Head of Direct Dialogue
Location: Flexible / Home-based (with regular travel to London and nationwide)
Salary: £65,000
Contract: Permanent
Shelter is leading the movement to defend the right to a safe home, and to win this fight, they are expanding their award-winning income generation team. Shelter is now looking for a strategic and ambitious Head of Direct Dialogue to lead its high-impact face-to-face fundraising programme.
As Head of Direct Dialogue, you will set the vision and strategy for one of Shelter’s most vital acquisition channels. This is a senior leadership role within the Individual Giving team, responsible for managing a £4m investment budget to deliver sustainable, long-term growth across cause-led and lottery products.
Leading a hybrid model of in-house teams and external agencies, you will oversee the end-to-end delivery of campaigns that inspire thousands of new supporters. You will be a highly visible leader, spending time in the field to support non-desk-based teams while ensuring the highest standards of compliance, risk management, and supporter experience. This is an opportunity to innovate, using data-driven insights to optimise supporter journeys and embed direct dialogue expertise within the wider mobilisation plans.
Shelter is looking for a commercial and entrepreneurial leader with extensive experience in large-scale direct dialogue campaigns. You will bring:
- Strategic Expertise: A proven track record of leading complex fundraising programmes across in-house and agency channels.
- Contract Management: Experience managing high-value partnerships (£1.5m+) with the ability to negotiate and drive high performance.
- Analytical Thinking: A data-led approach to budget modelling, forecasting and scenario planning in evolving environments.
- Regulatory Knowledge: In-depth understanding of the Code of Fundraising Practice and Gambling Commission regulations.
- Inclusive Leadership: A commitment to diversity and the ability to foster an equitable, high-performing team culture where people can be their authentic selves.
For further information on the role and how to apply, please download the Candidate Pack.
Closing date: Monday 4th May, 9am
Registered Charity 
More than 1000
Thank you!
About The Connection at St Martin’s
We believe that no one should have to sleep rough on London’s streets, and that everyone should get the support they need to find a place to call home. We get to know every person we work with, understanding what they need to recover, helping them build on their strengths, and supporting them to find their own way home. Help us make London a city where no one sleeps rough on our streets.
London’s diversity is its biggest asset and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London’s diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability.
We particularly encourage applications from candidates with lived experience of homelessness who we believe are an essential asset in our sector.
We are committed to being an inclusive employer and welcome the opportunity to consider flexible working arrangements.
About the Role
We are looking for an experienced and creative communications generalist who enjoys working across a wide range of activities and can bring our mission to life through powerful storytelling and effective communications.
In this role, you will ensure that the charity’s mission, values and key messages are reflected clearly and consistently across all communications. You will be confident working with the press and welcoming high-profile visitors, helping to raise the profile of our work and the people we support.
As a small charity, we value creativity and initiative. You will enjoy finding innovative ways to maximise impact, using a mix of media, digital channels and partnerships to share our story and reach new audiences.
Working closely with colleagues across the organisation – including the people who use our services – you will help ensure our communications are authentic, inclusive and grounded in real experiences.
You will also collaborate closely with colleagues in the Fundraising team to develop and deliver a series of innovative fundraising and awareness-raising campaigns, helping to engage supporters, grow income and increase understanding of our work.
Our strategy focuses on developing services in new ways, involving clients in every aspect of our work and strengthening collaboration across the sector. The Communications Manager will play a key role in helping the organisation communicate more effectively, building communications confidence across the team, and supporting the growth of our fundraising activity.
This role is a 12 month FTC.
Salary: £44,181 - £50,461 (scale points 29 – 35)
Closing Date: Sunday 19th April
Interview Date: Tuesday 28th April
Our Benefits
· 30 days holiday plus bank holidays
· Generous training budget, plus an annual personal training budget
· Enhanced Sick Pay Policy
· Enhanced family friendly policies
· Day off for moving house
· Hybrid working (depending on role requirements)
· Pension – 5% Employer, 3% Employee
· Cycle to Work Scheme
· Season Ticket Loan
· Employee Assistance Programme
· Reward Gateway (access to discount vouchers and cashback at the UK’s favourite retailers)
We are a London Living Wage employer
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.