Programme manager jobs in Bristol, city of, bristol

WHO WE ARE

We're FIRST UK, an EdTech charity making STEM more diverse – using robots, industry mentors, and epic competitions to drive a skills-equipped, workforce-ready talent pipeline.

It’s an exciting time to join the charity as we move from start-up to scaling mode with a brand new strategy backed by government investment alongside some of the world’s leading tech-enabled businesses, including Arm, Bloomberg, Qualcomm, and many more.

As BBC Broadcaster Spencer Kelly summarised.

“It’s easy to see why competitions like this really do help students develop the skills they’re going to need for the rest of their lives. Honestly, I wish I had something like this when I was at school.”

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

A programme manager with a flair for engaging people. Someone who can help grow the UK’s most ambitious student robotics movement through:

• Outreach - increasing uptake amongst schools and youth groups
• Support - ensuring a high-quality experience for partcipants and teachers
• Events – supporting delivery of epic robotics tournaments
• Volunteering - recruiting, upskilling and stewarding event staff and mentors
• Partnerships – fostering a local community of STEM champions and partners

You’re an all-rounder, motivated by working with young people, educators, and industry to engineer better futures. Reporting to our Head of Delivery (that’s Vicky on our website), you’ll be instrumental in scaling our impact regionally. 

WHAT YOU'LL GET

Responsibility. Ownership. Sense of purpose. You’ll be working in a small (9 merry folk), dynamic organisation which is agile and collaborative. We have a strong value proposition and refreshing brand. Our case for support is built on three decades of evidence. Well before pandemics, we were working flexibly and remotely – it’s embedded in our culture.

• £32,000 - £39,000 per annum dependent upon experience
• 25 days holiday, plus 8 bank holidays, and a Christmas gift
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• Super-flexible, hybrid role with lots of responsibility

I like the sound of this. Is there more I need to know?

Yep - check out the full role profile on our website.

What's the process?

• Submit CV and optional cover letter
• Answer three simple screening questions
• Role closes 23:59 on Sun 28 Jun

Looking for a charity role where children and families are treated with warmth, curiosity, and compassion?

Ready for a role where operational leadership means noticing the details, solving problems early, building strong systems, and helping a busy service run smoothly and thoughtfully?

Looking for a thoughtful values-led organisation where kindness and accountability go hand in hand?

This is what our children and parents could soon be saying about the service you help lead …

‘I feel like some of the darkness has turned to light’.
‘It’s like an egg has been opened up and all the good is coming out…. Life feels like it is on the right track’.

We need you and more importantly, our children and young people need you!

Join our lovely children’s mental health charity team as Service Lead for our specialist part-time alternative provision, supporting children and young people with EHCPs whose needs sit in the intersection of SEND and mental health.

We are looking for someone who can quickly understand and work within the Love Squared ethos and approach, while bringing strong organisational leadership, warmth, and consistency to the service.

This role would suit someone who is perceptive, highly organised, and proactive, with the ability to quickly understand complex situations and keep a busy service running and developing smoothly and thoughtfully.

You will need strong organisational skills, fantastic attention to detail, and love problem solving, and proactively manage multiple moving parts with love and imagination. 

It will suit someone who wants to take real ownership of making things work well! 

A little bit about Love Squared …

Our vision is a society where imagination, love, and kindness are the everyday words that people associate with child and family services. It is a vision where young people can walk into their futures with joy. We want to bring love to children and families’ services. We don’t think it’s enough to care a bit, you have to care a lot if you want to transform outcomes.

We want to change the national landscape of how children experience the mental health system, putting kindness at the forefront of every interaction. Building awareness, starting a movement, hearing the children’s voices and those of their loved ones: we want to transform the experience of those impacted by mental health.

We are on a mission to ensure that no child has to lose out on a world of potential because of mental health. We don’t have magic wands, but we do believe that every child and family has the right to get services designed and delivered for their individual needs, and with love and imagination. Everyone has a right to have their story remembered and treated with curiosity and sensitivity.

