Communications and engagement officer jobs in Henlow, central bedfordshire

Head of Operations
Salary: Up to £61,600 (dependent on experience)
Location: Home-based or hybrid London-based co-working
Contract: Full-time (flexible working requests welcome)

Suicide is preventable. That’s why we are working to create a safer online world and to connect young people with the help and support they need to stay safe and well.

We’re Molly Rose Foundation, founded following the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell. At Molly’s inquest, a coroner ruled harmful online content contributed to her death. In her name, we’ve now got big plans to create change and save young lives.

We’re looking for a Head of Operations who can ensure we grow effectively and focus our energies on helping young people live long and stay strong. You’ll lead and develop our finance, governance, HR, and IT operations, ensuring we can deliver with impact and grow and scale smoothly.

You’ll play a leading role in shaping and delivering our organisational strategy, monitoring our progress and budgets, and leading the process to design and develop our next Strategy to 2030. You’ll be adept at designing effective and robust policies and committed to developing a high functioning, high-impact organisation.

As a member of our Leadership Team, you’ll have the vision, strategy, and entrepreneurial zeal to help us thrive.

But you’ll also relish the opportunity to build a small organisation from scratch with the drive and passion to really get stuck in and help us to fulfil our potential.

We offer a comprehensive package that includes:

- 27 days annual leave plus 1 volunteering day, rising to 30 days holiday after three years’ service;

- annual leave buyback scheme, with the option to purchase up to 5 additional days;

- employee pension scheme;

- £500 employee wellbeing budget;

- we welcome applications from diverse range of applicants in circumstances, and actively welcome flexible working requests.
 

Application Process
To apply, please send a CV (maximum 2 sides of A4) and cover letter (maximum 2 sides of A4) via the Charity Jobs website.

Application closing date: Friday 22 May 2026

There will be a 2-stage interview process with first interviews held online between 11 - 12 June 2026.
Second interviews will be held in-person in London.

Main Role & Responsibilities

The Director of Income Generation will lead the charity’s fundraising and income generation strategy with a particular focus on securing, managing, and growing funding linked to gambling, gaming and wider digital harm prevention, including funding overseen or commissioned via the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).

This is a senior leadership role which sits on Ygam’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT) with responsibility for developing a diversified, sustainable income portfolio that enables the charity to deliver high-quality, UK-wide evidence-informed prevention activity aligned with national public health priorities.

The successful candidate will lead and empower a high-performing fundraising team, foster innovation, and build strong relationships with donors, funders, partners, and stakeholders across the UK. You will provide strategic direction and inspirational leadership across all income-generating activities, ensuring long-term financial resilience while upholding the charity’s values, reputation, and commitment to excellent supporter experience.

Working closely with the Chief Executive, Trustee Board, and Senior Leadership Team, you will shape organisational strategy, influence decision-making, and act as an external ambassador for the charity.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a strategic, values-driven fundraising leader with a strong track record of delivering income growth across multiple fundraising and business development streams.

You will bring credibility in working with or alongside public bodies such as OHID, or similar national commissioners and/or major funders, and demonstrate a clear grasp of the accountability, evaluation, and assurance requirements associated with levy-funded or statutory funding.

You will be an inspiring people manager, a confident communicator, and a credible senior leader who enjoys building relationships and making things happen at pace

The successful candidate will possess both strategic insight and hands-on experience, be networked across the charitable funding sector, combining commercial thinking with a deep understanding of the UK charity and fundraising landscape.

You will be a confident senior leader who combines strategic vision with operational rigour, has excellent stakeholder management skills. A commitment to evidence, impact, evaluation and collaboration will be central to your approach.

Above all, you will be motivated by our cause and committed to ethical, inclusive, and supporter-centred fundraising and wider income generation.

EASST is seeking an exceptional leader to build on the strong foundations EASST has laid by its outgoing founder, ensuring that the organisation’s impact continues to grow and that we remain at the forefront of road safety and sustainable mobility across the region and beyond.

The Director General functions as the Chief Executive of the charity, providing strategic leadership and operational oversight to fulfil EASST's mission and objectives.

