial Strategy, Planning & Performance division that will lead, develop and deliver high quality finance business partnering and decision support to all the central services of the university, including providing financial planning, reporting and insight across revenue and capital funded activity. 

You will support the senior Director of the Financial Strategy, Planning & Performance function in development and improvement projects. Examples include the development of a professional competencies framework to support career progression and performance at all levels, supported by learning and development opportunities, improving key processes, resource allocation and financial planning methodologies, and reporting on financial performance.

As part of the function’s senior management team, this role will lead a team of finance business partners who will provide outstanding partnering services to our central services including large functions such as Estates and Facilities, IT, Students & Education, Research Management and on other crucial ‘head office’ activities. Working closely with the corporate reporting team on the provision of management accounts, you will lead on financial performance support in-year and across our three-year financial planning framework. You will also undertake and provide professional support to your team on business partnering skills, financial modelling, business case development and financial appraisals. You will play a wider role as a senior member of the finance leadership team on cross-college initiatives and be asked to deputise for the senior Director of the division or their peers.

It is an exciting time to join the university as we are making a step change in our support and advice, particularly to directorate heads and our Senior Vice Principal (Operations), and onwards through the leadership roles across the central service directorates where financial and operational decisions are made.

This is a full time post (36 Hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite contract. We work in a hybrid way and there is an expectation of being able to work at least three days a week in our offices to help facilitate a collaborative working culture.

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Professional Accountancy Qualification

2. Highly resilient with the ability to run multiple objectives, large senior teams and complex political processes concurrently

3. Exceptional understanding of running and leading financial planning, monitoring, forecasting and business partnering in a complex and large organisation

4. Exceptional leadership skills and a service approach in your professional work

5. Ability to operate and deliver change and improvements in a complex organisational environment

6. Exceptional business case financial appraisal and modelling skills

7. Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in the written word and in person in a variety of formats including committee presentations and policy documentation

8. Numerate and IT literate with the ability to use the standard suite of office software together with excellent knowledge of one or more corporate finance/ERP and reporting systems

9. Significant recent experience of leading business partnering, financial support and advice functions and services

10. Experience of designing, delivering and improving capital planning and reporting processes

11. Leading teams to achieve complex and competing objectives over a variety of time horizons in partnership with other technical leads and partnered areas.

12. Ability to build and manage internal and external relationships

13. Self-management and ability to work independently to meet deadlines

14. Attention to detail and working to a high-level of accuracy

Desirable criteria

1. Degree level qualification

2. Leadership of technical / professional staff who manage their own work and activities

3. Experience of having worked in or with the university sector

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's. We have a strong equality, diversity and inclusion agenda and would expect the post holder to demonstrate these values. 

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. The deadline for applications is Sunday 19th May 2024. If you would like to discuss the role, please get in touch with Bryony Thomas via the Allen Lane agency website.

Shortlisting will complete late May and may include an initial conversation with Allen Lane, our recruitment partner for this role. First stage interviews with King’s College London are planned for early June.

We are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates for this role who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.

Job title: School Fee Assistant (Accounts Receivable)

Contract type: Interim - Ongoing

Location: Head of a multisite school/academy - KT11 1BL

Pay: £14 - £15 an hour + holiday pay

Are you an experienced Accounts Receivable professional? If so this ongoing interim School Fee Assistant could be a great role for you.

In your role as School Fee Assistant you will be responsible for the day to day administration of student accounts whilst delivering accounts records and customer service.

Your day to day duties as School Fee Assistant will include;

• Processing Accounts Receivable invoices
• Processing all income, student record updated
• Raising credit notes
• Very light credit control - chasing outstanding payments
• Maintaining accurate billing information
• Taking payments over the phone and ensuring all income is recorded in correct ledger
• Managing the accounts receivable inbox and handling relevant queries
• Assist with month end reconciliations and biannual billing processes

In your role as Student Fee Assistant your duties you will work as part of a wider finance team at the Head of Offices.

The skills you will bring to your role as Student Fee Assistant will include;

• Prior experience in similar accounts receivable role (Prior experience in a school is not essential)
• Knowledge and understanding of debit VS credit
• Excellent communication and customer service experience
• Working knowledge of Excel and experience of any accounting system

If you are interested in applying for the position of Student Fee Assistant then please do so by sending your CV to

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 with making the application process work for you.

University of Manchester Students’ Union 

Head of Advice - Service Transformation (Maternity Cover) 

Salary: £34,650 - £38,850 (plus a cost of living award will be added from August) 

Location: University of Manchester Students' Union, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PR 

Contract: Fixed-Term, ending on 31st August 2025 

Hours: Full-Time, 35 hours per week (open to part time working requests of 0.8 FTE) 

Are you looking for a role in an information, advice or guidance setting? 

