Leadership development officer jobs in Bracknell, bracknell forest
Remote (UK-based) | Full-time | £123,969 + benefits
Oak is a fully remote, mission-driven organisation offering high levels of flexibility, autonomy, and purpose. We’re a national not-for-profit organisation working in partnership with teachers to create high-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
Oak is entering a critical new phase. Over the next three years, we will support the implementation of a revised national curriculum, deepen adoption of our digital products across schools, and play a leading role in shaping the safe and ethical use of AI in education.
We are now seeking a Director of Engineering to lead the technology that underpins this work.
This is a senior leadership role with responsibility for Oak’s engineering strategy, technical architecture and platform delivery. You will lead engineering teams to build and operate reliable, secure and scalable systems that support teachers at scale and enable innovation across the education sector.
You’ll work closely with product, design, data, teachers and content leaders to ensure our technology choices are grounded in real classroom needs, strong pedagogy and value for money, while also pushing forward what’s possible with the latest approaches and tools. You’ll empower teams to get solutions built and products and features shipped.
We welcome applications from candidates with senior engineering leadership experience across technology, digital or public service environments, including those who have not previously worked in education.
If you’re excited by the challenge of building dependable systems that quietly do the heavy lifting for teachers, and shaping how safe AI is used across the sector, we’d love to hear from you.
What You’ll Be Doing
-
Develop and manage a high-performing Engineering department, leveraging internal and/or external relationships
-
Manage the Engineering department budget (minimum of 6-figures)
-
Accountable for the department's delivery against division and organisation-wide KPIs.
-
Set and lead Oak’s technical direction, ensuring secure, scalable and high-performing platforms aligned with organisational and product priorities and public sector digital standards.
-
Oversee software engineering, architecture, embedding engineering excellence, operational reliability, strong SDLC practice and continuous improvement, and ensuring compliance with relevant digital, security and data standards (including GDS and GDPR).
-
Lead the implementation of data-intensive and emerging technologies (including AI/ML), ensuring production-ready systems and compliance with Oak’s technical and safety requirements.
-
Member of the Senior Leadership Team.
-
Lead the strategy and planning, and model the culture of the organisation.
-
Work in cross-functional and product-oriented squads with colleagues from across the organisation, as required.
-
Deputise for the CEO and take on other general responsibilities as required.
What We’re Looking For
-
3+ years’ experience overseeing engineering or technical capabilities of a department or division.
-
Experience of being part of a senior or wider leadership team.
-
Experience of recruiting, developing and managing a high-performing department
-
Experience of managing a 6-figure budget and ensuring value for money.
-
Extensive experience delivering secure, scalable, high-quality digital services in production environments.
-
Experience implementing and operating data-intensive or emerging technologies (e.g., AI/ML), ensuring safe, reliable and responsible deployment.
-
Experience leading the evolution of engineering systems over time, including evaluating new technologies, scaling cloud-based services, and ensuring high availability, CI/CD maturity and long-term platform resilience.
-
Experience having deployed production ready AI technology (desirable).
-
You will be comfortable working at pace, with a range of digital systems (including proprietary ones as required) and you will continuously look at ways that the team can keep getting better. You will be excellent at working as part of a remote team, building relationships and managing your time effectively.
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: 23:59 on Wednesday, 4 February 2026. 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
We aim to run a fair, inclusive process that helps people show what they can really do.
Stage 1: Apply (via Applied)
You’ll apply through the Applied platform. Your application will be scored anonymously against the published criteria and reviewed by more than one assessor.
Stage 2: Short practical exercise (video)
If you progress, we’ll send you a short brief and a few suggested technologies you could use. You’ll then have time to go away, create a simple prototype or generate an insight in response to the brief, and record a short video walking us through what you have produced and why.
For this role, we will be looking for evidence of technical judgement and engineering thinking, for example, how you approach system design, reliability, security, data or AI safety, rather than production quality or polished demos. The exercise is designed to be accessible to candidates who lead engineering teams and may not code day to day.
Videos will be scored by a small group of assessors using clear criteria.
Stage 3: Interview
A shortlist of candidates will be invited to a competency-based interview, assessed against the criteria set out in the job description.
We’ll share full details, timelines and support as you progress. We’re happy to make reasonable adjustments at any stage.
