WORKING WITH US
The founder and sponsor of the Harris Federation, Lord Harris of Peckham, opened our first school in 1990. We have, over the past thirty years, implemented ideas and initiatives that have transformed the opportunities of pupils from working class and disadvantaged backgrounds. Harris academies are widely recognised as a force for social mobility. We are immensely proud of the role that our alumni are now beginning to play in the world and of what we believe our current generation of pupils will go on to achieve.
We now have over 50 schools educating more than 40,000 young people across London and Essex, and employ over 5,000 staff across our academies and head office. With the majority of our academies located in areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage, a high-quality education is key to the futures of the pupils we serve.
As a provider of employment and education, we value the diversity of our staff and students, and all our staff are equally valued and respected. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment for our students and staff.
Our work will impact many generations to come, and our staff come from all backgrounds and walks of life, coming together to inspire young minds. We promote an inclusive culture that embraces the valuable and enriching contribution that all of our community make. We continue to be proactive in uplifting and supporting all voices at Harris.
To discover more about our culture, ethos and what it is like to work here, visit the page.
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ABOUT THIS OPPORTUNITY
We are seeking an enthusiastic and experienced Senior Careers Adviser to join our dynamic and forward-thinking Careers Team. In this key position, you will work across multiple sites within our Essex academies, supporting students to make informed, ambitious, and aspirational decisions about their futures.
As a senior member of the team, you will work closely with the Strategic Careers Lead and fellow advisers, providing expert guidance and helping to shape and deliver a high-impact CEIAG programme. You will also be a valued colleague within a supportive and collaborative team, where you will always have someone to bounce ideas off and share good practice.
Whether it’s further education, apprenticeships, traineeships or employment, you will play a vital role in guiding students towards the post-16 and post-18 pathways that best suit their individual goals and aspirations.
Your contribution will be central to raising aspirations, inspiring ambition, and ensuring every student, regardless of background or ability, is fully aware of the range of opportunities available to them. Together, we aim to deliver a high-quality, inclusive CEIAG programme from Year 7 to Year 13 that empowers all students to succeed.
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MAIN AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Your responsibilities will include:
- Planning high-quality careers education with each academy’s Careers Lead, aligned to statutory guidance and academy improvement plans
- Delivering careers assemblies that broaden students’ understanding of post-16 and post-18 options
- Providing impartial, personalised career guidance through one-to-one meetings and group sessions
- Maintaining accurate, up-to-date records of guidance meetings and actions on Unifrog
- Tracking and reporting on students’ aspirations and progression
- Supporting students with post-16 and post-18 choices, including referring those with specific needs (e.g., SEND) to specialist services
- Liaising with external agencies, networks, and partners to strengthen the Higher Education and Careers programme
- Engaging parents and carers in the careers guidance process and attending parents’ evenings
- Organising meaningful employer encounters that inspire students and expand their understanding of the workplace
- Attending results days and enrolment days
- Supporting wider team members by sharing best practice and offering shadowing opportunities
- Acting as a point of contact and mentoring new team members to aid their development
- Providing careers-related evidence and supporting academies during Ofsted inspections
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
We would like to hear from you if you have:
- A Diploma in Careers Guidance or Qualification in Careers Guidance to Level 6
- Experience in supporting or managing staff members to help them achieve their professional goals
- Proven working knowledge of Ofsted careers education assessment criteria for the personal development strand
- Experience of planning and organising events
- Proven experience in delivering impartial, personalised career guidance through one-to-one meetings, group sessions and assemblies
- Experience of successfully motivating students to plan and achieve their career goals
- A proactive approach, and efficient time management and prioritisation skills
- An ability to work independently and flexibly within the Academy structure
- Experience of developing and delivering CEIAG within an education setting.
- Genuine interest and passion for the education of young people and the ability to contribute more widely to the life and community of the Federation
For a full job description and person specification, please download the Job Pack.
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APPLYING FOR THIS POSITION
If you would like to discuss the opportunity further, or if you have any questions, please contact us via email to arrange a conversation.
Before applying please ensure you download the job pack from our careers website, this will help with completing your application. Please note that we only accept applications submitted online before the closing date.
When applying, you will have the option to import your CV or use a LinkedIn profile which will auto populate the online application.
A reminder to check your junk mail for our email communications and add us to your safe senders list to ensure all future email communication is received.
OUR VISION & VALUES
Our vision, from the start, has been to provide the structure and services needed for our schools to amount to more than the sum of their parts, and to free-up our teachers and leaders to focus on one thing and one thing only: the outstanding education of all their pupils. Our young people and communities are at the heart of everything we do. Our core mission has always been to close the educational gap between young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers. Our ambition is one where every child in London, no matter their background, has equal access to high quality education, giving them the same opportunities and potential to succeed.
