Programme assistant jobs in London

37.5 hours per week

We are recruiting for an Assistant Programme Manager - A Fairer Start

About Nesta

We are Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good. We design, test and scale solutions to society’s biggest problems. Our three missions are to give every child a fair start, help people live healthy lives, and create a sustainable future where the economy works for both people and the planet.

For over 20 years, we have worked to support, encourage and inspire innovation. We work in three roles: as an innovation partner working with frontline organisations to design and test new solutions, as a venture builder supporting new and early stage businesses, and as a system shaper creating the conditions for innovation.

Harnessing the rigour of science and the creativity of design, we work relentlessly to change millions of lives for the better. 

About the Mission

In our A Fairer Start mission, we want every child to have the fairest possible start in life, so they can thrive and realise their potential.

Children born into disadvantage are far more likely to experience poor health, lower earnings, shorter life expectancy and lower levels of happiness than their peers. Closing the gap through targeted support at crucial moments of development is not just good policy, it is good economics: such interventions and system shifts are easily paid for by the long-term benefits of higher economic productivity and lower social costs.

The AFS mission works to develop innovative, scalable solutions to the factors that prevent children from disadvantaged backgrounds from thriving. We work on a range of projects, from applied innovation through to policy design, across the domains of parenting support, early childhood education and care, family income, integrated family support and funding.

The Role

This role supports the work of Nesta’s A Fairer Start mission. You will work closely with the Programme Manager, as well as the Mission Director, Deputy Directors and Project Leads to support the day to day running of the Mission and its projects, and to help the team function effectively.

Alongside your core duties, you will have the opportunity to support the mission more

broadly, either through supporting overall delivery of projects, and/or through working as a mission representative for critical organisational priorities such as Nesta’s commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

This role is also a part of Nesta’s community of Programme and Project Managers who work together to design and manage Nesta's processes and ways of working around how we plan, deliver and manage our programmes and projects.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Working with the Programme Manager to oversee and track project delivery and key milestones, both narrative and financial, to ensure we are accurately delivering against project schedules
• Supporting the Mission Leadership Team to balance and sequence the Mission’s projects and team’s resources, taking advantage of dependencies where possible, to optimise delivery
• Supporting project leads to accurately plan and implement their projects, for example by helping to create budgets and project plans
• Supporting the Programme Manager to deliver continuous improvement projects within the Programme Management Office and/or Mission team.
• Designing and implementing resources and tools to support project leads and teams to improve the way they work
• Overseeing the team calendar, arranging logistics for meetings events and away days, and coordinating the taking of minutes where required
• Acting as first point of contact for the team for Nesta staff and external stakeholders, responding to inquiries or directing them to the right people
• Collaborating with the operations, financial, legal and communications teams when required and helping to translate their requirements to the other members of the A Fairer Start team.
• Supporting administrative processes within the team where needed and encourage and foster self sufficiency across the team around managing their own individual administrative tasks
• Being an active member of Nesta’s community of programme and project managers, contributing to or owning the development of Nesta’s programme and project management processes and ways of working.

The Person

Essential

• Outstanding administrative, organisational and time management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities simultaneously
• Proactive problem solver who is willing to work both independently and as part of the team
• Strong attention to detail
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders
• Balancing competing priorities for your time effectively and being responsive to the changing needs of the team
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and as a member of a team.
• Good working knowledge of digital tools such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar
• Experience managing or supporting small scale projects or programmes of work
• Experience coordinating the efforts of others to achieve a goal

Desirable

• Experience or training in agile project management
• Experience using specific management software to support coordination of projects and programmes (i.e. Asana, Salesforce, Slack)
• Experience managing or tracking budgets
• Experience working in a relevant sector, such as a charity / not-for-profit, or in a subject area related to Nesta’s missions

What we offer

Salary: Circa £40,000 plus array of benefits, including private medical insurance, health cash plans, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more

Location: This role is based in Blackfriars, Central London, hybrid working arrangement. Nesta’s policy is for staff to spend a minimum of two days a week in the office with the remaining days at your discretion.

Term: Permanent

Hours: This is a full-time role but we offer a range of flexible working arrangements and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do.

Reports to: Programme Manager (AFS), Programme Management Office

Making an application

To apply for this role, please submit your application by 3rd August at 8am.

We will aim for interviews to take place on the week commencing 10th August.

At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results.

We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop.

This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful.

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part-time hours, job shares and other arrangements.

Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.

Homeless Recovery Worker Assistant 

£16 307 - £16 600 

Wokingham 

Permanent Part Time - 24.5 hrs   

Enhanced DBS Required 

Drivers Licence: Not Required 

Lone Working: No 

Night Working: No 

Weekend Working: Yes 

At Two Saints we are proud of our values and our mission: to provide people with homes and specialist support so they feel valued and secure and ready to take their next steps. 

