Focus on labour exploitation jobs
About the Role
This is an exciting opportunity to join the legal charity ATLEU (Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit), in a vital operational leadership role. This is a role for someone with extensive operational management experience, ideally within the charity, non-profit sector and in human rights work. You will be a strategic thinker with excellent organisational skills and able to manage multiple priorities effectively. You will bring your skills and experience to a dedicated team that punches well above its weight and is passionate about transforming individual lives and bringing about long term change.
The Head of Operations will provide leadership in all operational matters, supporting the organisation's mission and long-term objectives, supporting ATLEU’s growth, resilience, and sustainability as well as building a flexible and supportive environment that enables the ATLEU team to do the challenging work that they do.
This role is line managed by and works closely with the Chief Executive. You will be a member of ATLEU’s Senior Management team and work closely with and supervise the work of the People & Inclusion Manager (recently started in post), the Operations & Projects Coordinator and the Billing Coordinator. The Operations team is a small team that works collaboratively to ensure all areas are covered at all times. As such, you will be willing to chip in and take on tasks of other team members if urgent matters arise or when providing holiday cover.
We are looking for a positive, detail-oriented, creative thinker and problem solver who will build on our reputation for innovation and excellence. You will have a track record of achievement in this field and have excellent interpersonal and communication skills with strong financial and business acumen. You will have experience of and confidence in overseeing a wide remit of cross cutting functions including finance, human resources, office management, information technology and governance and compliance. This role will suit someone who enjoys working with people, is comfortable with autonomy and who thrives in a role where no two days are the same.
About ATLEU
Our vision is a just world where no one is enslaved or exploited.
Our mission is to secure safety, rights and justice for survivors of human trafficking by using and challenging the law.
Our strategic priorities are:
- To provide a model of high quality holistic legal support to survivors of human trafficking and exploitation
- To tackle systemic injustice through strategic litigation and pursuing policy change
- To build survivor leadership and influence within ATLEU and across the sector
- To strengthen the capacity of advice, frontline and community organisations to meet the needs of survivors
- To invest in and support our people to ensure we are effective and sustainable
Our values are integral to who we are, what we do and how we do it.
- There is always another way
We are persistent, resourceful and creative in our approach. We do the hard work to make justice accessible. We don’t give up in the fight for fairness and freedom.
- We make the time. We listen. We hear
We take the time to really listen to our clients and colleagues. We want to restore autonomy and agency from where it was stolen. We give advice, not tell you what to do. If you fight, we fight. Our clients’ needs come first.
- Knowledge is for sharing.
We lead the way in our knowledge and expertise of reforming the law. The strength of our team comes from our willingness to collaborate and share. We put our work before pride and always ask for help. Power of our knowledge comes through sharing it with others to secure justice and reform the law.
Employment Information
Job Title:Head of Operations
Job Term:Permanent
Hours:Full time / part-time (minimum of 28 hours up to 35 hours per week). Flexible working options available
Salary:£47,000 to £52,000 p.a. pro rata (depending on experience)
Pension:7% employer pension contribution
Leave:33 days pro rata (including public holidays) pro rata with an additional 1 day per year up to a maximum of 38 days (including public holidays) pro rata
Reports to: CEO
Line Management: Up to 5 staff members
Probation:6 month probation period
Location:Central London, near London Bridge and with occasional travel to Sheffield
Objectives of the post
To lead and ensure the smooth operational running of ATLEU, with particular focus on finance, people, information technology and governance and compliance.
To manage ATLEU’s team of operations staff including human resources, operations and projects, finance and external bookkeepers.
To work closely with the Chief Executive to develop systems for implementing and monitoring ATLEU’s strategic plan.
Main Responsibilities
1. Leadership and Strategy
- Participate in strategic and business planning processes and play a leading role, working with the CEO and trustees to develop the strategic plan, ensuring all team members understand it and their role in it.