We know there are many challenges facing our young people and the communities we serve, and that’s why we need determined people like you to help us tackle those inequalities. Whilst each of our academies has their own unique cultures and values; as a whole Federation, we have four core values which are central to successfully achieving our vision: Excellence, Collaboration, Support, and Innovation. We are proud of our values because they guide us in how we work allowing us to achieve the best possible outcomes for our young people, communities, and colleagues.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Safeguarding Notice
The Harris Federation and all our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, references, an online search, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check will be completed.
Equal Opportunities
The Harris Federation is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates. We value the diversity of our staff and students, and everyone at the Harris Federation is equally valued and respected. We aim to be an inclusive employer that reflects the communities we serve. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment.
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WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU
Harris has a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top-quality training programmes delivered at every level.
You will also have access to a variety of benefits, support programmes and initiatives including:
- Excellent opportunities for continuous professional development and career progression
- Annual performance and loyalty bonus
- Pension scheme (Teachers' Pension Scheme or Local Government Pension Scheme) with generous employer contribution
- 26 days' annual leave (inclusive of our Christmas Eve closure day) plus bank holidays, rising to 27 days after 2 years' service, or equivalent for staff on term time contracts
- Harris Wellbeing Cash Plan including cover for routine and specialist healthcare
- Employee Assistance Programme for free and confidential advice
- Cycle to work salary sacrifice scheme
- Wide range of shopping, leisure, and travel discounts
- 20% off at Tapi Carpets, exclusive to Harris employees
- Interest-free ICT and season ticket loans
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
What we're building
Level Water exists to solve a problem that shouldn’t exist: too many disabled children are still missing out on high-quality swimming lessons.
Last year, our swimmers raised over £1m. This year we’ve sold out events in minutes and want to double the fundraising. We’re on the path to exponential growth and we need someone who can help us get there.
We're Level Water, a founder-led charity solving learn-to-swim for disabled children. We're not your typical charity. We own our events and run them like a business. We move fast, test everything, and we're building something that doesn't exist anywhere else. Our events are uniquely profitable, and we reinvest in quality and growth.
We've just brought in a new Fundraising Director, and this Marketing role is a cornerstone of the team we're building. If you want to help define how a modern charity grows and does marketing, this is your chance.
The opportunity
This isn't a "post on social and send a newsletter" role. This is a “build something exceptional, then grow it” role. Marketing is at the heart of our flywheel, which means you’ll be integral to everything we are doing at Level Water.
You'll own marketing strategy and execution across our entire operation: our iconic events, our life-changing swimming programmes, and our reputation as a charity. You'll drive growth, tell stories that matter, and build genuine communities that scale.
You'll have the freedom to experiment. Want to test a new channel? Launch a content series? Build a creator programme? Run paid campaigns that actually convert? Brilliant. Build the business case and let's do it.
You'll work with real impact. Children with disabilities are learning to swim because of us. Families are transformed by our lessons. Volunteers and incredible teachers make it happen. These are stories that deserve to be told brilliantly, and you'll be the one telling them.
This role is 80% growth and 20% impact storytelling, but the two are inseparable. We’re product-led and we launch and test often. Great stories fuel growth. Growth creates more stories. You'll understand that tension and thrive in it.
You'll work closely with our Fundraising Director and CEO to scale marketing as our most powerful growth lever. You'll also manage a network of brilliant freelancers (photographers, videographers, copywriters, designers) to help you execute at the highest level.
And you'll grow with us. We're scaling fast, and we need people who can scale with us.
This is a mission-critical role in driving Level Water's growth. Every event you sell out, every story you tell, every audience you build helps unlock more funded swimming lessons, bringing us closer to a future where every disabled child can have a great swimming lesson with a confident, qualified teacher.
Marketing at Level Water isn’t just about selling events - it’s a core delivery mechanism in our Theory of Change. This role exists to move the levers that unlock more lessons, faster progression, stronger outcomes, and a sustainable income engine that funds it all.
This is the most exciting marketing job in the charity sector for the right person.
What you'll actually do
This role owns marketing as a growth engine. You'll set strategy, drive execution across multiple channels, and be accountable for how marketing translates into event sign-ups, fundraising growth, profile, and impact. You'll work closely with the Fundraising Director to shape priorities, influence decisions, and build something that scales.
Drive growth marketing that converts
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Own end-to-end marketing for our events portfolio: from launch campaigns to sell-out.
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Build and execute multi-channel campaigns across social, email, paid ads, PR, partnerships, and whatever else works.
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Test everything. Audiences, messages, creative, channels. Find what works, double down, and scale it.
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Use data to spot opportunities: which channels are converting? Where are we leaving growth on the table? What could we do differently?
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Manage our digital advertising and paid social strategy with a ruthless focus on ROI.
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Grow our email database and social audiences with intent, not just for vanity metrics.
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Be trusted to repeatedly turn £1 into £5 or £10.
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Define and unleash our audiences: help them share their stories in a way that turns experiences into future sales, and makes everything that Level Water does easier.
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Build and manage our captain and ambassador programmes as genuine growth engines - nurturing relationships, setting expectations, and turning influence into measurable impact.
