Care and services research officer jobs

We are seeking a fixed-term Brand Manager to manage the evolution and development of the Battersea brand to build brand health and ensure it is positioned to support organisational priority areas and the telling of our story.

The Brand Manager will oversee the brand development project to leverage the brand in highlighting unresolved needs and creating urgency, while equipping teams with the tools to act confidently and achieve effective cut-through whilst remaining distinctly Battersea.

This role provides brand guardianship and expert advice to ensure a consistent brand identity, whilst managing risk and reputation, working with partners and internal teams to understand and apply the brand with confidence.

Due to the time-sensitive nature of this role, we are seeking candidates who are available to start in May 2026. Please only if you are able to commence employment by this time.

Overall Objectives:

• Drive forward the delivery of our brand development work to maintain and build brand health and ensure our brand can work harder to support our fundraising and campaigning ambitions whilst maintaining Battersea’s distinctiveness in the category.
• Ensure the brand is positioned to support the communication of the full story of Battersea’s work and can convey why Battersea, and why now, to audiences and supporters.
• Develop and implement guidelines and tools and engagement techniques to convey urgency and need and give clear guidance to internal teams on the use of the Battersea brand.
• Provide brand guardianship and consultation on the strategic use and application of our brand across all partnership activity to ensure consistency, as well as facilitate best-in-class application.
• Monitor key brand metrics to ensure Battersea’s relevance and audiences understanding of our work, so the brand can support wider organisational goals.
• Manage brand reputation by proactively identifying and mitigating brand risks and overseeing trademarking to protect the Battersea brand with internal and external stakeholders.
• Work collaboratively within the Marketing and Communications Directorate and build trusted and positive working relationships with teams across Battersea to embed and enable use of the brand to support our organisational strategy.

What we can offer you:

In return for your commitment to our cause and to recognise the value of our employees, Battersea offers a range of benefits to support the wellbeing of our employees. These include:

• 28 days of annual leave (plus 8 days paid public holidays) per year.
• Discounted gym memberships and cycle to work schemes.
• Employee Assistance Programme and access to Wellbeing Resources.
• Generous pension contributions - up to 10% employer contribution.
• Free healthcare cash plan, where you can claim for a range of treatment including dental, optical, physiotherapy, chiropody and acupuncture every year.
• Annual interest-free season ticket loans.

We are also committed to providing learning and development to our employees. During your time with us, we provide support for your professional and career development, including access to digital and in-person training programmes, leadership and management training, mentoring and much more.

Our hybrid working model:

We operate a 50% onsite hybrid working model, with our office-based staff splitting their time between site based and home working. This enables our office-based staff to balance the benefits of home working with onsite collaboration and maintaining a connection to our cause.

Diversity and inclusion:

We are committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive experience for all staff, volunteers and trustees and those hoping to join us. We operate an anonymised shortlisting process and actively seek to ensure our process is fair and equitable for all.

We understand the value of diverse voices, perspectives, and experiences to help us deliver even more for our dogs and cats, and we welcome applicants from all sections of the community.

As a Disability Confident Committed Employer we will ask about any adjustments you may need at application and/or interview stage, and if you are offered a role with us, we’ll talk to you about any workplace adjustments you may need to help you perform at your best. If you would like to talk more about this, please contact us. Greyscale copies of the recruitment pack are also available on request.

More about us:

At Battersea, we aim to never turn away a dog or cat in need of help. We give each one lots of love, expert care and get to know their characters and quirks so we can find them a new home that’s just right for them. Join us and help us be here for every dog and cat, wherever they are, for as long as they need us.

Acceptable use of AI:

At Battersea, we value expertise. We recognise each candidate that applies to us will have a range of expertise they can offer us, so we want to hear about this in your own words. We understand the support that generative artificial intelligence (AI) software can offer but it can also lead to numerous applications presenting as generic and impersonal. This makes it difficult to gain understanding of your unique experience.

