Learning Disability Community Leader, L'Arche Manchester
ABOUT THE ROLE
Hours of work: 37.5 hours per week (including some evening and weekend working, and regular on-call)
Salary: £47,946 per annum
Reports to: L’Arche UK Regional Leader
Place of work: L’Arche Manchester Community, Manchester M20 4AW. Some travel and overnight stays will be required within the UK
Contract type: Temporary 12-month appointment to cover maternity leave
Closing date: Monday, 2nd March at 12 pm.
Main purpose of the role
The Community Leader is responsible for ensuring that the Community is living the mission of L’Arche, by providing excellent and sustainable care and support services, support for spirituality, and engaging with our neighbours and the wider community around us.
The Community Leader will:
- Lead the Community by responding to the needs, choices and context of our members while being faithful to the L'Arche UK Vision and Values, the L'Arche International Identity and Mission Statement, and to a co-created Community Mandate and plan;
- Maintain and enhance high-quality, person-centred care, support, and housing for people with learning disabilities, both at home and in our day services in partnership with the Registered Manager, the local and national teams, individual circles of support, and external partners.
- Ensure the Community’s financial sustainability through robust financial planning and management. This includes setting budgets and controlling spending, maximising housing occupancy, supporting the negotiation of care contracts, growing our day services and spotting fundraising opportunities.
- Foster a culture that maximises the voice and power for people with learning disabilities, and builds listening and collaboration between Community members. This will include working with an active Community Support Group, Community Gatherings, listening groups, and other forums.
- Lead and manage a committed and engaged leadership team to achieve objectives, set a positive culture, and support the personal and professional growth of our teams.
- Cultivate an open, creative, and inclusive spiritual life, inviting everyone in the Community to deepen their connections.
- Model, advocate for, and embrace the L’Arche ethos of deep, long-term, and mutually transforming relationships between people with and without learning disabilities. Plan and lead a regular calendar of events that build community belonging and help keep people connected.
- Contribute to the national work programmes of L’Arche UK, as part of the National Council, collaborating with Community Leaders of other L’Arche Communities, to share skills, best practice and resources.
- Be a visible representative of L’Arche locally in the wider community, with stakeholders like local authorities, professional organisations, schools, faith communities, and L’Arche world wide.
Key essential criteria
- Senior leadership experience in support to adults with learning disabilities (or transferable skills and experience in a closely-related field).
- Experience leading and managing an organisation or large teams to deliver results, maintain compliance and quality, and to respond to risks and opportunities.
- Experience leading and developing diverse teams to flourish, individually and together.
- Good financial planning skills and experience successfully managing a substantial budget.
- Evidence of the ability to think strategically, and work collaboratively to develop and implement community plans.
- Experience of living or working alongside people with learning disabilities and/or autistic individuals
This role is subject to an enhanced DBS criminal record check.
You may have held these job titles in the past: Registered Manager, Service Manager, Head of Care, Senior Operations Lead, Community Director, Head of Community Services, Country or Regional Lead, Learning Disability Services Manager, Head of Mission and Community Life, Health & Social Care Manager, Local Authority Commissioning Lead;
You can find more details about L'Arche and the Manchester community on our website.
Why join L'Arche?
As well as joining a friendly Community, where you will be well supervised and supported, and benefit from L’Arche’s mentorship programme, these are some other benefits you get by working for us:
- Joining shared meals since cooking and having a meal together is what we are all about
- Enhanced Maternity, Adoption/Surrogacy, Paternity Pay (depending on length of service, details available on request)
- Enhanced sick pay
- Interest free loans and salary advances available
- Free DBS / PVG checks
- Free Employee Assistance Programme available to everyone
- Up to 5 days paid compassionate leave
- Up to 6 days paid (pro rata) for time off for emergency dependents leave
- Specialist bereavement counselling for employees and their family members
- Life Assurance
- Access to the Bike to Work scheme
Discover what makes L’Arche a rewarding place to work—explore more of our employee benefits on our website.
A full job description and person specification can be found in the Recruitment Pack.
To apply, please submit your CV and answer the questions from our online application form.
The closing date is: Monday, 2nd of March at 12 pm.