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Proactively convert interest into action. This includes direct outreach (e.g. picking up the phone to captains, engaging top fundraisers, activating ambassadors) to ensure intent turns into ticket sales and fundraising.
Tell stories that build belief
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Find, shape, and share the stories that show our impact: the children, the families, the teachers, the moments that matter.
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Build and curate a library of content (video, photography, case studies, testimonials) that we can use everywhere.
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Work with freelance photographers and videographers to capture our events and programmes at their best.
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Create content that our supporters, partners, and prospects actually want to engage with, not just content that ticks a box.
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Manage our website (fundraising, events, and programmes pages) to ensure it's always up to date, compelling, and optimised for conversion.
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Ensure our impact reporting to donors is rich with content about our work.
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Use storytelling internally to build shared understanding, momentum and belief across the charity as we scale.
Build our profile and partnerships
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Position Level Water as a leader in accessible swimming and outdoor challenge events.
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Build and leverage relationships with press, influencers, local authorities, and stakeholders.
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Identify partnership and sponsorship opportunities that align with our mission and drive growth.
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Amplify examples of inclusion within our pools, making them known and also making inclusive practice visible.
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Promote our swimming pool partners and recognise their contribution to our work.
Manage, measure, and improve
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Own the marketing budget and get maximum value from every pound spent.
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Manage our freelance network: scope projects, review proposals, and ensure quality work on time and on budget.
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Report regularly on what's working and what's not: campaign performance, audience growth, conversion rates, ROI.
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Stay ahead of the curve: what are the best organisations doing? What can we learn and adapt?
Who we're looking for
We care much more about how you work than where you've worked. You don't need charity sector experience .
People who thrive here have:
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Hustle and drive. You take ownership. You spot opportunities and go after them. You don't wait to be told what to do.
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A commercial approach. You think in terms of audiences, funnels, conversion, and scale. You understand what drives growth and you know how to execute it.
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Copywriting chops. You can really write. Headlines that stop the scroll. Emails people actually read. Stories that land. You know that words matter.
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A data brain. You can look at campaign performance and spot the story. You know that "CTR is up 18%" means something, and you know how to act on it.
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A bias for action. You test things. You move fast. You're comfortable with uncertainty and you learn by doing.
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Creative thinking. You generate ideas. You see opportunities others miss. You're not afraid to try something different.
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Organisation. Strong attention to detail, with the ability to run 12 products, 40 email journeys and 100 web pages without dropping anything.
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An entrepreneurial mindset. You think like an owner. If this were your business, how would you grow it?
Bonus points if:
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You've worked in a startup, scale-up, or high-growth environment.
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You've built audiences from scratch or scaled marketing profitably.
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You've led paid campaigns that actually delivered ROI.
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You've worked across multiple channels and understand how they work together.
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You love being outdoors (swimming, hiking, wild camping, anything that gets you outside).
Why Level Water?
Our values: Bold, Driven, Personal, and Joyful are at the heart of this role. You'll be expected to bring ambition, move with purpose, care deeply about impact, and help create marketing that feels genuinely joyful to be part of.
Bold. This isn't a "follow the playbook" role. We want your ideas. We want you to challenge us. We want you to help us build something better.
Driven. We're growing fast and we need people who can scale with us. If you're ambitious, there's a huge opportunity here.
Personal. We're a small, founder-led team. We move fast, we debate hard, we test everything, and we care deeply about what we do.
Joyful. You'll work on some of the most iconic outdoor swims in the UK. You'll help tell stories that change lives. You'll be part of creating something people remember forever.
Practical details
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Flexible working: remote, hybrid, or (even better) office-based in Tunbridge Wells or Exeter, your choice.
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You'll attend weekend events throughout the summer (with time off in lieu).
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Salary: £30k–£45k depending on experience.
How to apply
We want to hear from you in whatever way best shows us who you are and how you think.
Get creative. It’s a marketing job so sell us on your personality and style. A traditional CV and cover letter? Absolutely fine. A video introduction? Great. A presentation deck? Bring it on. Whatever format helps you shine and show us who you are.
Here's what we'd love to know:
1. How you'd approach marketing growth:
Imagine we want to double sign-ups for one of our summer events (currently sitting at 500 swimmers). Walk us through your approach: which channels would you use, what would your messaging be, how would you measure success, and what would you test first?
2. What excites you about this role:
Tell us why this opportunity appeals to you specifically.
3. Something you're proud of:
Share one thing you've built, grown, or improved. Doesn't have to be in charity or even at work, it could be anything that shows your drive and ability to make things happen.
Before you apply
If you've got questions about the role, the team, or whether this might be right for you, please reach out. I'm Andy Punter, Fundraising Director at Level Water, and I'd genuinely love to chat.
Deadline
20th March 2026
We're excited to meet you. Let's build something brilliant together.
We equip pools and leisure providers across the UK to deliver specialist swimming lessons for children with disabilities.


