Service support officer jobs in Birmingham, west midlands

This strategically important role will provide global leadership for advocacy across the Open Doors ministry, helping local and regional teams to shape advocacy priorities, strengthen alignment across international teams, and ensure the experiences and voices of the most persecuted Christians continue to inform decisions at every level of our organisation.

The role also oversees Global Integrated Campaigns and plays a key role in strengthening Open Doors’ voice and influence amongst external partners, institutions, governments and decision-makers. As the global context continues to evolve, advocacy remains an essential part of our mission. We believe God is calling us to speak courageously, act wisely and work collaboratively on behalf of those whose voices are often unheard.

This is a role for a courageous and servant-hearted leader who can bring together diverse stakeholders, develop and execute strategic priorities, and strengthen advocacy’s contribution to the mission of Open Doors worldwide.

Purpose of the Position

The Global Advocacy Director is a strategic leadership role, reporting directly to the CEO and responsible for providing direction, alignment and influence for advocacy across the Open Doors organisation. Working closely with field regions, fundraising bases and international leaders, the Director ensures that advocacy priorities remain connected to the needs of persecuted Christians and contribute to the wider mission and strategy of Open Doors.

Personal Qualities

The successful candidate will be:

• A servant leader with humility, wisdom and integrity.

• A strategic thinker who can see both the wider picture and the practical steps needed to achieve it.

• A relationship builder who can unite people around a shared purpose.

• A courageous and resilient leader, comfortable operating in complex and sometimes challenging environments.

• An excellent communicator, able to inspire, influence and engage a wide range of audiences. 

Working for Open Doors

Open Doors International offers a unique opportunity to combine professional expertise with meaningful ministry impact. As a global Christian organisation serving persecuted Christians in more than 70 countries, we are committed to attracting and developing exceptional leaders who are passionate about our mission and values.

The Director of Global Advocacy will join a diverse international organisation working across cultures, regions and functions to strengthen the persecuted Church and advance the mission of Open Doors worldwide.

Location: The successful candidate must live in an African, European or Asian time zone. Applicants must be able to work effectively across international teams and time zones.

International Travel: The successful candidate should expect a significant amount of international travel to engage with colleagues, partners, advocacy networks and ministry stakeholders.

Salary and Benefits: A competitive salary package will be offered, commensurate with the seniority and international scope of the role.

Additional benefits and employment arrangements will be discussed with shortlisted candidates and will be tailored to the successful candidate’s location and circumstances.

Faith Requirement: As a Christian ministry, Open Doors requires the Global Advocacy Director to demonstrate a mature Christian faith and full alignment with the organisation’s Christian beliefs, values and statement of faith.

Location: Remote with regular travel to multiple locations (including Head Office in London)
Contract Type: Full-Time, Standard Contract
Reports to: Executive Headteacher
Responsible for: Curriculum Leads and Teaching Staff
Start Date: 4th January 2027 

Please note: Applicants who successfully pass the initial CV screening will be required to submit a full Equal Education Academy application form in line with KCSIE statutory guidance prior to formal shortlisting and interview.

Interview schedule: 

• Online interview (45mins) - Friday 28th August 2026.

• In-Person Assessment Day (London) - Friday 11th September 2026.

About Equal Education Academy (EEA)

Equal Education is excited to launch a new online academy for Key Stage 4 students, accredited under the DfE’s Online Education Accreditation Scheme (OEAS). We deliver high-quality alternative education tailored for learners facing barriers to education or with complex needs. This includes young people with SEND, SEMH needs, interrupted schooling, Children Looked After, and those requiring specialist or alternative provision.

Guided by our values of Belong, Empower and Aspire, we provide a safe, inclusive, and aspirational environment. We align with DfE guidance and aim to meet OEAS standards, ensuring that safeguarding, particularly online, is the foundation of our culture.

Purpose of the Role

The Head of Centre will provide strategic and operational leadership for Equal Education Academy, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, inclusive, and trauma-informed online provision. Serving as the Academy’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) and Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), the postholder will embed safeguarding, inclusion, and wellbeing into all organisational decision-making.

Key responsibilities include leading SEND and safeguarding strategy (including overseeing the Single Central Record)  delivering high-impact staff training, and driving rigorous quality assurance by monitoring and reviewing teaching and learning practices. 

