Project Lead

Short Summary:

Could you get Northerners' voices into the rooms where decisions are made?

Project Lead
£30,000 per annum | Full time, permanent (subject to funding) | Northern England, home-based with travel | Reports to the Managing Director

About People's Powerhouse
People's Powerhouse is a Community Interest Company rooted in Northern England. We put Northerners' voices at the centre of the decisions that shape their lives, and push more power out of Westminster and into the North. We're a small, committed team: we go where communities are, we listen properly, and we act on what we hear.

The role
A hands-on role for a self-starter who believes real change starts with being heard. You'll lead two strands of work, and support the annual This is the North convention:

• Coast to Coast Listening Conversations: lead honest, well-run conversations with communities across the North, from the Cumbrian coast to the North Sea, especially those whose voices are too often overlooked. You'll recruit, train and support a network of community listeners, keep the method consistent and the records up to date, and work with the Connection and Impact Manager on the findings.
• Communications and content: write the People's Powerhouse bulletin and create social media content that people want to stop and read, sharing stories from the listening work.

What we're looking for
• Real experience in your community: bringing people together, running a group, campaigning or volunteering
• You start with what's already strong in a community, not just its problems
• You've recruited, trained or supported people before
• You can keep a process consistent while adapting it to each place
• You write well and are comfortable creating purposeful social media content
• An instinct for power, inequality and what real participation asks of us
• A self-starter and completer-finisher: tenacious, a good listener and a relationship-builder
• Comfortable working independently across a wide area
• Driving licence and access to a vehicle

Desirable: connections across Northern communities or civil society, and an interest in giving people a real say through public meetings, creative projects or community action.

What we offer
£30,000, workplace pension, flexible working shaped around being out with communities, and a small team that trusts you to get on with the job.

How to apply
Send a CV and a covering letter (no more than two sides of A4), telling us why this role, why now, and what you'd bring to both strands.

We welcome applications from people with lived experience of the communities we work with. No formal qualifications are required; we need evidence that you can do the job. We particularly welcome people who are under-represented in the charity and community sector.

Closing date: midnight, Sunday 22 November 2026. Interviews will be online in the first or second week of December. We may close early if we receive enough suitable applications, so please apply early.

This work is made possible by players of the National Lottery, and we gratefully acknowledge the support of The National Lottery Community Fund.