The postholder acts as a key ambassador for the charity, ensuring effective governance, sustainable funding and finances, and the development of robust relationships with stakeholders, donors, and the wider community. The Director General also leads EASST Expertise, EASST's wholly owned trading subsidiary, serving as a Director of the company and providing strategic oversight of its consultancy operations.

Main Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Develop and implement the charity’s strategic plans and activities, in collaboration with and reporting to the Board of Trustees.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Serve as EASST’s primary spokesperson, promoting the charity to donors, beneficiaries, partners, policymakers, and the public.
• Governance: Ensure the charity complies with all legal and regulatory requirements, reporting to the Board on progress, risks, and opportunities.
• Project Delivery: Lead and manage delivery of specific development projects as needed by the organisation.
• Financial Management: Oversee the charity's finances, including budgeting, financial planning, fundraising strategies, and resource allocation to ensure long-term sustainability.
• Operational Responsibility: Oversee the charity’s operations, including programme delivery, and the development of policies and procedures.
• Fundraising and Development: Lead fundraising initiatives and cultivate relationships with donors, grant-makers, corporate partners, and supporters. 
• Team Leadership: Develop and motivate staff, who operate as a remote team, fostering a positive and inclusive work culture.
• Monitoring and Evaluation: Ensure robust monitoring and evaluation of programmes and activities, reporting outcomes to Trustees and stakeholders and driving continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience in a senior leadership role within the charity, not-for-profit, or public sector.
• Significant experience working at a senior level in the field of Road Safety and/or Sustainable Transportation.
• An understanding of global road safety challenges, global conventions and initiatives.
• Experience in EASST countries of operation is desirable and proficiency in a regional language is an advantage.
• Familiarity/experience/contacts with international organisations promoting, supporting or funding road safety is desirable.
• Strong strategic planning and management skills. Excellent and persuasive communicator and relationship-builder.
• Understanding of charity governance, regulatory frameworks, and best practice in fundraising and programme delivery.
• Collaborative, resilient, and committed to the charity’s mission and values.
• The postholder must have a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and be conscious and respectful of other cultures.

Key Relationships

• Board of Trustees
• Charity staff (currently a team of four)
• EASST partners in our countries of operation
• Funders, donors and international organisations involved in road safety governance
• Project collaborators, including other road safety charities and consultants
• Governments, public authorities and decision-makers in EASST’s partner countries
• Beneficiaries of EASST’s programmes and work.

Terms and Conditions

• Location: Based in the United Kingdom, with the right to work in the UK. The team currently works remotely with no office base.
• Travel: Significant travel may be required both within the region served by EASST and to conferences and other events.
• Hours: This is a full-time post and will require flexibility to meet the demands of funders and the partner network.
• Salary: The salary offered for this post is up to £70K (negotiable) plus 10% pension contribution and 30 days holiday per year.

The post holder is appointed by the Trustees and will report to the Board of Trustees on a regular basis.

Location(s)   

This position is open to candidates currently based in Scotland, in line with the role’s operational requirements. The role is home-based with in person attendance to our ‘All Staff Days’ in London (5 per year), team meetings (roughly 6 meetings per year) and occasional travel to other meetings and Westminster as required. Where possible, these are combined with an overnight stay. 

London office: AdviceUK, 83 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0HW 

Job Title:  Policy and External Affairs Manager (Scotland) 

Employment Type:  Part-time 

Reporting to:  Head of Policy, Programmes and Media 

Pay scale: £40,000 - £42,500 Full time equivalent  (Actual salary £32,000-34,000)

Interview: In person interviews will take place on Friday 29th May at our London office

Working hours: 28 hours per week (4 days/0.8) within normal operating hours. Flexible working arrangements will be considered. (Normal operating hours are 8.00am - 6.30pm, Monday – Friday.) Lunch & other breaks are unpaid. 

Special conditions: Some evening and weekend work may be required for which time off in lieu (TOIL) will be granted. Some travel will be required which may entail some overnight stays.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from all backgrounds, particularly encouraging those from underrepresented groups. 

CHARITY OVERVIEW 

Since 1979, AdviceUK has been supporting advice organisations by helping them to be efficient, competent and effective, and by campaigning for a policy environment that supports advice agencies and people needing advice.

