Director of marketing and communications jobs in Ilford, greater london

What does it take to lead the national voice for special schools at a time of real change?

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – National Association of Special Schools (NASS)

National – home-based, with regular travel across England and Wales, particularly London

£90,000–£110,000 per annum

Full-time, permanent.

About NASS 

The National Association of Special Schools (NASS) is the membership association for special schools in England and Wales. We bring together independent special schools, non-maintained special schools, special academies, maintained special schools and multi-academy trusts with specialist provision.

We exist to inform, support and represent our members, helping specialist schools improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND and secure the place of specialist provision within the wider education system. NASS is known for being accessible, responsive and personal, combining national influence with practical support that members value as timely, human and trustworthy.

This is a pivotal moment for the organisation. In February this year, the Department for Education published a major white paper on SEND reform which will require NASS to both influence national policy on behalf of our members and children and young people, as well as support them to navigate the changes. Our new CEO will need to review our strategy while building on our strong platform and momentum to further deepen our influence and strengthen our internal capacity.

As our next Chief Executive, you will:

• Strategy & Impact: Lead NASS through a period of policy and structural change, ensuring the organisation remains clear on purpose, responsive to members and influential in the SEND landscape.
• Governance & Finance: Work closely with the Board of Trustees to provide strong governance, prudent financial stewardship, robust risk management and clear strategic oversight.
• Operational Leadership: Provide confident leadership to a small, remote team, strengthening collaboration, accountability, resilience and a positive, high-trust culture.
• Income Generation: Oversee budgeting, planning and reporting while developing thoughtful opportunities to diversify income through membership, partnerships, events and related activity.
• Community & Partnerships: Build and sustain trusted relationships with government, parliament, regulators, sector bodies and member schools, ensuring NASS remains relevant and well connected.
• Member Services: Protect and enhance the practical offer to members, from briefings and special interest groups to conferences, webinars, training and peer-to-peer learning.
• Brand & Profile: Act as a credible public ambassador for NASS, helping to modernise communications and broaden the organisation’s voice beyond a founder-shaped model.
• Future Growth: Shape a distributed leadership profile and support a more varied, accessible and engaging approach to membership, advocacy and communications.
• A seasoned senior leader with experience in a charity, membership body, education or public sector setting, and a clear track record of leading through change.
• A strong strategic thinker, able to absorb complex information quickly and translate it into clear, practical direction.
• A confident communicator with the gravitas to represent NASS with members, staff, trustees, MPs, peers, media and national partners.
• A politically astute relationship-builder, comfortable navigating a complex and fast-moving external environment.
• Experienced in governance, with a sound understanding of working with boards or trustees and supporting effective decision-making.
• Numerate and commercially minded, with experience of budgets, financial planning, income generation or partnership development.
• Credible, approachable and resilient, with the emotional intelligence to lead well in a high-profile, remote and sometimes uncertain context.
• Direct SEND experience would be a significant advantage, alongside understanding of specialist education or similarly complex stakeholder environments.

Why NASS?

• This is a chance to lead a respected, member-led organisation with a strong national reputation and a clear public purpose.
• You will help shape the future of specialist education at a time when SEND reform is high on the agenda.
• NASS has a loyal, experienced and collegiate remote staff team, supported by an active Board of Trustees.
• The organisation offers a genuinely influential platform, with strong connections across the sector and with government.

Application

For full details of the role including how to apply, please download the full appointment brief. For an informal and confidential conversation about this position, please contact Jenny Hills at Harris Hill via apply button with times to speak and (optional but appreciated) a CV or professional profile which will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Closing date for applications: 9am, Monday 8th June 2026

As leading charity recruitment specialists and a certified B Corp, Harris Hill is committed to high and ever-improving standards of equitable and inclusive recruitment. We actively welcome applications from all sections of the community regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion, sexuality and other protected characteristics.