If so, we are looking for you! We’re looking for a Head of Advice Service Transformation (Maternity Cover). Are you the kind of person that wants to make ‘the way things work’ better and have some experience of improving systems and processes in an advice or guidance team? 

About the Students’ Union  

The Students’ Union is a registered charity and is independent from the University (although we work closely together). We are a student-led organisation and exist to help students make the most of their time at Manchester and get the best for their future. We’re the home of societies, volunteering, student media, advice, campaigns, student democracy and events. 

About the role  

The University of Manchester Students’ Union Advice Service supports 50,000 students (3,100 service users a year) on a range of academic, housing, disciplinary and student finance issues. The advice service offers in person, over email and over video conference advice and this year we want to supercharge how able the service is to meet increasing student demand. We’re looking for someone who’ll review our processes and systems to deliver excellent customer service. We want someone who can support staff to develop into the more senior roles we’ve designed in our restructure. 

This is a senior, Head of level role in our organisation, and we’re looking for someone who can work independently and bring their experience and knowledge to the role and connect in with other teams as well. This is a perfect role to go for if you’re interested in a secondment, looking for that next level up and you’ve got examples of where you’ve done some of the things in the job specification before, or if you’ve working in an information and guidance service and can see the transferable skills across to advice giving. 

Key Dates: 

Closing Date: 3pm on Sunday 26th May 2024 

Interviews: Monday 10th June 2024 

How to Apply    

Please click 'Apply’ to be redirected to our website, where you can download the Job Description and Person Specification and find details of how to apply.   

For an informal conversation about the role and application process, please contact Anh Ly at Atkinson HR Consulting.

About Schoolreaders:

Schoolreaders was launched ten years ago in Bedfordshire with the aim of recruiting volunteers to provide one-to-one reading support for children in primary schools across the country. Over 22,000 children in over 1000 schools are receiving weekly reading sessions from a Schoolreaders volunteer. One in four children are leaving primary school unable to read to the expected Government standard. Our service is needed more than ever before with 1 in 6 primary schools across the country asking Schoolreaders for reading volunteers. Building on past successes, we have ambitious plans to expand our provision, focussing on areas of deprivation in which children need our support the most. 

Role Description:

We are looking for a highly motivated, experienced Head of Fundraising to lead our small, dynamic Schoolreaders fundraising team and help grow income in line with the Charity's ambitious and exciting plans. This is the ideal opportunity for someone hoping to achieve great results within a rapidly growing charity which is impacting the lives of thousands of children every week. 

What you can expect:

A highly rewarding, senior fundraising role where you can develop your own skills whilst making your mark on a fast growing national children's charity. Schoolreaders is a highly professional charity which values every team member's contribution to our team efforts. We offer a generous holiday allowance, enhanced sick pay, an employee assistance programme, plus training and development opportunities. If you want to lead a great team in a fast moving, welcoming environment whilst making a huge impact on children's literacy across the country, this could be the perfect role for you! 

Applications will be reviewed, and interviews offered, on an ongoing basis. We reserve the right to close the role prior to the closing date should a suitable applicant be found, so please submit your application as soon as possible.

Schoolreaders is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and young people and requires staff to share this commitment. This post is subject to a range of vetting checks including a basic disclosure check of unspent criminal convictions.

Schoolreaders is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered in England and Wales (1159157)

This is an exciting opportunity for the right candidate to build their corporate partnerships career. The nature of our work means that there are significant opportunities to develop existing and new relationships that we have with companies and create transformational corporate partnerships that change the lives of the young adults with learnign disabilities and/or autism that we support. This work is also delivering real change within company culture.

Fundraised income has grown rapidly over the last three years, focusing mainly on income from trusts and foundations. We are now looking to diversify the strategy and have created this new role to take forward opportunities with companies. This new role will support the Director of Development in shaping and implementing the next phase of DFN Project SEARCH’s fundraising strategy and will lead on the development of major new corporate partnerships. They will also lead on the development and management of a small number of existing corporate relationships and sponsorship opportunities.

To support the development of this new element of our strategy we have been working with a leading corporate partnerships consultancy. They have been helping to develop our proposition for companies, developing our strategies for approaching individual company prospects, and will be available to support you in your role when you start in post.

DFN Project SEARCH is a supportive and friendly charity where you will be able to grow and thrive. We have a highly driven Board of Trustees and an ambitious business plan for growth.