We directly deliver imaginative, and carefully case managed services for children and young people with social, emotional, and mental health needs (working in the intersectional needs of mental health and SEND). We do this through our work as a specialist non-school part-time alternative provision for children with education, health and care plans (where this particular advertised role sits!) and through our Glow services where we provide a number of therapeutic projects such as our children’s listening helpline, Drop the Pressure, online mentoring projects such as Transitions, Game On and Remix, 1:1 counselling and mentoring in schools, and therapeutic mentoring workshops in schools as well as holiday groups in nature, and with cooking and a range of other activities. We believe that you can’t change outcomes without looking at issues holistically and thoughtfully. For us it’s about long-term change.

As our new services lead for (outreach ALP), you will help us continue seeking to make three key differences for our children and young people: Improved mental health, Reduced social isolation,  Increased ability to thrive in education

The Role

Our Outreach (part time ALP) service will deliver services to around 45 children and young people at any one time over the next academic year. Our young people are often neurodivergent, have SEND and/ or mental needs such as anxiety, OCD and other diagnosed or undiagnosed needs. Many have very supportive and involved families and parents/ carers who also deserve our empathy and support, and many have had difficult childhood experiences and might be really struggling with loneliness and social isolation. The funding for outreach comes primarily from individual children’s EHCP’s and we design careful and thoughtful packages of education and wellbeing provision with an emphasis on therapeutic and trauma informed work. This is usually commissioned through local authorities (we work with a number across the South West and in London) and can also be commissioned by social care and NHS. The work with the children is delivered by a team of around 25 education and wellbeing practitioners. We usually deliver services in the home and the community and for many of our young people, who are usually not in school - we are key professionals, mentors and cheerleaders in their lives, delivering usually around 12 hours a week of services for each child as a part time ALP. Partnership work and safeguarding are day to day features of the services as is building supportive mentoring relationships with practitioners ensuring they have the right support, training and supervision to fulfil their roles and feel happy and supported, and building warm, nurturing relationships with families and wider stakeholders. 

We have a clear idea of our objectives for this service for next academic year (we want to make it even more amazing for the children and young people) and we need someone who will be truly excited about running day to day and the year to year. This is a key operational leadership role within a busy and fast-paced service requiring someone who is highly organised, proactive and fast on their feet - its that ‘head, heart and hand’ approach driving positive action and strategically aligned change across the service whilst holding their own case load, and able to maintain oversight of multiple complex moving parts, while ensuring children, families, and practitioners feel nurtured, inspired, and well-held.

In this role, you will:

• Oversee the day-to-day running of the Outreach (ALP) service reporting and ensuring on monthly and year to year deliverables. 

• Manage relationships with children, professionals, families and practitioners dealing with cases from referral onwards, by phone, face to face and by email, and to be in proactive and sensitive communication including with professionals and vulnerable children and families. This will  often require imagination, quick wit, empathy, and diplomacy to resolve. 

• Take an active role in strategic problem solving; being able to think about what issues might come up, what lies behind the words or the data, and what needs to be done to reassure, and move things forward successfully. 

• Collate and analyse a range of systems and data (quantitative and qualitative) with a view to improvement in communications, systems and processes and will make these improvements happen in the service and ensure they are embedded and become consistent.

• Deliver services which have meaningful long term impact for the children, but always be proactively seeking to do more and to make them better.

• Have confidence in dealing with conflict and disagreements, ensuring that the children and families voices are heard and working positively with our partners.

• Lead on personalised and holistic case management including initiation, planning, execution, monitoring/control and closure across children’s cases. 

• Proactive commitment to safeguarding best practise and information sharing including commitment to Love Squared safeguarding procedure including acting as Deputy Safeguarding Lead and attending relevant multi-agency meetings. 

• Effective risk-management for service and individual children/ young people in liaison with other stakeholders.

• Manage practitioner and other relevant recruitment so that capacity is carefully managed across the service.

• Support and improve service design, delivery and best practise for the children including running regular team meetings for each placement, individual and group supervision, and providing wellbeing support for practitioners. 