We’re seeking compassionate adaptable people to join our Wokingham service as a Homeless Support Worker Assistant. You’ll bring a passion for supporting people to build confidence develop essential life skills and recognise their own strengths and support needs through positive meaningful interactions. 

As the ideal candidate your ability to connect with people will help them build trust resilience and a sense of possibility for their future. You will learn knowledge of safeguarding working proactively within our policies and contribute to a strong collaborative team environment. 

Our Homeless Support Worker Assistant roles are support‑based focused on guidance encouragement and empowering clients to achieve their goals. The work can be challenging but also truly rewarding - made even more so by the supportive values‑driven team who will help nurture and develop your skills. 

Homeless Support Worker Assistant Essentials: 

* An interest and concern for homelessness and related issues 

* Ability to contribute to a team 

* Good communication skills clear verbal and written English 

* Knowledge of Microsoft Outlook Excel and Word 

Homeless Support Worker Assistant Desirables: 

* Experience in similar sectors 

* Experience in customer service roles 

Could this be you? If yes apply for this exciting Homeless Support Worker Assistant opportunity with Two Saints. 

For full role details please see the attached Job Description for the role of Homeless Support Worker Assistant. 

We reserve the right to close our adverts early if a successful candidate is found so please submit your application as soon as possible. 

Two Saints is committed to safeguarding and safer recruitment using pre-employment checks such as Enhanced DBS Overseas Police Checks (where appropriate) Reference Checks and CV gap querying upon appointment to the role. 

About Us 

We offer support to people who are homeless vulnerable or at risk of becoming homeless and need help rebuilding their lives for a brighter future. Our services include safe flexible and reliable client led housing and support with a focus on reducing homelessness improving health and wellbeing and building on individual’s skills and resilience to break the cycle of homelessness poverty and exclusion. 

We work in partnership with multiple agencies and authorities to deliver support and accommodation needs across Berkshire Hampshire Isle of Wight and Dorset. 

We are dedicated to safeguarding all young people and adults with our services. We follow safer recruitment practices for all our vacancies to assure that all successful candidates are suitable to work with our clients. 

We’re committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workforce that embodies our values and promotes a tolerant and respectful environment where everyone can feel empowered to succeed. 

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and will support with any reasonable adjustments needed during the recruitment process. 

Post: Programmes Assistant
Contract: 6 Months FTC
Hours: Full-Time (Flexible working arrangements considered)
Location: South Kensington, London SW7 – Hybrid
Salary: £27,675 – £28,550 per annum, depending on experience and qualifications

About Us

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is the learned society and professional body for geography and geographers. It is also a charity and a membership organisation. The Society was founded in 1830 and has been one of the most active of the learned societies ever since. It was pivotal in establishing geography as a teaching and research discipline in British universities and continues to play a key role in geographical and environmental education.

The Society is a leading world centre for geographical learning – supporting education, teaching, research, professional practice and scientific expeditions, as well as promoting public understanding and enjoyment of geography and providing advice to policymakers.

The Society offers professional accreditation to members through Chartered Geographer status.

About You and the Role

We are seeking a highly organised and enthusiastic temporary Programmes Assistant to support the delivery of a busy and inspiring programme of events across the autumn and spring terms.

Working as part of a dynamic team, the successful candidate will help deliver a diverse portfolio of lectures, panel discussions, and other events. Our events programme connects people and ideas, broadcasting to audiences worldwide and showcasing the power of geography to shape our understanding of the world.

The role will involve providing administrative and logistical support to the Programmes team across all stages of event coordination, from setting up events in digital systems and managing bookings, through to delivery and ensuring a high-quality experience for both in-person and online audiences.

Salary and Benefits

This is a fixed term contract for six months. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements, including hybrid and part time working. This is looked at on a case-by-case basis, balancing the Society’s needs with the successful candidate’s other commitments, to support a good work-life balance. The salary range for this post is £27,675 - £28,550 per annum, depending on experience and qualifications. The post is based in Kensington, London.

There are a range of benefits at the Society which include the following:

• 35-hour working week with core working hours between 10.00am and 4.00pm.
• Flexible working arrangements are available with a mix of office based and home working.
• 25 days annual leave per annum, pro rata, plus public bank holidays.
• Society closure between Christmas and New Year, in addition to the basic annual leave allowance.
• Pension scheme - 3% employee, 7.5% employer.
• Group Life Assurance at four-times basic annual salary.
• Corporate eye care vouchers.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Free 24-hour Employee Assistance helpline with available counselling support.

Applications must be received by 5.30pm on Friday 24 July 2026.
It is anticipated that interviews will take place on Monday 3 August 2026.

Interested?

If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.

Note: Due to the high volume of applications we anticipate, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Candidates who are successfully shortlisted should expect to hear from us within one week of the advert deadline.

The Society aims to be an equal opportunities employer. We strongly encourage applicants from those traditionally underrepresented in the geographical discipline.

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. The Society is unable to offer work visa sponsorships.

No agencies please.