Senior researcher fte jobs

This is an exciting and pivotal leadership role at the heart of Kinship’s digital transformation. You’ll lead a talented and ambitious team to deliver and develop live digital services, accessible content and user-centred products that kinship carers rely on to access support.

This role does not own all services delivered through digital channels. It owns selected shared digital products while also enabling teams across Kinship to deliver their work effectively through digital platforms, content and journeys, while teams retain ownership of their services and outcomes. You’ll provide leadership on standards, user experience, accessibility and innovation.

Context:
Kinship is expanding its reach and digital capabilities, and our digital platforms are central to how we deliver services at scale. In 2024, we launched a new website bringing together all content and services under one home, and introduced Kinship Compass, a postcode search tool that helps kinship carers find relevant local and national support.

Alongside this, we have been developing a new AI-powered tool to help kinship carers access trusted information quickly and accurately, 24/7. You will lead the evolution of these digital services ensuring they are safe, ethical, resilient and data-informed, and that innovation is always grounded in reliability, safeguarding and user trust.

You’ll play a key role in the Department for Education funded national Training and Support Service, ensuring kinship carers can easily access and book high-quality training through our digital platforms.

You’ll oversee content design in collaboration with internal and external subject experts and kinship carers themselves and lead the digital and content streams for Kinship Minds, including the development and delivery of our e-learning platform and curriculum.

This role sits at the intersection of digital service delivery, product development and content design. At Kinship, content design is distinct from communications or marketing. It focuses on designing clear, accessible and trauma-informed information, learning content and user journeys that enable kinship carers to understand their options, make decisions and access support. Content is treated as part of the service itself and is central to the quality, safety and effectiveness of our digital platforms.

This is a role for a digital leader who is both strategic and operationally grounded. You’ll balance innovation with delivery, experimentation with governance, and ambition with accountability. You’ll champion inclusive, accessible and co-produced design, ensuring digital products support real-world service delivery and improve outcomes for kinship families.

You will work closely with colleagues in the Communications and Policy team (who sit in a separate department and lead external communications, campaigns and social media) and who own the external communications strategy. You will ensure clear alignment while retaining a distinct focus on digital service innovation, product development and content design.

What you'll be doing:

Digital leadership and strategy

• Lead the Digital and Content Design team, setting clear priorities and building a culture of high performance, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Own and deliver Kinship’s digital strategy and product roadmap, covering the website, Kinship Compass, Kinship Minds, the AI tool and other digital services, excluding marketing and social media.
• Provide digital leadership across Kinship, strengthening capability and effective cross-organisational working.
• Lead responsible digital innovation, ensuring AI and emerging technology are used where they clearly improve service delivery, accessibility and user experience.
• Take accountability for digital budgets, agency relationships and delivery against agreed outcomes, timescales and quality standards.
• Horizon scan and translate external digital developments into practical, service-led improvements for Kinship.
• Contribute to organisational planning, reporting and income generation linked to digital innovation.

Website, content and digital product development

• Lead the ongoing development and innovation of Kinship’s digital platforms to ensure they are user-centred, accessible and continuously improved.
• Oversee the content strategy and governance for Kinship’s website, Kinship Compass and new e-learning platform.
• Work with internal colleagues to improve our workshop booking system.
• Ensure a consistent content design approach across all digital platforms, grounded in user need, plain English, trauma-informed practice and continuous testing and improvement.
• Lead the content design team to develop content for strategic projects working collaboratively with subject experts and kinship carers.
• Work closely with Advice and Training teams to ensure digital platforms and content design support service delivery, quality standards and DfE contract requirements.
• Develop an excellent understanding of end-to-end audience experience and how the website, online content and digital products can drive effective online services and enhance the kinship ecosystem. Map the user journeys across our website and digital products leaving no dead ends.
• Ensure integration across all platforms (e.g. website, telephony, Salesforce, Kinship Minds) to create seamless user journeys for kinship carers and internal teams.
• Embed meaningful participation and co-production with kinship carers in digital service and content development.
• Drive accessibility and inclusion, ensuring our digital services reach and work for all kinship carers, including those with lower digital literacy.
• Ensure strong digital governance, accessibility, documentation and use of insight to continuously improve performance and impact.
• Oversee SEO, analytics and data-driven optimisation to improve engagement, performance and impact.

Type of person we’re looking for:

We’re looking for a service-led digital leader who is as comfortable with operational delivery as they are with strategy and innovation. You’ll understand that digital products are part of how services are delivered, not an add-on, and that reliability, accessibility and trust matter as much as creativity.

