Managing director jobs in balsall common, coventry

One of our fantastic clients is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Head of External Affairs to develop and implement a comprehensive external affairs strategy. This pivotal role will be instrumental in strengthening societies and changing lives, working closely with senior leadership to lead government relations across the UK and cultivate relationships with elected representatives, the Civil Service, and key partners within the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sectors.

The successful candidate will lead a team of public affairs, policy, and influencing professionals, contributing to the wider communications strategy. They will leverage an extensive network of stakeholders and a deep understanding of policy and public affairs to stay abreast of significant developments, ensuring the organisation remains proactive in its positioning and sensitive areas.

This role requires a leader who can inspire and develop a team of External Affairs professionals, devising and executing projects in a fast-paced environment while ensuring alignment with strategic goals. The External Affairs mandate is exceptionally diverse, spanning devolved governments across the UK and increasing regional devolution within England. Regular travel to attend meetings and spend time with colleagues across the UK will be required.

The Head of External Affairs will provide a professional, consistent, and expert service, supporting strategic activity across the organisation. They will oversee tailoring outputs to effectively reach key external affairs stakeholders and play a senior role in assessing areas of reputational risk.

Key responsibilities

• As a member of the communications leadership team, take ownership of, create, and implement a comprehensive external affairs strategy to deliver the organisation's missions and strategic objectives, including significant activity in the national portfolios, integrated and aligned to its communications strategy.

• Provide strategic oversight of government relations, public affairs, and strategic engagement across the UK, including relationships with sponsor bodies, working closely with the CEO Office and Portfolio Directors. Offer strategic guidance, sound judgement, and advice to senior leadership and other teams, driving a consistent organisational approach to relationship management.

• Take responsibility for strategic horizon scanning for external affairs activity across the mission areas, ensuring information and advice is shared directly with the CEO and senior colleagues, and opportunities for stakeholder engagement and influencing are maximised.

• Devise and lead a programme of external engagement with key policy, political, and mission-related stakeholders for the Chair, CEO, Board Members, and other senior leaders. This includes owning and coordinating key messages and briefings, attending meetings as appropriate, and ensuring actions are followed up.

• Oversee the design and delivery of engagement programmes that measurably increase engagement with key political and other audiences. Identify and manage risks, trends, or opportunities to protect and enhance the organisation's reputation and ensure successful influencing among key stakeholders.

• Plan and deliver a continuous review and evaluation of activities, including external benchmarking, measurement of engagement levels, and performance standards to ensure effective delivery of the External Affairs strategy across the four nations.

• Lead and develop a high-performing team, delegating work effectively, ensuring appropriate use of resource across the team, and providing and commissioning external suppliers and internal stakeholders to deliver high-quality plans.

Person Specifications

• Substantial experience leading government relations, public affairs, policy, and advocacy in a large, matrix organisation, ideally interacting with devolved administrations (national and mayoral).

• Experience in building and maintaining relationships with senior political and other stakeholders, fostering collaboration across diverse communities and perspectives.

• Experience of planning and executing strategic engagement across a range of high-profile audiences and activities, including responsibility for Chair/CEO/Board-level engagement.

• Experience of strategic planning and decision-making at a local, regional, and national level, including with peer organisations and local governments.

• Excellent interpersonal, networking, and communication skills, with the ability to engage diverse audiences with clarity and inclusivity.

• Experience of briefing and working with senior leaders in support of organisational and engagement objectives, often at short notice, including providing counsel in times of reputational risk and navigating complex organisational dynamics.

• Demonstrable leadership and project-management ability, with experience developing high-performing teams, resource management, and working in a matrix-management and collaborative environment.

• Experience commissioning agencies and third-party suppliers to work with internal stakeholders to deliver high-quality plans.

• Experience of continued professional, managerial, and personal development within the relevant discipline.

• If this role is based in Wales, or supports customers or colleagues in Wales, an understanding of Welsh language legislation and the Welsh Language Standards of the organisation is required.

What’s on Offer:

• Salary of £54,277-£60,000 outside London or £59,000-£66,500 inside London 

• Full time role 

• 12 month contract

• Immediate start 

How to Apply: To apply, please submit your CV demonstrating your suitability for this role by clicking the “apply now” button via our website.

The process: If your experience aligns with what we're looking for, a member of our team will be in contact to discuss the role with you in more detail before presenting your profile to the client. We will also ensure that all applicants receive an email to inform them of the outcome of their application.

To avoid any potential delays or your application being missed, please apply solely via the 'Apply Now' button.

Commitment to Diversity: The Talent Set and our partner organisation are committed to diverse and inclusive recruitment practices, ensuring equal opportunities for all applicants regardless of race, sexual orientation, disability, age, or gender. We actively encourage applications from a wide range of backgrounds and are always happy to make reasonable adjustments to ensure a fair recruitment process.

The Youth Endowment Fund

Head of Change – Health

Reports to: Director of Change, Youth Endowment Fund

Salary: £67,900 per annum                       

Location:  Central London or remote

Contract: 2-year fixed term – potential to extend. Open to 0.8 FTE for the right candidate

About the Youth Endowment Fund

We’re here to prevent children from becoming involved in violence. We do this by finding out what works and building a movement to change things.

In recent years, violent crime involving children has increased. This is a tragedy. Every child is an important member of our community and society has a duty to protect them.

The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) is a charity with a £200m endowment that exists to prevent children from becoming involved in violence. We will achieve this by finding out what works and building a movement to put this knowledge into practice. A big part of the movement that we need to build is in the world of health. We need to inspire and connect with health leaders across Integrated Care Services (ICBs), Local Health Boards (LHBs), Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and other relevant parts of the system. We need to spread what works and make our country safer for some of our most vulnerable children. We are looking for someone to lead on making this happen.

