Policy communications manager jobs

We have a rare opportunity for an experienced policy professional to join as team as Policy Analyst.

In this exciting role you will lead the policy workstream for Head On, a major Wellcome Trust funded campaign bringing together 20 sector leading organisations to build political momentum for mental health reform. You will be a skilled policy analyst and writer, able to coordinate influencing opportunities with MPs, Ministers and No. 10 on the NHS 10 Year Plan and the new Mental Health Strategy. Experience in policy and public affairs, and knowledge of health or mental health policy, are essential.

Centre for Mental Health is committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of our work, to help create better mental health for all. We are taking active steps to become an antiracist organisation, and we value and support staff with lived experience of mental health challenges. We want the team shaping mental health policy to reflect the diversity of people whose lives that policy affects. We are happy to provide reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process for disabled applicants. We particularly encourage applications from people of colour and trans people, who are often underrepresented in policy roles.

We are also able to offer this role as a potential secondment opportunity. 

Are you a dog-loving strategic communications professional with experience planning captivating public affairs campaigns?
We’re looking for a Strategic Communications Manager to develop and deliver impactful marketing communications strategies and campaigns, with a particular focus on our public affairs activity.

What does this role do?

As Strategic Communications Manager, you’ll:

• build strategic plans for key projects, scoping, and planning for communications across the marketing mix (paid, owned and earned channels), focusing on public affairs projects, as we strive to influence governments and engage the general public to improve animal welfare,
• shape key messages for campaigns, often distilling complex information into clear narratives, using evidence-based messaging frameworks,
• brief content delivery teams and channel leads on activity, closely monitoring to ensure assets and output are on time and to spec,
• embed evaluation frameworks from the very beginning of every campaign, ensuring success can be measured effectively.

Interviews for this role are provisionally scheduled for week commencing 27th July 2026 and will take place on Teams.

Could this be you?

To be successful in this role, you’ll have experience of leading strategic marketing and communications projects, utilising excellent project management and communication skills to deliver and shape compelling stories and campaigns. We’re particularly interested in hearing from candidates who’ve worked in the public affairs space previously, with the ability to engage both mass audiences and political audiences with our campaigns and public affairs messages. You’ll have excellent stakeholder management experience, as well as strong evaluation skills, with experience of using clear evaluation methodologies. A commitment to Dogs Trust and the work we do is essential.

About Dogs Trust

We love dogs. That’s why we do whatever we can to make sure every four-legged friend gets the love they deserve. We’ll never put a healthy dog down, so our work is focused on helping dogs in need, supporting owners every step of the walk, and creating a better world for dogs in the future. It’s what we’ve been doing since 1891 and how we’ve grown to become the UK’s leading dog charity, helping 12,000 loyal friends find their forever homes every year.

To apply for this position please click the APPLY NOW button. Our application process requires you submit a personal statement explaining your interest and suitability for the role.
 
Dogs are incredibly diverse, much like the humans that love them! At Dogs Trust we value diversity, and we're committed to fostering an inclusive culture. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, abilities, and cultures and believe that a diverse workforce helps us to achieve our mission. Our colleague networks give our people a voice, acting as vehicles for real and meaningful change within Dogs Trust. We truly want to see every candidate shine throughout the entire job application process, interview stages, and during their time with us. If there's anything on your mind or any adjustments you may need, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We're here to support you every step of the way.

We're looking for an experienced Governance Manager to play a pivotal role at the heart of CILIP. Working closely with Trustees, Board and Committee Chairs, the Executive Team and the Presidential Team, you will help ensure that CILIP operates to the highest standards of governance, accountability and compliance.

This is an excellent opportunity for a governance professional who enjoys building strong relationships, improving processes and supporting effective decision-making.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Reporting to the Interim Finance Director, the Governance Manager will lead and coordinate governance, compliance and organisational processes across CILIP.

You will be responsible for supporting effective decision-making, ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, and providing expert governance support to the Board, Committees and Executive Team.

This role combines strategic oversight with hands-on delivery and is ideal for someone who enjoys driving good governance while ensuring operational excellence.

This is a fixed-term role for 9 months due to organisational planning requirements.

Key areas of delivery:

Governance and Board Support
Lead and continuously improve governance processes, support the effective operation of the Board and Committees, and provide advice on governance best practice.

Policy and Compliance
Oversee CILIP's policy governance framework, coordinate policy reviews and support compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.

Executive and Organisational Coordination
Support the Executive Team through the coordination of key meetings, events, organisational planning and corporate administration.

Presidential Team Support
Coordinate the activities of the Presidential Team, ensuring effective planning, stakeholder communication and logistical support.

Continuous Improvement
Identify opportunities to strengthen governance systems, improve ways of working and promote accountability and transparency across the organisation.

ABOUT YOU

We're looking for an experienced governance professional who thrives in a collaborative environment and enjoys working with senior stakeholders to ensure organisations operate effectively and compliantly.

You will bring:

• Experience supporting governance within a charity, membership body or similar organisation.
• A strong understanding of charity governance, trustee responsibilities and regulatory requirements.
• Experience supporting Boards and Committees and managing governance processes.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication and relationship-building skills.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver to deadlines.
• High levels of accuracy, discretion and sound judgement when handling sensitive information.
• A proactive approach to improving processes and ways of working.
• Strong digital skills, including Microsoft 365.

You'll also be a professional, credible and resilient individual who can work independently while remaining highly collaborative, and who shares CILIP's commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion and public benefit.

Desirable: Experience of company secretariat responsibilities, statutory filings, governance or board portal systems, and relevant governance or compliance qualifications.

ABOUT CILIP

CILIP is the leading voice for the information, knowledge management and library profession. We are here for everyone who has a professional connection to information, knowledge, data and libraries, and share our belief in their power to change lives.

Our purpose is to unite, support and empower information professionals across all sectors.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Policy Advisor to join our dynamic and well-respected Policy, Public Affairs and Campaigns Team.

We want to ensure people affected by dementia benefit from progress in research, by providing evidence and insights to influence decision-makers. This ranges from making the case to increase investment in dementia research, embedding the concept of brain health with key decision makers, supporting new ways to diagnose the diseases that cause dementia, through to preparing health systems to be ready for future dementia treatments.

We work closely with key stakeholders, including government and other decision makers, to shape policy on dementia prevention, research and access to future treatments.

At a historic time in the field, with the first drugs that tackle Alzheimer’s becoming available, this is a fantastic opportunity for the post-holder to develop specialist knowledge, working closely with the Policy Manager, and to contribute to significant projects that can change the future of dementia.

We are offering a permanent, full-time position with a focus on the dementia research environment and regulation, including health technology appraisals.

Key Responsibilities:

· Develop and maintain up to date and detailed knowledge of the policy landscape for a given policy area to position Alzheimer’s Research UK as a thought leader and enable us to effect positive change.

• Proactively identify and develop opportunities to engage with relevant stakeholders.