• Ensure that additional and joined up support is sought and achieved as needed to meet the children’s needs and that this is proactive as much as possible rather than reactive. 

• Ensure that reporting, planning, and other documentation both for individual children and at service level is compliant, to a high standard and well organised and managed. 

• Support the ongoing development and sustainable growth of the service in alignment with the Love Squared ethos and approach

• Line manage and supervise Case Manager(s) and supervise and mentor the practice of the practitioners. 

• Help ensure children and families experience services that feel thoughtful, imaginative, loving and genuinely supportive.

• Undertake other duties in the charity as required, being a willing and nurturing colleague and team member, supportive of senior leadership as well as practitioners and other team members. 

This role needs someone who:

• Enjoys managing/ leading services proactively, creatively improving service design - joining up the dots and seeing how things could run smoother and better for our beneficiaries and for the charity while understanding why strategic alignment and keeping ethos already in place and special. 

• Love to solve problems - the little ones, the bigger ones and enjoys a thoughtful challenge, often at pace! 

• Notices when things are starting to drift and acts early to solve,  - using learning from individual scenarios to create solutions at service level. 

• Can manage multiple moving parts calmly and thoughtfully. 

• Combines strong systems thinking with warmth and empathy, and loves working with people including team and parents/ carers - supporting and nurturing with love and kindness. 

We are looking for a wonderful person who has experience in:

• Significant experience working with children and young people with SEND and/or social, emotional and mental health needs

• Strong safeguarding knowledge and confidence managing complex safeguarding situations with best practice reflective practice

• Experience overseeing or coordinating front line educational/ health or other relevant case-managed services or provision

• Experience supervising, supporting, or line managing staff and frontline practitioners/ education or mental health teams

• Strong project management, operational, and administrative skills

• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple moving parts within a busy service

• Ability to organise, coordinate, and maintain oversight across multiple workstreams, timelines, and priorities

• Confidence developing and improving operational systems and processes

• Ability to quickly process information, prioritise effectively, and proactively problem solve

• Experience building strong, warm and compassionate relationships with parents and carers

• Strong written and verbal communication skills

• Confidence using systems, tracking information, and maintaining clear oversight of delivery, actions, and timelines

• Ability to identify opportunities for improvement and contribute to the ongoing development of services and systems

• Comfortable taking ownership of operational improvement and helping services grow sustainably over time

• Ability to work within an established relational and values-led approach while helping strengthen and refine service delivery

• A proactive, thoughtful, and emotionally intelligent approach to leadership and service management

• A belief in trauma informed,child-centred, and holistic approaches using a variety of tool kits to supporting children and families

Qualifications (Desirable, not Essential)

• Relevant qualification in education, SEND, mental health, youth work, social care, counselling, psychology, or a related field, or in project management/ operations or organisational development

Most importantly … 

You will align with our key values of:

• Love, imagination, Nurture, and Brave. 

Our team commits to these in all their interactions and through our code of conduct and behavioural framework as part of our wider safeguarding culture and best practice.

So why work for us?

Our work is sometimes challenging and tender, but it is also enriching, rewarding and we are always looking for your vision and input as we grow as a charity. 

Benefits

• 29 days annual leave plus public holidays

• Pension: 3% employer contribution, 5% employee contribution

• Flexible working as much as possible around service needs and opportunities for home working for at least some of the week (specifics to be agreed). 

• Free access to on-demand and structured counselling plus mental health resources via Spill.chat employee assistance scheme

• Collaborative working with a supportive, warm team and colleagues. 

We want everyone at Love Squared to love working for us and feel like they are an ambassador for the charity, spreading the word about what we do and the impact we have, for the sake of the children and families we serve, and we will celebrate each and every achievement with you from the tiny (they said ‘hello!’) to the big ones, as well as the tougher moments - we work as a team, supporting and nurturing each other. 

Most importantly, it’s this: 

‘Your work has been life changing, and in each conversation we feel so listened to’

Some important things! 

