Local Delivery Lead – Homewards Sheffield

Homewards, a transformative five-year programme that will aim to demonstrate that it’s possible to end homelessness – making it rare, brief, and unrepeated.

In each of the six locations where Homewards will be delivered, we are seeking an experienced delivery lead and stakeholder manager to oversee and coordinate the local implementation of the programme. They will bring together local leaders and representatives of private, public and voluntary sector organisations, into a single coalition, working collaboratively to develop and deliver a transformational action plan to end homelessness.

This advert is for a position in Sheffield.  

This is an outstanding opportunity for a dynamic, self-motivated individual to be at the centre of a high-profile local initiative and make a tangible positive difference to the community, while making an important contribution to wider, national level impact over the next five years.

About Homewards

Homewards is a five-year, place-based programme that will demonstrate that it’s possible to end homelessness of all kinds – making it rare, brief, and unrepeated.

Inspired by success stories internationally and innovative projects in the UK, we will work with six flagship locations for five years, giving them the space, tools, and relationships to show what can be achieved by working together to prevent and end homelessness.

We will support the six locations to build coalitions of committed people and organisations who together can try new things to prevent homelessness. We will work with them to develop locally led action plans and will support them to implement their plans via funding, additional capacity, expertise, access to investment, research, and evaluation.

By the end of the five years, our locations will be on a path to ending homelessness for good - making it rare, brief, and unrepeated.

Homewards will also use its unique platform to improve understanding of the issue – we will share the locations’ successes and learnings to ensure our impact goes much further – and boost optimism that it can be ended. Our ambition is that collaboration focused on ending homelessness becomes business as usual, not just in these locations, but around the UK and beyond.

About The Royal Foundation

The Royal Foundation mobilises leaders, businesses, and people so that together we can address society’s greatest challenges. Led by our Principals, The Prince and Princess of Wales, our work is built on world-class research, long-term partnerships, and measurable, scalable impact.

Role description and core responsibilities 

We are recruiting a Local Delivery Lead to lead the delivery of Homewards in the following location:
 

• Sheffield

Each Local Delivery Lead will provide the strategic and operational leadership to oversee and coordinate the implementation of the programme in their respective location. They will have the gravitas to bring together local leaders, and representatives of private, public and voluntary sector organisations, into a single coalition, working collaboratively to develop and deliver an action plan to end homelessness in the location.

Successful candidates will have a track record of leading operational delivery, ideally of localised or place-based programmes. They will be able to inspire, motivate and convene a diverse community of stakeholders and partners from the public, private and third sectors around a shared vision. Above all, they will have an optimistic perspective, understanding this unique opportunity to enable lasting change.

The Local Delivery Leads will have a proven ability to take on board complex information and translate it into clear and tangible action aligned to wider strategic goals. They will be keen team players and comfortable working independently.

They will have knowledge and experience in a housing, homelessness or built environment setting or a relevant field in the location they are applying for. They will have excellent political judgement and risk awareness and be confident, empathetic communicators, able to represent The Royal Foundation and its work to sector specialists and generalist audiences internally and externally.

Whilst acting as the lynchpin of the programme in their respective locations, the post holders will report into The Royal Foundation’s Head of Local Delivery and will be part of the core programme team. They will work collaboratively with the other Local Delivery Leads, ensuring knowledge and learning is shared, and supporting their colleagues in other locations to ensure the success of the programme as a whole. They will work closely with other Foundation teams, Kensington Palace, and external delivery partners.

The role will be varied and wide-ranging, working with other programme team members to implement the vision and programme in each location.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Develop and grow local multi-disciplinary partnerships (e.g. council, housing associations, health and social care providers, non-profits, property developers, landowners, local businesses), bringing in new players and encouraging the coalition to test innovative ideas.
• Ensure that their location has an ambitious, achievable action plan, challenging and supporting local stakeholders to ensure the plan is aligned to the ambitions and design of the programme.
• Support and enable the local coalition to design and deliver projects initiated from the action plan, whilst maintaining an overview of the action plan as a whole. 
• Support the location to deliver an innovative housing project that will test new ways to unlock homes at scale within the location and beyond. 
• Contribute to an exciting culture of collaboration and proactivity, enabling local partners to focus on action by providing the secretariat function. 
• Work with the core programme team to leverage external and internal expertise to co-create long-term solutions, harnessing local networks and The Royal Foundation’s platform. 
• Ensure local delivery of Homewards is inclusive, embraces diversity and follows EDI best practice. 
• Support the development of a local communication strategy to raise awareness of the complexities of the issue and inspire action among local communities. 
• Build and maintain strong relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders, from local leaders to frontline practitioners. 
• With the support of the Homewards Project Manager and Head of Local Delivery, create a robust and comprehensive delivery plan including key milestones, budget and governance arrangements at a local level. 
• Proactively collaborate with and support the other Local Delivery Leads, attending regular team check-ins, and providing cover in at least one other location. 
• Play an active role in The Royal Foundation’s programme team by offering ideas on strategy and operational design, acting as a support and sounding board. 
• Commit to creating a programme that can scale internationally to make lasting change, by contributing to research and data-gathering activities and ensuring local delivery keeps scalability in mind.

Relevant knowledge, experience and personal qualities

We welcome candidates from a wide range of backgrounds.

Experience and knowledge should include:

• Experience of leading operational delivery on time and within budget (essential) – ideally within localised or place-based programme contexts (desirable)
• Experience of working collaboratively across different teams and with partners to deliver (essential)
• Experience of working with and influencing senior leaders (essential)
• Experience of bringing together diverse external stakeholders under a shared vision to create new solutions and deliver organisational or programme goals (desirable)
• Demonstrable knowledge of the location you are applying for regarding its housing and homelessness situation, and/or a related field (eg. health, social care) (essential)
• Previous experience in a sector relevant to the programme (e.g. homelessness, housing, built environment, health, social care) (desirable)
• Experience of coproducing services and solutions with those with lived experience of homelessness (desirable)
• Demonstrable applied knowledge of how to take a whole-systems approach to solving a social challenge, and of social impact methods (desirable)

Personal qualities:

• Collaborative and confident relationship builder with strong stakeholder management skills; a genuine ‘team player’ who can influence and bring people with them.
• Creative problem-solver and strategic thinker who enjoys working with others to come up with new ideas and build a collective ‘vision’ to work towards.
• Organised, capable of balancing multiple and complex priorities, and can be flexible, responding confidently and positively to changing scenarios.
• Optimistic and energetic outlook, keen to maximise the positive change you can deliver.
• Excellent communicator, both in writing and orally, able to tailor delivery to the audience.

The Royal Foundation is a high-profile organisation, and the successful candidate will appreciate the importance of discretion and confidentiality and have a mature and professional approach.  

This post is subject to receipt of two satisfactory references and right to work in the UK.  

Please note, this job description is subject to change. With any significant change, we will ensure this is discussed with the successful candidates before any final approvals and or commitments.  

Location:  

UK-based, ‘on site’ at an office of The Royal Foundation or a partner in the location you are applying for, with some flexibility to work from home at times.

You will also be required to travel within the UK and potentially overseas on The Royal Foundation’s business. 

Contract: Permanent. We are also open to exploring secondments or other temporary transfer arrangements.