• Co-ordinate and manage assigned projects within the policy team.

• Gather and synthesise necessary evidence, including statistical information, health policies, and scientific outputs to develop insights, working with colleagues across the organisation as appropriate.

• Use insights to develop a range of outputs, such as scoping activities, briefing documents, literature reviews, reports, summaries and presentations for internal and external audiences.

• Develop relationships with internal and external stakeholders to help shape, deliver and influence the outputs of the projects, ensuring ongoing good communication with key stakeholders.

• Use public and patient involvement approaches to support insight development as appropriate.

• Analyse, interpret and present data using both quantitative and qualitative techniques as appropriate.

• Contribute to a range of submissions to government departments and their agencies, parliamentary committees, and other UK and international organisations as appropriate.

• Help develop and roll-out influencing and project ideas with key audiences that deliver against Alzheimer’s Research UK’s policy objectives.

• Support the work of Public Affairs colleagues to strengthen existing and emerging relationships with political and other parliamentary stakeholders. This will include helping to draft parliamentary questions, promoting tweets, sharing insight across and beyond the team.

• Undertake any other relevant duties and projects delegated by the Policy Manager in line with the responsibilities of the post.

Knowledge, skills and experience needed:

• Understanding of policy influencing approaches and processes.

• An analytical and evidence-based approach, with the ability to identify and solve a range of problems with minimal guidance.

• Ability to write professionally, with the skills to adapt communications for different audiences.

• Ability to work with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail.

• Ability to analyse and interpret complex data to identify key messages.

• Ability to manage a broad programme of work with multiple projects and to balance competing priorities.

• Excellent and adaptable personal communication skills, with the ability to communicate and engage with people at all levels, in a range of face to face and online settings.

• Good organisational skills and the ability to prioritise a changing workload.

• Diplomacy and influencing skills.

• Experience of building constructive relationships with stakeholders across multiple organisations, especially within a health or research policy setting.

• A passionate, proactive and curious approach.

• Professional and hard-working team player.

• Demonstrates a strong ability to work effectively towards deadlines.

• Able to show initiative and adaptability in a complex and changing policy environment.

Additional Information:

Ways of working:

As part of our Agile ways of working you will be required to work approximately 2 days a week from the office, which is subject to the requirements of the role and the business needs. Flexibility on where you work can be split between working from home and our office.

Roles that are classed as part of the Agile ways of working are not able to claim any costs for Mileage/Travel on Public Transport, Accommodation and/or Meals.  This includes when attending the office for various meetings/events.

Our Office: Our office is at 3 Riverside, Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge, CB21 6AD. 

Salary: Circa £32,000 per annum, plus benefits.

Please download the Vacancy Pack on our website for more information.

The closing date for applications is the 26th July 2026, with interviews being arrange once shortlisting has been completed. Please indicate in your covering letter if you are unable to attend an interview on a certain date. We would encourage you to submit your application at the earliest opportunity, as on occasion we may have to bring forward the interview date and/or the closing date based on the needs of the business. Although a possibility, this will only happen in exceptional circumstances. Please indicate in your covering letter if you are unable to attend an interview on a certain date.

We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential.  We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, particularly from those in the global majority, those with disabilities, men and those from the LGBTQIA+ community. Any offer of employment is however subject to you having the right to work in the UK.

As part of our commitment to being an inclusive employer and ensuring fairness and consistency in our selection process, we will handle your CV and application with the utmost confidentiality. Should you require any adjustments at either the application or interview stage, please contact us via our website. demen

How to apply: Please create an online account using our Online Recruitment Platform which can be accessed through our Job Vacancies page. You will be able to attach your CV to your application and track the status of your application.

About Alzheimer’s Research UK: Alzheimer's Research UK is the UK's leading dementia research charity. Our mission is to accelerate progress towards a cure.  Today 1 in 2 people will be impacted by dementia, either through caring for a loved one, developing it themselves or tragically both. But there is hope. 

The Trust is recruiting a creative and committed Research and Policy Officer to join our team. Reporting to one of the team’s Research and Policy Managers, the successful candidate will play a significant role in developing and preparing the Trust’s research and policy outputs, working across the core areas of the Sutton Trust’s work (early years, schools, apprenticeships, higher education and access to the workplace). This will include helping to produce original, data rich and policy relevant research reports, along with contributing to other Trust research projects. They will also support the policy and advocacy work of the Trust, including performing background research on topics relevant to educational inequality and social mobility as required.

Main duties

• To contribute, with colleagues, to several data-rich research reports accessible to practitioners and policy makers, over the course of the year, as agreed with the Research, Communications and Policy leadership team

• To support the Sutton Trust's programme of research and policy work, including:

  • Providing staff with background research, analysis and data on relevant topics

  • Producing literature reviews

  • Supporting research funding bids

  • Providing administrative support

• Working with Communications colleagues to develop messaging and content for disseminating and publicising reports

• Supporting advocacy work, as required, with MPs' staff, civil servants, special advisers and other policy makers

• Other duties as necessary from time to time

Person Specification

Essential

• Excellent analytical skills and understanding of research methods, primarily quantitative research, as well as literature/evidence reviews. This should include significant experience of using data analysis software such as SPSS/Stata/R/Python or equivalent

• A qualification in a social science or other numerate discipline, including statistics, mathematics, economics, computer science, data science or similar discipline in the social or natural sciences at undergraduate level, or comparable experience

• Two years' experience working in research in a professional or academic environment (e.g., PhD, post-doc)

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

• High degree of initiative and the ability to take responsibility for projects

• Personable, flexible and discreet; able to fit into a busy, small team in a fast-paced policy environment

• Sympathetic to the aims of the Trust and its mission to address educational disadvantage

• Eligible to work in the UK (see here for information about right to work)

Desirable

• Experience of conducting research using administrative datasets (e.g., National Pupil Database) or longitudinal datasets (e.g., Longitudinal Education Outcomes dataset, Understanding Society, Next Steps)

• Knowledge of one or more of our priority policy areas (early years, schools, apprenticeships, higher education and access to the workplace), and the wider education policy environment in England

• Strong understanding of government and the public policy environment

• Experience working within or an understanding of the not-for-profit sector

• Experience in education (for example, as a teacher or in another front-line educational role), education policy or a closely related field

• A postgraduate qualification in a numerate discipline (see above)

Terms of Appointment

• Contract: Full-time, permanent

• Salary: £32,000 - £38,000 per annum

• Working location: Minimum of 2 office days per week

• Office location: The Sutton Trust, 9th Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP. Our home working policy gives staff the option to work from home for up to 60% of the time, with approval from their line manager.

• Hours: The standard working hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday and may also be required to attend events/meetings outside of their normal working hours during weekday evenings and occasionally at weekends

• A DBS check may be required

Interviews

Applications should reach us by 5pm, Friday 24th July, with first round interviews held over Zoom on Monday 10th August, and second round interviews held at our London offices on Monday 17th August.