You’ll be curious, pragmatic and values-driven, with the judgement to know when to push innovation forward and when to prioritise stability, safety and user confidence.

You are likely to:

• Have led live digital services or products that people rely on, not just content.
• Be comfortable balancing innovation with delivery, and experimentation with governance.
• Think in terms of end-to-end service journeys, not just platforms or pages.
• Be motivated by improving outcomes for people, particularly families experiencing complexity or crisis.
• Value co-production, accessibility and inclusive design as core to good digital practice.
• Bring clarity, calm and consistency to teams working in complex environments.
• Be confident working across disciplines such as digital, services and delivery without needing to own everything.
• Care deeply about doing digital work ethically, safely and well.
• Show commitment to personal development and learning. 

How to apply:
Please apply for the role of Head of Digital and Content by sending a tailored CV and responding to these 4 questions below in the online application process.

Closing date is midnight on Sun 18 Jan 2026, first interview online on Thurs 22 / Fri 23 Jan 2026 and second interview in person on Thur 29 Jan 2026. 

1. What attracts you to this role at Kinship, and how does your experience prepare you to lead digital services, content design and innovation in the context of kinship care and families experiencing complexity or crisis? (250 words max)
2. Give an example of where you introduced or explored digital innovation (for example AI, automation or new platforms) in a service context. How did you balance innovation with reliability, safeguarding or user trust? (250 words max)
3. Describe a time you used content and/or service design to help people understand complex information or access support. How did you identify user needs, test what worked, and ensure the content enabled action rather than just engagement?(250 words max)
4. This role leads a small but mighty remote and dispersed team. How have you managed remote teams to maintain clarity, wellbeing, accountability and delivery? Please include a practical example. (250 words max)

What we offer you:

• Flexible working - we understand how important it is to balance family and work life.

• 30 days annual leave, plus bank holidays (1 April to 31 March) pro rata (3 to be taken at Christmas shutdown).

• Employee Assistance Programme (24/7 confidential advice line and counselling).

• Charity Worker Discounts. 

As the leading specialist mental health charity for women who have experienced domestic abuse, Woman’s Trust’s mission is to help survivors to overcome the devastating mental health impact of domestic abuse.

We are seeking a Counselling Support Group Administrator to join our service delivery team. This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced professional who is looking to make a real impact on women and children’s lives.

About Woman's Trust

The charity, established almost thirty years ago to meet the gap in specialist mental health services, is led by and for women and aims to ensure that women affected by domestic abuse can live a life free from further harm and abuse. Our approach is trauma-informed and person-centred, empowering survivors on their journey to recovery from the trauma. We are committed to a positive, inclusive and equitable environment for our staff, service users and volunteers.

Alongside delivering our existing 1-1 counselling, self-development workshops and therapeutic support groups for women who have experienced domestic abuse, we are focused on developing our innovative mental health services for young women and girls, delivering new peer-led support groups and providing therapeutic groups to children and their mothers. We are also committed to developing further awareness-raising workshops and training for professionals, building on our research and policy to improve systems nationally.

About you and how to apply

As a skilled and compassionate Counselling Support Group Administrator, aligned with our feminist ethos and the needs of our service users, you will provide high-quality administrative support to the delivery of counselling and support group services for women affected by domestic abuse. You will bring experience in service administration within a sensitive or trauma-informed setting, with the ability to manage referrals, coordinate sessions, maintain accurate records, and support counsellors and volunteers through effective scheduling and communication.

You will play a key role in supporting the smooth running of services, including monitoring attendance and outcomes, maintaining safeguarding and confidentiality standards, and ensuring compliance with organisational and funder requirements. You will also contribute to service improvement by supporting reporting, data collection, and administrative processes that enable the ongoing development and effectiveness of counselling and support group provision.

If you are looking for a new job opportunity whilst making a real impact on women and children’s lives, we want to hear from you!

To apply, please send your CV and a cover letter of no more than 2 pages outlining your experience, skills, and knowledge, relevant to this post.

Closing date for applications: To be considered on a rolling basis.

Interviews: To be held on a rolling basis.

This post is open to female applicants only, in line with the Equality Act 100 pursuant to Schedule, 9 Part 1 applies. We particularly welcome applications from women from black and minoritised, and disability communities.

Starting Salary: £34,629-£41,768 (non-London weighting) - £38,613-£45,752 (Inc. London weighting) - FTE

The salary will be prorated based on the contracted hours

Contract: Permanent -  Part-time 28 hours per week (4 days)

Location: UK Hybrid

Job Profile

The Major Gifts (MGP) Executive – Corporates and Outreach (MGECO) is a hybrid role responsible for managing a small pool of corporate donors and prospects as well as working with colleagues to coordinate outreach within priority Major Donor audiences.

