Programme director jobs in Croydon, greater london
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Programme Director
Calling all Programme Directors!
Anna Freud is seeking a permanent, part-time Programme Director – Child Wellbeing Practitioner (CWP) to join our world-leading mental health charity for children, young people and their families. Our mission is to close the gap in wellbeing and mental health by advancing, translating, delivering, and sharing the best science and practice with everyone who impacts the lives of children, young people and their families. More information about Anna Freud is available on our website.
Our EDI commitment
We are dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and being an equal opportunities employer, whereby equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are core to our recruitment practices. All candidates who meet the job criteria will be considered for employment, regardless of ethnic origin, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, socioeconomic background, caring responsibilities and care experience.
We ask candidates to share their diversity dimensions with us to help us identify, tackle and prevent bias across the employee lifecycle. We believe a diverse workforce enhances our ability to support mental health and wellbeing, allowing us to better meet the needs of the children, young people and families we serve.
As a Disability Confident employer, disabled candidates meeting our criteria are guaranteed an interview. Applications are submitted anonymously and assessed using a fair evaluation process based on the criteria set out in our job profiles.
What we offer
We offer a range of staff benefits, including an all-in-one rewards and recognition platform called Perkbox and wellbeing offers such as finishing early on Fridays and free counselling through our Employee Assistance Programme. We are proud to have staff-led Diversity Networks offering unique opportunities for learning, connection and impact.
What you’ll do
As Programme Director, you will lead the delivery and continued development of the Child Wellbeing Practitioner programme, ensuring it provides an inclusive, high-quality student experience and meets UCL, BPS and national curriculum standards
- Lead, review and develop the programme curriculum, teaching and learning content
- Manage and support the programme team to ensure the course is delivered smoothly and effectively
- Oversee assessment, marking, quality assurance and compliance with UCL and BPS requirements
- Monitor trainee progress and experience, ensuring students receive appropriate academic and pastoral support
- Manage key programme operations, including stakeholder relationships, student recruitment, staffing and the programme budget
What you’ll bring
The ideal candidate will be an experienced child mental health and higher education professional with the leadership skills to manage an accredited postgraduate programme, support a multidisciplinary team and deliver an inclusive, high-quality learning experience
- A PhD or professional doctorate in clinical psychology or child mental health, alongside a relevant professional qualification or substantial experience in children’s mental health
- Experience of curriculum design, teaching, assessment and programme management within a higher education setting
- Strong knowledge of children and young people’s psychological training programmes, CBT interventions and mental health practice in CAMHS or educational settings
- Proven experience of leading, managing and supporting staff while balancing competing priorities and programme demands
- Excellent communication, collaboration and organisational skills, including the ability to manage budgets and maintain the programme’s quality and financial viability
Key details
Hours: Part-time: 14 hours over 2 days - the postholder will need to work on Fridays and either Tuesday or Thursday. Fridays are in person at Anna Freud, London, during termtime. Usual working hours are Monday to Friday, 09:00-17:00. Flexible working is possible.
Salary: £64,100 FTE per annum, plus 6% contributory pension scheme
Location: Hybrid (a mixture of home/onsite working): staff are working onsite for at least 20% of their working hours at Anna Freud, 4-8 Rodney Street, London N1 9JH. The postholder will also need to attend in person for any in-person teaching, team meetings as necessary.
Contract type: Permanent
Next steps
Closing date for applications: midday (12pm), Wednesday, 12 August 2026. Please note that due to high application volumes, we may close this advert early. We encourage you to apply promptly and to keep an eye on our future vacancies for more opportunities.
Notification of interview: shortlisted applicants will be notified no later than Friday, 14 August 2026. During shortlisting, applicants are anonymously assessed using the criteria visible in the Job Profile. Please note: due to the high volume of applications received, we will not be able to provide feedback to unsuccessful applicants.
Interviews: will be held week commencing 17 August 2026
How to apply: click on the 'apply now’ button to apply online. We are unable to accept CVs and kindly request no contact from agencies.
Questions?
Please email us with any job enquiries, or if you require assistance or experience difficulties when applying. Please note that successful candidate(s) will be asked to evidence their Right to Work in the UK post-job offer – we do not hold a sponsor license therefore we are unable to provide Visa sponsorship.
