Practice manager jobs in colchester, essex
This is a unique opportunity for an experienced leader to help diversify the environmental sector by scaling a Black-led nature organisation to be able to demonstrate leadership on a national scale and promote and serve the interests and needs of ethnically marginalized communities in accessing nature.
Our Ambition
We’re on an exciting journey of growth. Our vision is to become a nationally recognised, well-resourced Black institution for learning about and caring for nature.
We aim to:
- Be the go-to resource for people of colour learning about the natural world and accessing outdoor spaces with confidence.
- Be the go-to resource for mainstream environmental organisations seeking to understand Black and Brown perspectives on nature.
- Strengthen networks and community among POC-led nature organisations across the UK.
Our operating income for 2025-2026 is £230,000. Our ambition is to generate an income of over £1 million by 2027-2028, growing to a 15+ staff team.
How the COO will support our vision
The role of Chief Operating Officer is central to helping us achieve our ambitions, ensuring that Wild in the City has the resources, infrastructure and working environment to achieve its annual plans, long term aims and deliver high-quality programmes.
We are not expecting the COO to implement the key areas of operations alone, we will work together to prioritise and generate the resources to build a team to cover the functionality required for steady growth. We are also motivated to ensure that the role’s salary is reviewed to meet market expectations as the role grows, dependent on funding.
This role needs an exceptional candidate who enjoys making a role their own, who is motivated by turning strategy into impactful action and who finds fulfilment in supporting others to achieve.
The COO will ensure that;
- We secure ongoing, long term financial resources, creating stability and underpinning growth, and scaling into operations in multiple regions, nationally
- We grow our staffing to provide a steady infrastructure and achieve our strategic objectives, including creating operations, fundraising, communications and research teams, and increasing our field team.
- We retain our relational, open, authentic, personable, dynamic, collaborative, innovative culture as we grow.
Who We're Looking For
We are looking for a dynamic and dependable Chief Operating Officer (COO) to help realise our vision.
We’re seeking an emotionally intelligent, commercially competent, and values-driven leader who can bring clarity, stability, and energy in a fast-paced and mission-led environment. You will thrive in turning strategy into action and impact, and in driving Wild in the City forward in scaling our delivery and leadership on a national scale.
You will bring:
- Proven experience in operational and strategic leadership
- Strong financial and commercial acumen, including income generation, budgeting, and long-term planning
- A successful track record of managing people, partnerships, and multi-disciplinary teams
- Excellent communication and relationship-building skills across staff, volunteers, partners, and board members
- Emotional resilience, sound judgement, and a calm, authentic presence
- A genuine connection to our mission and values
We welcome people from all backgrounds to fulfill the role of COO. We are mindful of the lack of diversity within senior leadership in the environmental field and encourage those from Global Majority backgrounds to apply.
Why Join Us?
This is an exciting time to join Wild in the City, we hope that you will make an application. As COO, you’ll play a central role in shaping the next chapter of our development - growing our influence, supporting Black leadership in nature, and helping transform access to the natural world for communities of colour.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
About the Role
We’re looking for someone to help us grow our digital voice – whether you’re an experienced content creator looking for a flexible, purpose-driven role or a curious, motivated emerging creative keen to learn on the job.
This part-time role is designed to adapt to the right person.
This role can flex depending on your experience and availability:
- A skilled digital communicator with a strategic eye and limited availability (8–10 hrs/week)
- A curious, motivated emerging creative with the time and energy to develop your skills in a supportive environment (12–15 hrs/week)
We’re looking for the right person and will shape the role around your experience. Wherever you are in your career, you’ll help bring the Inland Waterways Association’s stories to life online, showcasing the power of community action, restoration, and environmental impact across the UK’s waterways.
You’ll be supported by our campaigns director and a part-time Brand/Social Strategist, and contribute to high-quality, mission-aligned content.
Key Responsibilities
- Create and schedule engaging content across Instagram, Facebook, BlueSky, TikTok and LinkedIn. All content is primarily organic.