Use of AI in applications
You can use AI to help draft your answers, but remember, we are looking for your experiences and insights, not generic or AI-generated responses.
We score for specific, real examples and your own judgement. If your answers read like AI output or could describe anyone’s experience, they will score poorly.
We are receiving excellent responses to our job advertisements. This may lead us to close the role early, so if you are considering applying, then please get your application in early to avoid missing out.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
The Role
If you are passionate about the outdoors, have a "roll up your sleeves" attitude and are looking for a role where your event management skills will make a lasting impact on young lives, then this is the job for you. We’re seeking a dynamic individual who can lead our exciting portfolio of outdoor challenge events and help us take our fundraising to the next level.
The Youth Adventure Trust's outdoor challenge events are a vital source of funding for the charity, and the relationships we build with our participants and corporate partners are more important than ever. This is where you come in.
As our Challenge Events Manager, you'll be the driving force behind our exciting challenge events portfolio.You'll work on bespoke corporate team-building challenges, high-energy industry networking events like the Hike Bike Paddle for the sports and outdoor sector and the Housebuilders Challenge, and our popular open events like the Wiltshire 3 Peaks Challenge and the Somerset Cycle.
Challenge events not only enable people to raise amazing sums for the charity, but are also a fantastic way to engage supporters with our work, giving them the opportunity to step outside their comfort zones, embrace the outdoors and achieve things they never thought possible - similar to our work with the young people on our programmes.
The Challenge Events Manager role is a varied position which would be perfect for somebody who has event management experience. You will be responsible for the full event cycle, from the initial planning, participant recruitment and stewardship to on the day event delivery and post event follow ups. You will be somebody who can spot opportunities, take on a project and run with it. You’ll be an excellent communicator, happy to pick up the phone to chat to event participants, deliver pre-event webinars or create engaging participant emails. You’re self-motivated, well organised, able to multi-task, a strong administrator, a fantastic team player, have excellent interpersonal skills and enjoy being outdoors. You should also have some fundraising experience, ideally in a paid capacity but in a voluntary capacity would also be considered.
You'll work closely with the Corporate Partnership Manager, who is highly experienced in delivering our challenge events, but needs time to develop new corporate partnerships which is why we have created this new role. You'll also line-manage our Events Fundraising Officer who plays a key support role on the events. You must live in or near the South West as there will be a semi-regular requirement to attend in person staff meetings, visit programmes and join event planning sessions.
About You
You’re a people-person, self-motivated and highly organised. You are as comfortable managing a budget and a CRM database as you are standing on a mountain side in your waterproofs! You’ll have:
-
Event Expertise: A proven track record in delivering successful fundraising or challenge events.
-
Fundraising Experience: You might be an existing fundraiser or somebody who has taken on fundraising activities in a voluntary capacity. You will need to be able to relate to the challenge participants and guide them on how to reach their fundraising targets.
-
Agility: The ability to think on your feet and adapt plans dynamically when situations change on the ground.
-
Leadership Skills: Experience managing staff or volunteers and the ability to motivate a team.
-
A Passion for Adventure: A genuine love for the outdoors, comfortable in wellies and waterproofs with an understanding of 'the power of the outdoors'.
The Charity
At the Youth Adventure Trust, we use outdoor adventure to empower vulnerable young people from Swindon, Wiltshire and Somerset to fulfil their potential and lead positive lives in the future. We work with them to build resilience, develop confidence and learn skills that will last a lifetime, helping them to face the challenges in their lives. Dedicated support, guidance and mentoring from our staff and volunteers ensures young people receive the maximum benefit from our long-term intervention. Our aim is to make a lasting improvement to the lives of vulnerable young people. All our services are provided completely free of charge to the young people who are nominated by schools and other youth organisations to take part.
We’re proud to offer our programmes completely free of charge to participants, and with ambitious plans to help more young people over the coming years, our fundraising challenge events are more important than ever.
Why Join Us?
This is a unique opportunity to make a direct and lasting impact on young lives through your passion for the outdoors. You’ll be part of a small fundraising team with a big heart, with plenty of opportunities to visit our camps and see the tangible impact of your work.
If this sounds like the perfect fit for you, please download the full Job Pack for more details, including the job description and person specification. All applicants must complete an application form and refer to the job description and person specification in their application.