Job Title: Development Project Officer
Hours: Full-Time, 37.5 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Salary: £35,329 to 45,090 (depending on experience)
Area of operation: Development
Responsible to: Development Director
Benefits: Bupa Health & welfare package, including salary sacrifice, electric car scheme and generous contributory pension scheme
Annual leave entitlement: 30 days per annum, exclusive of bank holidays
Place of work: Home based, but with regional development area across Kent, Sussex and Surrey. There will be a requirement to attend our London Office (Soho) one day per month (Hybrid Contract)

About English Rural:

English Rural Housing Association is a leading national rural specialist working to provide affordable homes in small villages for local people. We own and manage around 1,600 affordable properties, spread amongst ~200 villages, and have a development programme of between 150 to 200 more homes over the next five years. We are passionate about rural communities and play a leading advocacy role in promoting the importance and urgent need for affordable rural housing.

About the role:

This is an exciting opportunity to join our small but professional and friendly development team to continue the delivery of our high quality new build homes programme.

We design our homes to high-standards, incorporating local architectural features. Our ‘fabric first’ approach to design and construction, coupled with and our commitment to renewable energy technologies, aims to reduce environmental impact and running costs for our residents. We build small scale schemes of quality homes that are in keeping with the village. Our approach involves forming a community-led local partnership to research, enable and deliver affordable rural homes.

Working under the leadership of the Development Director and collaboratively with internal colleagues and external consultants and contractors. The role will be to fully coordinate from inception working with Rural Housing Enablers, site acquisition and planning through to completion with the day-to-day project management of rural exception site housing delivery (noting, we do deliver some through selective Section 106 planning schemes with housing developers). Our typical land lead sites are around eight to twelve affordable homes, and may incorporate some open market housing to provide some necessary cross subsidy funding.

About you:

To succeed in this role, you will have a proven track record in working and successfully delivering affordable housing development and preferably rural housing. You will need excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with an ability to work both collaboratively but also be an independent self-starter. It takes a special person with professionalism, enthusiasm, initiative, tenacity and a great deal of pride in the end product to stay the course and deliver these small, often challenging yet ultimately rewarding community lead housing schemes. The right candidate will also ideally have some technical construction experience, either from formal qualification of direct housing delivery. English Rural is looking to invest in and develop the right candidate to grow with our business.

If you feel excited by the challenges posed by this role, we would love to hear from you!

Closing date for applications: 12pm on Monday 8th June 2026
Interviews: Tuesday 23rd June 2026 (to be held in our London office)

Interested?

If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.

Please advise if there are any restrictions to your residency in the UK that might affect your right to take up employment in the UK.

English Rural Housing Association is committed to equal opportunities and values diversity in its workforce.

No agencies please.

Castlehaven Community Association is looking for an organised and proactive Project Coordinator to support the delivery of our popular Ageactivity 60+ programme [AA60+] for older people over the age of 60.

The role will focus on promoting the physical & mental wellbeing & challenge loneliness & isolation in older adults in the local Community. Supporting the Project Manager with service delivery, adminstrative record keeping, volunteeer management, feedback and evaulations and ensuring the smooth running of the AA60+ Project.

As a fundraising and grant-making charity, we bring to life projects that transform patient care - from sensory packs for children in A&E to a peaceful sanctuary garden for people living with dementia. We’re a small, ambitious and supportive team, and in just three years we’ve tripled our income. Our goal is to become the charity of choice for our local community in Islington and Haringey.

Over the past 18 months, this role has built community and challenge events income from the ground up, creating real momentum. There’s still huge untapped potential locally, offering an exciting opportunity to grow and innovate.

This is a varied and rewarding role where you’ll build meaningful relationships with clinicians, donors and the community, and see first-hand the impact of your work. You’ll lead on community fundraising, challenge events and volunteering, with real autonomy. It's a fantastic step up for someone ready to develop and make their mark.

The successful candidate will benefit from an NHS Agenda for Change salary and excellent NHS benefits, including a generous pension and annual leave.

About us

The Economist Educational Foundation is a fast-growing charity on a mission to ensure that every child is empowered to think critically and communicate effectively about the world’s most complex current issues. Last year, 10,800 teachers downloaded Topical Talk lessons, reaching 532,000 children in over 86 countries. We are on track to double this number, reaching over 1 million school children by the end of 2026.