- Serve as a key member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) contributing to the strategic direction and day to day management of the organisation.
- Develop and lead monitoring and evaluation processes for all activities associated with our strategy, including setting and reviewing annual business plan priorities and targets, communicating progress and highlighting potential areas for development and increased focus. Be a champion for embedding learning into the culture of the organisation and collaborate with consultants and staff to ensure there are effective monitoring learning and evaluation frameworks in place across ATLEU’s projects and services.
- Lead and manage ATLEU’s operations staff, including ATLEU’s Operations and Projects Coordinator, People and Inclusion Manager and Billing Coordinator.
- Lead the development and maintenance of organisational policies, procedures, and systems to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
- To work closely with the Director of Saltworks to support the operational running of ATLEU’s trading subsidiary Saltworks, through developing the financial and operational infrastructure and management of the organisation.
2. Finance
- Lead ATLEU’s financial planning, management and reporting processes.
- Direct, manage and document ATLEU’s financial policies, systems and controls, ensuring that financial systems are effective and up to date.
- Scrutinise monthly financial data and produce financial reports for the CEO and trustees, including quarterly cashflows
- Prepare ATLEU’s annual operating budgets and financial reports for funders and oversee project budgets.
- Ensure the year-end financial accounts and audit process is completed satisfactorily and delivered on time, ensuring all financial data and other data needed is provided.
- Ensure that accurate records and accounts of monies claimed are held on all cases and liaise with the Head of Legal Practice to ensure compliance with the Solicitors Accounts Rules.
- Oversee ATLEU’s bookkeeping and legal aid billing and reporting and ensure all monies, including grant monies and training invoices are claimed and paid promptly.
- Maintain oversight of bookkeepers and auditors, taking responsibility for managing relationships with them
- Manage ATLEU’s banking arrangements, ensuring that they are effective, secure and fit for purpose.
3. Office and Operations
- Work with the Senior Management and Operations teams to ensure that all colleagues have the operational support needed to do their jobs effectively;
- Liaise with building management for both offices, manage any rent negotiations and any future office moves
- Lead on the annual insurance renewal process, provide the required data and lead discussions with brokers to ensure good value for money on all policies;
- Support the Operations and Projects Coordinator to ensure that both ATLEU offices provide a safe and welcoming environment for ATLEU staff, clients and other visitors and that they comply with all appropriate legislation and regulations;
- Work with the Operations & Project Coordinator to maintain the Office Manual and associated policies and ensure that they are up to date and reviewed as appropriate and monitor compliance with those policies.
- Oversee day-to-day operations including premises, equipment, IT systems, ordering supplies, procurement and workflow and archive management and ensure that processes are in place to restore functionality as required.
- To ensure the most effective use of resources and identify areas for cost reduction or cost avoidance along with process and functional improvement, including developing ATLEU’s IT infrastructure to reduce reliance on paper files.
4. Human Resources
- The Head of Operations plays a pivotal role in mentoring and supporting the People and Inclusion Manager across all HR-related matters, including staff wellbeing and EDI activities.
- In the absence of the People & Inclusion Manager or when facing conflicting deadlines, the Head of Operations is expected to actively participate in all HR tasks.
- Support the People & Inclusion Manager with day-to-day HR tasks, processes and systems, responding to queries and problem solving when needed;
- Provide guidance to the Senior Management Team with regular updates on HR related issues as needed;
- Support the People and Inclusion Manager to review, develop and roll out HR policies and provide training to staff where required, ensuring they are legislatively sound, fit with our values and align with our strategic goals.
- Oversee the coordination of the organisation’s volunteer programme, and explore ways to maximise the value both ATLEU and volunteers gain from the programme.
- Model positive, fair and open people leadership and support other managers in their supervisory capacity.
5. Governance and Compliance
- Work with the Chief Executive to continue to strengthen the governance of the charity, ensuring that all aspects of governance adhere to best practices and meet regulatory requirements.