Safeguarding statement

The Sutton Trust believes that a child, young person or vulnerable adult should never experience abuse of any kind. We all have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people and to keep them safe. Therefore all posts undergo a safer recruitment process, including but not limited to, disclosure of criminal records where necessary and eligibility to work in the UK. We have procedures in place to promote safeguarding and a safe culture at the Trust.

Contextual recruitment

The Trust is committed to ensuring equality of opportunity and that all applicants receive equal consideration for employment. We strongly encourage individuals from all backgrounds, including those underrepresented at present at the Trust, to apply for this role. As such we particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ and from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds. We are committed to being an inclusive and welcoming place to work and know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for the young people we support.

We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments for disabled candidates throughout our recruitment process and during employment.

We also operate contextual recruitment at the Sutton Trust. Our application process gives you the option to include information about your background, such as whether you were eligible for free school meals, whether your parents went to university, or whether you attended a state school. For more examples and information on contextual recruitment, please see our website.

Could you lead a talented team to deliver compelling, audience‑led campaigns that accelerate progress for everyone affected by ovarian cancer?  

We are looking for an Interim Head of Marketing and Communications to lead this function during an exciting period of transition and growth. This role will play a pivotal part in delivering our communications and brand strategy, supporting the rollout of our new organisational strategy, and maintaining momentum across high‑profile campaigns and projects.  

Reporting to the Director of Fundraising and Engagement, you’ll oversee marketing and communications across the organisation, line managing a team of specialists and working closely with the Senior Leadership Team. You’ll provide strategic leadership, clear direction and hands‑on support, ensuring activity is well planned, insight‑driven and aligned to our wider organisational objectives.  

This role is ideal for an experienced marketing and communications leader, ideally from the charity sector, who can combine strategic thinking with strong delivery, and who thrives in a fast‑paced, collaborative environment.  

We are an ambitious charity, building on our achievements and targeting what’s important to stop ovarian cancer devastating lives - symptoms awareness, early diagnosis, better treatments and support for all. It’s an exciting time to be joining Target Ovarian Cancer as we move into our ambitious new strategy.   

Join us and together we'll fight for a world where everyone with ovarian cancer lives.  

 The role 

This is a full-time (35 hours per week), fixed-term position to July 2027. 

We operate a hybrid working model. You will usually work remotely but will be expected to attend meetings at our office near London Bridge when required. Please note that travel costs to the office are not covered. 

If you would like more information about expected office attendance, please refer to the recruitment pack. 

How to apply 

You will be asked to submit your CV and answer two application questions (maximum 250 words each) as part of the process. You will also be asked to complete an equalities monitoring form. 

Applications without responses to the application questions may not be considered. 

Key dates 

• Closing date: 22 July 2026 

• First interview Monday 27 July, second interview Friday 31 July 

If you are invited to interview, you will have the opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments. 

Additional information 

Target Ovarian Cancer does not hold a sponsorship licence and cannot sponsor visas. 

We are committed to making our recruitment process accessible to all. If you require support with your application, please refer to the guidance provided in the recruitment pack.

Hybrid / London (50% office attendance)

£44,340 + Benefits

We are recruiting for two Senior Policy Officers. One is a permanent role, and one is a 12-month, fixed-term contract. The Senior Policy Officers will be line managed by a Policy Manager or Senior Policy Manager.

As a key member of the Academy’s Policy Team, the Senior Policy Officer will play an important role at a critical moment for the organisation. This role will help the Policy team to plan and deliver a new set of priorities for 2026/27.

Relevant priorities for this role include, but are not limited to:

• Improving health outcomes in the UK and internationally.
• Mobilising the UK health research system to turn discovery into practice.
• Making the UK the best place in the world to have a career in medical sciences.

Within these overarching priorities, there are some distinct policy programmes the incoming Senior Policy Officer is likely to work on, which could include:

• Maximising the impact of medical sciences in prevention and early detection.
• Transforming the generation and application of clinical evidence to speed up translation from discovery to patient impact, ensuring equitable inclusion of underserved groups.
• Making the UK a global leader in responsible, effective and equitable AI and data use across the biomedical sciences.

Requirements

Essential:

• Good understanding of the UK health research and medical sciences policy landscape, and/or other related areas.
• Experience in scoping, planning and delivering multiple policy projects in parallel, to achieve organisational objectives.
• Ability to develop knowledge of complex policy topics at pace and identify opportunities for impact within these topics.
• Strong analytical skills and experience of collating evidence from multiple sources. 
• Ability to build and maintain effective relationships with key internal and external contacts, including senior, high-profile individuals.
• Ability to harness the benefits of working in a diverse organisation that is rapidly growing and changing, including across different departments and sub-teams. 
• Effective written and verbal communication skills.
• Able to run impactful policy events, meetings, and engagement activities.
• Commitment to inclusive, accessible and evidence‑based policy work.
• Strong attention to detail. 
• Good IT, literacy and numeracy skills. 

Desirable:

• Line management experience.
• Ability to travel around the UK.

Benefits

We provide our staff with a comprehensive benefits package outlined as follows:

• Generous pension scheme with flexible contributions – we contribute between 8% - 13% of your gross salary (with employee contributions of 3% - 8%).
• Life assurance at three times your salary.
• Hybrid and agile working. 50% office attendance.
• 26 days annual leave, plus Christmas closure days and bank holidays.
• Buying and selling leave.
• Family-friendly policies including enhanced maternity and paternity leave (subject to a qualifying period).
• Complimentary subscriptions to Headspace and Classpass to support your physical and mental wellbeing.
• Support through tailored learning and development.
• A range of enhanced benefits become available once you’ve completed your probation period.

For more information and to apply, please visit our careers page via the apply button.

Closing date: 5.00pm on 22nd July 2026.

Interview date: w/c 27th July 2026.

Job Description and Person Specification

Job title Participation Manager

Hours 35 hours per week. We are opening to discussing flexible arrangements – please highlight any requests when applying.

Salary Between £37,000 - £43,750. Placement within the band will depend on skills and experience, with the upper end reflecting significant, directly relevant expertise.

Length of contract  12 months

Location Hybrid work between home and our Vauxhall office. Please read more about our approach to hybrid working in the relevant section below.

Reports to Director of Evidence and Improvement

National Voices

Making what matters to people matter in health and care

National Voices is the leading coalition of health and social care charities in England. We have more than 200 members covering a diverse range of health conditions and communities, connecting us with the experiences of millions of people. We work together to strengthen the voice of people: patients, service users, carers, their families, and the voluntary organisations that work for them.

Our Vision: People shaping their health and care.

Our Mission: We advocate for more inclusive and person centred health and care, shaped by the people who use and need it the most.

We do this by:

· Understanding and advocating for what matters to people especially those living with health conditions and groups who experience inequalities.

· Finding common cause across communities and conditions by working with member charities and those they support.

· Connecting and convening charities, decision makers and citizens to work together to change health and care for good.

