Project innovations manager jobs in houghton le spring, county durham

Job Title: Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Location: Remote (UK-based preferred)
Travel: Travel to Calais and UK operational sites required
Contract: Full-time, permanent
Salary: £40,000 per annum
Deadline to Apply: 16 July 2025
How to Apply: Please submit your CV and a cover letter outlining your suitability for the role and motivation for working with Care4Calais.

About Care4Calais

Care4Calais is a volunteer-led humanitarian charity providing essential aid and support to refugees and asylum seekers in Northern France and across the UK. Founded on principles of dignity, compassion, and solidarity, we are committed to creating a fairer, more inclusive society for those seeking refuge.

From providing warm clothing, English classes to legal access, education, and social support, we work tirelessly—through a network of grassroots volunteers and a small, dedicated staff teams—to deliver life-changing help to displaced people. With operations in Calais, Dunkirk, and over 70 locations in the UK, our impact is wide-reaching and continually growing.

About the Role

We are seeking an exceptional Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead and oversee the strategic delivery of Care4Calais’ operational (direct aid provision) work across all regions. This is quite a newly created role that will play a central part in shaping the charity’s growth, resilience, and day-to-day effectiveness—ensuring our humanitarian aid reaches those who need it most.

The COO will work closely with the CEO, Senior Leadership Team, and Trustees, to develop internal systems, guide operational teams, maintain consistency across all projects, and strengthen our digital communications, training, safeguarding, and volunteer engagement. You will also play a key leadership role in fostering innovation, implementing policy, and coordinating multi-regional delivery across the UK and Northern France.

This is a remote-based role, but regular travel to operational sites in Calais and around the UK is essential to ensure quality, cohesion, and morale across our field teams and volunteer network.

Key Responsibilities

➣ Strategic & Operational Leadership

• Oversee the delivery of all operational activities across the UK and French field sites, ensuring they align with Care4Calais’ mission, values, and strategic goals.

• Lead and support UK Field Operations Managers and France Operations Coordinators in planning and executing aid distributions, support services, and community engagement.

• Monitor performance across regions, using data and feedback to drive improvements in impact, efficiency, safety, and volunteer satisfaction.

➣ Volunteer Coordination & Digital Community Oversight

• Supervise volunteer communication channels, including Facebook groups, WhatsApp chats, and other platforms, ensuring all messaging is consistent, safe, and in line with our organisational tone and values.

• Support the recruitment, onboarding, training, and retention of a diverse and inclusive volunteer base.

• Work daily with Field Operations Managers to provide hands-on guidance, motivation, problem-solving and support for regional leads and volunteer teams.

➣ Training, Safeguarding & Compliance

• Develop, maintain, and implement comprehensive training programmes for volunteers to ensure service quality, safety, and dignity for people seeking asylum.

• Ensure that safeguarding policies are understood by all team members, staff and volunteers alike, and rigorously implemented, acting as a point of escalation for issues that arise.

• Oversee incident reporting processes, risk assessments, and other compliance-related procedures to safeguard both volunteers and people seeking asylum.

➣ Organisational Development & Governance

• Contribute to strategic planning and policy development with the CEO, and SLT.

• Identify opportunities for innovation in service delivery, volunteer management, and infrastructure.

➣ Field Engagement & External Representation

• Conduct regular visits to UK and French operational sites, meeting with local teams, assessing needs, and providing in-person leadership and support.

• Represent Care4Calais in meetings with partner organisations and local authorities, and at public events.

Person Specification

Essential

• Demonstrable experience managing multi-site teams.

• Strong leadership, organisational and communication skills, with the ability to delegate effectively and manage competing priorities.

• Deep understanding of issues affecting asylum seekers, displaced people, or those facing immigration challenges.

• Commitment to anti-racism, inclusivity, and the promotion of human rights.

• Ability and willingness to travel frequently to field operations across the UK and Calais.

Desirable

• Proven experience in a senior operational, COO, or equivalent leadership role within the charity, humanitarian or grassroots community sector.

• Experience working with refugee communities or within the UK asylum system.

• Understanding of safeguarding, compliance, and humanitarian best practices.

Equality & Safeguarding

Care4Calais is an equal opportunities employer. We actively encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, LGBTQ+ individuals, disabled candidates, and those with lived experience of immigration system.

All appointments are subject to enhanced safeguarding checks.

Lived Experience Inclusion

We are an anti-racist organisation and a proud member of the Experts by Experience Employment Network (EBE), which aims to create a charitable sector led by individuals with lived experience of the asylum system.

As part of our membership, we are dedicated to creating inclusive employment practices that recognise and accommodate the unique circumstances and strengths of people with lived experience. We actively move away from a one-size-fits-all approach, ensuring our recruitment processes are fair, supportive, and accessible.

