The brilliant club jobs

About the role
The Chief Programmes and Communities Officer will lead the charity’s Programmes and Communities Division. This division oversees our work with pupils, university students and parents, so that we can support young people from less-advantaged backgrounds to access and thrive at competitive universities. It is also home to our Research and Impact team, who ensure that our programmes are making an impact on the lives of young people and that our expertise is utilised externally to enhance best practice in the sector.

The Chief Programmes and Communities Officer will be responsible for ensuring high quality delivery across our programmes, ensuring we maximise our impact on the young people and communities we support. They will also bring our programmes and communities work closer together to strengthen the impact we have in the places of greatest need. They will represent The Brilliant Club externally, leading the Programmes and Communities Division to sustain and build partnerships with schools, universities and other stakeholders to enable the organisation to meet its growth targets.
This role holder will also be a member of the Executive Leadership Team. They will be collectively responsible for driving forward our strategic priorities, building our organisational culture and supporting the charity’s financial and reputational success. The role holder will report into the Chief Executive Officer and work closely with the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Engagement Officer, as well as engaging with our Board of Trustees throughout the year.

About you
This role will suit a strategic leader with a demonstrable passion for furthering The Brilliant Club’s mission. You will thrive in a fast paced, values driven environment, balancing big picture thinking with a focus on strong operational delivery to ensure programmes achieve measurable and sustainable impact.
The ideal candidate will have:

• Experience of programme leadership across a large, multi-disciplinary team.
• An in-depth understanding of the education and social mobility policy agenda.
• Experience of designing, delivering and evaluating impactful programmes within the education or charity sector.
• Experience of working closely with communities to drive change.
• A strong track record of managing complex, multi-partner initiatives, using data and evidence to drive decision making.
• Exceptional relationship development skills, and a track record of forging partnerships with stakeholders in the education and/or wider social mobility sector.
• Strong commercial awareness, with the ability to identify partnership opportunities and secure new support for our work.
• Experience of public speaking and representing organisations at a local and national level.
• Experience on an Executive or Senior Leadership Team, reporting to a Board of Trustees.

About the role
At The Brilliant Club, we mobilise the PhD community to support students from less advantaged backgrounds to access the most competitive universities and succeed when they get there. We work with students who, because of their family income, parental history or the postcode they live in, are at risk of missing out on the life-changing opportunities linked to higher education.

We are delighted to be hiring a Senior Research and Evaluation Officer to join The Brilliant Club. This pivotal role will support the charity’s research and evaluation consultancy work through Brilliant Consulting. Through our consultancy work, we have partnered with a range of universities and education organisations, such as the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO) and The Sutton Trust. The Senior Research and Evaluation Officer will contribute to improving the evidence base for what works to drive fairer education outcomes and social mobility. They will do this by supporting mission-aligned organisations to conduct robust evaluations of outreach and education programmes.

The Senior Research and Evaluation Officer will join a small consultancy team and will be managed by the charity’s Director of Research and Impact. The team is also supported by several colleagues from across the organisation who work on specific projects based on their areas of expertise. The consultancy team is part of the charity’s wider research and impact team, who collectively have two areas of responsibility: evaluating and reporting the impact of the charity’s programmes and providing research and evaluation consultancy and strategy support to education organisations.

The successful candidate will have strong research skills, including in quantitative research, and will be able to communicate technical information and findings to university access and success practitioners and educators. They will also demonstrate professional skills in relation to stakeholder management and project management and will champion the charity’s values and embody them in interactions with colleagues and partners. While this role can be based at any of our offices throughout the UK, some travel will be required (mainly to London) to attend in-person meetings.

About you
The role will best suit someone who

• Has a degree in a subject involving applied research (e.g., economics, education, policy, psychology, sociology, statistics).
• Has quantitative research skills, ideally with experience of constructing comparison groups and running statistical models to understand impact.
• Has experience of mixed methods approaches, including qualitative research methods (e.g., focus groups and interviews).
• Aas knowledge of the UK education landscape, including higher education.
• An organised and methodical approach, with excellent attention to detail and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Has excellent written and verbal communication skills, including being able to communicate with a range of external stakeholders.
• Will adhere to information security policies included in the charity’s ISO 27001 manual and complete information security training.
• Has a demonstrable passion for furthering The Brilliant Club’s mission

About the role
We are excited to recruit a Community Organiser for our Newport Parent Power project. This role offers a meaningful, paid professional development opportunity. The Brilliant Club will work in partnership with Jesus College, University of Oxford, King’s College London and the University of South Wales to engage with parents in Newport. Newport Parent Power is an established project which utilises the community organising-based model first created by King’s College London and Citizens UK with South London Parent Power.

Parent Power supports parents and carers to develop skills in community organising and advice and guidance on accessing higher education, empowering them to make change to support their children’s future and ensure that they have a fair chance in education and their future careers.

Working with us, the Community Organiser will:

• Support local pupils from underrepresented backgrounds by empowering their parent/carers to become higher education experts;
• Receive community organising training from Citizens UK and develop transferable skills;
• Build campaigns to combat local educational barriers with parent/carer communities;
• Join a nationwide community of community organisers making a significant impact on university access.

About you
The role will best suit someone who:
Essential

• Has knowledge of challenges faced in Newport’s communities.
• Has a demonstrable passion for furthering The Brilliant Club’s mission.
• Can adhere to information security policies included in the charity’s ISO 27001 manual (information security training provided).
   

Desirable

• Has prior experience of community focused work.
• Understands the current climate in the UK school system and some of the challenges young people and parent/carers might be facing.
• Understands the barriers young people face to university access and some of the ways these might be overcome.

About the role

We are excited to be recruiting a Programme Manager to join The Scholars Programme team. This role will be central in ensuring high quality programme management and oversee effective stakeholder stewardship across multiple geographical areas.

Programme Managers work closely with each other, reporting to the Head of Programme Management, to ensure excellent programme delivery across the UK. Each Programme Manager will manage a team of Programme Officers, who each manage a cluster of school-PhD tutor relationships. Programme Managers oversee all aspects of programme delivery by Programme Officers, ensuring key performance indicators are met. They will coach and support their team to deal with complex and sensitive issues from schools and PhD Tutors, becoming directly involved as a point of escalation. Programme Managers will be responsible for school retention targets and will identify opportunities to promote The Scholars Programme. They will directly deliver aspects of our provision including PhD tutor training, university events and tutor assessment centres. Programme Managers also lead collaborative work with other teams, providing strategic insight and oversight of joint processes to ensure information is disseminated and key actions are taken by the Programme Management team.

The role requires a driven and dynamic team player, with experience of success in programme management. They will be positive and pro-active in finding solutions, with a commitment to delivering excellent standards. They will champion the charity’s values and embody them in interactions with colleagues and partners.

While this role can be based in our London or Leeds offices, or be fully remote, it will involve some travel to deliver programme events at our different university partners and to attend in-person team days.

About you

The role will best suit someone who:

• Has knowledge and experience of the school and university sectors, including the university access agenda
• Has knowledge of educational interventions, including impact management
• Has proven experience in leading the delivery of a project or programme across a locality, is a qualified teacher (QTS or above) or has academic research experience
• Has experience of line management and/or leading and delivering through others
• Has a demonstrable passion for furthering The Brilliant Club’s mission
• Adheres to information security policies included in the charities ISO 27001 manual and completes information security training