The Role

At National Voices, our aim is to make what matters to people matter in health and care. Too often, we see decisions made about the design of health and care services which don’t consider the people who use and need those services – especially those with long term conditions and from groups experiencing inequality. While the intentions of decision makers are usually good, they can unwittingly develop services which are difficult to access, stressful to experience and which don’t enable people to live life to its full potential.

We believe that if health and care leaders were better supported to meaningfully involve people living with health conditions, disability, inequality and their carers in decisions about how services are delivered then our NHS and social care services would be more equitable, and person centred.

At National Voices, we believe that this can best be achieved by connecting health and care leaders in health and care to key groups including:

· Leaders within the patient participation movement, who can support and advise health and care leaders on how to share power with people and communities using coaching and quality improvement techniques, and by acting as a critical friend.

· Leaders from voluntary sector organisations and community groups, who can bring insight into the needs, experiences and priorities of the communities they serve. They can identify opportunities to improve how services are designed and delivered, and help connect decision-makers with communities whose voices are often underrepresented.

· People with lived experience of inequality, particular conditions or services, who bring unique expertise based on their direct experience of care. They can provide timely insight into the impact of policies and services, helping decision-makers stay tuned to current needs, experiences and priorities, rather than relying on historical evidence or assumptions.

We are looking for a Participation Manager who can lead on the design, development and delivery of funded projects that generate insight, support improvement, and enable meaningful participation in health and care decision making. This will include end-to-end responsibility for project design, delivery, reporting and impact.

Projects may include designing and delivering activity such as workshops, coordinating lived experience advisory groups, coordinating coalitions of VCSE organisations, undertaking qualitative research, facilitation and engagement work. The postholder will need sufficient breadth of experience across these areas to confidently design and steer programmes, while drawing on colleagues, partners and associates for specialist input where needed.

You will be responsible for overall programme management - ensuring projects are well planned, appropriately resourced, and delivered on time, within budget and to a high standard. This includes managing risks, reporting requirements and funder relationships.

Projects may also include co-ordinating the delivery of Voices for Improvement coaching relationships and workshops on meaningful participation. We are open to a Participation Manager who has skills and experience around coaching theory and practice, however, we can also bring in external Associates with this subject matter expertise where needed to guide and supervise the coaching elements of the process.

You will also play an active role in identifying and developing new funding and partnership opportunities, contributing to the growth of National Voices’ portfolio of externally funded work.

Finally, where needed, you will also work collaboratively with another Participation Manager who leads National Voices’ Lived Experience Partner programme, membership scheme and partnership programme. You will contribute to these areas where required, particularly where they intersect with funded projects, but they will not be the primary focus of this role.

Responsibilities

Lead the development and delivery of funded participation projects

Lead the end-to-end design, delivery and management of funded programmes and projects that generate insight, support improvement and drive meaningful participation in health and care, including:

· Lead on shaping, securing and delivering funded projects from proposal stage through to completion, ensuring clear outcomes and impact

· Design and oversee programmes that may include research, engagement and participatory activity, such as qualitative and quantitative research, stakeholder engagement and participation work

· Convene and coordinate a range of delivery approaches including advisory groups, workshops, events, VCSE engagement and system partner collaboration

· Ensure delivery is well planned, resourced and managed, including oversight of budgets, timelines, risks and funder reporting

· Draw on colleagues, partners and associates for specialist expertise where needed, while holding overall responsibility for programme design and coherence

· Translate insights and findings into clear, accessible outputs in collaboration with policy and communications colleagues to support influence and impact

· Develop and shape new funding opportunities and proposals to grow the organisation’s portfolio of externally funded work

Deliver coaching and engagement programmes

Manage the delivery of structured coaching and engagement programmes, including National Voices’ Voices for Improvement model, where included within funded projects:

• Oversee delivery of coaching and engagement activity including matching, coordination and participant support
• Ensure coaching relationships between people with lived experience and system leaders are well supported and of high quality
• Contribute to the design and facilitation of associated engagement or learning sessions where required
• Work with associates or external specialists to bring in coaching or quality improvement expertise where needed
• Capture learning, feedback and impact from coaching programmes and contribute to funder reporting, case studies and evaluation outputs

Contribute to wider participation programmes

Work collaboratively with another Participation Manager to support integration with National Voices’ wider participation infrastructure:

· Contribute where relevant to the Lived Experience Partner programme, membership scheme and partnership programme

· Support the involvement of lived experience partners, members and partners in funded projects and engagement activity

· Ensure alignment across programmes and share learning between project delivery and participation infrastructure

General

• Provide line management to one Project Officer within the team, if needed - quality assuring outputs, holding regular 1-2-1s as well as setting annual objectives and completing appraisals.
• Provide matrix management for other National Voices colleagues as and when required.
• Work in sync with other managers across National Voices, contributing to a joined-up, supportive team culture.
• Deputise for the Director of Evidence and Improvement, or other senior colleagues, when required.

· Follow organisational processes to measure, monitor and communicate the impact of our work

· Support good project, financial and data management

Person Specification

Values, attitudes and behaviours

· Passionate about National Voices’ mission and the meaningful involvement of people with lived experience

· Strong commitment to equity, inclusion, and reducing health inequalities

· Proactive, flexible, and responsive, with a willingness to work in complexity

· Comfortable working both collaboratively and independently, taking ownership of delivery

· Calm under pressure and able to manage multiple priorities and tight deadlines without compromising quality

· Confident engaging with a wide range of stakeholders, including constructively challenging where appropriate

· Entrepreneurial - able to spot opportunities for growth, collaboration, and impact

· Energised by variety, able to work across diverse themes while identifying connections and opportunities

Skills and abilities

· Strong programme and/or project management skills, with demonstrable experience of leading complex, multi-stakeholder funded programmes from design through to delivery and completion

· Ability to shape ideas into deliverable programmes, including contributing to funding bids, designing delivery approaches, and translating proposals into practical delivery plans

· Strong analytical and synthesis skills, with the ability to translate complex qualitative and quantitative insight into clear, structured outputs that inform decision making and drive action

· Excellent organisational skills, including planning, prioritisation, risk management and delivery of high-quality work to deadlines

· Confident stakeholder and relationship management skills, with experience working across partners, funders, subcontractors, commissioned work and multi-organisation collaborations

· Strong facilitation and engagement skills, including designing and delivering workshops, events and participatory sessions for diverse audiences

· Strong communication skills, including the ability to produce clear, accessible written outputs and presentations

· Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to work collaboratively, support others in delivery, and contribute to shared outcomes

Experience, knowledge and understanding

· Demonstrable experience of leading or delivering participation work with people with lived experience, ideally addressing inequality

· Strong experience of designing and delivering insight generation projects (qualitative and/or quantitative) that have led to real-world impact and improvement

· Experience of working meaningfully with people experiencing inequalities in safe and inclusive ways

· Experience of managing projects, budgets, and multiple stakeholders, working with a high degree of autonomy

· Experience of managing partnerships, funders, or commissioned work, including contributing to income generation

· Experience of facilitating workshops, events, or participatory sessions

· Understanding of the health and care landscape

· Good understanding of the participation landscape, with the ability to act as a credible contributor in the field (desirable)

· Experience of managing or contributing to coalitions or networks of VCSE or membership organisations (desirable)

· Understanding of mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) approaches to evidence generation and analysis (desirable)

· Coaching and/or quality improvement qualifications (desirable)

· Lived experience of disability, caring responsibilities and/or inequality (desirable)

Our approach to hybrid working

We recognise the importance of coming together regularly, in-person, as a team, so we can share learnings and spend social time with each other. We also recognise that people need flexibility, and that homeworking enables focused work and can fit well in people’s lives.