An application form is required as part of the recruitment process (we can’t accept just a CV!) and any appointment to joining our team will involve appropriate safeguarding checks for regulated activity with children and adults in line with our safer recruitment process such as appropriate DBS and other relevant safer recruitment checks, as well as being able to demonstrate right to work in the UK and you would be required to sign up to the DBS update service and have or obtain an appropriate DBS check for working with children and vulnerable adults. 

We may also carry out proportional online searches on candidates who are shortlisted for interviews. 

Please be aware that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.  It is an offence to apply for the role if the applicant is barred from engaging in regulated activity relating to children. 

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a confidential self-declaration form of their criminal record and other relevant checks as part of our safer recruitment process.  Please note that we operate a positive disclosure policy for cautions and convictions and historic convictions that are not related to offences against children or vulnerable adults, Love Squared would normally be willing to undertake a careful risk assessment with the applicant’s permission before coming to a decision about whether the application can be taken further.  

The interview process will include more than one stage, and please be aware that there might be two stages to the interview process and a short written/ relevant task. 

Due to capacity (we are a busy charity with a small team!) we are so sorry (and we really mean this) but we unfortunately cannot offer feedback to candidates who have not been shortlisted (eg. where we don’t progress an application form to the next stage). 

We're committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applicants from under-represented groups, diverse backgrounds, and those who don't always get their voices heard. If you have any access requirements or need reasonable adjustments in the recruitment process, then please let us know, and we'll make every effort to ensure these are supported. 

Global Programs Project Manager (Contractor)
Overview
The Maclellan Giving Together Foundation (MGTF) is a UK Christian charity connected to the longstanding international Maclellan Foundation, who describe their focus as: “establishing and strengthening the local church, promoting discipleship and leadership development, sparking community transformation, promoting the power of prayer, advocating for generosity, and increasing access to Scripture”.
Based in the UK, MGTF rolls out key global initiatives that focus on equipping local Christian ministries and releasing local resources to foster sustainable Kingdom growth.
This is a dynamic, high-impact role, ideal for someone who is highly organised, relational and passionate about seeing the Kingdom flourish globally.

Job Summary
Working alongside the Global Programs Team, the Project Manager is responsible for coordinating the planning and delivery of projects from concept through to execution. The role involves managing logistics, supporting stakeholder engagement, and ensuring initiatives are delivered on time and to a high standard. The postholder will manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously, with the ability to prioritise effectively, must thrive in a fast-paced environment, and apply creative problem-solving to deliver successful events. Remote working, with the ability to attend on-site meetings in Milton Keynes (MK19) ideally once a month.

Key Responsibilities
Project Management & Logistics

• Manage the planning and delivery of multiple concurrent projects, ensuring alignment with organisational objectives and achievement of key milestones.
• Oversee the end-to-end lifecycle of events, from initial concept, registration, and contracting through to delivery and post-event evaluation.
• Work with the Global Programs team to ensure events are delivered on time and to a high standard.
• Accountable for overseeing end-to-end project delivery, coordinating across a wider team with defined responsibilities to ensure successful delivery within the project workstream.
• Build and manage strong stakeholder relationships, providing professional, timely support and acting as a key point of contact.
• Ensure data integrity on the information we hold.
• Provider effective reporting as needed.
• Manage and optimise delegate registration and booking systems, ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and a seamless participant experience.
• Manage the logistical event delivery (remote or in-person), including setup, logistics, and real-time issue resolution, ensuring a high-quality delegate experience throughout the event.
• Coordinate complex scheduling, calendars, and travel arrangements.
• Any other task in relation to the charity’s needs.

Communication & Content

• Coordinate pre-event production, collaborating with external designers and stakeholders to ensure timely delivery of all assets and documentation.
• Manage cross-functional coordination for event delivery, ensuring effective communication across stakeholders, including localisation and translation requirements for regional relevance.
• Ensure accuracy, consistency, and timely updates of all event-related content across online platforms.
• Provide administrative and practical support to event personnel in global locations as they deliver our programs.
• Follow established brand guidelines to maintain consistency in tone, messaging, and visual identity across all content.