Topical Talk helps children join inspiring discussions about the news by providing weekly lessons for classroom discussions, international prizes and teacher training partnerships. Our programme has received international recognition, including from UNESCO and the Global Media and Information Literacy Awards. High-quality graphic design is central to what we do; our teachers love our resources because they are beautifully presented, designed to enhance student learning and to inspire a lifelong curiosity about the world around them. 

The role

We are seeking a creative, agile and ambitious Graphic Designer to lead the visual identity of our flagship educational programme, Topical Talk Headlines.

Working three days a week, this role offers an extraordinary amount of creative freedom. Every week brings a brand-new global news story, and it will be up to you to establish its unique look and feel. From choosing typography and vibrant colour palettes to deciding between illustration and photography, you will have the autonomy to design resources that make complex, intimidating global issues accessible and engaging for young people aged 10-16 around the world.

Reporting to the Director of Programmes and working closely with our experienced in-house Designer, you will be embedded in a fast-paced, collaborative environment. You will partner with our expert team of ex-teacher content creators to brainstorm, iterate and deliver world-class classroom resources on tight, overlapping deadlines. While your primary focus will be Topical Talk Headlines, you will also support wider brand and marketing projects across the charity as time allows. 

Responsibilities

Visual identity and resource creation:

• Own the weekly design of Topical Talk Headlines: translate complex global topics into beautiful, clear and practical learning resources, from worksheets and posters to interactive slides and educational games
• Design for global accessibility: use clear information hierarchy, considered layouts and colour-signposting to support teachers and ensure students, including those learning in a non-native language, can seamlessly navigate nuanced concepts
• Uphold our brand standard: deliver high-quality, polished designs that our teachers expect and that reflect the premium reputation of The Economist Educational Foundation
• Design for modern youth experiences: create contemporary, vibrant visuals that reflect and respect how young people engage with the world
• Source impactful imagery: curate and adapt photography and illustration using stock libraries as a base, applying our specific brand guidelines to pick authentic, non-cliché visuals that resonate with children and enhance global stories

Collaboration and production management:

• Work in tandem with Educational Content Leads: engage in rapid, collaborative feedback loops to edit and refine resources, ensuring perfect alignment between the text and visual design
• Manage overlapping production schedules: stay highly organised across a quick, 2.5-week production cycle from initial brainstorming to final digital publication
• Maintain strict quality control: catch typos, spot alignment issues and make sure layouts stay clean and consistent from page to page

Innovation and process improvement:

• Proactively suggest process improvements: identify new tools, templates or workflows to optimise our internal production and feedback loops
• Champion student engagement: stay curious about modern design trends. Gather visual inspiration to introduce interactive digital formats or fresh aesthetic approaches to our lessons

Skills and behaviours

You are a creative self-starter who is passionate about global current affairs and believes that great design can change how young people understand the world. You possess the following:

• A portfolio of inspiring design: proven experience delivering highly visual layouts that synthesise complex information beautifully and cleanly
• Speed, agility and decisiveness: the ability to work efficiently within a 3-day week, making confident design decisions and implementing editorial feedback rapidly
• Flawless attention to detail: ensuring final resources are completely error-free
• A deeply collaborative spirit: you love brainstorming, co-creating and working side-by-side with content writers to elevate concepts
• Technical mastery: highly proficient in Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop) as well as PowerPoint and Google Slides. Comfort using or upskilling in tools like Canva and Vimeo is a plus.

Experience

You have...

• A degree in graphic design, illustration, visual communication or a related discipline – or equivalent professional portfolio experience
• Mid-weight industry experience working in-house, within an agency or as an established freelancer
• Extensive experience designing multi-page documents, slide decks or interactive educational/informational assets
• Experience managing tight, cyclical production deadlines independently

You might also have (desirable but not essential):

• Data visualisation: experience interpreting data to create clear, accurate charts, graphs and infographics
• UX/UI web design: basic experience or an understanding of user experience design to help shape how teachers interact with our resources online
• Video editing/animation: experience creating or editing short-form video and motion graphics, on Premiere Pro, After Effects or Canva

We’re particularly keen for you to apply if you are from a community under-represented in the charity sector or have lived experience of facing extra barriers because of your background. 