We ask all staff to take part in pre-arranged team meetings which take place every six weeks in our office space. We also might ask you to meet in-person with members of your team from time to time, or to be available for face-to- face meetings with clients and partners where this enhances the work.

We assume that this would usually not amount to more than one day per fortnight for people who work full time. We are happy to discuss how this sits in your life. This can be agreed by your line manager.

Please note that our offices are fully wheelchair accessible and that we are committed to making our workplace fully inclusive.

Application guidance

Please submit a CV and cover letter to apply. We are also recruiting a permanent Participation Manager role at the same time. If you would like your application to be for both roles, please make this clear in your cover letter.

You're welcome to use AI tools to help you prepare your application. However, we encourage you to make sure your application reflects your own voice and experiences. We often see similar AI-generated writing styles, which can make applications less distinctive. As a charity, we're particularly interested in hearing why our mission matters to you and how your values align with ours.

Please specify any access or other requirements of which we need to be aware for the online interview.

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Thursday 30th July.  

The interviews will take place in early August on Microsoft Teams. Details of an interview task and interview questions will be emailed to you in advance.

We are committed to diversifying our team in order to broaden the insight and experiences we can draw on, and to do our work more credibly. In particular, we would welcome applications from older people, disabled people and people who have experienced socioeconomic inequality. Our offices are fully accessible and we are a Disability Confident and an LGBT+ friendly employer.

Research and Policy Manager - Welfare

Date posted: 6 July 2026

Salary: £67,752 per annum with excellent benefits

Contract type: Permanent

Hours per week: 37.5 hours per week (part time over 30 hours considered). All staff are required to work in person for a minimum of two days per week, in line with our hybrid working policy. The post-holder may be required to undertake some work outside normal working hours.

About the Health Foundation

Health is our most precious asset. Good health enables us to live happy, fulfilling lives, fuels our prosperity and helps build a stronger society. Yet good health remains out of reach for too many people in the UK, and health and care services are struggling to provide access to timely, high-quality care.

The Health Foundation is an independent charitable organisation with a mission to build a healthier UK. We work to achieve this by generating high-quality research and analysis; developing practical solutions to the biggest problems in health and health services; engaging, convening and building coalitions to build understanding, inform debate and drive action; and developing the long-term capability needed to transform health and care.

Our values

We expect everyone who works with us to be committed to our values and to share our commitment to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation. Our values are impact, evidence, integrity, and collaboration. You can read more about them in our five-year strategy. We also expect everyone to share our commitment to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation and to help deliver our EDI Strategy.

About the role

This role will lead our agenda around the role of welfare to support the working age population to maintain good health and support people with long term health conditions or disability when they are unable to work or participate.  The Commission for Healthier Working Lives identified a number of issues with welfare support which effectively disincentivise people from accessing and staying in work and the purpose of this role is to make the case for change and point to potential solutions.

The post holder will have a strong understanding of the current welfare agenda, and particularly what this means for people with long term health conditions and disability.  Working with the Senior Fellow, you will identify the opportunities to shape better policy, providing decision makers with the evidence and clear recommendations.  As well as conducting your own analysis, you will help commission policy research projects from internal and external experts and provide oversight for these projects.

Developing your own profile as an expert, you will also lead or support drafting of external outputs, speak at external events and grow and maintain external stakeholder relationships.  The role provides a real opportunity to have a voice to influence the future shape of health and welfare policies and practice.

To find out more about the role and what we are looking for, please read the job description.

How to apply

Our priority is to find the right individual for each opportunity. We are dedicated to building an inclusive workplace that values diversity and invite you to find out more.

If you would like to apply, please submit your CV and answer the application questions below. Please try to limit your response to each question to no more than 300 words.

• What interests you most about this role and how do you think your experience would help The Health Foundation to influence change in the welfare system?
• Tell us about a time when you built relationships with a range of stakeholders to achieve a shared objective. How did you establish credibility, manage different priorities or perspectives and what was the outcome?

Our commitment to equality, inclusion and diversity

We are committed to an inclusive hiring process, where every candidate has the chance to showcase their unique skills and experience in an accessible and supported environment, to ensure that we can make the best appointment for each opportunity on merit. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and encourage those from underrepresented groups in this field to apply to us. We have identified three key areas to improving diversity. Our aim is to achieve a more balanced representation across our organisation, with a particular focus on increasing the number of women in leadership, enhancing the representation of people from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds and welcoming more people with disabilities. As part of this commitment, we strongly encourage applications from these groups.

Apply to join our team and let's work towards building a more diverse and inclusive workplace together. If you require any support through this process, please contact us. Help us work together to make the recruitment process and potential future employment more accessible and enjoyable for you.

Closing date: Sunday 26 July 2026 23:59

Interview dates: Week commencing 10th August 2026

Salary: £62,415 - £64,058 (if UK based) / Competitive Birches rated salary for the
local market if based outside of the UK
Location - London, United Kingdom or the following Start Network countries of operation: DRC · Pakistan · India · Somalia · · South Sudan · Philippines · Kenya · Bangladesh
Team - Communications
Line Manager - Director of Impact and Change
Line Reports - Manage the Communications team, including line management of, Communications Manager and Digital Communications Manager.
Hours - 35 hours per week
Contract - Permanent

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Head of Communications is a senior role responsible for shaping and delivering Start Network’s communications strategy—externally and internally—to strengthen organisational influence, impact and coherence across all audiences. The role provides leadership to a global hybrid and remote working communications team, including direct line management responsibilities.

The role is responsible for ensuring an integrated, audience-led approach to communications that effectively engages key stakeholders and advances organisational priorities. The role will also oversee the delivery of key publications and act as our brand champion, ensuring that our outputs, messaging and communications are consistently on-brand, clear, compelling and aligned with our values and strategic objectives.

As part of the Impact and Change Directorate, the role will work with colleagues across Policy, Advocacy and External Affairs, Evidence and Learning, and Systems Innovation and Change in positioning Start Network as a leading agent of change, translating evidence and learning into compelling communications that influence policy, practice and funding across the humanitarian system.

The role plays a critical part in strengthening Start Network’s profile, influence and thought leadership across the global humanitarian system.