The Youth Adventure Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and expects all employees to share this commitment. The suitability of all prospective employees will be assessed during the recruitment process in line with this commitment. Full details can be found in the Job Pack.
Registered Charity
11 - 20
We use outdoor adventure and one-to-one support to empower young people to fulfil their potential and lead positive lives in the future.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Location: Reading, Hybrid (at least twice a month to Reading Office)
Hours: Full time, however will consider 0.8 FTE
Salary: £75,000 per annum
Contract Type: Permanent
Campaign Closes: 12th February 2026
First Stage Interviews: 19th & 20th February 2026
Second Stage Interviews: 25th & 26th February 2026 - there will be an informal meet with our CEO.
On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their application as early as possible
At Make‑A‑Wish UK, every role plays a part in creating life changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. We are seeking a Head of Finance who will lead the operational delivery of our finance function, ensuring accurate financial reporting, robust financial controls and full compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. In this vital role, you will support the Finance Director in delivering our strategic financial objectives and act as a key liaison between finance and the wider organisation.
Core Purpose
To lead the operational delivery of the charity’s finance function, ensuring accurate financial reporting, robust financial controls, and full compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. The Head of Finance supports the Finance Director in delivering strategic financial objectives and acts as a key liaison between finance and other departments. As a member of the Extended Leadership Team (ExLT), the role contributes financial insight to organisation‑wide decision‑making and plays an active part in delivering cross‑charity priorities and operational goals.
To be successful in this role you will need:
Essential Criteria
- Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent) with minimum 3 years PQE
- Experience in a similar role.
- Excellent excel and financial modelling skills
- Proven experience in finance business partnering & management reporting.
- Proven ability to manage and develop a finance team.
- Experience of preparing consolidated financial statements from general ledger
- Solid understanding of VAT
- Analytical mindset with ability to problem solve, interpret data and to see the bigger picture, identifying inter relationships between different departments
- Strong attention to detail.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Experience of process improvements and automation
- Uses initiative, with ability to work independently and as part of a team
- Proactive, organised, and able to manage competing priorities.
- Collaborative with ability to work cross functionally
- Confident in using Microsoft Office tools and accounting software (e.g., Xero, Sage, QuickBooks)
- Integrity and discretion.
Desirable Criteria
- Similar experience with medium to large charity highly desirable
- Similar experience of business partnering with areas of fundraising highly desirable
- Strong technical knowledge of charity accounting and financial reporting.
- Experience of operating under partial exemption for VAT
- Experience with restricted/unrestricted funds and grant reporting.
- Experience with digital transformation or finance system upgrades.
- Experience of working with Xero and Salesforce
Key Responsibilities:
Finance operations
- Oversee day-to-day financial operations including accounts payable/receivable, payroll, and bank reconciliations.
- Ensure timely and accurate production of monthly management accounts and financial reports.
- Complete monthly balance sheet reconciliations in line with agreed timelines – balance sheet account ownership as agreed
- Process month end journals as required
- Review monthly balance sheet reconciliations in line with agreed timelines
- Ensure processes & procedures are documented and kept up to date, and recommend improvements to drive continuous improvement
- Maintain and improve financial systems, processes, and internal controls.
- Review finance policies on an annual basis and update in line with current legislation and best practice
- Support the organisation with any finance related queries
Management Accounting
- Prepare consolidated management accounts, including variance analysis, risks and opportunities, and advise budget holders as required.
- Design financial reports, processes and training guides to drive budget holder self service
- Recommend solutions to streamline month end reporting and other financial processes
Budgeting & Forecasting
- Coordinate the annual budgeting & forecast process across departments.
- Produce the consolidated annual budget and quarterly reforecasts for review by FD, in line with agreed timeframes, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and funding requirements (currently excel based).
- Review budget & forecast submissions, and challenge appropriately. Perform variance analysis (actuals vs budget/forecast) and explain key drivers.
- Monitor performance against budget/forecast and provide appropriate reports including variance analysis dependent on stakeholder.
- Ensure finance system and all associated systems are updated with budget / forecast information accordingly
- Recommend solutions to streamline budgeting and reforecasting process
Business Partnering
- Work closely and build strong relationships with operational teams to provide financial insight and support decision-making.
- Influence strategic decisions through clear communication of financial insights.
- Undertake financial evaluation of new projects, business cases, funding bids, and contracts, as required.