Registered Charity
501 - 1000
Our vision is a world where all children and young people are able to achieve their full potential.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
About the role
The Academy runs some of the most valued grant schemes and development programmes in UK biomedical and health research. Springboard Awards help researchers establish their independence. Starter Grants keep talented clinicians in research alongside their clinical work. Leadership programmes like FLIER develop people who can work across academia, healthcare and industry to tackle real-world challenges, and alongside these sit opportunities to spend time working in industry, the NHS or government. Moving between sectors should be a normal part of a medical research career (it is not yet), and much of our work is built with that belief: a more connected and mobile workforce is better able to turn discovery into benefit. Between them, these schemes change the course of people's careers, and the research they enable reaches patients across the UK and beyond.
This role leads that portfolio. The heart of the job is excellent delivery: schemes that are well designed and well run, and that make a real difference to the people they reach. You will work closely with the Fellowship, whose expertise and generosity run through the whole portfolio, and you will make sure the schemes serve the whole of the medical sciences community (across the devolved nations and the regions, in industry as much as academia), not just those already inside the most established institutions. And science is global, so this work is too: the portfolio draws on evidence and partnerships from around the world, and the mentoring and networks around the people we support reach well beyond the UK.
Today much of the portfolio's focus is research talent and careers. That will always be a substantial part of the portfolio, but over time we plan to expand it further. That expansion could go in several directions, and what matters is that we are taking an evidence-based approach to ensure that our efforts are responding to what the medical sciences sector needs. Whatever we launch next, the same principles apply; good design, sound funding, proper governance and solid evaluation, with our effort concentrated where it delivers the most impact. So, the job is twofold: run today's portfolio brilliantly and build the future portfolio. It is a role where you can see your work land in people's lives, with real scope to shape what comes next. And none of it stands alone: what we learn from the people we fund sharpens our policy voice, the community our programmes build strengthens our engagement and public trust work, and insight flows back the other way to shape what we design next.
As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, you will share in the leadership of the Academy as a whole, working closely with the other directors: the Chief Operating Officer and the Directors of Policy, Communications and Engagement, and Translation and Enterprise. The relationship with Translation and Enterprise matters especially. That team will shape new partnerships and initiatives that your team is best placed to deliver, so the two of you will work in very close partnership.
What we are looking for
These are the six areas we will explore with candidates. They match the six parts of the role above, so you can read straight across — and your supporting statement can follow the same structure if that helps. We do not expect anyone to arrive with every part fully formed, but the strongest candidates will be convincing across most of them.
1. Excellent delivery
A strong track record of running grant schemes or of significant programmatic delivery. Much of this is operational: holding an annual cycle to time and budget, catching problems early and getting stuck things moving again. It is also about making sure the portfolio adds up to a coherent whole rather than a collection of separate schemes, with the governance discipline — sound contracts, clean compliance, rigorous oversight — that sits behind delivery done well.
2. Building partnerships and negotiating well
A track record of building and sustaining partnerships with funders, delivery organisations and industry, and the skill and pace to turn them into agreements where appropriate. We will want to hear how you have handled a complex negotiation and brought it to a close. The Chief Operating Officer leads the Academy’s income strategy, so we will also explore how you develop partners in concert with colleagues.
3. Range and credibility across the community
This role runs from Fellows (some of the most eminent scientists in the country) to researchers at the very start of their careers, and from government and funders to industry partners. We are looking for someone with the range to work well across all of them, and the credibility to be taken seriously at every level. We will also explore how you have widened access and drawn talent in from beyond the usual places.
4. A focus on impact
A commitment to looking at what difference the portfolio you lead makes. We are looking for someone who treats evaluation as a source of learning and uses what it shows to decide what the Academy should do next, keeping sight of the people and patients the work is for.
5. Leading and empowering people
A brilliant leader of people: someone who gets the best from a talented team by giving them space and ownership, backing them with real support and coaching, and building a culture where people thrive and develop.
6. Collective leadership
As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, you would share responsibility for the Academy as a whole, not only your own directorate. We want someone who takes that seriously, brings challenge where it is needed, backs colleagues when it counts, and helps make the Academy a brilliant place to work.
Benefits
We offer a competitive and evolving benefits package designed to support your wellbeing, development and work–life balance, including:
- Competitive salary and pension
- 26 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays
- Option to buy or sell annual leave
- Additional paid closure between Christmas and New Year
- Hybrid and flexible working
- Health, wellbeing and employee support programmes
- Cycle-to-work scheme and everyday benefits
- Structured learning and development
- Enhanced maternity, adoption and paternity leave
- Enhanced occupational sick pay
For further information and to apply, please visit our website via the apply button.
Closing date for completed applications: Midday on Monday 17 August 2026.
First interviews will be held 25-26 August 2026 with the CEO, Roz Campion, and the COO, James Lawrence, and focused on two competencies – leadership and delivery.
Second interviews will be held on 1 September 2026 with an external panel.