- Design visuals using tools such as Canva (or similar) and write clear, on-brand copy
- Align content with IWA’s three storytelling pillars: advocacy & protection, restoration & regeneration, and environmental impact
- Source and repurpose volunteer-submitted content (e.g. photos, quotes, stories)
- Support user-generated content initiatives (e.g. takeovers, calendar campaigns)
- Monitor and respond to comments/messages, with support from the team
- Ensure posts follow digital accessibility best practices
- Track engagement metrics and contribute insights during monthly content planning
- Collaborate on evolving IWA’s storytelling and visual style
What You’ll Bring
We expect you to bring some of the following – and we’ll shape the role around your strengths:
If you’re more experienced, you might bring:
- A strong portfolio of digital storytelling and content creation
- Experience managing branded channels or building communities
- Confidence making decisions about tone, visuals and prioritisation
If you’re earlier in your career, we’ll look for:
- Creativity and a clear interest in storytelling for good
- Good writing and design instincts (Canva or similar tools)
- A willingness to learn, take feedback, and grow in the role
And in both cases:
- A proactive, dependable approach
- An interest in environmental, heritage, or place-based campaigns
What You’ll Get
- A part-time role with flexibility around hours and creative scope
- Real-world experience building digital engagement for a national charity
- Support and mentorship from experienced comms professionals
- The chance to help shape the voice of a values-led, people-powered organisation
- A growing portfolio of content and impact stories to be proud of
To Apply
Please send your CV to our email address and anything from a paragraph to one page telling us:
- Why this role appeals to you
- A social media account, post or campaign you admire, and why
- Optionally, include examples of your work
At IWA, we value experience, curiosity, and creative thinking. If you don’t meet every requirement but feel this role is a great fit, we’d love to hear from you. We’re more interested in finding a person who can develop, rather than ticking every box.
The only independent, national charity campaigning for Britain’s canals and rivers.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
The National Youth Agency is looking for a new Associate Tutor/Assessor to join our Academy Team.
Hours: As and when required
Salary: £120 per day
Remote: This role is homebased/remote working
What we do
As the national body for youth work, the NYA has a dual function. We are the professional statutory and regulatory body (PSRB) responsible for qualifications, quality standards, and safeguarding for youth work and services in England. In line with our charity mission and aims, we also champion youth work through research, advocacy, campaigns, and programmes.
We work in partnership and believe in collaborative leadership, listening to youth workers and the youth work sector so that we can understand their needs and respond to the challenges they face. We are ambitious for youth work and for young people and integrate youth voice and influence across our work
About the Role
As the National Body for Youth Work in England, we are ambitious for youth work and for young people and are determined that all young people should have the opportunity to benefit from the life-changing impact of qualified youth workers and trained volunteers.
To support our mission we are seeking enthusiastic, skilled and JNC qualified professionals to join us as Academy Tutor/Assessor Associates.
Our Academy Tutor/Assessor Associates will deliver inspiring training, develop and review resources and ensure all activities are in line with both NYA and external expectations of quality and expertise.
The post will require a commitment to continuing engagement across the sector and beyond to ensure the NYA Academy’s work is rooted in the needs of young people and youth work.
The Academy Team are reflective expert trainers and facilitators. They support the development of knowledge and skills; deliver innovative and engaging training that benefits youth work and young people; and work with colleagues from the NYA and the wider field to ensure that youth work is promoted and protected, for the benefit of all young people.
The Academy Tutor will ensure the NYA is at the forefront of developing its products and services.
You will work alongside a committed, lively team working together to transform the lives of young people through the power of youth work.
Key responsibilities for this role will include:
- Developing and delivering training along with the development of programmes (including accredited training).
- Supporting learners and monitoring their progress through regular reviews and assessments.
- Contributing to the ongoing development and improvement of resources and processes.
- Building positive relationships with learners to promote their engagement and to achieve successful outcomes.
- Ensure all learners have a supportive and positive learning experience
- The post holder should promote the NYA’s extensive offer and maintaining its reputation in the fields of expertise.
- Ensuring the voice of young people is heard loudly across the NYA and in all aspects of our work.
- Ensure the NYA follows best safeguarding best practice.
- Ensure all operational activity and youth work content is to the highest quality, representing the position of NYA as the National Body for Youth Work in England.
- Participating in team meetings, session planning and evaluation meetings.
- Compliance with all NYA policies and procedures.
- Compliance with all safeguarding policies and health and safety requirements.
- Undertaking any identified training in line with the role including safeguarding and undergoing a DBS check.