CAFOD’s Corporate Partnerships Portfolio has an annual target income of £858,000. The Executive will be responsible for a small group of Corporate Partners giving under £50,000/year, with the goal of maintaining and maximising the value and potential of these relationships

A key component of CAFOD’s continued MGP fundraising success is the identification and development of a strong pipeline of new major gift donors. Working with colleagues, the Executive role will identify and cultivate prospective donors with the goal of expanding the MGP Section portfolio. This will be achieved through strategic outreach work within CAFOD’s priority audiences.

The role sits within the Corporate Partnerships Team, a part of the Major Gifts and Philanthropy Section in the Fundraising and Participation Group. The post reports to the Corporate Partnerships Manager (CPM), working closely and in consultation with the Philanthropy Manager (PM) and MGP Research and Information Manager (MGPRIM). The post-holder will collaborate on strategic planning and cross-functional initiatives within the MGP section. They will also contribute to cross-team projects as agreed with the CPM.

The ideal candidate will have a proven track record in fundraising – ideally in major gifts and philanthropy donor management or external relationship development. They will have experience in operational planning and a collaborative mindset. They will be a confident self-starter capable of building strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders at all levels to develop and grow impactful relationships.

Key Responsibilities

Corporate Partnerships Relationship Management 

• Be responsible for the day-to-day management of a small portfolio of Corporate Partner Relationships with the goal of maximising the value of relationships. This includes proposal and report writing as well as written, telephone and face-to-face communication
• Facilitate engagement with corporate partner staff to feedback on CAFOD’s work and foster participation using both traditional and innovative methods.
• Work in collaboration with colleagues across communications and digital teams to promote CAFOD’s Corporate Partnerships offer.
• Work on and monitor KPIs for corporate donors.
• Support the CPM with wide Corporate Partnership work as required.

MGP Donor Outreach

• Work collaboratively with MGP team leads and wider organisation staff to deliver a prospecting strategy which successfully identifies and engages priority audiences. These audiences include Catholic Parishes, Diaspora Communities, Catholic School Alumni, and other audiences in which high-net-worth individuals may be engaged.
• This will include responsibility for:

• • Prospecting – carrying out desk research and working with necessary internal CAFOD stakeholders to identify priority audiences.
  • Planning – Strategising engagement plans with identified audiences, working with internal and external stakeholders.
  • Coordinating engagement – Working with colleagues across the MGP team and wider CAFOD staff as well as external stakeholders to coordinate the delivery of engagement activities that reach priority audiences and are in line with wider CAFOD engagement activity.

• Ensure that the MGP prospecting and outreach strategy is in line with the wider organisation strategy and priorities, communicating progress with colleagues across the organisation regularly.
• Establish and work to clear success measures and KPIs, set targets for the overall strategy and specific engagements, and ensure appropriate tools and resources are in place to achieve them.

 Administrative, Support, and Planning

• Support in the administration of corporate donor portfolio, working with CAFOD colleagues to transition donors out of and receive donors into the corporates portfolio when necessary.
• Work with the Corporate Partnership Manager and Philanthropy Manager to shape strategy, support forecast targets and activities as well as reporting,  planning and budgeting.

 Safeguarding

• All CAFOD staff share the responsibility to promote and maintain a strong safeguarding culture, including identifying the key actions they should take given their role and responsibilities.

Job Specific Competencies

Essential Criteria

• Clear understanding of corporate partnership and major donor fundraising and an ability to build relationships at various levels to achieve objectives.
• Comfortable in the major donor and business environments; understand what decision-making processes may influence the support for charities.
• Strong in writing effective supporter communication material and confident presentation skills.
• Strong research skills to identify potential donors and engagement opportunities within priority communities.
• A sound knowledge of the life, structures and networks of the Catholic communities of England and Wales and how to effectively engage those who may support through major gifts.
• Strong organisation skills and ability to co-develop tailored donor engagement plans with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring alignment with broader fundraising goals.
• Passionate about overcoming global poverty and injustice.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of working in a major gift environment.
• Proficient in using donor databases and internal systems to maintain accurate records and support reporting needs.
• Knowledge and awareness of the field of international development and humanitarian aid
• Experience using creative and innovative methods to foster engagement successfully.
• Understanding and operational experience with GDPR