WHAT IS START NETWORK?

Our purpose is to be a catalyst for system-level change that improves the efficiency, effectiveness and ethics of humanitarian action. We do this by working as a network to develop, test & spread new ways of collaborating and resourcing locally-led crisis response and anticipation.

Our current membership is made up of nearly 145 local, national and international NGOs based all around the world. We also support 10 national and regional hubs made up of civil society organisations and NGOs as our vehicle for devolving power, resources and accountability.

OUR VALUES

WE PUT PEOPLE FIRST: Communities come first in our decision-making and programming.

WE ARE BRAVE: We have great ambition and are willing to explore new things and take risks to achieve it

WE OPERATE COLLECTIVELY: We leverage the value of working as a network, sharing risk and resources, and learning together.

WE ARE INCLUSIVE: We see the value in diverse perspectives and work to remove the barriers that prevent voices from being heard.

WE ARE OPEN: We work transparently and with integrity, building mutual trust in all levels of our work, from governance to programming.

WE ARE ETHICAL: We behave and operate based on key principles of anti-racism, non-discrimination, and anti-colonialism. This is a work in progress.

OUR OFFER TO YOU

• Being a part of a network involved in bringing change to the humanitarian sector.
• Hybrid working with options to work from home and remotely to support your work/life balance
• Employee Assistance Programme through Smart Health (depends on the country based)
• Family friendly policies, e.g., flexible working, maternity policy, parental leave and more!
• 25 days’ holiday (if UK based) plus 2 company days over the End of Year period for all staff (depends on the country based)

INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES

Our roles are open to discussion about flexible working. For part-time working and job-shares, please get in touch with us before putting in an application.

Start Network is committed to protecting people, particularly children, at-risk adults and affected populations from any harm. We are also committed to safeguarding staff from any forms of bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and abuse of power as outlined in the Dignity at Work policy. Start Network embraces diversity, promotes equality of opportunity and eliminates unlawful discrimination. We are an equal opportunities employer and treat every application on merit alone. We particularly encourage applications from disabled, BAME, LGBTQ+ and non-binary candidates. We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet our essential selection criteria set out in the Person Profile.

APPLICATION

Please contact the People and Culture Team if you have any questions or need support with your application. 

We use Recruitment+ IRIS Cascade as our online recruitment platform. Recruitment+ IRIS Cascade allows you to demonstrate your skills and abilities through blind-review by our team to reduce bias.

 Closing date: 26th July 2026

Date for 1st Interview: 18th August (Subject to change)

Date for 2nd Interview: 25th August (Subject to change)

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high number of applications and we may review candidates on an ongoing basis, so please apply early where possible to avoid disappointment.

Any offer of employment will be conditional subject to relevant checks. Please refer to our privacy candidate privacy notice regarding treatment of your data. Start Network also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. The core of the scheme is that participating organisations share information about safeguarding-related misconduct (i.e., sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment) that a candidate has been found to have committed during employment, or incidents under investigation when the candidate left employment. For more information regarding this scheme, please visit their website.

The Company

Start Network is made up of more than 90 non-governmental organisations across five continents, ranging from large international organisations to local and national NGOs. Our programmes allow members to deliver humanitarian action around the world.

Our mission is to create a new era of humanitarian action that will save even more lives. We aren’t driven by media headlines or political will, we’re here for the communities affected by and at risk of crises.

We are an organisation committed to doing things differently. For some roles, we need more technical humanitarian expertise, but for other roles, we are looking for relevant transferable skills, the right attitude, and a passion to bring change.

Martingale Foundation exists to fund and support the next generation of talented researchers. We believe that family income should not be a barrier to the pursuit of excellence, and our mission is to enable and nurture talented individuals from low-socioeconomic backgrounds to thrive within world-leading postgraduate research.

Martingale’s flagship programme is the Martingale Postgraduate Scholarship, which supports students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds to pursue and excel in postgraduate degrees, by providing:

• A fully-funded Living Wage Scholarship to pursue a one-year masters degree or a four-year PhD.
• All tuition fees and research expenses, including a tax-free stipend for living costs.
• Tailored support to apply for Martingale courses at our partner universities.
• Access to Martingale programmes, including leadership training and connections with top academic and industry professionals.
• Membership of a pioneering community of talented researchers.

About Purposeful Ventures

Martingale Foundation is incubated by Purposeful Ventures who provide operational and strategic support. The Policy Manager will be employed by Purposeful Ventures.

Our vision is of a fairer society where all young people thrive. Purposeful Ventures partners with social entrepreneurs and philanthropists to improve the education and well-being of young people from their earliest years.

We define and diagnose the issues affecting children and young people, analyse evidence and explore the most promising solutions. We then select, accelerate and, where we find a gap, incubate organisations which tackle those issues. We offer more than just funding to our charitable organisations. Our expertise, operational experience and networks enable us to deliver tailored, hands-on support with a relentless commitment to system change.

About the role

In the four years since Martingale launched, we have now supported over 200 Scholars to undertake postgraduate degrees across our thirteen partner universities.

As Martingale grows, we are building our policy and advocacy function to shape the future of postgraduate access, affordability and outcomes. We are seeking a rigorous, proactive and collaborative Policy Manager to drive the monitoring, insight and evaluation that underpin our influence, and to support the development and implementation of our policy positions and stakeholder engagement.

Reporting to the Head of Communications and External Engagement, you will lead Martingale’s policy tracking, political intelligence, evidence generation, and evaluation and learning. You will turn a fast-moving external landscape into clear, actionable insight, and produce the evidence, analysis and draft materials that enable the Head and CEO to position Martingale credibly with funders, universities, the sector and government.

This is a hands-on, delivery-focused role with significant autonomy. You will own workstreams end-to-end, build systems and processes where they do not yet exist, and influence more senior colleagues and stakeholders. You will sit at the centre of a landmark research and policy programme and help deliver a campaign to implement the recommendations from Martingale’s major HESA-based research partnership, making the case that talent, not background, should determine who progresses to and thrives in postgraduate study.

Please download the full job description on the Purposeful Ventures website.

Key Responsibilities:

You will lead on monitoring and insight, and on evaluation and learning. You will support the Head of Communications and External Engagement on policy position development; consultations, briefings and submissions; and policy and stakeholder engagement and convening.

Monitoring and Insight

• Lead Martingale’s policy tracking and horizon scanning across legislative and regulatory developments, research funding policy, labour market and skills policy, and higher education sector developments relevant to postgraduate access, affordability and outcomes.
• Gather and synthesise political insights to anticipate risks and opportunities, briefing the Head and CEO on what is changing, why it matters to Martingale, and how we should respond.
• Lead the generation of evidence - coordinating, analysing and interpreting data and research (including Martingale’s HESA-based research and partner analysis) to underpin our policy positions and external narrative.
• Build and maintain trackers, briefings and knowledge systems that make insights from across government and higher education accessible, timely and actionable across the team.