Working collaboratively across the Academy and the wider Equal Education Limited group, the Head of Centre will serve as a vital operational bridge, facilitating seamless collaboration and synergy between Equal Education Academy and Equal Education Limited. Operating at the intersection of both entities, the post-holder is uniquely positioned to identify and leverage cross-group resources, optimising them to drive the growth and development of the Academy. By championing alignment across the ecosystem, this pivotal role ensures that the Academy’s functions, team, and strategic objectives are seamlessly integrated within the wider organisation.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Leadership & Quality of Education

• Support the Executive Headteacher in setting the Academy’s strategic direction and ensuring compliance with OEAS/DfE standards.

• Monitor and review teaching and learning across the Academy, using lesson observations, work scrutiny, and data analysis to drive pedagogical improvement.

• Contribute to the Academy Improvement Plan and lead on inspection readiness and quality assurance activities.

• Lead on developing and implementing a program of CPD and training for new staff. Ensuring the team is aligned under the vision and values of the EE Academy.

• Facilitate operational synergy between Equal Education Academy and Equal Education Limited, leveraging group resources to optimise performance.

2. SEND Leadership (SENCO)

• Coordinate all SEND provision, ensuring the identification, assessment, and effective support of learners with complex needs.

• Oversee EHCP management, annual reviews, and the development of targeted Individual Learning Plans (ILPs).

• Oversee PEP management for Looked After Children

• Champion inclusive pedagogy, ensuring all staff adopt trauma-informed and adaptive teaching strategies.

• Manage multi-agency collaboration with families, local authorities, and external professionals to secure positive learner outcomes.

3. Safeguarding and Wellbeing (DSL)

• Serve as the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), maintaining oversight of all safeguarding systems, referrals, and online safety protocols.

• Ensure policies remain compliant with Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) and best practice.

• Promote a culture of vigilance, ensuring learner wellbeing, attendance, and emotional safety are central to all Academy functions.

• Lead on multi-agency safeguarding processes and provide expert advice to the leadership team.

4. Leadership & Staff Development

• Design and deliver high-impact staff training programs, specifically focusing on safeguarding, online pedagogy, SEND frameworks, and inclusive, trauma-informed practice.

• Lead staff appraisal, coaching, and professional development to ensure high standards of accountability and growth.

• Foster a collaborative, reflective culture, supporting recruitment, induction, and retention.

• Support learner engagement, attendance and successful transition pathways

• Contribute to self-evaluation and school improvement activities

5. Partnership Working, Influence and Professional Representation

• Build and maintain effective relationships with internal stakeholders to drive seamless integration between Equal Education Academy and the wider Equal Education Limited group.Work closely with the Executive Headteacher, Group CEO and relevant members of operational teams to ensure effective collaboration across the group. 

• Develop and sustain effective partnerships with families, schools, local authorities, virtual schools, and external agencies.

• Support policy development, implementation, and review.

• Represent Equal Education at professional meetings, conferences, and external forums.

• Undertake any other duties reasonably directed by the Headteacher or Executive Headteacher.

• Contribute to strategic planning and organisational development, effectively pitching ideas and challenging the status quo.

• Ability to constructively and professionally challenge colleagues and stakeholders at all levels, including leadership as necessary, in the interest of managing risk and developing a quality service offering.

Person Specification

Essential Qualifications and Experience

• Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).

• National Award for SEN Coordination (NASENCO). 

• Significant (3 years minimum) senior leadership experience in a school, AP, SEND, or online setting within the last year. 

• Proven experience in designing and delivering whole-school staff training.

• Extensive (1 year minimum) experience as a DSL (safeguarding) and SENCO (SEND provision).

• Deep understanding of KCSIE, the SEND Code of Practice, and OEAS/DfE requirements.

• Experience in reviewing teaching and learning to drive quality improvement.

• Significant experience supporting children and young people with barriers to learning and/or emerging or complex needs, including those with SEND, SEMH needs, interrupted education, Children Looked After, and learners requiring specialist or alternative provision.

• Significant experience supporting learners with EHCPs and complex needs, while coordinating multi-agency support and collaborating effectively with local authorities, schools, and external agencies.

• Experience contributing to quality assurance, school improvement or inspection readiness activities. 

Skills and Attributes

• Strong strategic, operational and project management skills

  • Ability to manage complex projects in an organised manner, develop project plans with effective tracking (e.g. Project Initiation documents, gantt charts,   reporting on key metrics, meeting key milestones and working to budgets). 