To best showcase yourself, we encourage you to write your responses without the assistance of AI. If you require the use of AI software to aid in completing your application, we ask you use the generative responses as a prompt for writing your answers and avoid copying and pasting. You must also ensure the information presented in your application accurately reflects your experience.

Closing date: 27th April 2026 - Early applications are encouraged as the role may close early if filled.

Interview date(s): Interviews will take place on a rolling basis.

For more information about the role, please download our Recruitment pack.

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People – High Value Events Team Manager
Location:Hybrid working with some travel to Hearing Dogs offices in either Buckinghamshire or East Yorkshire.
Salary: £55,000 per annum.
Contract: Permanent, full-time hours. 

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, whose mission is build confidence, companionship and connection for people with hearing loss, is seeking a High Value Events Team Manager to lead the development and delivery of inclusive, inspiring and impactful high-value event experiences that deepen relationships and generate transformational philanthropic support for the charity.

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People has been creating life-changing partnerships between hearing dogs and deaf recipients since 1982. As well as acting as an ear to their partners and alerting them to sounds, the charity’s clever and expertly trained dogs help deaf people to live life with confidence and independence, whilst providing love and emotional support.

Following on from a strategic review, the charity is now building a new Income Generation Directorate, to enable them to transform many more lives across the UK. This role will be critical to help Hearing Dogs reach their goals to significantly grow and diversify income.

With a strong focus on values-led, relationship-based fundraising, this role will provide strategic leadership to the charity’s new High Value Events function, bringing a consistent, high-quality approach to engagement, cultivation, fundraising and stewardship events. The post-holder will ensure that events are inclusive, mission-focused and deliver strong return on investment, building long-term commitment among principal and major donors, trusts and foundations, corporate partners and senior volunteers.

The ideal candidate will be a strong leader with a background in planning and delivering high-value fundraising or engagement events generating £100k+. You will have worked with high-value supporters, including high net worth individuals, committees and senior stakeholders, and will have a strong track record of working to income targets and maximising fundraising return on investment. Excellent organisational and communication skills will be combined with the ability to engage and influence a wide range of audiences. You will be creative and proactive, with a collaborative and inclusive approach to work, alongside the ability to communicate impact clearly and compellingly.

This is an exciting opportunity to shape the direction of High Value Events at an organisation which is changing people’s lives every day, and where you have the flexibility of working remotely or spending time at Hearing Dogs’ stunning bases in Buckinghamshire or Yorkshire, with friendly and passionate staff and their four-legged friends.
 

If you want to lead the pack and help deaf people live well with hearing loss Please download our Candidate Pack for further information [PDF], which includes details on how to apply.

Closing date: Monday 20th April, 9.00 am. 

Join a team that's making a real difference.

Adfam is the leading national charity tackling the effects of alcohol, drug use or gambling on family members and friends. We improve life for thousands of people. One way we do this is by empowering families and friends to get the support they need.

We want anyone affected by someone else's drug or alcohol use or gambling problem to have the chance to benefit from healthy relationships, be part of a loving and supportive family and enjoy mental and physical wellbeing.

This role offers the opportunity to be part of a successful national remote service, offering support via the phone or Zoom to affected adults in the UK. We are looking to recruit experienced Family Support professionals to provide these virtual support sessions to individual family members and sometimes groups. We are offering a number of roles at 15-20 hours per week, across 3-5 days, including Wednesday and at least 2 evenings per week (Mon-Wed).

Experience in supporting family members affected by someone else’s substance use is essential, as is experience with assessing and managing risk. Ideally, you would also have experience of working to support parents with their parenting and / or those experiencing domestic abuse. We offer fixed hours part time contracts within a friendly and supportive team. Whilst based at home and requiring the ability to work autonomously, Adfam prides ourselves on our supportive team ethos and working culture. 

• Salary: £30,000 pro rata
• 6.5% contributory pension scheme
• Contract: One year with likely extension

This is a remote working position based at home.

Please note, although counselling skills and qualifications are welcome and valuable as part of a skillset for this role, these are not counselling roles. This is professional support work and requires additional experience or skills in substance use, social work, complex family work or a related field. The role requires directive and facilitative guidance and input. If you are a counsellor looking for typical counselling work, please do not apply for this role. Thank you.

