Contract Director of fundraising jobs
Job description
Contract: 6-month fixed term
Salary: £34K
Location: Oxford, office based or hybrid
Responsible to: Hannah Worker, Regional Programme Manager, Oxon-Bucks Region.
Background
Freshwater Habitats Trust (FHT) is the UK’s leading conservation charity concerned with the protection of freshwater habitats. We are a friendly, evidence-based organisation that works to protect UK and European freshwater wildlife through practical and innovative nature conservation projects. Our organisation is well respected nationally and internationally, and we work with a network of statutory, NGO and private partners both in the UK and the rest of Europe. Freshwater Habitats Trust was originally founded in 1988 (as Pond Conservation) and has a substantial track-record of originating new ideas through research in freshwater biodiversity conservation to inform and drive our practical conservation and policy work.
FHT has a central office in Oxford, and regional hubs in the north of England and the New Forest and out-posted staff in Cornwall and Wales. We run a range of practical projects throughout the Midlands and work with partners on research and policy projects throughout the UK and internationally. Since 2017 we have seconded staff to the Newt Conservation Partnership (NCP), a new community-benefit society established by NatureSpace, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC) and FHT, to create and manage habitats for the NatureSpace District Licensing scheme for great crested newts.
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire are key areas for Freshwater Habitats Trust’s work. Building on the Trust’s historic work in the county and starting in 2021, Oxfordshire was the first region where we began the implementation of the organisation’s new strategic approach to freshwater conservation, the Freshwater Network. The Freshwater Network is the network of high quality freshwater and wetland habitats, and terrestrial habitats generating clean water across the landscape, that together support our most important freshwater wildlife.
Role
This is a strategically important role within the organisation, offering substantial responsibility and an opportunity for the successful candidate to play a leading role in delivering one of the UK's most ambitious freshwater restoration programmes.
The role will primarily focus on the Ock and Thame Farmers: Floodplains and Freshwaters Project, Ock and Thame Farmers: Freshwaters and Floodplain Restoration, one of Defra's pilot Landscape Recovery projects. Having recently completed its two-year development phase, the project is now entering a critical stage of assurance and negotiations with Defra ahead of implementation.
Key areas of work will include ongoing engagement with land managers, supporting informed decision-making and participation, supporting the establishment of governance and legal structures required for delivery, developing agreements and ecosystem service contracts, undertaking land assessments, and refining habitat designs where required. The project currently involves more than 80 land managers across approximately 7,100 hectares of land in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
In addition to the Landscape Recovery project, the role will involve managing a portfolio of smaller projects across the region. This will include supporting staff delivering catchment monitoring programmes and helping to develop a pipeline of habitat creation and Natural Flood Management opportunities.
You will be responsible for the day-to-day management and coordination of project delivery, working closely with the Programme Manager, Finance Manager, Senior Management Team, project partners, consultants, contractors, and participating land managers.
Key responsibilities
Project management:
· Responsible for work planning, defining tasks and allocating resources.
· Resource, manage and support the project team.
· Responsible for the projects’ budgeting and financial management including: (i) regular reporting to the Project Director and Regional Programme Manager; and (ii) implementation of all financial processes for the projects including regular claiming and reporting funder.
· Responsible for all contract and logistics management
· Responsible for ensuring health and safety procedures are followed, implemented and reported on.
· Track and monitor project progress.
· Present to stakeholders, as required.
· Implement and manage change when necessary to meet project outputs.
· Update all internal management information data systems
Project communications:
· Working with the Freshwater Habitats Trust Communications Team to deliver the communication plans for the projects.
Project development:
· Working with other members of Freshwater Habitats Trust staff and landowner networks to develop future projects to continue our work on the Freshwater Network in the region.
In the longer term there will be opportunities to influence the development of the Freshwater Network concept as it builds and develops in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and adjacent counties.
Additional general responsibilities for the post holder
· Help to build a positive relationship between Freshwater Habitats Trust and its partners.
· Understand and follow Freshwater Habitats Trust’s internal procedures including Health and Safety, information management systems, site protocols etc.
· Work closely and constructively with your manager and colleagues in all areas of your responsibility.
· Undertake other duties as the Senior Management Team may from time to time require.