We are both a membership body and charity. We support our 700+ members (109 of which are located in Scotland) to provide advice to around 2 million people every year. We are working towards a world in which every individual, regardless of means, is able to access the advice they need to exercise their rights and deal with any legal and social welfare challenges they may face. 

JOB PURPOSE  

To set up and manage our policy and public affairs activities in Scotland ensuring AdviceUK has a strong voice, so we can secure policy change to benefit organisations delivering advice and the communities they serve. The post holder will be responsible for establishing AdviceUK’s first policy and influencing strategy for Scotland, including through developing policy solutions informed by strong evidence and rooted in member experience, and leading effective political and stakeholder engagement which will influence change. They will work closely with colleagues across the UK to join up policy, influencing and communications work. 

KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES  

1.Strategy 

1.1 Develop AdviceUK’s first policy and influencing strategy for Scotland, through consultation with members and stakeholders and analysis of the landscape and opportunities in Scottish policy making. 

1.2 Put plans in place to roll out a specific programme of proactive and reactive policy work to further AdviceUK’s strategic aims in Scotland and represent the voices of Scottish members. 

1.3 Devise measures to monitor the impact of our policy and influencing work in Scotland and report back to staff, trustees, members and stakeholders about the difference we are making. 

2.Policy development 

2.1 Collaborate with AdviceUK members, partners, sector stakeholders and 

beneficiaries to develop clear, concise and authoritative policy positions on key issues. 

2.2 Produce high-quality, well-argued policy materials based on data and evidence, including reports, select committee responses, evidence statements, briefings and responses to Scottish Government consultations. 

2.3 Provide policy input for media statements, press releases and social media posts relating to Scotland, which are managed by the Press Officer and Digital Marketing Officer.

2.4 Develop an expert knowledge of policy issues affecting Advice UK members, keep up to date on the political and legislative environment and identify opportunities to use these to further Advice UK’s strategic objectives. 

2.5 Represent AdviceUK at policy and/or sector meetings and events.

3. Public affairs 

3.1 Roll out a programme of public affairs work including Scottish parliamentary engagement to promote AdviceUK’s strategic priorities. 

3.2 Build and maintain effective relationships with stakeholders across the Scottish Government and parliament, local and decision makers, non-governmental bodies and other relevant stakeholders. 

3.3 Champion an evidence based approach to all Advice UK’s advocacy and external relations work, drawing on research and member insight to inform our campaign messages. 

3.4 Ensure regular opportunities for Advice UK members in Scotland to feed into our public affairs and advocacy work, and regular communications on our impact, to demonstrate how we amplify their voice. 

3.5 Monitor and evaluate public affairs work, including collecting relevant metrics, to report back on our success and inform future campaigns. 

4. Research and data 

4.1 Work with Policy, Programme and Media (PPM) colleagues as well as the wider AdviceUK team to develop the evidence base needed to inform our policy and campaigns work in Scotland. 

4.2 Work with the Research and Policy Analyst to carry out analysis that identifies emerging trends in the Scottish advice world and use this to provide evidence-based policy briefings and specific policy solutions. 

5. General duties 

5.1 Ensure you effectively communicate Advice UK’s vision, mission and objectives to staff, members and external stakeholders.

5.2 Ensure you demonstrate Advice UK’s values and behaviours in all aspects of your work

5.3 Build and maintain positive relationships with key stakeholders including staff trustees; members, partners and suppliers 

5.4 With support from your manager, deliver your agreed personal objectives and undertake any agreed development or training

5.5 Maintain a strong understanding of our members and the advice sector more generally, by reading internal reports; accessing relevant data reports; following our social media channels and, where possible, attending member and other relevant events. With the agreement of you line manager, ensure you make time to speak to members and visit their services.

5.6 Adhere at all times to Advice UK’s policies and procedures

5.7 Carry out any reasonable duties compatible with the post assigned by your line manager 

Money & Energy Advice Service Lead

Pro rata salary: £39,825 (35 hour week)

Home-based, with travel as required

Up to 35 hours per week with occasional evenings and / or weekend work will be required

Permanent (subject to external funding)

Responsible for: 2.0 FTE Money & Energy Advisers

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced welfare benefits practitioner with a passion for sharing knowledge and enabling teams to deliver above and beyond.

