Leadership development manager jobs

Oak is a fully remote, mission-driven organisation offering high levels of flexibility, autonomy, and purpose. We’re a national not-for-profit working in partnership with teachers to create the highest-quality, sequenced curriculum and lesson resources for pupils across all subjects and age groups.

Our culture has been independently recognised through:

• Flexa verified (93% overall score, including 95% for working hours and 97% for role modelling)

• Escape the City's Top 1% Employers – based on anonymous colleague reviews of culture, development, and impact

• Investors in People Gold - through external accreditation and colleague feedback

�� About the Role

We are looking for an experienced AI Engineer to join our AI Platform team.

The AI Platform team supports our product teams in developing the best and safest AI features in the EdTech space. The team maintain AI platform services, prompt libraries, and reusable pipelines that can be applied across multiple projects.

In this role, you may work on:

• Enhancing Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines,

• Optimising embedding and vector similarity systems through semantic search, clustering, filtering logic, and dimensionality reduction techniques.

• Supporting model evaluation and safety tooling, such as automated test harnesses, hallucination detection, content moderation and input guardrails.

• Contributing to model fine-tuning, prompting and deployment, with a focus on balancing performance, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness.

This is a hands-on role with plenty of scope for technical leadership and mentoring, alongside the opportunity to shape our engineering practices and culture. You'll be part of a supportive, collaborative team that cares deeply about accessibility, usability, and delivering tools that genuinely improve learning.

�� What You’ll Be Doing

• Develop and maintain web and data systems that meet our high standards of safety, security, reliability and accessibility

• Lead the team on specific areas of the system, infrastructure, or code base.

• Deliver high-quality software and services, using appropriate tools, testing, deployment and monitoring to ensure reliability and maintainability.

• Share knowledge and provide guidance to less experienced colleagues.

• As a member of the Oak Team, contribute to the planning and culture of the organisation

• Work in cross-functional and product-oriented squads with colleagues from across the organisation, as required

• Deputise for senior software engineers and take on other general responsibilities as required

�� What We’re Looking For

• 3+ years experience of continuously improving services using AI/ Web apps technologies

• Knowledge of relevant common architectures, with some experience designing simple technical solutions based on product requirements

• Professional experience building high-performing software using modern frameworks and libraries relevant to the product area  (e.g. NumPy, pandas, and scikit-learn.

• Experience designing, testing, and deploying reliable software systems, including automated testing and, where relevant, evaluation of model or system performance using cloud-based tools.

• Able to collaborate effectively in multidisciplinary teams and communicate clearly.

�� Our Benefits

• 25 days annual leave, plus one extra day for each year of service (up to 28)

• Additional Oak closure days over Christmas/New Year

• 11% employer pension contribution (with no minimum employee contribution)

• A 36-hour working week, with half-days on Fridays or every other Friday off

• Fully remote working — we’ll support your home set-up and offer coworking options if preferred

• Twice-yearly in-person offsites to collaborate, connect, and have fun

• A culture that genuinely supports flexibility, autonomy, and trust

�� Inclusion and Belonging

We believe diverse teams build better products. We warmly welcome applicants from all backgrounds, particularly those who are underrepresented in the tech and education sectors.

We use the Applied recruitment platform to help reduce bias in our hiring process. 

�� Key Info

• Location: Remote, but you must be based in the UK with the legal right to work here

• Sponsorship: Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer visa sponsorship at this time

• Closing date: We’ll be reviewing applications as they come in and may close the role early

If this sounds like the kind of role and team where you could do your life’s best work, we’d love to hear from you.

Next steps

You’ll answer some questions related to your day-to-day job. Your answers will go through our sift process: all answers will be anonymised, randomised, and then reviewed by a panel of reviewers (real humans).

If you are shortlisted, we’ll invite you to the next stage, which will consist of a remote technical interview and a technical pairing session conducted over Zoom. This will last approximately two hours.

We love giving feedback, so at the end of the application process, we'll share how well you performed.

We aim to begin interviews in December 2025.

We are receiving excellent responses to our job advertisements. This may lead us to close the role early, so if you are considering applying, please submit your application promptly to avoid missing out.

We are an equal opportunities employer.

We are committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.

At TLG, we are passionate about building an exceptional team committed to transforming the lives of children who are struggling. Our vision is bold, and we are looking for outstanding people to join us on this journey. This role offers an exciting opportunity for a motivated and purpose-driven individual to become our Graphic Designer & Editor.

As Graphic Designer & Editor, you will lead the delivery of excellent design across the organisation, championing brand consistency to effectively engage diverse audiences. You will use your creativity in design and video to raise awareness, share impactful stories, and inspire action from a wide range of stakeholders.

We are seeking someone who is not only highly creative but also proactive, organised, and determined. You will understand how to inspire, challenge and motivate others through compelling visual content, ensuring that every piece of work reflects TLG’s mission and values.

Working as part of a dynamic team, you will help communicate TLG’s work through multiple channels, driving brand awareness and creativity throughout the charity. At the heart of this role is a desire to creatively showcase the life-changing impact of TLG’s work and enable audiences to more fully understand the barriers and challenges that struggling children face.

TLG is a Christian charity and, as a team, we want to bring our faith to the work we do; as such, we are recruiting an individual with a strong and vibrant Christian faith. We would welcome applications from candidates from diverse backgrounds to enable us to better reflect the needs of the communities we serve.