- Ensure that ATLEU complies with the requirements of all relevant regulatory bodies including the Charity Commission and Companies House and ensuring ATLEU is compliant with all compliance relevant to a not for profit legal firm e.g the Legal Aid Agency, Solicitor’s Regulation Authority, Specialist Quality Mark, Immigration Advice Authority and CILEX.
- Manage the Board, AGM and committee meeting calendar, ensuring well-structured agendas and facilitating effective decision-making processes with clear records of these meetings and management of actions arising.
- Develop and implement governance policies and procedures that align with regulatory requirements and organisational needs.
- Ensure the SMT, Board and other parts of the governance receives comprehensive, timely, and accurate information to support informed decision-making.
- Stay abreast of relevant legislation and governance best practices, implementing changes as necessary.
- Develop and maintain effective systems and frameworks for compliance, risk management, and operational efficiency.
6. Information Technology / Data Protection and Cyber Security
- Support the Operations and Projects Coordinator in ensuring IT systems function appropriately and securely and new systems are developed to improve efficiencies for caseworkers and for audit and research.
- Work with the Head of Legal Practice and Operations and Projects Coordinator on the continued development of and improvements to our legal aid case management system.
- Ensure ATLEU has robust IT and cyber security policies and procedures in place, and oversee their implementation across the organisation.
- Develop and maintain the organisation’s IT and business continuity plan and update it annually.
- Oversee ATLEU’s day-to-day relationships with external IT support, ensuring IT systems function effectively and providing or facilitating staff support;
- Collaborate with external IT support on projects to enhance and modernise ATLEU’s systems, ensuring they remain up-to-date and secure;
- Take overall responsibility for the data protection obligations of the organisation. Oversee the implementation of up-to-date and compliant data protection policies including data retention and destruction, home and remote working, emails and the internet, and ensure that sensitive and financial information is securely stored and confidentiality and privacy is maintained.
- Keep abreast of changes and updates to Data Protection legislation and ensure that staff receive regular training on Data Protection and Cyber Security.
7. Other
- Lead by example demonstrating ATLEU’s values, taking a business partner, proactive approach to working across the organisation.
- To support and adhere to ATLEU’s equal opportunities policy and to always act in an ethical manner that upholds the good reputation of ATLEU.
- To travel to ATLEU’s Sheffield offices as required.
- From time to time to attend other meetings, including out of hours, when necessary.
- To undertake additional duties as may become necessary.
Please refer to the attachment below for further information and the full person specification.
How to Apply
To apply, please provide a copy of your CV, a covering letter, and an Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form via CharityJobs. The deadline for applications is at 23:00 on Sunday 30 November 2025. Applications received after this time will not be considered.
Please ensure that the cover letter:
- sets out why you wish to work for ATLEU
- addresses the criteria contained in the Person Specification
- demonstrates your competency for the role
Please ensure that we have a contact telephone number or email address so that we are able to contact you easily and in confidence.
Candidates shortlisted for interview will be advised by close of business on Friday 5 December 2025. If you do not hear from us by this time, it unfortunately means that you have not been shortlisted for an interview. We regret that we do not have capacity to provide feedback to applicants who are not invited for an interview.
Interviews will be held on Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 December.
Candidates may be asked back for a second-round interview.
Inclusion at ATLEU
We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences. We believe that diversity drives innovation, strengthens our teams, and leads to better outcomes for everyone. Each individual is valued for their unique perspectives, cultures, and circumstances, and we are committed to creating an inclusive and respectful environment where all employees feel supported, empowered, and able to thrive.
We actively encourage applications from suitably qualified candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity. We particularly welcome applicants from groups underrepresented in our sector, including individuals from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities and those with lived experience of migration or trafficking. Please let us know of any reasonable adjustments needed during the recruitment process or in the role — we are happy to discuss how we can best support you.