With around 4 in 10 beneficiaries, we support seeking help with financial difficulties, this is a pivotal role for Kidney Care UK.

We are seeking a knowledgeable and confident specialist income maximisation activities for a role with three key parts: to lead a small team delivering benefits and energy advice and support directly to clients; to play a key role in upskilling and supporting our outstanding Patient Support team across the country; and to be the subject matter expert within Kidney Care UK.

Our external partners – British Gas Energy Trust have committed to fund our Money and Energy Service until March 2027. We are advertising this position as ‘permanent’ – we anticipate confirmation by December 2026 whether funding will be extended beyond March 2027.

This role is made possible thanks to the support of British Gas Energy Trust.

About Kidney Care UK

Around 3.5 million people in the UK live with chronic kidney disease, and one million of them don’t know that they do.

Since 1975, Kidney Care UK has been at the forefront of supporting people with kidney disease. From our early days when we campaigned to introduce donor cards in the UK, we have worked hard to support and represent the interests of everyone affected by kidney disease. 

About the Money & Energy Advice Service

The Money & Energy Advice Service (MEAS) provides information and support for welfare benefits and income maximisation and promotes awareness of efficient energy use. Working closely with Patient Support officers, MEAS provides specialist knowledge and directly supports clients to achieve sustainable financial outcomes. The service was established in 2023 with the support of British Gas Energy Trust and is embedded as a valued element of the many ways Kidney Care UK supports people affected by kidney failure.

What we offer

Working at Kidney Care UK is incredibly rewarding and you will see the life-changing impact that the charity has on kidney patients and their families:

• Flexi-time – we are flexible about start and finish times, and flexible about your location.
• Annual and Christmas leave – we offer 25 days annual leave for full time employees plus bank holidays. We also close for three days between Christmas and New Year, and you don’t need to take this from your annual leave allowance.
• Pension – you’ll be eligible for and auto-enrolled into a pension scheme where your employer will contribute 8% of your salary.
• Health cashback plan – ability to claim back a wide variety of routine medical treatments.
• Employee Assistance Programme – access to a wide variety of support including counselling, health resources and advice.
• Cycle2Work scheme

Do you seek to champion a culture where innovation, learning and cross-organisational collaboration become the norm? Connecting insight with action to reduce inequalities and strengthen community connection?

Involve believes that everyone, regardless of the challenges they face, should have the opportunity to thrive. Using both strategic influence and service leadership, as the Head of Adult Services you will lead the design, delivery, and continuous improvement of high-quality, evidence-driven adult adult services rooted in lived experience, community voice and meaningful partnership.

See the vacancies page on our website for full job and person specification. 

Lloyds Bank Foundation 

Regional Public Affairs Manager 

Starting Salary: £50,582 (if based outside London); £53,777 (if based in London) 

Contract: Full-time, permanent contract (we are open to conversations about different ways of working - so please ask) 

Location: Remote role - can be based anywhere in England or Wales with an expectation of frequent travel across England and Wales 

About Lloyds Bank Foundation 

Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales is an independent charitable foundation, backed by Lloyds Banking Group and the people within it. We want everyone to be in a good place - personally, in a home that’s a good place to live, and in a community that’s a good place to belong. 

We play our role by connecting and catalysing community-led change, providing the money, time, tools and connections that build organisations’ capacity and capability, to make people’s lives better and their communities stronger. 

We back people and communities across England and Wales, to make that happen, because when you back brilliant people, brilliant things happen. Our communities are full of ambitious, energetic and determined people stepping up to make their neighbours’ lives better and their communities grow stronger. Day in, day out. 

About the Role 

This is an exciting opportunity to support the delivery of impactful public affairs and influencing activity, strengthening regional voice and national impact. 

As Regional Public Affairs Manager, you will work closely with colleagues to support influencing activity across England and Wales, helping to build confidence, capability, and effectiveness. You will support engagement with decision-makers, campaigns, and partnerships, ensuring activity is aligned and impactful. 

You will play a key role in connecting local insight to national influencing, identifying emerging themes and helping to shape wider organisational priorities. You will also build relationships with external stakeholders, supporting activity that raises the Foundation’s profile and impact. 

