Consulting Senior Manager (UK)

About Us

Spring Impact is supporting the world’s most ambitious social purpose organisations to solve big problems. We partner with teams who are doing truly transformative work but are frustrated that they could be having a bigger impact on the problem they’re working to solve. We support these organisations through a mix of consulting, coaching and training.

Over the last ten years we’ve learnt a lot about what it takes to scale social innovations, and we are confident in the tried-and-tested approach we've developed to partnering with others on their journey.

Our staff draw on their lived experience, and their professional experiences from across the social sector, to deliver this approach. We’ve got plans to grow further and are looking to add experience and new perspectives as we do so. We are committed to ensuring that Spring Impact is representative of our society at large, and is an inclusive environment for all, regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, socioeconomic background, family/parental status, and any other protected characteristics.

Role Overview

As a Senior Manager, you are a leader in Spring Impact’s consulting team, and serve as a role model for staff in both the UK and the US. Working closely with the Consulting Practice Director, you share responsibility for ensuring we deliver high-quality, impactful and sustainable projects - supporting clients and partners to develop the strategies, mindsets, plans and tools needed to successfully scale impact. 

You take the lead on complex, high-priority consultancy projects, and develop senior client and funder relations. You lead training courses demystifying scaling.

You develop and support the consulting team, effectively managing the performance, development and wellbeing of direct-line reports and supporting project teams to assure quality and impact.

You help to maintain and develop Spring Impact's methodologies and tools, and may be responsible for driving key organisational initiatives, such as developing new consulting products.   

Consulting Delivery

• Owns design, delivery and performance of a portfolio of projects and delivery of consulting objectives

• Delegate project tasks to project team and review and finalise for quality

• Design and deliver high quality workshops and outputs with clients

• Provide thought partnership

• Build sector and / or practice expertise in key areas

• Build practice expertise in new areas for SI to grow scale consulting capability

Project Management

Project management including:

• Translating BD / programme scope to project plan and approach

• Manage end-to-end planning and delivery of consulting projects ensuring they achieve quality, impact and financial objectives

• Scope more challenging client needs and design appropriate projects

• Oversight of a portfolio of projects (within a programme or across team)

• Support Consulting Practice Director to co-design programme consulting projects with programme teams

• Invoicing of clients

• Associate onboarding

Client Management

• Provide leadership coaching and mentorship to clients in support of their organisational development and strategic scale journey

• Establish and manage high-trust relationships with staff at all levels of client organisation, especially client lead and client executive team / stakeholders

• Build trusted strategic thought partner relationship with client organisations

• Maintain relationships with former clients and build network of SI champion clients

Quality Assurance

• Maintain high standards of work across projects

• Seek QA support where necessary

• Quality assure consultant contributions to projects

Business Development

• Identify opportunities to expand existing projects

• Identify opportunities for new projects and follow up appropriately

• Be a brand ambassador for Spring Impact

• Support BD team in proposal development

• Lead preparation of proposals

• Quality assure proposal to ensure best option proposed to client that meets SI's financial and performance objectives

• Negotiate contracts and finalise for signature

• Lead pitch meetings and support as required

Best Practice development

• Review and sign off codified project outputs  and develop case studies on project completion

• Identify opportunities to add to SI's methodologies and toolkits

• Develop new frameworks, methodologies and tools for use across SI team meeting changing context and client needs

• Build and expand SI practice areas to meet current client / sector needs

Organisational contribution

• Drive internal activities and practice development across marcomms, programmes and academy (SI’s external training) functions

• Contribute more widely to SI strategic priority areas, using consulting experience and learning combined with research to further goals

• Represent SI at events, functions and webinars

• Support recruitment processes

• Manage associate recruitment for projects and associate pool

Consulting practice management

• Consulting team management, including shaping team culture and standards across the consulting practice

• Support Consulting Practice Director in practice management, leading on delegated functions or initiatives (e.g. resourcing, recruitment, quality assurance, business development, practice design, associate management)

• Support Consulting Practice Director in financial management

Person specification

Experience

• Significant experience (at least 6 years) in a consulting environment, either in a traditional consultancy or as an internal consultant delivering strategy or transformation projects - this is a requirement for the role

• Experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder consulting projects from scoping through to delivery, with a strong track record of achieving quality outcomes

• Experience working with or within mission-driven organisations, with a strong understanding of the challenges they face in growing their impact. Experience in working with funders is highly desirable

• Experience line managing and developing others, with demonstrable commitment to supporting staff wellbeing and professional growth

• Experience in business development, including leading proposals and building senior client relationships

Skills and abilities

• Excellent facilitation and workshop design skills, with the ability to engage and challenge senior leaders

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce high-quality outputs and present complex ideas clearly

• Ability to manage a portfolio of projects simultaneously, balancing competing priorities without dropping the ball

• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to diagnose organisational challenges and design appropriate solutions

• Ability to build trusted, long-term relationships with clients and act as a credible thought partner at executive level

• Ability to quality assure the work of others and hold high standards across a team

Knowledge

• Understanding of scaling and systems change approaches (or a strong appetite to develop this quickly)

• Understanding and knowledge of organisational development consulting would be advantageous

• Familiarity with the social sector landscape in the UK and/or internationally

Personal qualities

• A collaborative team player who leads by example and brings others along with them

• Committed to equity, inclusion and justice, and able to bring this lens to both internal practice and client work

• Comfortable with ambiguity and able to exercise sound judgement in complex situations

• Motivated by social impact and genuinely invested in the success of the organisations Spring Impact works with

Staff benefits

Like everyone else on the team, you’ll benefit from:

• A flexible approach to working and home-working, with team members being asked to come in once a week to our London office  

• 25 days holiday, increasing to 27 after two years of service

• A personal training budget of £2,000

Spring Impact’s Commitment to Inclusion

At Spring Impact, we firmly believe that the impact of our work is strongest when our team has a variety of experience, expertise, and insights to draw from. Our staff draw on their lived experiences and their professional backgrounds from across the social sector. We’ve got plans to grow further and are looking to add experience and new perspectives as we do so. We are committed to ensuring that Spring Impact is representative of our society at large, and is an inclusive environment for all, regardless of race, age, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, religion, disability, socioeconomic background, family/parental status, and any other protected characteristics. We hope to continue fostering an environment of belonging at Spring Impact, where all team members are encouraged to be their authentic selves and where their needs in the workplace are met.

In pursuit of these goals, we not only want to cultivate a culture of inclusion and justice at Spring Impact, but to implement practices that allow us to take steps in achieving these aims. This can be seen in our flexible working schedule (for those who may have caring responsibilities or may face inaccessible transportation), de-biased hiring platform, having an established DEIJ (diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice) working group and organisation-wide involvement in DEIJ workshops. 

We encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply, especially those who may come from marginalised and underrepresented groups. 

For further information on how Spring Impact has incorporated DEIJ practices into our organisation, and what work we still need to do, please refer to our article "Embedding and Advancing DEIJ: The Distance We've Travelled and the Distance Still to Go".

Key Details

• Salary: £63,000 - £72,000 (depending on experience)

• Full-Time

• Applicants must reside in the UK and we are open to visa sponsorship for the right candidate.