- Produce written reports on performance, highlighting key financial risks and opportunities.
- Upskill budget holders in financial awareness and management
- Own the finance business partner relationship and role with some of the more complex profit centres
Treasury & Cash Management
- Lead cash flow forecasting and liquidity planning across the organisation.
- Manage relationships with banks and investment managers, ensuring compliance with treasury policies.
- Oversee restricted and unrestricted fund reporting and ensure appropriate allocation and usage.
- Support the development and implementation of treasury strategies, including reserve management and ethical investment policies.
Financial Planning & Analysis
- Support the Finance Director & budget holders in preparing financial models, as required.
- Partner with budget holders to provide financial models and insightful financial analysis and to support decision-making.
- Monitor and report on financial performance against budgets & reforecasts, identifying risks and opportunities
- Deliver high-quality analysis to support new initiatives.
Finance Systems & Process Improvement
- Lead on the implementation and optimisation of finance systems (eg. Xero).
- Monitor and manage any payment and other system interfaces
- Drive automation and efficiency in financial processes & reporting.
- Support the integration of finance with wider organisational systems - finance representative on technology SCRUMS and SPRINTS
mCompliance & Reporting
- Ensure compliance with charity accounting standards (SORP), Companies House, HMRC, and Charity Commission requirements.
- Responsible for accurate and timely submission of HMRC returns, including quarterly VAT returns, annual employee benefits and Corporation Tax.
- Prepare statutory accounts and lead on the external audit process.
- Quarterly reporting to Make-A-Wish International - APD reporting
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of financial regulations and best practices.
Team leadership & Support
- Manage and develop the finance team, ensuring high performance and continuous improvement.
- Provide training and support to non-finance staff on budgeting and financial procedures
- to improve financial literacy across the organization.
- Create Finance resources to encourage self-service for common queries
General and ad-hoc Support
- Deputise for Finance Director in their absence
- Provide cover for finance team members during periods of absence, ensuring continuity of service and workload management.
- Take on additional duties as appropriate to the level of the role and contribute to team objectives.
- Support fundraising events from a finance perspective
Registered Charity
51 - 100
Together, we create joy, happiness and magical memories through life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Assistant Director of Operations
Salary: £72,000 per annum
Work Pattern: This is a permanent contract, working full time, Monday to Friday, 37.5 hours a week.
Location: Your base can be at any of the 6 mainland UK Discovery Sites: Arundel BN18, Llanelli SA14, London SW13, Martin Mere L40, Slimbridge GL2 or Washington NE38. The 7th site is Castle Espie.
For this role we can offer the opportunity for hybrid working. It is expected the role will need you to be present at each of your sites on a regular basis, at least once per month.
About The Role
WWT is the charity for wetlands.
This is a critical role in the recently restructured Operations Directorate at WWT. As Assistant Director, you will be directly responsible for the performance of our 7 Wetland Discovery sites. You will provide inspiring and professional leadership to your teams, whilst proactively collaborating cross organisation and externally.
Your focus will be on driving meaningful improvements at sites across our three ambitions of Restore, Inspire and Thrive, with emphasis on financial performance driven by visitor experiences. Reporting to the Director of Operations, you will directly manage two Heads of Operations, a Head of Retail and Head of Catering. You will indirectly lead more than 400 staff and volunteers across Living Collections, Reserve Management, Visitor Experience, Trading, Marketing, Facilities and Grounds.
You will work closely with Health & Safety and Sustainability leads to ensure good governance and compliance at sites and across the Operations Directorate.
You will have a background working in visitor attractions or a very similar sector, coupled with a passion for purpose-led organisations and a keen interest in the environment. You will be an inspiring leader with high levels of emotional intelligence and values & behaviours that align with WWT.
About You
To join as our Assistant Director of Operations, you will need to evidence:
- Experience in a senior position(s) held in the visitor attraction/events management sectors, directly accountable for site operations and visitor experience throughout the visitor journey.
- Strong skills in leading business planning, financial analysis, budget development and management, and delivery of significant capital projects across £multi-million business unit(s).
- Demonstrable ability to recruit, performance manage and motivate large (>100) diverse multi-disciplinary teams.
- The ability to develop, communicate and implement strategic change, turning organisational vision into improvements at scale.