Make a real impact in South Kilburn!  The OK Club is hiring a CEO to manage and lead the organisation as we continue to develop our presence and impact in our neighbourhood.

Thanks to funding from John Lyon’s Charity, we’re looking for a visionary leader, who is motivated by their Christian faith and who can inspire and equip our team and work with us to develop and deliver our strategic development plan.  If you’re someone who loves young people and community, and is passionate about seeing people flourish, we want to hear from you! 

Started by students and graduates of Oxford University (hence the OK in our name - Oxford Kilburn) The OK Club has been providing activities for children and young people for the past 60 years and we have exciting plans for our next phase of development.

As well as continuing our programme of youth and children’s activities, over the last couple of years we have also expanded our provision to make the club building available to the wider community.  Taking an asset based approach, our Community Animator enabled us to open our doors and connect in a new way with our neighbours.

As CEO you will be responsible for overseeing three key areas -

1. our youth & children’s work,
2. our community engagement, and
3. our building.

Applicants will have proven experience of leadership in a charity or community context.  The ability to work positively with young people is essential, and experience of managing a building and budgets is also important.

Our funding from John Lyon is initially for three years but we anticipate that, with a brilliant new CEO our funding will grow to make the post sustainable.

The OK Club is located in South Kilburn, North West London.  We currently find ourselves in the middle of a building site (quite literally) and that our neighbourhood is changing drastically. Brent Council are continuing their massive regeneration project - demolishing all existing tower blocks and replacing them with new ones, with a greater number of housing units.  While much around us is changing, our desire to support children and young people with play and development opportunities is as strong as ever.

The OK Club currently has:

• A part time Youth Work Development Officer who oversees our youth work programme.

• A part time Building Manager.

• A part time Community Animator.

• A part time Children's Worker.

• Four interns (two full time and two  part time, shared with churches), usually from abroad on gap year schemes.

• Christian Holt House which can accommodate up to five further individuals who live as part of the missional community and are required as part of their tenancy to contribute to Club activities.

• A small but important number of volunteers are recruited from among parents and the community generally.  We are keen to grow this team, particularly with older young people and other members of the local community.

Our site contains the following facilities:

• A sports hall

• 3 x activity spaces

• A kitchen

• Garden

• Two upper floors which are currently rented out to other organisations.

We have been funded by Brent Council to renovate our Sports Hall and have ambitious plans for our whole site development in the coming years.

The work of the OK Club is overseen by a Management Committee (Trustees) who meet every two months, and the post will be Line Managed by one of the Trustees.

Inclusion & Diversity:

The OK Club strives to be a diverse and inclusive place where we can ALL be ourselves. We particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background. 

Safer Recruitment:

The OK Club is a Safe Recruiter and will require all applicants to undergo a DBS disclosure as well as taking three references. A criminal record is not necessarily a bar to working for us but must be declared on application.

Timetable: (subject to amendment)

• Post advertised - 18th May 2026

• Closing Date - 7th June 2026

• Shortlisting will take place in the following week and interviews will take place, week commencing 15th June.

The successful candidate may start as soon as they are available and appropriate checks have been carried out.

Application Process:

• Applications must be received by the deadline on our approved application form.

• Any expressions of interest received through Indeed, Charity Job or other online platforms will be sent the application form to complete and an application won’t be considered until a fully completed form is received.

• All applications will be acknowledged and considered in our shortlisting.

• Applicants who are shortlisted will be invited for an interview which will likely consist of a presentation, a task, and standard panel interview. 

• The recruiting panel reserves the right to request a second interview if they feel this is appropriate.

When you are completing the application form, please pay particular attention to the essay section which is where you can tell us how you fit the criteria listed in the person specification.