To apply, please provide a copy of your CV, a covering letter, and an Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form via CharityJobs. Please ensure that the cover letter:
1. sets out why you wish to work for ATLEU
2. addresses the criteria contained in the Person Specification
3. demonstrates your competency for the role
Please ensure that we have a contact telephone number or email address so that we are able to contact you.
Interviews will be held on Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 December. Candidates may be asked back for a second-round interview.
Candidates shortlisted for interview will be advised by close of business on Friday 5 December 2025.
If you do not hear from us by this time, it unfortunately means that you have not been shortlisted.
Registered Charity
11 - 20
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
About the role
This is an exciting opportunity to join ATLEU, a leading anti-trafficking and human rights charity. We are looking for an inclusive, creative, talented facilitator, with exceptional leadership and interpersonal skills to be our Participation Manager.
The Participation Manager will facilitate survivors of trafficking to use their experiences to support the development of ATLEU’s work and services and to improve policy and practice across the anti-trafficking and legal advice sectors. Working with group members, this individual will be responsible for supporting the expansion of the group (The Changemakers) and the remit of ATLEU’s participation work from January 2026 when the current projects come to a close, ensuring new members are inducted and supported to engage and lead in future projects. The overall aim of the participation and activism work is to integrate survivors at all levels within ATLEU, as well as creating a project that offers different levels of engagement, depending on the interests and capacity of individual group members.
The Participation Manager is a key member of the Rise and Lead project team, which is a groundbreaking new employment pathways project in partnership with Southeast and East Asian Centre (SEEAC) and Voice of Domestic Workers for those with experience of human trafficking and migration.
The successful candidate will have direct experience of working with vulnerable individuals, ideally survivors of trafficking, a strong understanding of the challenges survivors face and be committed to shifting power to people with lived experience. They will have a flexible approach and understand what empowerment means in its truest sense, allowing the structure of the work to be led by the needs of the group rather than with a predetermined or fixed idea of what this will look like.
About ATLEU
Our vision is a just world where no one is enslaved or exploited.
Our mission is to secure safety, rights and justice for survivors of human trafficking by using and challenging the law.
Our strategic priorities are:
-
To provide a model of high quality holistic legal support to survivors of human trafficking and exploitation
-
To tackle systemic injustice through strategic litigation and pursuing policy change
-
To build survivor leadership and influence within ATLEU and across the sector
-
To strengthen the capacity of advice, frontline and community organisations to meet the needs of survivors
-
To invest in and support our people to ensure we are effective and sustainable
Our values are:
There is always another way
We are persistent, resourceful and creative in our approach. We do the hard work to make justice accessible. We don’t give up in the fight for fairness and freedom.
We make the time. We listen. We hear
We take the time to really listen to our clients and colleagues. We want to restore autonomy and agency from where it was stolen. We give advice, not tell you what to do. If you fight, we fight. Our clients’ needs come first.
Knowledge is for sharing.
We lead the way in our knowledge and expertise of reforming the law. The strength of our team comes from our willingness to collaborate and share. We put our work before pride and always ask for help. Power of our knowledge comes through sharing it with others to secure justice and reform the law.
Although just a small team, ATLEU’s work has led to significant changes in law and policy. Since we were established in 2013, we have led the way in ensuring that survivors of trafficking have access to free, independent legal advice by enabling access to legal aid, across the range of issues survivors experience. For example, our litigation against the Legal Aid Agency led to their concession that legal aid provision was insufficient for victims of trafficking and an increase in the number of trafficking compensation cases that legal aid providers were contractually able to assist with each year (from 5 up to 100). Following litigation on behalf of our client LL, the Legal Aid Agency agreed that victims of trafficking were legally entitled to free immigration advice on applying for leave to remain in the UK on the basis of their trafficking experiences and publicised this entitlement.
