Executive Head of Planning, Performance & Governance (Maternity Cover)

We are sector leading with our heritage, connections, and relationships. Our friends are superbly connected and ready to use their networks to help us. With a talented, hard-working team, we deliver amazing, creative and innovative fundraising that has a huge capacity to inspire people.

We’re now looking for an Executive Head of Planning, Performance and Governance as a maternity cover role until early November 2027.  This is an opportunity to put the structures and frameworks in place that will drive our long-term income growth and global reach and help War Child transform the lives of children affected by conflict.

The ideal candidate will be a strategic thinker who has a strong understanding of fundraising and marketing. You are a natural collaborator, who combines commercial acumen with a superb relationship-led approach to drive lasting, meaningful impact.

Hybrid working: This role is based on a hybrid working arrangement, with an expectation of around two days per week in our London office. There is flexibility regarding which days these are, depending on business and team needs.

What You'll Bring

• A strategic leader, able to translate organisational ambition into focused, deliverable plans and measurable outcomes.
• An experienced fundraiser – who understands the sector landscape and UK giving market, with informed practice ideally in a marketing discipline to support your understanding of the role.
• Commercially and financially astute, with the ability to evaluate opportunities, develop robust business cases and balance growth, impact, affordability and risk.
• Experienced in performance management, organisational planning, data interpretation and using insight to improve decision-making and delivery.
• Confident in exercising sound judgement and making recommendations where information is complex, incomplete or contested, taking accountability for the quality of advice provided.
• A collaborative and relationship-focused leader, with the credibility to influence senior colleagues, trustees and external stakeholders, while providing constructive challenge.
• An effective communicator, able to present complex strategic, financial and performance information clearly to a range of audiences, both verbally and in writing.
• Experienced in leading and developing people, building capability and creating an inclusive environment where individuals can perform at their best.
• Knowledgeable in governance, risk management, project management, accountability and the ethical stewardship of organisational resources and information.

What we can offer you

At War Child, we genuinely value different ways of working. Our goal is to support our employees to do their best work while ensuring we continue to deliver for children affected by conflict. Some of our benefits include:

• Flexible working culture and flexible public holidays
• 28 days annual leave (pro-rata), plus bank holidays, which increases by one day per year on your work anniversary, up to a maximum of 33 days.
• Pension- 5% employer contribution (increasing to 6% after one year’s service), with minimum employee contribution.
• Health and wellbeing- employees may take advantage of a healthcare cash plan, a GP 24/7 helpline, cancer cover, and a range of wellbeing initiatives and training. All employees have access to free, confidential one-to-one wellbeing consultations with trained counsellors.

This role offers an incredible opportunity to make a tangible difference at a time of unprecedented need. Join us in standing up for children affected by war and help create a future where no child’s life is torn apart by conflict.