  • Ability to lead projects and processes in a collaborative way, identifying and engaging key stakeholders to ensure efficiency and avoid duplication of work across a group business structure. 

  • Demonstrates a commercial mindset, with the ability to articulate business cases, work effectively with budgets and interpret information effectively. 

• Excellent communication: capable of building high-trust relationships with staff, families, and local authorities.

• Resilient, reflective and adaptable. A champion of inclusion: deep commitment to supporting vulnerable learners and EEA’s values.

• Strong organisational skills, data-literate and improvement-focused with the abilities to support and develop colleagues. 

• Analytical mindset, able to challenge own assumptions and adapt based on learnings.

• Up to date educational landscape knowledge and a desire to remain informed of sector shifts and updates.

General

The post-holder will be provided with the technology required to complete their role. Equal Education works exclusively on Apple devices using Google software.

Equal Education is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All colleagues are expected to share this commitment. The post is subject to Enhanced DBS clearance, right to work in the UK, and two satisfactory professional references (one from the last employer). 

Every young person we support is unique and our team isn’t any different. Our differences are our strength when it comes to providing a tailored, human approach to education. We are proud of our people and provide an environment where everyone can bring their most authentic self to work. 

Our recruitment practices are carried out in line with equal opportunities and all candidates will be reviewed fairly regardless of age, gender reassignment, sex, race, religion, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic.

Corporate Partnerships (Fundraising) Senior Lead 

Salary: £47,463 to £51,090 FTE (offer dependent on experience) pro rated at 0.6 FTE, plus £312 p.a working from home allowance (see below for more details on remuneration)

Contract: Part-time (0.6 FTE), permanent, remote first/home-based. 

Location: Remote, but with the expectation of flexibility to travel regularly to London and occasionally to other locations in the UK. (Applicants residing outside mainland UK will not be considered.)

About Voice 21 

Oracy is our ability to articulate our ideas, develop understanding, and engage with others through speaking, listening and communication. Like reading, writing and maths, oracy is fundamental for learning and life. Every child should be taught how to use their voice to thrive in education and beyond. Voice 21 is the national charity on a mission to secure high quality oracy education for every child. We know that teaching oracy skills improves children’s confidence, wellbeing, engagement and attainment. We support teachers and school leaders to weave oracy into everyday teaching and whole-school culture, to transform learning and outcomes for their pupils. We focus where we can make the most difference, in state schools that serve economically disadvantaged pupils. We also work to influence national policy and champion oracy across the education system. Follow the links to find out more about why oracy is so vital and the impact Voice 21 has. 

About this role 

Voice 21 is a rapidly growing national charity with a bold new strategy to 2030 and ambitious plans to double its fundraised income over the strategic period. We see significant potential for the corporate sector to engage with our work and support our mission to transform education and outcomes for young people. We are looking for an experienced corporate fundraising specialist to drive growth of our burgeoning Corporate Partnerships programme, unlock exciting new opportunities for support, and lead on developing new voluntary income from corporate partnerships. 

In this role, you will champion creative, insight-driven new business development and account management, ensuring partnerships are meaningful, mutually beneficial, and aligned with our mission. The role will encompass research and qualification, engagement of potential corporate partners, developing propositions and proposals, pitching and securing new partners, and relationship building and stewardship. This opportunity will suit someone proactive and self-motivated, with demonstrable experience of developing new corporate partnerships income from scratch, who is comfortable working independently, skilled in building relationships at all levels, and driven by Voice 21’s mission.

Main responsibilities 

• Working collaboratively across the organisation to build trusted relationships internally, maximise opportunities, and ensure corporate partnerships support our strategic objectives.

• Identifying and delivering opportunities to develop new partnerships, securing and onboarding new corporate partners through targeted engagement.

• Building and maintaining sustainable relationships with corporate contacts, ensuring excellent engagement and stewardship.

• Building and managing a robust pipeline of prospective partners, ensuring a strategic and targeted approach to new business.

• Collaborating across teams to shape and deliver high-value, mutually beneficial partnership proposals that align with organisational priorities. 

• Providing strategic support to the Head of Fundraising and Senior Leadership Team, ensuring where appropriate that senior colleagues are fully briefed and prepared.

• Contributing your sector knowledge, expertise and specialist insights to inform strategy and innovation and assist decision-making.

Your progression 

 Within 1 month, you’ll:

• Learn about the organisation, our mission, impact and case for support; understand our supporters, our fundraising strategy and activities; connect with colleagues and start to build key relationships. 