About You

We’re looking for someone with experience in public affairs, policy, or influencing, particularly at local or regional level. You will have experience of supporting or delivering influencing activity and working with a range of stakeholders. 

You will be a strong relationship builder who combines practical delivery with the ability to use insight and evidence to inform work. A good understanding of the UK political landscape and a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging is essential. 

How to Apply 

Please click ‘Apply’ to be redirected to our website, where you can download the Candidate Information Pack and find details of how to apply. 

For an informal conversation about the role and application process, please contact our recruitment partner, Atkinson HR via the information in the candidate pack.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

We hold Disability Confident Employer status (Level 2) and are working towards full status by 2027. This means that if you're a disabled applicant and your CV and application answers clearly demonstrate that you meet the essential criteria for the role, we will invite you to interview. 

More broadly, we are committed to building a diverse team that reflects the communities and people we work with. We believe that diversity of background, experience and perspective makes us stronger and helps us make better decisions. We actively welcome applications from people who are under-represented in the charity sector, including people from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities, disabled people, and those with experience of the issues our funded charities work to address. 

Key Dates 

Closing Date: Wednesday 13th May 2026 

Optional Q&A Session: Wednesday 6th May 2026 at 09:00-10:00 

First Interview: Friday 22nd May 2026 

Second Interview: Wednesday 3rd June 2026 

Volunteer and community involvement is a core part of what we do here at Sands. From Sands United Teams, Support Groups, knitters, Parent Speakers and event volunteer, volunteers are at the heart of Sands delivering peer support, and building a local community for bereaved parents.

Sands Groups are volunteer led, and community driven.  

Sands has a vision to grow community-based peer support, community activity and volunteer involvement across the organisation. This requires an investment in enabling, innovation in peer support and volunteer involvement and partnership working.At the heart of this is our Befrienders.

Befrienders are in every Group across the UK and enable online support groups too.

This post is all about developing, delivering and managing our fantastic volunteer befriender programme across Sands. Ensuring that Sands befrienders are enabled to provide warm, supportive, evidence-based and values-driven peer support to bereaved families across the UK.

This maternity cover post will have two key focus areas

- Maintaining key components of the befriender programme, including regular communications and meeting with Befrienders, driving recruitment opportunities, supporting innovation in Befriending and troubleshooting in partnership with volunteers.

- Deliver a fixed timeline project focused on developing the Befriender programme.

Responsibilities

Best practice in peer support and befriender programmes

• Manage the direction and growth of the Befriender programme
• Work with the Development Leads and Community Development Officers to create plans for regions to support existing Befrienders and grow the peer support offer across the UK

· To engage, inspire and support existing Sands befrienders, providing a positive volunteer experience from recruitment to saying goodbye

• Be the point of contact for Befriender safeguarding issues. Be proactive in addressing and be an escalation point for challenges, risks and safeguarding issues.

• Practice and support excellent standards in all aspects of inclusion and diversity, particularly in reaching marginalised groups in recruitment and enabling volunteers to provide inclusive support spaces. 
• Lead on development of processes, guidance and resources, ensuring good governance and risk management of the Befriender Programme
• Work with the Volunteering Coordinator to ensure delivery of key processes, process development and improvement to enhance the volunteer experience. 

· To identify learning and development opportunities for befrienders and create a culture of continued learning for all Befrienders

Develop and innovate

• Be an opportunity spotter, picking up innovation opportunities to grow and develop the Befriender programme, alongside relevant Sands’ staff teams. 

• Manage short- and long-term projects and where appropriate join cross organisational working groups to represent the Community and Volunteering Team. Including projects that may have budgets.

• Advocate the voices and needs of Befrienders, bringing in knowledge and feedback to enable good decision making and volunteer participation in new ways of working

• Through supporting approaches to recruitment and partnerships, ensure that individuals with a wide range of bereavement experiences are at the heart of Sands’ volunteering 

· Build a data driven understanding of gaps in service and representation, and make promotion and recruitment decisions to support growth for under-represented towns/regions/groups

· Support continuous improvement and accurate delivery of processes in the welcome journey for new befrienders, including in recruitment, on-boarding and off-boarding processes in partnership with the Volunteer Coordinator

· Use the CRM to record accurate information and help make data informed decisions

Internal and external partnerships 

• Work with the Bereavement Support Services Team (BSS) to ensure collaboration across the Befriender programme and national BSS support groups and ensure the Befriender programme continues to be rooted in trauma-informed practice.
• Work with the Training Team to ensure that training and learning experiences for Befrienders are up to date, relevant and accessible.