Employment Information
Job Title: Participation Manager (Lived Experience)
Job Term: Permanent
Location: London based with hybrid working. We can offer flexible working arrangements but the role will require regular office attendance
Hours: 21 hrs per week
Salary Band: £31,374 – £37,772 pro rata per year. Starting salary will depend on the level of candidate’s experience
Pension: 7% pension contribution
Leave: 33 days a year (including bank holidays), with an increase of 1 day per year for each complete year of service, capped at 30 days plus bank holidays per year (38 days).
Benefits: Individual training budget and employee wellbeing programme, monthly team lunches and a personal wellbeing fund.
Probation period: 6-month probation period
Reports to: Policy Manager
Objectives of the post
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To lead on the development of ATLEU’s participation strategy including a plan for implementation.
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To develop ATLEU’s Changemakers expert by experience group so that it is sustainable, resilient and inclusive and able to deliver its strategic objectives.
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To build the power of survivors within ATLEU to influence organisational strategy and decision making and inform ATLEU’s services and priorities.
Main Responsibilities
Strategy development
1. Using the framework of ATLEU’s 5-year strategic plan, develop ATLEU’s participation strategy creating an annual plan to deliver on our organisational vision.
2. Develop and maintain positive relationships across ATLEU’s team staying up to date with different areas of organisational work in order to create opportunities for collaboration and coproduction with the Changemakers, finding flexible and creative ways to integrate new opportunities into the annual plan.
Developing ATLEU’s Changemakers group
3. Recruit and induct people with lived experience of trafficking to be active participants in the Changemakers.
4. To facilitate meetings of the Changemakers ensuring activities are accessible and inclusive for all participants.
5. To secure opportunities for skills and knowledge development through internal and external training.
6. Conduct needs assessments to identify safeguarding, support needs and development goals and provide practical and emotional support where required.
7. Nurturing the wellbeing and solidarity of the group, providing individual pastoral support, coordinating reflective practice sessions and group activities.
8. Review, adapt, and agree terms of reference and foundational values with the group.
9. To manage the annual lived experience budget.
Building the power of survivors within ATLEU
10. To be an effective liaison between the group and the Director, trustees and wider staff team.
11. Understanding how ATLEU works as an organisation and its key activities and facilitating regular communication between Changemakers and ATLEU’s people.
12. Create opportunities for collaboration, co-creation and leadership for ATLEU’s Changemakers members.
13. Identifying potential opportunities for Changemakers to take on paid roles within the organisation, defining the scope of the role, recruitment/ selection of individuals for the roles, and supporting individuals to gain experience of working independently (eg. peer research training development, training delivery).
14. To take a creative and flexible approach to working with the group, to understand their priorities and goals and find ways to steer and adapt their ideas so that they can be delivered within an organisational context.
15. Work with ATLEU’s Director, Head of Operations and People and Inclusion Manager to create pathways for people with lived experience of trafficking to participate in ATLEU’s governance and decision-making, including at trustee board level and development of funding proposals.
16. Support the delivery of ATLEU’s Rise and Lead Fellowship project helping to create an employment pathway for people with lived experience of human trafficking and migration in the advice and anti-trafficking sector.
17. Support the Rise and Lead Project Manager with the development of a bespoke inclusive recruitment programme and the delivery of the training fellowship, and the project monitoring and evaluation and dissemination of learning.
Coproduction with the Changemakers
18. Working with ATLEU’s Changemakers to act as agents of change, to influence external stakeholders (e.g. anti-trafficking organisations, policy makers, parliamentarians, media) and share their expertise, whilst ensuring the necessary safeguarding is in place.
19. To work with the Policy Manager and Communications and Public Affairs Officer to facilitate people with lived experience of trafficking to inform, shape and co-produce:
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Training
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Information / legal resources
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Peer Research reports
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Monitoring and evaluation (ATLEU’s services/ Rise and Lead)
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Policy & Communication materials
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Events
20. To find ways to cultivate respect for lived experience, and encourage inclusive practices in the sector, such as through engagement with the Lived Experience Coalition
Professional Development
21. To take responsibility for self-development on a continuous basis, including undertaking on-the-job and other training as required.