Within 3 months, you’ll:

• Review corporate partnerships strategy; build targeted list of new corporate prospects; develop partnerships propositions with colleagues. 

 Within 6 months, you’ll:

• own and start to execute corporate partnership strategy; drive pipeline development and prospect engagement; set longer term objectives and KPIs for the programme. 

Person specification 

• Demonstrable experience of setting up a corporate fundraising programme, with a track record of securing five-figure+ relationships and raising income to target.

• Knowledge and/or experience of a wide range of corporate income streams, from strategic partnerships and sponsorships, to cause-related marketing, employee engagement, gifts in kind, etc.

• Strong commercial awareness, with ability to identify and prioritise high-value opportunities. 

• Proactivity and assertiveness, with the ability to recognise and act on new opportunities, along with the tenacity to secure meetings. 

• Experience of building a portfolio of corporate sector prospects and managing a pipeline of opportunities. Ideally with experience of using Salesforce (or another CRM system) to manage pipelines, track performance, and report on outcomes.

• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to build and maintain relationships at all levels, negotiating and influencing to achieve successful outcomes. 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with confident and engaging presentation abilities.

• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities effectively.

• Knowledge of fundraising legislation, ethics, compliance, and data protection requirements.

• Self-motivated, comfortable working autonomously, and able to take ownership of own performance. Comfortable in a fast-paced, iterative culture.

Who you’ll work with: Your line manager will be the Head of Fundraising. There is also a full-time Fundraising Officer in the team who will provide some support for this role. The postholder should expect to work regularly with the CEO and wider leadership team. Fundraising sits within Voice 21’s Operations Directorate.

Where you’ll work: All Voice 21 staff work remotely and this is a home-based role, with some travel expected to our London office (near Victoria station) and elsewhere for meetings. Occasional overnight stays may be required. Voice 21 pays all travel and accommodation expenses.

Why work for Voice 21?

Tackle a vital challenge, with great people. Voice 21 exists to transform children's learning and life chances through talk and we are aiming to be working with 2000 schools a year by 2025. To reach this goal we recruit great people and give them real responsibility, training and support. 

Output focused culture, with flexible working opportunities. We have an agile and flexible approach; our team can work when and wherever works best to deliver the requirements of their role. For staff working at home, we support them to create a workspace and provide technology that enables them to work effectively. 

Real development opportunities. We believe in supporting people to develop the skills they need to be excellent - whether this means funding external training, finding a mentor to support them or giving them the time to learn from others in the organisations through our regular CPD sessions. We also offer paid study leave for team members taking part in formal studies outside of work.

Great benefits. 36 days holiday (inclusive of bank holidays and a 3 day Christmas closure period). Holiday entitlement increases linked to length of service, 5% employer contribution to pension, interest-free season ticket, cycle and technology loans, employee assistance scheme. 

Remuneration. Our pay is a band and spine point approach, whereby up to 7 years (depending on starting point) annual pay progression is automatically available.

How to apply

Please submit your C.V. clearly summarising your work experience and achievements, along with a written statement (max. length 1,000 words / 2 sides of A4) that addresses these three questions: 

1. Please tell us about the highest value corporate partnership you have personally secured and which you developed from start to finish:

• How did you go about identifying the prospect and opportunity?

• How did you go about developing the relationship before you secured the partnership?

• What were the features of the partnership and what was the value for the charity and the company?

• What was your role in developing the pitch and how did you go about landing the deal?

• What was the outcome and/or impact of securing this partnership?

1. Reflecting on the example you have shared, what did you learn from this experience? And how does that learning show up in your approach to corporate partnerships fundraising? 

1. What interests you about Voice 21, and about undertaking this role specifically? What do you anticipate will be the challenges and opportunities in this role? 

Closing date:  9am Monday 24th August. (We reserve the right to close applications before the stated closing date if a sufficient number of suitable applications is received.)

Interview dates: 1st stage virtual interviews (via Zoom) expected to be held on Thursday 27th August. Candidates progressing to 2nd stage will be invited to interview in person at our central London office, expected to be on Wednesday 2nd September.

Valuing every voice

Voice 21 believes that every voice should be heard and valued. We are committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and do not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership. 

Voice 21 is a diverse and inclusive workplace and we strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join us. By offering a salary range, we demonstrate our commitment to considering a wide range of applicants who may bring different perspectives and levels of experience.