Knowledge and experience
· Degree or equivalent in a relevant subject (at least a 2:1)
· Full current driving licence
· Proven project and budget management skills
· Proven experience of managing multi-partner projects in the field of practical habitat creation and management, including on the ground delivery to deliver practical conservation outcomes
· Experience of staff management
· Good knowledge of restoration ecology for both freshwater and wetland habitats
· Experience of contractor management
· Knowledge of land management stakeholders and policy
· Computer literate: Word and Excel are essential, GIS is desirable
· Proven ability to communicate effectively with a range of stakeholders, including landowners and the public
· General interest in wildlife
Personal qualities
· Ability to manage workload and competing priorities effectively and meet internal deadlines through effective forward planning
· Good verbal and written communication skills
· Good interpersonal skills - approachable, professional and courteous
· Attention to detail and able to deliver on time
· Ability to work independently and as part of a team
What we have to offer
At Freshwater Habitats Trust we value employees' unique views and encourage them to develop their interests. We also offer the following benefits:
• Flexible working
• 35-hour week
• 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays
• Pension with 6% employer contribution
• Mobile phone allowance
• Free eye tests
• Free Employee Assistance Program
• Mileage pay
Registered Charity
11 - 20
Freshwater is our passion. Together, we can make a difference for wildlife.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
About NEON
NEON is a not-for-profit organisation committed to accelerating social movements. We build capacity and infrastructure to accelerate the transition to a new economy. We work across a wide range of progressive issues including climate, housing, healthcare, and migration and we support over 1,000 organisers across the UK working towards political, environmental, and social justice. Our theory of change is rooted in understanding both the strategies, stories, and structures required to sustain a movement. Short term, this results in improved movement infrastructure, skills, and connections; long term, it leads to robust relationships and movement alliances capable of systemic change.
Context
NEON’s People & Operations Hub makes sure all our internal systems run smoothly and that our team is happy, high-performing and cared for. The People & Operations Hub brings together people, culture, operations, fundraising and finance, and plays a key role in making sure NEON is both high impact and a joyful place to work, at the heart of this is ensuring our values of respect, generosity and solidarity and anti-oppression principles are embedded into all internal practices.
As part of this, we’re currently looking for someone to support us for a defined period of time to review and refresh some of our core operational and compliance areas, and support us with discrete ops tasks as they arise. This includes reviewing, updating and embedding key systems and processes so that they are clear, usable and consistently followed across NEON. Alongside this, we want to create a NEON-wide handbook, so that we have a simple accessible place where people can find everything they need to know about how we do things at NEON. We also want to strengthen our guidance around event safety, both online and in-person, so staff feel comfortable and supported when planning and delivering work. It’s crucial for us that this work is developed in collaboration with the People & Operations Hub as well as the wider team.
Who we’re looking for
We’re looking for someone who is comfortable moving across operational and compliance work. Someone who has a solid understanding and experience in delivering high-level health and safety, data protection, IT and systems work, and other operational aspects of running an organisation, and can turn that into something practical, usable and genuinely helpful for our team. Someone who is self-motivated, comfortable working independently, and able to take ownership of pieces of work from start to finish
We’d love someone who has experience working closely in or within people and operations teams in small- medium sized not-for profits or charities, and who knows how to take complex or messy systems and make them simpler, clearer and easier to embed in day-to-day practice. We’re looking for someone aligned with our values of respect, generosity and solidarity and is well-versed in including anti-oppression principles into operational work. Someone who is motivated by working in a values-led organisation where decisions factor in culture, trust and care as well as the technical elements.
This person should be confident reviewing and improving systems and understands and is experienced in working closely with other people to do this, whether that’s with the Director of People and Operations to receive direction or troubleshoot, working alongside our Ops Assistant to put things into practice and draw on their organisational expertise, or engaging the wider team to elicit their ideas and challenges, and incorporate them into improvements. Similarly someone who is able to work with external support we have in place around IT, HR and data protection and translate their recommendations into practical action.
They’ll need to be able to hit the ground running and pick up discrete pieces of work, working thoughtfully and collaboratively with a team that’s juggling lots of different priorities. Aside from improving key pieces of work, the other core part of the role is bringing people with them, which will involve coaching and mentoring skills, a learning and development approach, and helping others feel confident taking on and owning this work.
Above all, we’re looking for someone who understands how to make organisations compliant and well-run in a way that feels proportionate, caring, and realistic for a team of our size. Someone who can embed these pieces of work, without overcomplicating things, and who can foster a sense of shared ownership. We’re also looking for someone who really cares about how operational work is truly embedded and put into practice across organisations, who thinks carefully about what happens after their involvement or support ends and knows how to build internal capability so work doesn’t stay dependent on them.
Key deliverables
By the end of the service period, the following outputs will have been delivered and fully embedded into NEON’s ways of working:
IT and systems
The freelancer will complete a high-level review of NEON’s current IT systems, identify key risks and gaps, and produce a set of recommendations.
Outputs will include working with the People & Operations Hub to lead implementation and embedding of agreed improvements across tools and ways of working, including an improved GDrive structure, Google Workspace and IT security improvements and an IT and phones policy.
Data protection
The freelancer will complete a high-level review and strengthening of NEON’s GDPR and data protection approach.