Closing date: Sunday 19th April

Application packs can be downloaded from our website. Alternatively, please email us to request one.

Adfam actively welcomes applications from all sections of society.

We are looking for a Director of Communications (External Relations)

We are looking for a communications leader to help us transform Nesta’s impact, reach and influence. We're already an ambitious, award-winning, multidisciplinary team, and now we're looking for someone to help us elevate our work to the next level.

The UK information environment is changing rapidly and our team is midway through a period of reform and transformation to adapt. We want to be industry-leading in the way we communicate - on the cutting edge of testing and experimenting with new formats and tactics, constantly iterating our practice in response to an information environment that is being constantly reshaped by AI, changing political communications and new technology. This is where you come in.

This role offers the mandate to experiment with a suite of high-impact products that are ready for their next stage of growth. You will play a central role in developing our new podcast, expanding our collection of data-driven stories, and testing long-form video as a way to translate deep research into compelling visual narratives. We care about micro communities as much as the traditional broadcast tools, and you’ll lead a stable of products designed to reach policy audiences. Alongside this, you will help to spearhead the advocacy and influencing activity that will deliver success in our three missions, and work more broadly to support BIT and all other parts of the Nesta Group.

You will blend exceptional political acumen with a proven track record of delivering policy and advocacy campaigns that have a tangible impact. You will be a trusted advisor, adept at providing strategic counsel across multidisciplinary teams while fostering an empowering, best-in-class culture. Beyond managing projects and campaigns, you will invest in our people, ensuring our talented team has the support and clarity to perform at their best.

We are looking for a leader who isn't satisfied with the status quo and is ready to take our collective impact to the next level. Five years into our strategy, Nesta’s ideas are gaining significant influence - now we need you to raise our reach and profile to the same level.

What you’ll be doing:

• Lead the design and delivery of integrated campaigns with policy and advocacy objectives, using the right mix of channels, the highest standards of creative execution and the most effective messaging. Support the team to navigate the UK political and news agenda, identifying and securing the most effective moments for our work to exert influence.
• Lead the full range of policy communications across Nesta (working with and beyond the communications team with missions, units, subject specialists and senior leaders to bring coherence to our content and activity). Lead on policy-facing products, from blogs to policy briefings, podcasts to newsletters.
• Oversee delivery of broader communications activity, working across the organisation to form project teams, set priorities and tactics. Elevate the quality of our external output so all of our communications meet a consistently high bar for excellence. Ensure that all of our activity is delivered with the right mix of creativity, professionalism and speed to maximise success.
• Distil complex policy and research into powerful narratives, ensuring our strategic messaging resonates and persuades target audiences and that is used consistently and coherently across all of our activity. Manage our suite of editorial products and ensure our content is sharp, timely, and directly aligned with our advocacy objectives.
• Provide authoritative communications strategic counsel across teams, acting as a trusted advisor to senior leaders on complex communication challenges and reputational issues
• Provide functional (direct) leadership of our policy communications, media relations and data journalism functions.

You will also work across all of the Communications department to:

• Drive forward new approaches to advocacy and influencing that organisations like Nesta need to adopt in response to the changing information environment
• Look across all activity being conducted and identify and act on opportunities for new content streams, activities or partnerships that support our strategic communications goals
• Spot opportunities to do more with our existing channels and campaigns, finding ways to extend their value and impact
• Troubleshoot and support where a project or campaign is at risk of failure, either because of differing views on execution, changing objectives, or missed deadlines
• Mentor and evolve a talented communications team, providing the leadership and vision necessary to take our collective impact to the next level.