• Work with the Philanthropy and Partnerships team and the Head of Community and Volunteering to maximise compelling cases for support, storytelling and funding opportunities at a national and local level.

· Work with the Engagement Team to ensure Sands befriending is represented in an engaging and positive way across Sands social media and the media

About the role

Our exciting three year strategy sets out our ambitious goals to drive impact at scale for victim-survivors. We are now looking for an exceptional candidate to lead some of our financial services relationships and consultancy work and support SEA in its mission to raise awareness of economic abuse and transform responses to it within the financial services sector.

Working closely with colleagues across SEA, you will foster and maintain relationships across the financial services sector, seeking opportunities to generate income for the charity and supporting our Head of Financial Services to deliver lasting change and impact.

Together we can transform frontline financial services, in practice, product and process, and save lives.

About you

At SEA we put the lived experience of victim-survivors at the heart of all that we do, including our work with financial services firms. You will be a subject matter expert on customer vulnerability and financial services firms’ regulatory requirements, as well as having a thorough understanding of industry rules and good practice. You will combine this with experience of working with vulnerable customers, including victim-survivors and bring expertise on economic abuse to ensure this is embedded within financial services’ firms’ responses.

About SEA

We are the only UK charity dedicated to raising awareness of economic abuse and  transforming responses to it. We work to save lives and stop economic abuse forever.

Our vision is a world in which all women and girls achieve economic equality and can live their lives free of abuse and exploitation. Not only surviving but thriving.

Our mission is to raise awareness of economic abuse and transform responses to it.

To achieve this, we must ensure that the policies and practices of financial services firms, domestic abuse support services, public services and government reflect the needs of all victim-survivors of economic abuse.

We are  committed to centring victim-survivors in all that we do and broadening our understanding of the needs of survivors, particularly those who are marginalised within society. We work alongside the Experts by Experience - a group of victim-survivors whose voices and experiences shape our work.

Our primary focus is on influencing the women’s, public and financial services sectors, to create a model for improved support for victim-survivors of economic abuse, calling on government to facilitate these changes and work with them to improve their systems and practice.

What we offer

• 25 days annual leave plus Statutory Bank Holidays
• Home working (UK based)
• Flexible working 
• 5% Employer Pension Contribution 
• 5 Wellbeing Days
• Reflective practice
• Employee Assistance Programme 
• Enhanced sick pay, family leave and carer’s leave 
• The chance to be part of our highly professional, supportive team

To apply

Please apply via our website

Applications open from 9 April and close at 11.59pm on 20 May 2026. Interviews will take place virtually, week beginning 1 June.

Direct applications only – no agencies please.

Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) is committed to developing an inclusive team which reflects the diversity of the communities we support. Our culture celebrates diverse voices, and we particularly encourage applications from Black and minoritised applicants and disabled applicants who are under-represented at SEA.

SEA is a Disability Confident Committed, and Kinship Friendly Employer.

The People & Culture Director is responsible for leading the People Team, business partnering with the SLT to provide strategic, operational and change leadership across the charity.

This role will lead all people, culture, and organisational development activities across Ygam, ensuring they are aligned with Ygam’s values, strategy, and statutory responsibilities as a UK charity employer.

Success will be consolidating and building upon our existing structures to deliver a high‑performing, values‑driven, and inclusive culture which enables Ygam to achieve our objectives both now and in the longer-term

As a trusted member of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), the postholder will act as a coach, adviser, and culture‑builder—championing equity, wellbeing, safeguarding, and effective leadership and line management across the charity, as well as playing a full role in cross-SLT pieces of work.

The role also plays a key part in bringing colleagues together by coordinating internal events, including the planning and delivery of all-staff Together Days.