Key Responsibilities

We are making progress building the evidence of what works within and around health services to reduce violence. But the big risk is that nothing changes. That’s where you come in. Your role is to identify the best way to make change happen within relevant health services. Your main responsibilities will be ensuring that:

We have great relationships with the people who can make change happen.

This will include:

• Developing great relationships with senior policy makers, sector leaders and experts, including representing YEF in external meetings and speaking at events.
• Build a Strategic Advisory Board of leading experts across the health sector and keep members onside and excited about our work.
• Manage excellent Strategic Advisory Group meetings. You can read more about our Education Strategic Advisory Group here.

We deliver the health system recommendations. 

This will include:

• Helping to identify the right recommendations at a system level (such as changes in policy, regulation, inspection, funding, or guidance) that make it more likely highly vulnerable children get access to the right support at the right time.
• Creating and delivering a plan to deliver the health system reforms, working closely with leaders to make the change happen.
• Tracking progress carefully, being thoughtful and creative about when and how to change the plan. 

We work out the most effective ways to connect people with the evidence, then making those things happen.

This will include:

• Helping health leaders change how they plan or provide services to better protect children from violence, based on our Practice Guidance.
• You can read our first guidance for school, college, and alternative provision leaders here.
• Creating a plan to get people to follow our guidance, using what we know about how they think and behave.
• Continuously testing and improving our approach to get better results.

As a senior member of staff in the organisation you also:

• Build a culture where it is natural to perform well and support colleagues brilliantly.
• Contribute to setting the strategy, delivering results, and building and modelling the culture that we need to succeed.

About You

You are this sort of person:

• You know how to make change happen. You combine analytical sharpness with emotional intelligence and real-world experience. You understand why people resist change – and how to move them through it. You’re curious about human behaviour and what drives decision-making.
• You bring deep experience of the health system. You’ve worked at a senior level in or with health services – potentially commissioning support for young people at risk of or involved in violence. You understand how ICSs, LHBs, CAMHS and other health leaders think, and know how to navigate and influence within the system.
• You communicate complex ideas clearly. Whether speaking or writing, you break down complicated concepts in ways that make sense to different audiences – without oversimplifying. You bring clarity where others bring jargon.
• You get things done. You’re organised, delivery-focused, and produce high-quality work, even under pressure. You work independently and to a high standard.
• You build trust and connect with people. From government ministers to youth workers, CEOs to 15-year-olds – you know how to listen, build rapport, and make people feel heard. You’ve led meetings, made strong introductions, and bring people with you.
• You think big and adapt fast. You’re a strategic thinker who can see the big picture without losing sight of the detail. You’re logical, creative, and open to challenge – always testing and refining your ideas.
• You understand young people. You get what life can be like for vulnerable young people and you understand the systems and organisations around them. Ideally, you’ve seen this first-hand, whether professionally or personally.
• You’re committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion. Not just in theory – but in how you work, who you listen to, and what you prioritise.

You must have this sort of experience.

• Delivering concrete change in practice or systems that improved children’s lives.
• Leadership experience in the health system. You’ve worked at a senior level in or with health services – potentially in commissioning – and you understand how to navigate and influence within these complex systems.

First-hand knowledge of the system that supports highly vulnerable children, particularly those at risk of or involved in violence. This includes children with conditions such as conduct disorder, psychosis, substance use disorder, ADHD, developmental language disorder, and traumatic brain injury. You understand the barriers these children face and what it takes to get them the right support.

While it’s not a criterion, we are especially interested to hear from applicants who have lived experience of violence affecting young people.

It’s also important to us that the people we hire do not discriminate. We believe in being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation, transgender status or social economic background. 

All appointments will be made on merit, following a fair and transparent process. In line with the Equality Act 2010, however, the organisation may employ positive action where candidates from underrepresented groups can demonstrate their ability to perform the role equally well.

Hybrid Working

The office is based in Central London. Those living in and around London are expected to be in the office a minimum of 2 days per week. If you live outside of London and work remotely, you’ll be expected to work from the London office 2 days per month. As part of our commitment to flexible working we will consider a range of options for the successful applicant. All options can be discussed at the interview stage.

To Apply

Please click on the "Apply for this" button and submit your CV, your completed monitoring form and cover letter, which must answer the following three questions below. Please submit your application by 12pm on Friday 6th June 2025.

Application Questions

Improving practice or systems
1. Can you describe a time when you successfully supported health leaders to improve practice or systems (e.g., regulation, funding, guidance)? Please include the scale and context of your experience. (maximum 500 words)

Developing strategy
 2. Please provide an example of a strategy you developed from scratch and implemented independently. What did you do, what was the impact, what did you learn? (maximum 500 words)

Personal and professional experiences in violence prevention
3. What personal and professional experiences have shaped your understanding of the health sector’s role in preventing violence? (maximum 500 words)

Interview Process

This will be a two-stage panel interview process. Interviews will take place in the week commencing the 16th June 2025. Second stage interviews are currently scheduled for the week commencing 23rd June.

PLEASE NOTE: We do not sponsor work permits and you will be required to provide proof of your eligibility to work in the UK.

Benefits Include

• £1000 professional development budget annually
• 28 days holiday plus Bank holidays 
• Employee Assistance Programme - 24hour phone line for free confidential support 
• Volunteering days - 4 half days per year
• Death in service - 4 times annual salary Flexible hours.
• Core office hours 10am – 4pm
• Financial support including travel and hardship loans
• Employer contributed pension of 5%.

Your Data

Your personal data will be shared for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes our HR team, interviewers (who may include other partners in the project and independent advisors), relevant team managers and our IT service provider if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles. We do not share your data with other third parties, unless your application for employment is successful, and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you. We do not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.