Hours: Full time (37.5 hours per week)

Closing Date: Sunday 23rd November

Initial Interviews: Thursday 27th November – Online

Final Interviews (TBC): Wednesday 3rd / Monday 8th / Tuesday 9th December – at our National Support Centre in West Yorkshire

Head of Philanthropy

Department: KCL Philanthropy
Grade and Salary: £65,091 - £74,613 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance
Job ID: 128746

About Us

Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement (P&A) provides a fundraising and alumni engagement function in support of King’s College London. We are proud to work with colleagues across the university and its health partners to help them serve society through world-leading education, research and healthcare.  Our work also includes a partnership with the Maudsley Charity in support of children’s mental health initiatives between the university’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and the South London & Maudsley NHS Trust. 

We are a committed team that brings together fundraisers working across different channels, alongside colleagues who promote King’s College London’s engagement with its worldwide alumni community. Our work is underpinned and enhanced by a range of dedicated professionals in supporting areas covering proposition development, supporter engagement, supporter operations and business operations.

We have an impressive, well-established track record of success in securing support that allows the university and partners to deliver on their missions. This includes our global, award-winning World Questions: King’s Answers campaign, which set the standard in the sector and enabled us to raise substantial funds to help tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges. Ambitious and innovative, the team has won awards such as a CASE Platinum Award for Fundraising and a CASE Gold Award for Donor Relations and Stewardship. We are strongly values-driven with a focus on sustaining an excellent and supportive culture, which we see as key to creating a successful team that can support the university and its partners in making a real and positive difference to the world we live in.

More on King’s College London 

King’s College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. The university is dedicated to driving positive and sustainable change in society and realising our vision of making the world a better place.  Through its commitment to exceptional education, impactful research and genuine service to society, King’s College London is creating positive change in its communities, both in London and on the world stage. The Strategic Vision 2029 looks forward to King’s College London’s 200th anniversary in 2029 and sets out ambitious plans in five key areas: 

1. Educating the next generation of change-makers
2. Challenging ideas and driving change through research
3. Giving back to society through meaningful service
4. Working with our local communities in London
5. Fostering global citizens with an international perspective

About the role

We are looking for two exceptional Heads of Philanthropy to join our team to significantly increase philanthropic income for faculty fundraising priorities across King’s College London.Within your application, please indicate which position you are applying to, or if you are happy to be considered for both positions.

One role will lead the Health, Science & Technology philanthropy team, and the other will lead the Arts & Social Sciences philanthropy team. Candidates will need to demonstrate curiosity and genuine interest in the academic areas that fall within the role, and work in partnership with King’s experts and other stakeholders to be successful.

King’s has an ambition to significantly scale philanthropic income for Faculties as we prepare to launch our next major fundraising and engagement campaign in 2027 and mark the university’s bicentenary in 2029. There is currently at least one major gift fundraiser working in each Faculty. Working closely with the Associate Director, Faculty Philanthropy, the postholder will play a pivotal role in developing and growing the major gift fundraising function. They will be responsible for leading and nurturing a team of high value fundraisers to secure gifts at the £50k level and above.

We are looking for someone with a proven track-record of developing new, high value relationships, with experience of closing gifts at the six- and seven- figure level. They will need to demonstrate that they understand what is required to build and scale prospect portfolios. They should be intellectually curious and energised by the depth and breadth of King’s academic expertise, with particular interest and passion to work with senior university leaders and academics to secure funding for a range of priorities across either the Arts and Social Sciences, or Health, Science & Technology portfolio.

Working closely with the Associate Director, Faculty Philanthropy, the postholder will play a pivotal role in developing and growing the major gift fundraising function in advance of the launch of the university’s next public fundraising campaign. They will be responsible for leading and nurturing a team of high value fundraisers to secure gifts at the £50k level and above.

This is a full time post (35 Hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite  contract. P&A has a hybrid working approach, with a minimum of 40% of time in the office, on King’s campuses or meeting donors externally. Typically, this equates to two days per week, but we’re very happy for colleagues to be in more frequently if they so wish.

We welcome applications from those seeking part-time and flexible working.

Please indicate if you are applying for either the Health, Science & Technology role or the Arts & Social Sciences role in your supporting statement or if you are happy to be considered for both positions.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. A proven track record of identifying, cultivating and securing six- and seven- figure gifts from major donors
2. Strong leadership skills, with experience of managing a high-performing fundraising or major gifts fundraising team
3. The ability to negotiate throughout a large, complex environment with multi-dimensional points of view
4. Ability to plan strategically and implement those plans
5. Proven track record in establishing, monitoring, and achieving demanding targets, including income and activity metrics
6. Confidence and experience of working effectively with, and influencing, senior stakeholders
7. Excellent communication skills, including an ability to write and speak eloquently and to communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders of all backgrounds
8. Willingness to attend or work at, where necessary, commitments outside of normal working hours

Desirable criteria

1. Experience of working within, or working knowledge of, higher education sector in the UK
2. Experience of working in the public or voluntary sectors
3. Experience of working with a CRM or fundraising database

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's. We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements, including part-time, compressed hours and/or job shares, as appropriate and in the context of the business needs associated with the role.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.Please indicate if you are applying for either the Health, Science & Technology role or the Arts & Social Sciences role in your supporting statement or if you are happy to be considered for both positions. 

Closing Date: 17th November 2025

These roles will have three interview stages, a first-stage standard skills-based interview followed by a more in-depth second-stage interview and presentation, and (for up to two appointable candidates) a Core Values interview.

First stage interviews are due to be held on Tuesday 25th November.

 Second stage interviews are due to be held w/c 1st December.

Core Values interviews are due to be held on w/c 8th December.