Our commitment as a People Team is to help the wider staff group on their journey within Ygam. We aim to provide an environment which brings out the best in our team, so that they can provide the best possible service to the people we support.

Who are we looking for?

This post sits on the Senior Leadership Team (SLT).  We are looking for a senior.  experienced, credible, and values‑driven people director, who combines strategic insight with a deeply human approach.

You will be someone who believes that culture is created through everyday behaviours, relationships, and decisions, and who is comfortable working with complexity, ambiguity, and change.

You will bring significant leadership experience at this level across the full HR and People brief. as well as strong professional judgement alongside empathy, curiosity, and humility. You will be a confident self-starter able to challenge constructively while building trust at all levels of the organisation.

Above all, you will share our commitment to high-performing culture that is driven by our mission and values and be motivated by the opportunity to help create a workplace where people and volunteers feel safe, supported, included, and able to do their best work.

Shine supports a community of over 15,000 members living with spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus, including 5,000 children and young people (0–25).

You will be delivering high-quality support and creating opportunities for children and young people living with spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus and their families/carers. Supporting Shine members to lead healthy, independent, and fulfilling lives by improving condition management and fostering connections within the Shine community. 

This role will focus on children and young people (0–25), you will be primarily working within the Children, Young People and Families team. However, there will be occasions when you will work across age groups to ensure the best outcomes for our members. 

The role is home-based but you will be required to attend regular clinics in London including GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hospital). Other travel across Southern England including Bristol, Devon and Hampshire may be required. There will be occasional travel required across wider areas and nationally including attendance at events, conferences and meetings at our head office in Peterborough. 

Benefits: 

• Competitive salary: Review due April 2027 

• Regular working hours, and no shift work (some very occasional weekends or evenings)   

• 3% pension contribution 

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, with additional discretionary leave between Christmas and New Year 

• Additional annual leave awarded for ‘long service’ 

• Opportunity to purchase additional annual leave 

• Broadband allowance for home-based roles 

• Life insurance after 12 months’ employment   

• Access to our Employee Support Programme and Mental Health First Aiders  

• Support to learn and develop  

How to apply  

Shine is a Disability Confident employer and will offer guaranteed interviews if a disabled applicant meets the minimum criteria for the job.  

If you would like to discuss the role please email Gill Valentine, Deputy CEO, to arrange a convenient time for a call.  

To apply please submit your CV and supporting statement, which should outline your interest and explain how you meet the role criteria.

*Please note applications without a supporting statement will not be accepted* 

We understand that you may wish to use AI tools to help you with some aspects of your application, but we do expect tailored applications which are personalised to your experiences and not generic applications which are completely AI generated. We encourage candidates to be transparent about AI usage in their applications.  

Closing date:  Monday 17th May 2026 at 11pm  

Interviews:  Tuesday 26th May 2026  (Virtual) 

Please note: we reserve the right to interview suitable candidates before the closing date, therefore we encourage applications as soon as possible.  

Please see full details on the Job Description and Person Specification document below and on our website.

Please see attached Recruitment Pack for full job description and person spec for the Senior Programme and Network Lead.

This role leads our work across Birmingham at an exciting moment. We are developing a participatory, community-centred approach to analysing the city's economy, identifying opportunities for change and coordinating alliances to act on them. This means bringing together mixed groups, including grassroots changemakers, researchers, funders and other partners, and facilitating processes that help people make sense of complex information together, find common ground and make decisions about collective priorities. The role requires someone who can hold these processes well: strong facilitation skills, communicating complex ideas accessibly, building trust across groups, sustaining momentum over time and helping diverse coalitions move from analysis to strategy to action.

The Senior Programme and Network Lead will develop and deliver initiatives that support a growing movement for economic justice across the city, with a particular focus on building support and engagement amongst grassroots changemakers and communities experiencing economic injustice. It will manage projects and resources, conduct programme development and delivery, oversee outreach and partnerships, changemaker recruitment and contribute to fundraising, ultimately playing a key role in shaping our regional impact. This position is crucial in coordinating our work across Birmingham and driving meaningful collaboration with local and national stakeholders, in particular working collaboratively with Economic Justice Brum, a long-standing initiative working on local economic systems change.