Please refer to our Candidate Pack for more information on the role and the requirements.
How to Apply:
Please download our applicant pack to find out more about the role and requirements.
To apply, please submit the following via our online application platform.
A detailed CV setting out your career history, with responsibilities and achievements in line with the person specification in the About You section.
A covering letter (maximum two sides) highlighting your suitability for the role and how you meet the requirements in the About You section.
We will request data for our EEDI monitoring purposes, providing this is optional.
Please note: the covering letter is an essential part of the application process and will be assessed as part of your full application. We use AI detector software, so cover letters or CV’s with over 30% AI generated content with be disregarded. We understand that AI tools can offer support to candidates who have learning differences, which is why we will accept applications with some AI assistance. CV’s will not be accepted without a cover letter.
The National Youth Agency is an equal opportunities employer.
At NYA our inclusive culture means that we embrace individual differences and understand that we need a diverse team to achieve our organisations mission.
We wish to recruit candidates from all backgrounds to ensure our team reflects the rich diversity of the communities we serve. We encourage applications from anyone regardless of disability, ethnicity, heritage, gender, sexuality, religion, socio-economic background and political beliefs but we particularly welcome applications from global majority candidates and those from other minoritised ethnic groups in the UK as they are currently underrepresented in our team.
Youth Work changes lives
Which is why we’re committed to ensuring that as many young people as possible get to benefit from it.As the national body for youth work in England, the National Youth Agency (NYA) exists to champion its transformative power. We believe all young people should have the opportunity to benefit from the life-changing impact of extraordinary youth workers and trained volunteers.
We help to grow youth work provision in ways that keep it effective, relevant, safe and engaging, to help millions of young people reach their potential and thrive. We do this by providing guidance, support, advice, training and staff development opportunities for youth workers and youth work organisations. At the heart of everything we do are young people themselves. We work hard to ensure their voices are integrated into all our work, to develop provision that truly meets their needs.
REF-221839
This is National Lottery funded role in a growing charity representing children and young people affected by the neuropsychiatric conditions PANS and PANDAS.
The purpose of this role is to work closely with our established Youth Board to ensure that the voices of young people affected by PANS and PANDAS are heard, valued, and reflected in our work.
The successful applicant will support the Youth Board in identifying, developing, and delivering one or more youth-led projects that align with their priorities and lived experiences.
See the job description and the recruitment pack attached for more informaton.
Please do not submit your application by email, use the Charity Jobs application process.
Please do not use AI to write your covering letter, we really would much prefer to hear from you in your own words.
Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions about the role.
PANS PANDAS UK is the only UK charity supporting children and families living with the neuropsychiatric conditions PANS and PANDAS.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
We are seeking a dynamic and experienced strategic lead to drive the next phase of our Right to Health campaign. This new role will work with our experienced and well respected team and our extensive network, to make the political case for the better legal recognition and real-world protection for the right to health.
An ideal candidate
You will be a passionate and experienced advocate for health, human, social or environmental rights, committed to driving meaningful change in the UK. You will bring proven expertise in leading policy, advocacy, or parliamentary engagement work - ideally within health, human rights, social or environmental justice sectors - and thrive in building strong, strategic relationships with government, civil society, and community stakeholders.
You have a good understanding of the structural causes of health inequality and the power of human rights frameworks to address them. You will know how the UK political and parliamentary systems work, and you are skilled at influencing these processes through clear, compelling narratives backed by evidence.
You are able to communicate with clarity and impact, tailoring your message to diverse audiences - from policymakers to grassroots activists. You are confident working independently and collaboratively within a small, flexible team, balancing strategic vision with practical delivery. Your approach is solutions-focused, inclusive, and grounded in the lived realities of people affected by health inequalities.
Most importantly, you are motivated by the opportunity to join a dynamic and well respected organisation and lead a strategic campaign that challenges the status quo and contributes to a fairer, more just UK.
You have the right to work in the UK and be able to work from home in London or within easy reach of London. A minimum of weekly attendance in London will be required.
This opportunity is open to applicants wishing to deliver the work on a self-employed freelance or employed basis.
For application, please complete:
- the Application Form
- a CV outlining your career (including paid and unpaid work), with any academic and professional qualifications, to date.
Applications that do not include both documents will not be considered.