Outputs will include updated core policies (GDPR policy, privacy notice, retention policy) and practical guidance to support consistent implementation across the organisation. It also includes delivery of staff training and further strengthening of our “Data Champions”.
Event processes
The freelancer will assess our current event-related practices (online and in-person).
Outputs will include clear, practical recommendations, strengthened guidance for managing event safety and risk in practice and staff training and support.
Health and safety
A review and update of NEON’s health and safety approach will be completed to ensure policies and processes are clear, practical and consistently applied.
Outputs will include an updated H&S policy, incident reporting process, risk assessment templates, and a simple event safety framework with guidance and checklists. It also includes delivering staff training and embedding of H&S practice across the organisation, including clarification of roles and responsibilities.
AI policy and guidance
The freelancer will research and develop NEON’s approach to AI use across the organisation, considering best practice, risks, opportunities, and the impact of AI on staff and NEON’s work. It should also include thoughtful consideration of the harms and ethical concerns associated with AI.
Outputs will include engagement with staff to understand current use and concerns, alongside the creation of clear and practical AI guidance and an organisational AI policy to support safe, thoughtful and consistent use of AI tools across NEON.
NEON Handbook
A NEON-wide handbook will be created, bringing together key processes, guidance and signposting to essential organisational information in one accessible place.
The handbook will be co-developed with staff and People & Operations Hub members to ensure it reflects day-to-day practice and is maintainable internally after completion.
Day-to-day operations support
The freelancer will provide additional operational capacity to support the Hub with emerging priorities, and time-sensitive pieces of work that arise during the contract period.
Outputs may include support with operational problem-solving and decision making, maintaining processes and procedures, providing subject knowledge expertise, maintaining documentation and other discrete operational tasks agreed with the Director of People and Operations.
A key part of this work will be ensuring that all outputs and improvements are properly embedded within the People & Ops Hub and the wider organisation. This includes creating clear documentation, guidance, training and handover processes so that NEON staff can confidently hold and maintain this work after the consultancy ends.
Timescales and fee schedule
The freelancer will be appointed and ready to engage from the end of July/ start of August 2026. We expect this work to be completed across two-three days per week for up to six months, ideally finished by the end of January or February 2027 (depending on start date). There may be a possibility of extension if other relevant and discrete projects arise and in agreement with the Director of People and Operations.
Call out information required
Interested freelancers are asked to provide the following information in response to this call out:
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Brief career history and details of relevant assignments undertaken (this could be in the form of a CV)
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A statement not exceeding 800 words on your proposed approach to the deliverables, including:
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Your technical and subject matter expertise
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Your personal style and approach to working with others
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How you will embed our values of respect, generosity and solidarity and anti-oppression principles into the deliverables
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Your day rate, indicating whether VAT is payable (please note our indicative day rate that is aligned with our internal budget is £375)
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A clear commitment to undertake the work within the timeframe set out above
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Two testimonials from suitable clients or professional partners
The deadline for submissions is Sunday 28th June 11.59pm
Please find email address for submission of applications on our website.
We may wish to discuss submissions with you on Monday 6th July or Wednesday 8th July 2026. We will inform you if this is the case.
For any further information or clarification prior to submission, contact us at our website.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Bursary Support and Educational Partnerships Lead
About King Edward’s School, Bath
Founded in 1552, King Edward’s School (KES) is Bath’s oldest school and one of the leading co-educational independent schools in the south-west of England. The School was recently awarded Independent Secondary School of the Year in the South West by the Sunday Times Parent Power Guide 2026. Serving pupils aged 3–18 across its Pre-Prep, Junior, Senior and Sixth Form sections, KES combines a rich heritage with a forward-thinking approach to education.
About the role:
Responsible for developing and strengthening King Edward’s School’s partnerships with primary schools, youth-focused organisations, local authorities and other relevant bodies, primarily across BANES and Wiltshire.
The role focuses on expanding engagement programmes, widening access to a KES education, and increasing applications to the School’s means-tested Bursary Programme. It also includes supporting bursary applicants and families throughout their journey with the School.
Key Responsibilities
General
- Develop and grow partnerships with local primary schools and youth organisations, enhancing the School’s outreach and support programmes.
- Design and deliver a targeted community engagement strategy aligned with the School Development Plan and bursary access objectives.
- Promote and increase applications to the means-tested Bursary Programme to widen access to KES.
- Work collaboratively with Admissions, the Bursar and the Development Director to ensure a joined-up approach across outreach, bursaries and admissions.
- Engage the wider school community to raise awareness of bursary and partnership initiatives.
- Act as a professional and approachable ambassador for King Edward’s School within the local community.
Application Deadline: June 17, 2026
Please see the attached job description for more in depth list of the main responsibilities and person specification.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.