Evaluation and Learning

• Lead the monitoring and evaluation of Martingale’s policy and advocacy activity, defining what success looks like and setting clear measures to track progress against our objectives.
• Establish and run learning cycles that capture what is and is not working, feeding insight back into strategy, planning and delivery.
• Own evaluation tools and reporting, ensuring activity is measured against clear objectives and that impact is demonstrable to colleagues, the Board and funders.
• Coordinate with the Programmes Team to leverage lessons and insights from our engagement with scholars to shape our policy work.

Policy Position Development

• Support the Head in developing Martingale’s policy positions for both government and higher education stakeholders, translating evidence into clear, credible and mission-aligned policy asks.
• Draft and refine policy content, ensuring positions are intellectually rigorous, well-evidenced and consistent with Martingale’s voice and values.

Consultations, Briefings and Submissions

• Draft consultation responses, briefings, submissions and other policy materials for the Head and CEO to own and represent in external forums.
• Coordinate inputs across the team and with partners to deliver high-quality, accurate and timely products to deadline.
• Help ensure Martingale’s policy activity complies with charity law and Charity Commission guidance on campaigning and political activity, escalating issues as appropriate.

Policy and Stakeholder Engagement and Convening

• Manage the planning and delivery of Martingale’s stakeholder engagement, including roundtables and convenings.
• Maintain the stakeholder engagement register, tracking relationships, mapping sector and geographic coverage, and identifying gaps and opportunities.
• Build and steward day-to-day relationships with stakeholders across government, academia, research councils, funders, learned societies and partner organisations to advocate for our mission, escalating to the Head and CEO where appropriate.

Ways of working

• Work closely with the Head of Communications and External Engagement, providing the monitoring, insight, evidence, drafting and evaluation that underpin Martingale’s external positioning and influence.
• Collaborate across the communications, partnerships and programme teams, and with delivery and research partners, creating shared understanding of priorities, timelines and dependencies.
• Manage resources and any project budgets responsibly and use evidence and learning to improve practice over time.
• Carry out any other duties as are within the scope, spirit and purpose of the role as requested by the line manager.

Key Requirements:

Experience and skills

Essential

• Demonstrable experience in policy, public affairs, research or analysis, ideally within a mission-driven organisation.
• Strong understanding of the UK education, social mobility and/or research funding landscape, including the roles of bodies and organisations such as UKRI, Universities UK, Department for Education and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
• Excellent research and analytical skills, with the ability to synthesise complex policy and evidence into clear, accessible insight.
• Outstanding written communication, with the ability to produce high-quality briefings, consultation responses and policy materials for senior and external audiences.
• The ability to distil complex topics into compelling arguments for a range of audiences.
• Proven ability to own and deliver multiple workstreams to deadline, creating plans, systems and processes where they do not yet exist.
• Experience monitoring and evaluating activity and using evidence and learning to improve practice.
• Ability to build and manage relationships with external stakeholders, and to brief and influence more senior colleagues.
• Advanced IT proficiency: spreadsheets, word processing, CRM or databases such as Beacon, email, web-based applications.

Desirable

• Experience of horizon scanning, political monitoring or intelligence-gathering.
• Familiarity with higher education or research organisations, and/or with postgraduate, doctoral or research-focused study.
• Understanding of industrial strategy, labour market and skills policy
• Familiarity with Charity Commission guidance on campaigning and political activity for charities.
• Experience delivering policy or research work in a startup or scale-up environment.

Personal Characteristics

• Excellent interpersonal skills: able to build rapport and trusting relationships, and to work co-operatively in a multidisciplinary setting.
• A commitment to Martingale’s mission to support postgraduate students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Comfortable working in a rapidly growing and changing organisation with a degree of ambiguity – confident to create processes and ways forward where they might not yet exist.
• Curious, rigorous and detail-oriented, with sound judgement about what matters and why.
• Resourceful, able to act on initiative, hardworking, and systematic.

The GAMH Research, Policy and Advocacy Officer is a new post that will play a central role in advancing GAMH’s global policy and advocacy agenda, helping to strengthen and elevate the focus on the health and wellbeing of men within national, regional and global policy environments. The postholder will design and deliver policy advocacy initiatives, generate high-quality research, write reports and publications, support project coordination, engage stakeholders and partners, and support communications to influence decision-makers aimed at improving health and wellbeing outcomes for men and boys within a gender equality framework. The position will work across all GAMH workstreams, with a particular focus on men’s health in Europe, prostate cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programmes.

This exciting new role will is being created at a time of organisational expansion and growing interest in men’s health worldwide. It will require attendance at meetings in London and the South East of England and occasional European/international travel will also be required.

Key Responsibilities

1. Policy Advocacy and Campaign Development

• Develop and contribute to GAMH’s policy positions and advocacy on key men’s health issues, with a particular focus on men’s health in Europe, prostate cancer and HPV.
• Monitor and analyse key policy developments relevant to men’s health and the work of GAMH across prevention, early diagnosis, screening, treatment, and support.
• Support the design and delivery of advocacy strategies and campaigns targeting policymakers, professional societies, international non-governmental organisations and other international bodies.
• Support coalition and network building by GAMH to strengthen policy responses on men’s health.
• Prepare policy briefings and advocacy materials.

2. Research, Analysis and Writing

• Conduct and synthesise research on men’s health issues, including policy analysis, epidemiology, and literature reviews.
• Write high-quality accessible reports, evidence summaries, position papers and publications to support GAMH’s work.
• Identify relevant gaps in policy data and evidence relating to men’s health. 

3. Project Coordination and support

• Manage the development of a European Men’s Health report.
• Play a leading role in, and support, the development of GAMH’s Global Prostate Cancer Initiative and wider work on prostate cancer policy.

• Assist in the planning and delivery of other GAMH projects, as necessary.
• Contribute to funding proposals and reporting to donors.

4. Stakeholder Engagement and Partnerships

• Support the strengthening of GAMH engagement with national men’s health networks and its members, particularly in Europe.
• Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders across each of the relevant GAMH workstreams, including policymakers, non-governmental organisations, UN agencies, academics and researchers, patient organisations, professional bodies, advocates and industry.
• Represent GAMH at meetings, conferences, and events (as required).
• Attend and report to the GAMH Board of Trustees (as required)

5. Communications, Dissemination and Impact

• Support the dissemination of GAMH reports, campaigns, and advocacy outputs.
• Support launch event/s of GAMH and initiatives and reports.
• Contribute to GAMH’s website, newsletters, and social media channels.
• Support monitoring and evaluation of GAMH advocacy and research activities.

Person Specification

Essential

• Degree (or equivalent experience) in health policy, public health, or a related field.
• Demonstrable experience in policy advocacy, campaigns and research.
• Experience of research, analysing and synthesising complex information into clear evidence-based written outputs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills (in English), with ability to adapt content for different audiences.
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Confidence working with senior stakeholders and external partners.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities.
• Strong interest in gender and global health issues, particularly men’s health.
• Commitment to GAMH’s mission and values.