First interviews (online via Microsoft Teams) are expected to take place during the week beginning the 9th March 2026.
Second round interviews will take on the place week beginning 16th March 2026 and will take place within the Community.
We encourage you not to wait until the closing date to submit your application, as we may begin interviewing strong candidates before then.
We also reserve the right to close the advert early if we receive enough suitable applications.
Please also read our privacy notice for job applicants.
Our inclusive communities challenge people to think differently about disability
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Job Profile
Reporting to the Managing Director, you will lead on the recruitment, retention, and value growth of Afghanaid’s supporter base by directing and implementing communications, fundraising and engagement strategies, aligned with broader organisation goals. Designing and managing a tight budget, you will direct the Communication and Giving unit to maximise their success.
You will provide strategic and supervisory oversight of fundraising income from individual giving, regular giving, major donors, trusts and foundations, corporates, community and student fundraising and events, managing annual fundraising appeals and driving organisational unrestricted income growth.
You will lead on communications for Afghanaid, overseeing print, digital, and paid marketing activities and the growth of communications channels. You will execute Afghanaid’s organisational brand strategy which ensures the integrity of the brand and maximises awareness. You will manage all public relations including crisis communications, as well as the growth of strategic media placements and high profile relationships. You will drive the success of organisational impact storytelling and communications for both internal and external stakeholders. As a member of the executive department, you will collaborate and synergise with other departments to promote organisational success.
Key Responsibilities:
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Drive organisational strategy, culture and cross-department collaboration to advance Afghanaid’s mission and objectives.
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Lead development and delivery of Communications, Engagement and Fundraising strategies and work plans.
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Line manage and develop a high-performing team, including staff, volunteers and interns.
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Build and maintain relationships with consultants, agencies and pro bono partners.
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Oversee budgets, reporting and data-driven performance management to ensure efficiency and impact.
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Promote a positive and cohesive London team environment, coordinating hybrid working, inductions and HR support.
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Oversee public fundraising strategy across multiple income streams.
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Lead design and delivery of internal and external appeals, campaigns and donor stewardship.
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Identify new funding opportunities, partnerships and innovation in engagement.
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Oversee the full range of Afghanaid’s event portfolio, and attend relevant events to represent Afghanaid;
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Ensure effective CRM management, data integrity and financial reconciliation.
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Serve as brand guardian, ensuring consistency and evolution of Afghanaid’s identity.
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Oversee creation and execution of integrated communications and marketing plans.
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Direct production of engaging digital and print content, including newsletters, social media, and fundraising collateral.
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Manage website optimisation, SEO and analytics to drive engagement and conversions.
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Lead innovation in digital marketing, email campaigns and supporter journeys.
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Advise leadership on reputation management and crisis communications.
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Develop media policies and act as spokesperson when required.
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Manage proactive and reactive media relations, building relationships with journalists, influencers and advocates.
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Promote Afghanaid’s thought leadership through strategic storytelling and public commentary.
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Commission and direct multimedia content to strengthen organisational storytelling.
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Lead content planning, production and performance analysis.
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Champion participatory storytelling approaches and creative innovation.
Undertake any other duties as and when required by the line director.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
You will be an experienced and dynamic communicator with significant demonstrable experience in fundraising and/or communications at a senior level, coupled with an awareness and up to date knowledge and experience of the tools that would maximise the success of our communications and fundraising activities. In addition, you will have excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to confidently build and maintain strong relationships with a diverse group of stakeholders. Possessing strong management skills, you will have experience of managing small multi-disciplinary teams, providing direction and leadership to enable development and high performance, and the ability to role-model a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion.
Education/ Training
Master’s Degree in communications, marketing, public fundraising or another relevant field (or at least 5-years’ experience).
Work Experience
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At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in fundraising, supporter engagement or communications, with at least 2 years’ experience directly managing staff.
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Experience developing and leading integrated multi-channel and multi-stakeholder communications, engagement and/or fundraising strategies.
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Experience in growing audiences, engagement and/or income streams.
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Experience communicating about and/or fundraising for and/or maintaining engagement with Afghanistan or a similar context.
