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What if you could start your career helping one of the UK's leading dementia charities operate safely, legally, and ethically? Imagine developing your expertise in risk, assurance, and governance while contributing to work that protects the Alzheimer’s Society's ability to deliver life-changing support to people affected by dementia?

About the opportunity

As Assurance Assistant, you'll be part of our Finance & Assurance directorate, working within a team committed to being the Society's single point of truth. This is an excellent development opportunity for someone interested in building a career in assurance, risk management, or business continuity within a mission-driven environment.

You'll support the delivery of internal audit engagements, risk management activities, and business continuity arrangements that help the Society operate with confidence and integrity. Working alongside the Assurance Data & Insights Specialist, you'll help monitor recommendations, track progress, and support the team's administrative processes. This is a role where attention to detail meets meaningful impact, where your contribution helps protect the charity's ability to fund groundbreaking research and provide vital support to people facing dementia.

You'll be involved in a diverse set of activities. From contributing to audit projects and supporting risk assessments to helping improve team processes and staying aware of sector best practices. It's a varied position that offers genuine learning and development opportunities in a supportive, collaborative environment.

About you:

You're someone with a genuine interest in assurance, risk, or resilience activities who's keen to develop your understanding and build a career in this field. You have strong digital skills, clear communication abilities, and a willingness to learn. You're organised, detail-oriented, and excited about the prospect of working in a role where professionalism and continuous improvement are valued.

You'll have:

- Interest and understanding of assurance, risk, or resilience activities.
- Interest in developing a career pathway in assurance, risk, or resilience.
- Strong digital skills with enthusiasm for developing further.
- Clear, effective, and concise communication abilities.
- Ability to build positive working relationships across teams.
- High standards of personal conduct and integrity.
- Initiative and comfort working both independently and collaboratively.
- Critical thinking skills to identify ways to work more effectively.
- Commitment to your own development and that of others.

What you’ll focus on:

- Supporting the delivery of internal audit and risk management arrangements that reflect the organisation's risk profile.
- Contributing to internal audit engagements in line with the internal audit plan.
- Supporting risk management and business continuity tasks as required.
- Monitoring data, updates, and tracking recommendations to support team processes.
- Helping improve team ways of working to continuously enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
- Staying aware of key sector updates and best practices in assurance, risk management, and counter fraud.
- Carrying out administrative tasks to support the wider team's effectiveness.

Most importantly, you're someone who's passionate about making a difference and want to be part of a team working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives.

Important Dates
The deadline for applications is 23:59 on Sunday 9th November.
Interviews will take place 25th/26th November.

About Alzheimer's Society

Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime.

At Alzheimer’s Society, we’re the UK’s leading dementia charity and the only one to tackle all aspects of dementia by giving help and hope to people living with dementia today and in the future. We give vital support to people facing the most frightening times of their lives, while also funding groundbreaking research and campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be.

Together with our supporters, we’re working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives.

Our values make sure that our focus is clear for the challenges and opportunities ahead and remind us of what we all stand for.

Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We need to ensure the voices around our table better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Alzheimer's Society.  

We want everyone we work with, as a colleague, volunteer, supporter, or someone we support, to feel included and that they belong at Alzheimer's Society. 

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee forum and Employee Lived Experience network groups help us promote inclusion and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people. 

Our hiring process

During your recruitment process we want to make sure that you bring your whole self and can be at your best. We are working hard to ensure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible, so please do inform us of your experience and anything you think we could do better by completing our candidate survey when you apply.  Please also contact Alzheimer’s Society Talent Acquisition Team via [email protected] for application support or any adjustments you might need.

To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value it truly adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to showcase them in your own voice.

We try to avoid closing roles early where possible, however if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close earlier than the advertised closing date. Should this occur, we will aim to provide you with at least 48 hours' notice.

We are committed to safer recruitment and ensuring the welfare of those we work with, due to the nature of some of our roles, we might need to carry out a DBS check at the relevant level.

Giving back to you

Our employees work hard every day to make a true difference in people's lives. We are proud to support them with a range of benefits, recognition and many options for working agilely, all contributing to a strong work life balance. We also have various learning programmes to support you in your development and help you grow to realise your potential and shape a career with Alzheimer's Society. 

You can also visit our Working for Us pages, which give you more information about what it’s like to be an employee at the Society.

Policy Specialist (Children and Young People)

Are you interested in improving the lives of children and young people with a learning disability? Can you turn complex ideas into evidence-based policy? Are you a skilled communicator able to influence decision-makers? If so, we would love to hear from you!