Desirable

• Experience working on policy and research related to one or more GAMH focus areas, particularly cancer, mental health, primacy care, self-care and sexual and reproductive health.
• Experience and understanding of working on gender and health issues, particularly men’s health.
• Knowledge of European and global health policy institutions and processes.
• Experience working at an international level in an NGO, government, professional body, university or other context.
• Experience in stakeholder engagement and partnership development.
• Additional European language(s).

Skills and attributes

• Highly organised and reliable.
• Ability to work independently and remotely (home-based).
• Ability to work across multiple topics and deadlines simultaneously.
• Collaborative and proactive.
• Adaptable.
• Takes initiative.
• Communication and influencing ability.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary and benefits.
• Annual leave, statutory sick pay and parental leave, pension contribution scheme.
• Opportunity to contribute to a growing global movement on men’s health.
• A flexible and supportive working environment.
• Exposure and engagement with national and international partners, policymakers, funders and senior leaders.
• An exciting mission-driven and collaborative working environment.

Earthwatch is recruiting a temporary Project Manager for twelve months within our Programmes team. This role requires a driven and well-organised individual to plan and deliver projects with a focus on urban nature, early career scientist engagement and community engagement activities.

You will be the central point of contact for multiple internal and external stakeholders. You will ideally have experience in working with local authorities, corporates, communities and/or schools. You will be required to travel to project sites across the UK to support with delivery of community and school events. You will be effective at planning and working to agreed / developing processes to deliver results, demonstrating collaborative working across different partners, internal teams and functions. You are able to set and communicate priorities effectively and deliver project objectives to time and budget.

At Earthwatch we work together with businesses, scientists, civil society and policy-makers to drive the change we need to live within our means and in balance with nature.

Charity People is delighted to be partnering once again with Maudsley Charity to recruit an External Affairs and Influencing Manager.

A hugely exciting new role within the Communications team at the charity, the postholder will work across media, external affairs and influencing to engage with key stakeholders, boost the charity's profile, and promote learning and adoption of the solutions the organisation funds. You will be responsible for sharing evidence and learning in order to influence the people who fund, adopt and commission mental health care and services, and will work closely with the CEO to increase engagement with policy work which the Maudsley Charity undertakes through it's work in coalitions.

External Affairs and Influencing Manager
Contract: Full time, permanent role
Salary: £48,000 per annum
Location: Hybrid role between home and London office, with two days per week in the Denmark Hill office
Closing date for applications: 9am on Tuesday 28th July

First round interviews will be held remotely on: Thursday 13th August
Second round interviews will be held in person on: Thursday 20th and Friday 21st August

About Maudsley Charity

Maudsley Charity funds and supports clinical, academic, and community partners to ensure that everyone experiencing mental illness can access the right care, while using insights from their work to drive wider improvements across the UK.

Recognising the profound impact of mental illness and the inequalities in access, experience, and outcomes - particularly those linked to social deprivation and racism - the organisation focusses on addressing gaps in care.

With an approach that combines evidence, lived experience, and a commitment to equity, the organisation backs impactful, evidence-based solutions, ensuring services are shaped by real-world insight, and prioritising support for those most underserved to drive improvements that benefit all.

About the role

This is a core role within the organisation's influencing strategy, and your primary responsibilities will include:

External Affairs & Influencing:

• Develop and deliver influencing plans to promote adoption of effective mental health care initiatives being funded by the charity
• Develop productive relationships with key stakeholders (journalists, NHS trust leaders, ICBs, ICSs, VCSE orgs) to gather intelligence and shape strategy to inform the charity's positioning
• Lead the charity's thought leadership development providing strategic advice to senior leadership on political, NHS and mental health policy developments
• Strengthen the charity's role in mental health policy and advocacy coalitions, by contributing to collaborative advocacy, media and communications outputs
• Lead the charity's response to government mental health care consultations and calls for evidence
• Monitor funder sector trends and conversations, and actively seek out opportunities for the charity to strategically engage and influence by sharing learning from its grant making practice

Media management

• Develop and implement integrated external affairs campaigns that support the charity's influencing work
• Create persuasive materials, including press releases, op-eds, spokespeople briefings, comment pieces, and digital content and pitch to relevant outlets
• Maintain and grow relationships with journalists, broadcasters and sector media to secure relevant high-quality coverage of the charity's activities, grant holders and their projects
• Act as first point of contact for media enquiries, managing proactive and reactive press activity
• This role is expected to grow and develop and the postholder will be fully supported from across the organisation as the position evolves, within an organisation that offers a friendly, values led culture.

We would love to hear from individuals with the following skills and experience:

• Demonstrable track record of developing and implementing successful influencing strategies in the mental health sector
• Experience of stakeholder management within mental health care, including NHS Trust leaders, Integrated Care Boards, commissioners and senior clinicians, and with academics and researchers
• Strong experience in media relations, including briefing senior spokespeople, drafting press releases, media handling, and securing media coverage with a good understanding of the needs and expectations of different outlets and publications
• Keen understanding of the NHS, mental health policy landscape, and the related environment, key stakeholders and sector drivers
• Understanding of the key components and considerations of successful external affairs media and influencing
• Understanding of the sensitivities around mental illness, including working in an empathetic manner with people with lived experience
• Understanding of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion principles and a commitment to apply them in your work and as an organisation
• Influencing skills including confidence and credibility in working with stakeholders,
• Communication skills and the ability to produce clear and effective communications and the ability to confidently and accurately represent the organisation externally
• Written and editorial skills including the ability to craft narratives for different external audiences and communicate the charity's work in press releases, articles, policy briefs

How to apply

Maudsley Charity is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and strongly encourages applications from underrepresented backgrounds. We welcome applications from non-graduates.

Applications are managed via Charity People and involve a structured, anonymised process focusing on your experience and potential. Please send your CV to Alice at Charity People in the first instance.

Please see full job pack and job description attached.

There is also an optional 'Ask Us Anything' Webinar via Zoom on Thursday 16th July at 12.30pm where the Maudsley staff will answer questions. Please get in touch with Reception at Charity People if you'd like to register for this and they will send you the link. Please submit questions in advance to reception at Charity People before 9am on Wednesday 15th July 2026 in order that we can ensure all of your queries are answered.

Equal Opportunities monitoring

We ask that applicants complete our DEI monitoring form when submitting their CV for this role.

Maudsley Charity is an equal opportunities employer, and makes no discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and sex. Specifically, we will also oppose unfair discrimination of those with mental health issues.

Charity People is a forward thinking, inclusive organisation that actively and deliberately promotes equity, diversity and inclusion. We know organisations thrive when inclusion is at the forefront. We evidence our commitment by matching charity needs with the skills and experience of candidates irrespective of background e.g. age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We do this because we believe that greater diversity leads to greater results for the charities we work with.