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Experience using KPIs and data to make data-driven decisions to improve efficacy and efficiency.
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Experience managing and monitoring a tight budget.
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Experience conceptualising, producing and commissioning multimedia content, from marketing and fundraising collateral to audiovisual content.
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Experience running full-funnel, multi-channel marketing strategies including paid advertising.
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Understanding of risks associated with communications, public fundraising, and NGO operating contexts, and experience in mitigating those risks.
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Experience supervising, organising, motivating and developing staff.
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In depth knowledge of trends in storytelling, brand, PR, marketing and fundraising.
Professional Skills, Competencies, Values and Attitudes
Afghanaid’s core values are creativity, fairness and honesty. Our staff is passionate about and proud of Afghanaid. Teamwork is fundamental to our standards and demonstrated by taking initiative, assisting others and taking on additional responsibilities and tasks if necessary. We are results driven, committed and motivated to achieve targets and take accountability for our own actions.
Specifically, the holder of this position should also demonstrate the following:
Essential
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Fluent in spoken and written English.
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Track record of increasing audiences, fundraising totals and engagement metrics from multiple different sources, with a strong business development mindset.
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Experience securing five or six figure gifts from funders;
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Solutions and results orientated; energised by thinking outside the box, and by finding and pursuing novel or innovative approaches and solutions.
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Experience using Salesforce CRM and Marketing Cloud
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Skilled at spotting and prioritising opportunities and synergies, and effective in securing wide-ranging forms of engagement and partnership.
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Excellent listening, speaking and writing skills; strong capabilities of persuasion and a proven track record of uniting people around a common goal.
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Multimedia skills, with knowledge, experience and enthusiasm in driving digital innovation.
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Highly organised with strong leadership and project management skills, able to collaboratively manage competing priorities with senior and junior colleagues.
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Demonstrably skilled brand custodian, able to mitigate risks, anticipate and capitalise upon opportunities, and strengthen reputation.
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Capable of working independently as well as collaboratively, both in leading a team and as part of the team.
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Passionate about driving change, and inspiring individuals and groups to support a cause to deliver that change.
Desirable
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Experience working within an international development or humanitarian context, particularly with causes related to Afghanistan
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Strategic understanding of UK and global fundraising landscapes and emerging giving trends.
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Proven ability to represent an organisation publicly with confidence, professionalism and credibility.
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Experience guiding senior leaders or trustees on media, communications and reputational matters.
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Skilled in crisis communications and reputation management.
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Understanding of inclusive and ethical storytelling practices, with sensitivity to safeguarding considerations.
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Experience developing high-value corporate or media partnerships.
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Comfortable working in a fast-moving, resource-limited environment and adapting to changing external circumstances.
The Organisation
Afghanaid is a British humanitarian and development organisation. For over forty years, our dedicated personnel have worked with millions of families in some of the poorest and most remote communities in Afghanistan. We build basic services, improve livelihoods, strengthen the rights of women and children, help communities protect against natural disasters and adapt to climate change, and respond to humanitarian emergencies. We are headquartered in Kabul, and operate provincial and district offices across Afghanistan, as well as a Marketing and Fundraising office in London. We employ around 500 personnel, 97% of whom are Afghans.
Other Information
Afghanaid’s core values are creativity, fairness and honesty. Our staff are passionate about and proud to work at Afghanaid. Teamwork is fundamental to our standards and demonstrated by taking initiative, assisting others and taking on additional responsibilities and tasks if necessary. We are results driven, committed and motivated to achieve targets and take accountability for our own actions.
Our remuneration and benefits package is competitive with other similar organisations.
This position presents an excellent opportunity for someone who has the ambition and determination to move up in their career.
Please submit a cover letter (no more than two A4 pages) and CV (no more than two A4 pages) via CharityJob or to the email address provided by 23:30 on the 12th March 2026, including your name and the job title in the subject line. The precision and style with which you present yourself in your cover letter and CV will be given significant weight in shortlisting candidates. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered. Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we are unable to respond to every application. If you have not heard from us within 2 weeks of the deadline, then you have not been successful for shortlisting.
Working with communities in Afghanistan to find long-lasting solutions and provide life-saving support to those in crisis.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.