1 Organisation development manager jobs in Cambridge

Job title: Trust Development & Consultancy Manager – FIXED TERM

Reports to: Head of Trust Development Services.

Location: Home-based, with some travel to Birmingham, London & Nottingham.

Salary: £43,622 per annum, pro rata, fixed term.

Fixed Term Contract Length: 4th January 2027 – 31st August 2027

Pension: We offer a workplace pension and life assurance scheme. CST makes contributions equivalent to 10% of your gross salary.

Annual leave: 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, pro rata, fixed term.

Working hours: 37.5 hours per week, Monday – Friday, typically 9.00am – 17.30pm, 1-hour unpaid break per day.

Application Closing Date: Monday 2nd November 2026, 9am.

Interview Date: First stage interviews will be held online via Microsoft Teams on Thursday 12th & Friday 13th November 2026. Second stage interviews date to be confirmed. 

Job overview

The Trust Development and Consultancy Manager will manage relationships with school trusts and other organisations interested in our governance and leadership services, from initial enquiry through to commissioning, delivery and feedback. Working closely with the Trust Development Services team and our consultants, the postholder will use project outcomes and sector feedback to support the quality, sustainability and development of our consultancy offer.

Key responsibilities

• Coordinate the successful delivery of our portfolio of consultancy services, ensuring a high-quality client experience.

• Develop credible, trusted relationships with prospective clients, understanding needs, providing guidance on our services and preparing proposals and quotations.

• Maintain oversight of the consultancy pipeline, ensuring that enquiries progress efficiently from initial engagement to consultant allocation.

• Use feedback, client insights and evidence of impact to inform service development.

• Work collaboratively across the organisation to support the effective coordination and delivery of our Governance Practice.

Client engagement and project scoping

• Lead introductory and scoping meetings with prospective clients, usually school trusts, to establish a clear understanding of their context, priorities, challenges and desired outcomes.

• Use effective questioning, listening and analysis to clarify requirements and identify the most appropriate response.

• Maintain clear and accurate records of discussions, requirements, risks, sensitivities and agreed next steps.

• Prepare tailored, accessible and high-quality proposals, including clear scopes of work and costings within agreed parameters.

• Escalate complex, sensitive, novel or strategically significant projects to the Head of Trust Development Services.

Consultant allocation and invoicing

• Assess the expertise, experience, capacity and contextual understanding required for each project.

• Prepare clear project briefs and ensure consultants receive the information needed to understand the client’s needs before accepting the project.

• Identify and approach suitable consultants, applying agreed commissioning principles and escalating difficult allocation decisions where necessary.

• Liaise with the Trust Development Services Coordinator to contract consultants to agreed projects and timelines.

• Coordinate effective introductions and handovers between clients and consultants, ensuring that responsibilities, scope, timescales and next steps are clear.

• Manage a pipeline of projects at various stages of the commissioning process, ensuring projects are allocated in a timely manner.

• Build positive relationships across the consultancy team and maintain an up-to-date understanding of consultant expertise, experience, interests and capacity to support effective project allocation and planning.

• Work closely with the Trust Development Services Coordinator to ensure accurate and timely invoicing of clients.

Relationship management

• Act as a consistent point of contact for clients and consultants, maintaining proportionate contact across the project lifecycle.

• Monitor client experience and respond constructively to questions, concerns or changes in need.

• Identify potential follow-on support needs, explore these with the client and, where appropriate, develop a further proposal within established service and pricing parameters or signpost the client to other areas of CST.

• Represent us professionally and uphold appropriate confidentiality, judgement and discretion.

Analysis, insights and impact

• Ensure that feedback and evaluation activities are completed and actively seek meaningful client insight at appropriate points in the project lifecycle.

• Gather and synthesise evidence of outcomes, impact, client experience and emerging sector needs.

• Share clear, evidence-based and proportionate themes and insights with the Head of Trust Development Services.

• Work with colleagues to develop suitable case studies, testimonials and impact summaries, ensuring that appropriate client permissions have been secured.

• Contribute to monitoring and reporting across Trust Development Services in line with the operating plan and priorities.

• Identify opportunities to strengthen systems, processes and ways of working to improve service quality, efficiency and client experience.

Person specification

Essential skills and experience Understanding of:

• The school trust sector and the context in which executive and governance leaders operate, or experience of working in a similar regulated, public-sector environment.

• Commercial principles, including cost, value, scope control and the importance of a sustainable delivery model.

Experience of:

• Managing client relationships.

• Coordinating or commissioning professional, consultancy or advisory services involving multiple stakeholders.

• Developing written proposals and quotations.

• Managing multiple clients, projects or cases concurrently.

• Reporting on client feedback, impact and outcomes.

Skills & Abilities

• Excellent interpersonal, questioning, listening and relationship-building skills, with the confidence to lead meetings with senior leaders.

• Excellent written communication, with the ability to produce concise, accurate proposals for external audiences.

• Sound judgement and the ability to recognise when an enquiry, client concern or allocation decision should be escalated.

• Ability to analyse requirements and match them with appropriate expertise and delivery approaches.

• Strong planning and organisational skills, including the ability to manage varied and competing priorities.

• Ability to work confidently within agreed levels of authority, applying established parameters consistently and seeking senior input where appropriate.

• Ability to work collaboratively across organisational boundaries and to create clear handovers between colleagues, clients and consultants.

• Ability to synthesise qualitative feedback into clear, proportionate and useful insights.

• High attention to detail and confidence using Microsoft 365, CRM and information management systems.

Personal attributes

• Client-focused and values-led, with the credibility to build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders.

• Curious and analytical, with a willingness to listen, test assumptions and learn.

Proactive and organised, taking accountability for priorities and follow-through.

• Collaborative, adaptable and trustworthy, exercising discretion with sensitive information.