Safeguarding for Children and Vulnerable Adults  

CAFOD recognises the personal dignity and rights of children and vulnerable adults, towards whom it has a special responsibility and a duty of care and respect.  CAFOD, and all its staff and volunteers, undertake to do all in our power to create a safe environment for children, young people and vulnerable adults and to prevent their physical, sexual or emotional abuse.  CAFOD is committed to acting at all times in the best interests of children and vulnerable adults, seeing these interests as paramount.  Any candidate offered a job with CAFOD will be expected to adhere to CAFOD’s Safeguarding policy and sign CAFOD’s Code of Behaviour as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents. This post involves contact with children, young people and vulnerable adults, or has responsibility for people who will do, and applicants will be subject to specific checks related to safeguarding issues.  If based in the UK the post holder is required to present or obtain a Disclosure from the DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service).  If the post is based outside the UK the post holder will be subject to a different checking process. 

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references, and appropriate screening checks can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. CAFOD also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of, and consent to, these recruitment procedures. 

Please click here for a full list of CAFOD’s Staff Benefits 

Come and join us and help make a real difference in the lives of the world’s poorest communities. 

CAFOD is an equal opportunities employer. Recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.

About Edward’s Trust

Edward’s Trust is a local West Midlands charity providing support for bereaved children, young people, and parents. We have 36 years of experience and operate at the highest level, providing qualified counselling and holistic support for complex or prolonged grief. We do not set time limits and the service is completely free. We do not get Government funding; therefore, we rely on donations to keep this vital service going.

Our Values

RESPECT

We will act with integrity in all that we do, being mindful and considerate to all. We respect and remember those who have died. Respect is a constant that embraces diversity and uniqueness of experience.

HOPE

A feeling of trust in tomorrow. We embody, instill and empower a feeling of trust in tomorrow. Hope is the hand to hold. We have a vision that one day there will be a universal understanding of life-changing grief.

HOLISTIC

Complete and all encompassing. We acknowledge and respond to the needs of the whole person: mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We recognise the total experience of grief, promoting a holistic approach to bereavement care.

SUPPORT

Enabling with compassion and care. We provide responsive support that is appropriate, relevant, and meaningful to each individual. Together in safety and strength. Encouraging society to respond appropriately to people facing loss and surviving bereavement.

EXCELLENCE

Embracing professional integrity and creative innovation. We are passionate about providing exceptional services and maintaining the highest standards in all that we do. Excellence is valuing people. We are committed to driving innovation and change.

Role summary

Here at Edward’s Trust, we are excited and committed to growing our service offer and fundraising whilst working with a small but mighty team.  We have strong and realistic foundations in the trusts and grants income stream and a secure base of income from long-term committed funders. These funders enable us to reach children and adults through our specialist counselling services and projects alike, but with a huge amount of new work in development, securing new income from trusts and foundations is a high priority for us. 

This is an exciting role at Edward’s Trust that will challenge and provide excellent career development opportunities for the successful candidate. This role will deliver essential stewardship to our growing portfolio of warm trust supporters, engaging with them to provide inspirational impact reporting to secure continued funding. Our new colleague will gain exciting CV enhancing experience through working and securing new grants for some of the larger funders which is where we wish this post to focus on.

You will support Edward’s Trust to develop its presence in the trust and foundations world, by working to agreed new business targets and contributing to the creation of a high-quality pipeline of new trust and foundation opportunities.  

Key Accountabilities:

• Become an expert in Edward’s Trust current activities and future plans
• Manage a portfolio of trust supporters, providing outstanding stewardship, and ensuring relationships deliver against agreed objectives to enhance the long-term relationship.
• Prepare and deliver engaging bids and reports to share impact and inspire future support.
• Work cross-organisationally to support projects and reporting and to help shape and develop appropriate projects for funding (alongside the Head of Fundraising and Service Delivery Manager).
• Build good working relations with key staff and Trustees of established trust supporters.
• Thank supporters promptly and ensure that progress reports and updates are received by supporters as and when required.

We are open to Flexible Working Requests which can be discussed during interviews. 

Working alongside colleagues in Fundraising & Communications and the Data team, you will focus on turning data into meaningful insight. This includes developing and embedding evaluation frameworks, supporting our organisation-wide Theory of Change and outcomes framework, and ensuring learning from data is actively used to improve services, strengthen funding bids, and demonstrate No Limits’ impact, learning and expertise to external audiences, including funders, commissioners and partners.

You will work closely with our Data team to ensure that what we collect, analyse and report through our CRM and reporting tools reflects impact, outcomes and social value. The role plays a key part in supporting No Limits to shift from compliance-based reporting towards an insight-led culture that supports learning, improvement and influence.