Research, Reporting & Finance

• Ensure relevant reporting and documentation are supplied to stakeholders.
• Manage expense processing and support budget oversight, ensuring accurate tracking, forecasting, and alignment with programme objectives in collaboration with senior leadership.

Cultural Adaptation & Coordination

• Contribute to the development of our programs globally, from ideation through to delivery.
• Assist with the localisation of content to ensure materials are culturally appropriate,supporting communication with translators and stakeholders to help adapt resourcesfor different cultural contexts.

Occupational Requirement
The candidate must have an active Christian faith. By virtue of the job’s involvement in faith-sensitive work under Schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010, the post-holder must be an active Christian with a genuine personal faith in Jesus, grounded in Scripture and reflected in their everyday life.

Experience (Essential)

• Have experience in a church/charity or professional environment.
• Strong understanding of and commitment to the Foundation’s mission with an understanding of the Church scene.
• A genuine passion for advancing the gospel through the global Church, with a commitment to supporting both Christian givers and churches and charities.
• Managing multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously, with the ability to prioritise effectively, owning and delivering end to end events from planning through to execution and evaluation.
• Strong stakeholder management and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships and work effectively across cross-functional teams.
• Proven track record of managing and controlling project or event budgets including forecasting and cost management.
• Negotiating and managing external suppliers and partners.
• Working across different regions, cultures, or time zones demonstrating cultural awareness and adaptability.
• Professional in appearance with a proactive approach and a desire to constantly improve and grow.
• Willingness to be flexible in working hours with occasional travel and overnight stays.
• Knowledge of standard office administrative practices and procedures.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Experience (Desirable but not required)

• Experience delivering a programme of learning (content and structure).
• Understanding of generous giving and experience of working with donors.
• Knowledge of copywriting for different platforms (e.g. digital, presentations, printed materials).
• Additional language skills.
• Working knowledge of Asana, Beacon, Canva, Mailchimp and Survey/ticketing Apps.

Contract Terms
Working hours and hourly rate will be agreed in advance.

Future First is looking for a passionate and organised Programmes & Partnerships Manager to lead the delivery of key partnership programmes that help state school students build confidence, motivation and career aspirations through alumni networks.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a mission-driven charity working to ensure every state school and college is supported by a thriving alumni community. You’ll work closely with senior leaders, funders and partners to manage projects, strengthen strategic relationships and help shape the future of our programmes.

We’re looking for someone with strong project and stakeholder management experience, excellent communication skills and a collaborative approach. You’ll also line manage our Corporate Partnerships Executive and play a key role in driving programme quality, learning and impact across the organisation.

About us Future

First wants to see every state school and college in the UK, and every state pupil, supported by a thriving and engaged alumni community, which improves students’ motivation, confidence and life chances. We have a network of alumni who have supported our programmes in schools for over a decade. They act as accessible and inspirational role models by sharing their stories through a variety of activities, including blogging, online mentoring, networking and careers activities in our member schools. We manage these relationships through our Future First Hub – a safe, social media style interface that allows schools to build and manage every aspect of their network in one place.

About the role

The role of the Programme & Partnerships Manager is to lead and coordinate the planning, delivery, management and monitoring of Future First’s key partnership programmes. This is an exciting opportunity for someone with demonstrable experience in project management, excellent partnership and stakeholder engagement at all levels, and committed to Future First’s aims and values. 

Application process 

To help you prepare the strongest possible application, we are hosting an information and Q&A session about the role on Tuesday 9 June 2026 at 12 noon. This is an optional session where you can hear more about the role and ask any questions you may have. If you would like to join this session, please see the attached job pack for how to register your interest. 

Applications must be submitted by Monday 15 June at 12 noon. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered. There will be two rounds of interview, initially via Zoom (week commencing 22 June) and for those short-listed, in-person in London (week commencing 29 June).

Future First is committed to safeguarding the staff, volunteers and young people we work with. Where applicable, a satisfactory enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check will be required for the successful candidate.