Senior legal counsel jobs in Manchester

Join a small global team where you'll organise and oversee our UK-based coaching and leadership programmes for education and non-profit leaders. From responding to new enquiries, launching programmes and setting up online learning journeys, to building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, you'll need to be hands-on and able to prioritise across multiple workstreams. In return, you'll get genuine variety and ownership of your work, a friendly and supportive team, and opportunities to work with new digital tools and platforms and help us pioneer AI-powered ways of working from the ground up. 

About BTS Spark

BTS Spark is the social impact and education practice of BTS, a global professional services firm which specialises in supporting organisations to develop their leaders and build the people capabilities to deliver effectively on their strategies. Our mission at BTS Spark is bring that expertise to help education and non-profit leaders do their best work, building stronger organisations and a better world.

We provide expert 1:1 leadership coaching, powerful group experiences and bespoke team and organisational development programmes, all designed to enable profound and highly impactful learning. To date we have worked primarily with schools, colleges and multi-academy trusts, but we are now actively seeking to grow our work within higher education and the non-profit sector.  Whilst most of the work delivered by our UK hub is with UK-based organisations, we also deliver programmes elsewhere in Europe and manage several international programmes.

Our UK core team is small — just our Director and our Programme Manager — supported by wider BTS colleagues, our global BTS Spark team and a network of 30+ UK-based coaches and facilitators.

Job Description 

Working closely with our UK Director, but with a significant degree of independence, you'll support almost every part of our UK operations:

• Plan and enable smooth programme delivery — allocating coaches and facilitators, scheduling group sessions, and managing logistics for face-to-face events
• Set up and launch coaching and leadership programmes on our digital platforms, and use Claude and other AI tools to speed up routine tasks like data entry, reporting and client updates
• Act as a trusted first point of contact for clients, managing relationships, delivering briefings and platform demos, and preparing data-led impact reports
• Handle new enquiries, follow through with quotations and information, and support business development and proposal writing with the Director
• Help grow our profile — co-ordinating social media content (particularly LinkedIn), updating our website, building landing pages, and supporting our alumni and marketing campaigns
• Forecast income, keep our financial systems up to date, and manage letters of engagement, purchase orders and invoicing requests.
• Provide occasional live support for virtual workshops, and executive assistant support to the Director

The balance of your week will shift through the year, with programme launches taking priority at times and more space for development work during school holidays. A key priority is to make full use of our AI capability (especially Claude) to speed up our processes and free up more time for the relationship-building and engagement work that matters most. This is something we’ll support you to build into your working practice from day one.

We're looking for candidates with the following attributes:

Essential:

• A strong, sustained track record in programme planning and project/operations management
• Confidence managing relationships with senior education and non-profit leaders, with excellent, professional customer service skills
• Excellent written communication and proof-reading skills, with sharp attention to detail
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to prioritise across multiple workstreams
• A proactive, can-do attitude and comfort working independently
• Strong financial literacy and experience with CRM/database systems (e.g. Salesforce, Hubspot)
• Enthusiasm for digital tools and AI assistants, and intermediate Microsoft Office skills
• Flexibility for occasional calls outside business hours with North America and Australia-based colleagues

Desirable:

• Experience working in or closely with the education sector
• University graduate-level education

Benefits

• 25 days' annual leave, plus bank holidays and a Christmas–New Year office closure
• 5% matched pension and life insurance
• Private medical insurance
• Free access to a wellness coach and healthcare app (video GP appointments, mental health and nutritional consultations)
• Cycle to work scheme

See attached job description for further details.

Application Process

Please apply with an up-to-date CV and a supporting statement (max. 2 sides) showing how you meet the knowledge, skills and experience above. Applications without a supporting statement will not be considered.

We review applications on a rolling basis, so please apply as soon as you can. The closing date for applications is 12 noon on Tuesday 1st September.

Initial interviews for shortlisted candidates will be held on a rolling basis until 4th September.

Final interviews will be held in London at the BTS Offices on 10th and 11th September.

We have a newly created opportunity for a Portfolio Performance Manager to join our fantastic Change and Transformation team at RBL.

Here at the Royal British Legion, we are currently embarking on an exciting new phase with our Customer, Technology and Change directorate. Together this team, covering Technology, Data Protection, Business Planning and Change & Transformation, takes great pride in supporting across RBL with all things technology, security, digital, data, business planning, portfolio and project management, and change. It’s a great time to join as our organisation begins to drive our new 10-year strategy and ensures we are best able to continue to make a difference to our Armed Forces community now and for the future.

Based in our Change & Transformation team, the new Portfolio Performance Manager will turn complex project information into clear, meaningful insight, helping senior leaders make informed decisions and maximise delivery success.

Reporting to the new Head of Portfolio Assurance and Reporting, you will play a key role in providing a trusted, evidence based view of our change portfolio. You will bring together performance, financial, resource, risk, dependency and benefits information to create a clear picture of how our projects and programmes are performing.

Come and be part of the leading Armed Forces charity, making a difference to the lives of those who have served to keep us safe and protect our way of life.

In this busy role, some key responsibilities will include:

- Leading the production of high quality portfolio reporting, ensuring information is accurate, timely and consistent
- Creating a single view of portfolio performance through effective data management, reporting and dashboards
- Analysing project and programme information to identify trends, risks, opportunities and emerging pressures
- Providing clear insights and recommendations that help leaders make informed decisions
- Supporting senior governance forums by delivering meaningful performance reporting and decision making information
- Working closely with Project and Change teams to improve reporting quality and strengthen portfolio visibility
- Line managing and supporting the development of a Portfolio Analyst

You will bring experience from a PMO, portfolio management, project controls, performance reporting or management information environment, along with a strong ability to interpret data and communicate what it means. You will be someone who enjoys analysing information, spotting trends, and translating data into practical insight that supports strategic decision making.