We are currently looking for a Policy Specialist to join Mencap. This position sits within the Policy and Public Affairs teams of Mencap’s Campaigns, Advocacy and Activism Directorate (CAA). You will work closely with our influencing, information and advice, campaigning, and research work, as well as sector partners like the Disabled Children's Partnership. 

This is an exciting new role to deliver policy change and enhance the rights of children and young people with a learning disability. At a key time to influence Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) education reform, we are seeking a policy specialist to shape policy work that reflects the needs and experiences of children, young people, and their families. Working within the policy team, you will be responsible for developing evidence-based policy work and influencing decision-makers.

This is a full time position (37.5 hours per week). We are flexible with your work location, but there may be some occasional travel needed to our London office or Westminster.

You will: 

• Translate complex work into clear and persuasive policy briefings, consultation responses and reports.
• Work within wider coalitions of charities, building collaborative relationships and ensuring that the needs and priorities of our community are addressed.
• Develop and expand Mencap’s ‘Policy Shapers’ work, ensuring our work reflects the experiences of children and young people with a learning disability and their families.
• Support our information and advice team, briefing them on important developments, inputting into casework discussions relevant to your areas of work, and supporting the creation of public information resources.
• Represent Mencap at meetings and events, with MPs, civil servants, and sector partners.
• Identify and analyse relevant research to develop evidence-based policy recommendations.

You will bring to this role:

• Experience of working on public policy issues.
• Strong communication skills: experience tailoring your messaging to a variety of different audiences and representing an organisation.
• Experience building positive relationships and working collaboratively to achieve outcomes; able to positively challenge, negotiate and compromise.
• The ability to work on your own initiative while contributing to team priorities and sustain enthusiasm under pressure.
• Experience analysing evidence to develop recommendations.
• Knowledge the issues facing children and young people with a learning disability and/or the SEND system, as well as the wider parliamentary system. 
• Passion about making the world a better place for people with a learning disability. 

If you're passionate about driving meaningful change for children and young people with a learning disability and you're ready to use your policy expertise to make a real impact, please apply now with an up-to-date CV. This role will close on Monday 27th October. Interviews will be held via Microsoft Teams during the week commencing 3rd November.

Benefits

Here at Mencap, we offer an impressive range of benefits designed to support and reward our employees to ensure that our teams feel valued and appreciated.

Our benefits package offers 32 days of paid holiday (including bank holidays, pro rata), along with a range of perks such as discounts at leading high-street retailers, access to health cash plans, interest-free loans, and many more exciting offerings.

For more details on what we have to offer, please see the attached document outlining all the fantastic benefits available to you as a member of our team!

About Mencap

Our vision is for the UK to be the best place in the world for people with a learning disability to live happy and healthy lives.

We're here to support people with a learning disability, their families and their carers. We fight for a kinder, fairer and more inclusive society for people with a learning disability to live in.

At Mencap, everyone works with people with a learning disability either providing support or advice, or alongside one another as colleagues.

Belonging at Mencap is for everyone, every day, everywhere.

• Everyone is expected to treat people well and make Mencap an inclusive organisation.
• Every day we grow and learn. It’s okay to make mistakes but we learn from them and make changes
• Everywhere people will feel respected, valued, and safe to be themselves.

We have Belonging network groups that meet online and are open to all colleagues. The groups include people who identify as Black and Asian, LGBTQIA+, disabled or with a long- term health condition, women, parents and carers, and their allies.

We want to encourage everyone to apply to work at Mencap and we offer a variety of different contract types and working patterns. We’re not looking for specific experience. It is your personality and values that will make you a great colleague. We will train and develop you to succeed in the role you’re applying for.

Are you passionate about seeing children come to know Jesus for themselves and grow in all he has for them? We’re looking for a Kids Pastor to join our team. This is a one-year, fixed-term contract based in the centre of Cambridge.

HT is a vibrant, evangelical, charismatic, Anglican church with a large and growing church family of all ages and stages. We are situated right at the centre of the city and perfectly placed to reach students and adults alike. Our vision is to see Cambridge reached and the world impacted with the good news and transforming power of the risen Lord Jesus.

Alongside the Senior Children’s Pastor and Children’s Pastor (Infants and Babies), you will be responsible for pastoring the children of HT in Years 3–6 and their families, bringing hands-on leadership to the wider team involved in HT Kids, and reaching out to children and families in Cambridge who don’t yet know Jesus. A major part of this role will be managing staff and volunteers to increase their confidence and fruitfulness as they work with children. You will be a leader of leaders, with a heart to invest in and facilitate the ministry of others.