- An inspirational and empathetic leadership style, able to role model an organisation’s values and behaviours, and to evidence strong emotional intelligence. Able to prioritise effectively, to collaborate, network and influence internally and externally at a senior level.
- A highly creative and inquisitive mindset, able to spot and exploit potential opportunities, keen to explore, test and learn as a means of driving continual improvement and excellence in the visitor experience.
- Experience of working collaboratively with insight, marketing and communications teams to deliver strong brand and marketing campaigns which drive footfall.
About Us
We’re WWT, and we’re on a mission to restore the super-powered ecosystems we call wetlands. There’s never been a more important moment for our work, and we’ve got some phenomenal people on the case.
Whether they’re taking a new visitor under their wing, or conducting ground-breaking research further afield, our team are second to none. And there’s nothing we love more than watching them soar.
Whatever you do here, you’ll be helping to restore wetlands and unlock their power. So, the only question left is, what role will you play?
Why you’ll love working at WWT
- Wake up every day knowing your work is helping to restore wetlands, and our world
- Be surrounded and inspired by our team of passionate, dedicated people
- 33 days annual leave (which goes up to 38 days after 5 years of service) – this includes bank holidays and you have flexibility to take those days whenever you want
- Free entry to all our wetland centres, including your family
- Free car parking and secure bike storage areas
- Colleague discount on shopping and memberships
- Cycle to work scheme
- Contributory pension scheme
- Life Assurance of three times your salary, for peace of mind for your loved ones
- Independent personal, workplace and financial advice from our Employee Assistance Programme
Closing Date: 23rd February 2026
N.B. We reserve the right to close the advert early if we receive a sufficient number of applications from candidates who meet the required skills and experience. We therefore encourage early applications.
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.
WWT is an equal opportunities employer and all applications will be considered solely on merit.
No agencies please.
Registered Charity
101 - 500
Restore Wetlands and Unlock their Power
Thank you!
Using Anonymous Recruitment
This organisation is using Anonymous Recruitment to reduce bias in the first stages of the hiring process. Submit your application as normal and our system will anonymise it for you. Your personal information will be hidden until the recruiter contacts you.
We are seeking a collaborative and purpose-driven leader with a strong commitment to the welfare of livestock animals to lead and coordinate our technical operations and service delivery.
The ideal candidate will be highly organised, people-focused, able to inspire, manage and develop teams while delivering high-quality training, education, and advice services.
The Technical Lead will manage the Humane Slaughter Association’s (HSA) operational and practical work to promote humane slaughter and transport of livestock (including farmed and wild-caught aquatic species) worldwide. They will lead a small team who undertake the operational work in the field, promoting humane methods for the transport and slaughter of animals killed for food and other products.
The successful candidate will join at an exciting period of growth and reorganisation for the HSA as we introduce online learning, grow and broaden our training and advice services and become an increasingly strong voice for practical improvements to the welfare of animals at slaughter. This is an ideal role for someone who is passionate about making real-world improvements to animal welfare using their technical knowledge and organisational skills.
About the HSA
The Humane Slaughter Association is a unique charity which promotes the welfare of farmed animals ‘Beyond the Farm Gate’; at markets, during transport, at slaughter, and when animals must be killed in emergencies.
Our vision: A world where all farmed animals are transported and killed humanely.
Our mission: To advance and promote the use of humane methods for the slaughter, transport and killing of farmed animals through research and education.
We do this by offering practical advice, training, and education to all those involved in transport, slaughter, or emergency killing of livestock animals, by funding scientific research to develop more humane approaches and advocating for evidenced-based change. Although we are based in the UK, the charity works worldwide to maximise animal welfare.
Job Description and Person Specification
Before applying, please read the HSA Technical Lead Job Description and Person Specification for full details of the role, criteria, application process.
The HSA requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Before applying, please read the HSA Technical Lead Job Description and Person Specification for full details of the role, criteria and application process.
Please submit a covering letter (maximum 2 sides of A4), via the CharityJob website, describing how you meet the person specification and explaining your motivation for wanting to work with us.
Please include the names of two referees who we may contact if you are shortlisted and specify your current remuneration details and notice period.
Registered Charity
6 - 10
The Humane Slaughter Association works to improve the welfare of food animals during transport, marketing, slaughter, and killing for disease control
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.