What we’re looking for:

• Significant leadership experience in external affairs, communications, or press, specifically within an advocacy-focused environment.
• Exceptional strategic skills, with a history of delivering multi-channel campaigns that build genuine profile and influence.
• A deep understanding of the UK political and news agenda and wider information environment, with a demonstrated ability to navigate complex policy landscapes.
• The ability to provide high-level strategic counsel, acting as a trusted advisor to senior leaders on complex communication challenges and reputational issues.
• A genuine love of communications, with experience of exploring new approaches to advocacy and influencing that organisations like Nesta need to adopt in response to the changing information environment
• The ability to craft and embed strategic messaging that distills complex ideas into clear, authoritative narratives for diverse audiences.
• An accomplished writer who has successfully managed high-level editorial functions and maintained a high bar for content.
• Sharp media instincts and creative flair, with a proven ability to spot and shape stories that capture media interest.
• A grounded leader and people manager who knows how to motivate teams and cultivate a high-performing culture.

As with all members of the Nesta Group communications team, the postholder will also be at their best working in a collaborative, fast-paced environment, have a flexible approach and an appetite for taking on new tasks and challenges. They will also have excellent written and verbal communication skills and a proven ability to write for a range of different audiences.

What we offer:

Salary: £91,500 plus an array of benefits, including a generous pension scheme, private medical insurance, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, and more

Location: This role is based in Blackfriars, London, hybrid working arrangement with a minimum of two days in the office

Term: Permanent

Hours: This is a full-time role but we offer a range of flexible working arrangements and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do.

Reports to: Group Executive Director of Communications

Making an application

To apply for this role, please submit a CV and a cover letter that states three reasons why you are a great candidate for the role before 8:00am on the 27th of April 2026.

Interviews will take place w/c 4th of May 2026.

About Nesta

Nesta is a research and innovation foundation that designs, tests and scales solutions for the biggest challenges of our time.

Driven by a vision to improve the lives of millions of people, our focus up to 2030 is on three missions: breaking the link between family background and life chances, halving obesity and cutting household carbon emissions.

We work with partners across the public, private and third sectors to develop high-potential solutions and test them as they evolve, drawing on deep expertise in qualitative and quantitative research, data science, behavioural science and design.

Once confident in the effectiveness of a solution, we are relentless in the pursuit of scale. We create and make the case for ambitious national policy proposals, develop consumer-facing products and services, spin out and support commercial ventures and harness the power of the arts to shape national narratives.

We extend our impact through two specialised units that help others to solve complex problems and achieve their missions. BIT applies a deep understanding of human behaviour to help clients achieve their goals. Challenge Works designs and runs challenge prizes to spark innovation in science, technology and society.

Together, we are building a powerful ecosystem for innovation that delivers proven solutions to create lasting, positive change.

At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results.

We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop.

This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful.

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part-time hours, job shares and other arrangements.

Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.

The Living Wage Foundation is seeking an experienced and driven Senior Media and Communications Manager to join our team for a 12-month contract. This is an exciting opportunity for a highly organised and proactive communications professional with a strong background in media relations, public messaging, and team leadership. The ideal candidate will be experienced and confident in working to tight deadlines, responding to last-minute changes, and prioritising competing demands in a high-profile environment. They will be motivated to amplify the Living Wage Foundation’s mission of tackling low pay and insecure work.

The postholder will lead all media, messaging, and external affairs work, developing and implementing a proactive media strategy that supports our mission and key campaigns, such as Living Wage Week and the annual Rates announcement. As a skilled media professional, you will oversee all communications outputs, ensuring consistency and strategic alignment, while delivering media training and refining key messaging to maximise reach and impact. 

In this role, you will be instrumental in advancing our political engagement efforts, building cross-party support and working with political leaders, mayoral teams, and other key stakeholders to promote our initiatives. You’ll manage two direct reports (Events Manager and Media Manager) who each hold line management responsibilities, and you will play a critical role within our Senior Management Team, collaborating closely with the Head of Communications to shape the overall direction of our communications work. This role will work closely with Citizens UK colleagues, including the Citizens UK communications team on cross-organisational priorities.  You will report to the Head of Communications.

As a senior leader, you will be responsible for managing and allocating part of the communications team budget, expanding team capacity, and driving the team’s effectiveness. In collaboration with other senior managers, you will help foster a culture that values creativity, innovation, and strategic impact.