22. To discuss regularly with the Policy Manager your job performance and personal career development.
23. To participate fully in ATLEU’s appraisal process.
Other Duties
24. To play a full role in the organisation supporting colleagues to maximise their effectiveness.
25. To support and adhere to ATLEU’s equal opportunities policy and to always act in an ethical manner that upholds the good reputation of ATLEU.
26. To ensure that the terms of ATLEU’s funders are adhered to in all aspects of ATLEU’s delivery and to provide information for proposals and reports as required.
27. To attend and participate in staff meetings.
28. To support ATLEU’s social media presence in line with the organisation’s strategic objectives.
29. To represent ATLEU at external meetings and where necessary and to attend meetings, occasionally including those out of normal working hours, when necessary. To travel between ATLEU’s offices as required.
30. To undertake additional duties as may become necessary.
Please refer to the attachment below for further information and the full person specification.
We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian, Minority-Ethnic and refugee and migrant backgrounds and from those with lived experience of the issues that ATLEU seeks to tackle.
Please note that candidates must be able to work in the UK and will be offered the job subject to suitable references and a DBS check. If you are appointed to the role, you will be required to provide further checks on your criminal records status throughout your employment.
We are holding two online information sessions on Zoom in English for applicants to find out more about the role. Details are as follows. A Zoom joining link can be found in the downloadable job pack:
Date: Thursday 23rd October
Time: 6.30 - 7.15pm
Meeting ID: Zoom 889 0469 8513
Passcode: 308237
Date: Wednesday 5th November
Time: 1 - 1.45pm
Meeting ID: Zoom 871 8268 7260
Passcode: 587053
NB. Please feel free to attend these information sessions with your camera turned off or using a different name if that would make you feel more comfortable in the space.
Application Process
Key dates
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Information sessions will be held on Thursday 23 October, 6pm - 6.45pm and Wednesday 5 November, 1pm - 1.45pm.
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The deadline for applications is 23:30 on Sunday 16 November.Applications received after this time will not be considered.
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First round interviews will be held in person on Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 December.
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Second round interviews will be held in person on Wednesday 10 December.
Please confirm your availability to attend first and second round interviews in your cover letter.
If you do not hear from us by Friday 28 November, it means that you have not been shortlisted for an interview. We regret that we do not have capacity to provide feedback to applicants who are not invited for an interview.
Please ensure that your cover letter addresses the following three points:
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Why you wish to work for ATLEU.
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How your previous experience demonstrates that you meet the essential Experience and Knowledge criteria, as well as any of desirable criteria if applicable, and
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Evidence that you have the following skills and abilities:
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(i) Ability to build rapport with a wide range of people and to communicate sensitively and sympathetically with traumatised and/or vulnerable people.
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(ii) Insightful, creative and courageous with the ability to challenge traditional thinking and push for change.
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(iii) Excellent interpersonal skills, professional manner, able to develop strong working relationships and effective alliances.
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(iv) Ability to manage effective collaboration.
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Please also include the following information:
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Contact telephone number
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Email address
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Confirmation of availability to attend first and second round interviews, if invited.
Inclusion at ATLEU
We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences. We believe that diversity drives innovation, strengthens our teams, and leads to better outcomes for everyone. Each individual is valued for their unique perspectives, cultures, and circumstances, and we are committed to creating an inclusive and respectful environment where all employees feel supported, empowered, and able to thrive.
We actively encourage applications from suitably qualified candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity. We particularly welcome applicants from groups underrepresented in our sector, including individuals from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities and those with lived experience of migration or trafficking. Please let us know of any reasonable adjustments needed during the recruitment process or in the role — we are happy to discuss how we can best support you.
Registered Charity
11 - 20
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.