You will be contracted to your home address, and you will perform most of your work remotely there, with occasional travel (incl. for monthly team meetings).

Employee benefits include –

- 28 day’s paid holiday (plus bank holidays) increasing with service, with optional annual leave purchase scheme of up to 5 working days
- Enhanced paid maternity, paternity and adoption leave
- Generous pension scheme with employer contributions ranging from 6% to 14%, depending on length of service
- Range of flexible working options may be available, depending on your role
- Employee Assistance Programme providing confidential counselling, financial and legal advice
- Range of courses delivered by learning specialists to support your development goals and objectives
- Opportunities to volunteer
- Travel loans, Cycle to Work, and more!

For more detailed information about the role, please see the Job Description attached to our direct advert. Our teams take a personalised approach to shortlisting, which is carried out without the use of AI and is based on the evidence provided in your application against the essential and desirable criteria in the Person Specification.

RBL is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive organisation, reflecting the diversity of the armed forces community and of wider society. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and personal characteristics.

As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer interview schemes for candidates who declare an Armed Forces connection and/or a disability. However, candidates are only eligible for this scheme if their application clearly demonstrates that they meet all of the essential criteria listed in the Person Specification for the role.

Interview Dates: Week commencing 7 Sep

We may close this vacancy early if we believe we have enough strong applications to be able to successfully fill the role. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Job Purpose

Sequence ME & Long Covid is one of the most ambitious whole-genome sequencing studies ever undertaken into ME and Long Covid, co-led by Action for ME. Building on the success of DecodeME, this proposed £20 million study will use large-scale, long-read whole-genome sequencing to analyse the entire genetic code of 9,000 people with ME and 9,000 people with Long Covid - making it the world's largest 'long-read' whole-genome sequencing study of any disease.

Current funding supports project mobilisation, partnership development, and the development of the Long Covid arm of the study, including agreeing case definitions and gathering expressions of interest from people with Long Covid. Phase 2 has recently been confirmed, backed by £4.75m from the UK government and a further £174,414 from the WE&ME Foundation, and will focus on sequencing 6,000 ME/CFS samples previously collected through DecodeME using Oxford Nanopore's long-read sequencing technology, running alongside Phase 1.

You will play a pivotal role supporting the Sequence ME & Long Covid project in several different ways. Working closely with the project's management team and other team members, you will help ensure the smooth day-to-day running of this landmark study, providing administrative support to the various people and partners involved in delivering it.

As a self-starter, you will manage a range of tasks including meeting scheduling, taking meeting minutes, preparing governance documents, event administration, and broader project support - no two days will be the same.

You will need to maintain a high level of confidentiality at all times, particularly when supporting governance meetings and handling sensitive project documentation.

As a team player, you will provide comprehensive, confidential and organised administrative support, developing a deep understanding of the project and building strong, effective working relationships with colleagues, researchers and external partners.

Remote working at home can be challenging for some and works incredibly well for others. You will need to be able to work independently, use your own initiative, and remain proactive in maintaining good levels of communication with colleagues.

Key Duties

• Help monitor inboxes and respond to routine project enquiries in a timely and sensitive manner, escalating more complex matters as appropriate
• Assist the project's management team and other team members with meeting scheduling and diary coordination
• Take accurate minutes at project, management and other project-related meetings, and follow up and track resulting actions to completion
• Prepare, format and proof-read governance documents and papers
• Maintain and update project databases including the Teams channel, ensuring documents are saved correctly, other management information/recording systems to ensure accurate and timely record-keeping. Help with the tracking of expressions of interest from potential study participants.
• Provide administrative support for project events - from planning and logistics through to on-the-day support
• Help prepare presentations, slide decks and briefing materials for internal meetings, funders, partners and participant-facing communications
• Support the drafting, formatting and coordination of project communications, such as updates for partners, funders or the wider ME and Long Covid community
• Support coordination between internal teams and external partners, including research and funding partners
• Maintain project files and documentation in line with agreed communication operating procedures with internal and external partners ensuring information is well organised, up to date and easy for the team to access
• Maintain confidentiality at all times and in line with relevant policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with GDPR and that all data consent processes have been followed in relation to data protection
• Positively promote the work of the Sequence ME & Long Covid project and Action for ME at all times
• Undertake any other reasonable activity in line with the responsibilities of the post, as requested by the CEO, Business Development & Partnerships Manager, Senior Research Manager or the project's Management Team

 

Person Specification

Essential skills and experience

• Organisational skills - Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple tasks across a fast-moving research project, with attention to detail and accuracy maintained under pressure
• Communication - Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to interact effectively with diverse audiences including researchers, funders and people affected by ME and Long Covid
• IT literacy - Proficient with common office software, including Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint), and able to quickly learn relevant project management, database or communications systems as needed
• Problem-solving - A creative and solution-focused mindset to address challenges and find innovative ways to improve processes
• Adaptability - Capable of managing changing priorities, working flexibly, and adapting to the needs of a fast-paced, ambitious research programme
• Initiative - A proactive approach, with the ability to work independently and take initiative, while also following clear instructions when given
• Teamwork - A collaborative team player with a proven ability to work effectively as part of a team, including a remote-working team spanning multiple partners and stakeholders
• Interest in the sector - A genuine interest in health research, the Third Sector, and a desire to take action to improve the lives of people with ME and Long Covid
• Experience - Demonstrable ability to be an effective administrator, ideally within a charity, research, or project environment. Experience supporting governance processes, events, or communications would be an advantage but is not essential

Desirable skills and experience

• Experience providing administrative support for scientific or research-related projects
• Experience writing and communicating with non-specialist or general audiences

Please note, the salary of £24,642.09 FTE per year pro rata is based on a 35-hour week.