We warmly encourage applicants with lived experience to make use of the guidance and resources available on the EBE website (ebeemployment).

In addition, applicants with lived experience are welcome to connect with the EBE support team for tailored assistance with completing the application form and, where available, one-to-one interview preparation. 

Importantly, we recognise the significant cultural, linguistic, and experiential insights that individuals with lived experience of the UK asylum system bring to this role. As such, all applicants from this background who meet the essential criteria will be automatically shortlisted and invited to interview.

Senior Individual Giving Executive
c.£33,000 per annum
Remote

The Talent Set is thrilled to partner with a leading UK children’s charity to recruit a Senior Individual Giving Executive.

This exciting opportunity plays a key role in delivering impactful, multi-channel fundraising campaigns. The successful candidate will manage high-value projects across channels such as digital, direct mail, DRTV, and telemarketing, supporting income growth through regular giving, lotteries, cash appeals, raffles, and more.

This is a fantastic role for someone with strong campaign management experience who’s ready to step up and help shape future planning, guide junior team members, and work collaboratively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.

If you're passionate about creating powerful supporter journeys and driving fundraising success, this could be your ideal next step.

Key Responsibilities:

• Plan and manage end-to-end fundraising campaigns across a range of channels including digital, direct mail, DRTV, dialogue, lottery, and raffles—ensuring compliance, timely delivery, and budget management.
• Support strategic development by evaluating campaign performance, contributing insights, and making data-driven recommendations to inform future Individual Giving strategy.
• Oversee campaign budgets, including forecasting, processing invoices, monitoring variances, and supporting the development of annual income and expenditure plans.
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring campaigns align with brand guidelines, fundraising strategy, and organisational goals.
• Mentor and support junior team members, providing guidance on campaign delivery, professional development, and internal processes.
• Champion continuous improvement, staying up to date with sector trends, contributing to team planning, and actively supporting diversity and inclusion within the organisation.

Person Specification:

• Proven experience managing campaigns across at least two fundraising channels (e.g. face-to-face, telemarketing, direct mail, DRTV, or digital), with strong understanding of creative processes, data segmentation, and campaign evaluation.
• Skilled in setting and monitoring budgets, working to KPIs, analysing campaign performance, and supporting data-driven decision making.
• Ability to plan, prioritise and manage multiple projects simultaneously under pressure, ensuring timely delivery and accuracy in all aspects of campaign delivery.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with experience liaising with internal stakeholders and external suppliers, and ability to give clear, constructive creative feedback.
• Confident using Microsoft Office (especially Word, Excel, Outlook), with analytical and numeracy skills and familiarity with database and data briefing tools.
• Proactive in personal development and supporting others, demonstrating flexibility, team spirit, and problem-solving capabilities in a fast-paced, changing environment.

What’s on Offer:

• Play a central role in delivering impactful fundraising campaigns across a range of high-performing channels including digital, DRTV, and direct mail.
• Contribute to the planning and development of the charities Individual Giving strategy, with opportunities to shape future campaign direction and innovation.
• Benefit from tailored learning and mentoring opportunities, including overseeing junior team members and collaborating across specialist teams and external partners.
• Be part of a mission-led organisation making a tangible difference across the UK, with values of hope, respect and inclusion at its core.
• Enjoy a healthy work/life balance with a supportive working policy, flexible hours, and travel only when required for essential team meetings or key events.

To be considered for this position please apply with your CV as soon as possible, regrettably please note we may not be able to reply to each and every application.

We are committed to diverse and inclusive recruitment practises that ensure equal opportunity for everyone, regardless of race, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, age or gender. We encourage applications from all backgrounds and will happily make reasonable adjustments to always ensure a fair process.

We’re looking for a proactive and organised Team Administrator to play a key role in keeping our organisation running smoothly, providing vital support across all teams and functions.

About Khulisa: 

Khulisa, meaning 'nurture' in the Zulu language of South Africa, is an award-winning charity dedicated to providing therapeutic support to young people. We focus on reaching those who are most at risk – young people from deprived communities who are often marginalized, vulnerable to exclusion, and at heightened risk of becoming involved in crime.

Our approach centres on safe, exploratory methods that aim to understand behaviour and experiences often rooted in trauma, abuse, and neglect. We deliver intensive therapeutic programs within educational and community settings, empowering young people to confront the underlying causes of their emotional distress and work toward healing. To create lasting, sustainable change, we also work to establish trauma-informed environments around young people by equipping parents, caregivers, educators, and other professionals with the tools they need to offer effective, supportive care. Currently, our services are active in London and Manchester. 

About the role: 

The purpose of this role is to provide high-quality administrative support across the organisation, ensuring the smooth and efficient running Khulisa's day-to-day operations. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Scheduling and organising internal staff meetings and events 
• Providing end-to-end support in Khulisa's recruitment processes
• Managing Khulisa's central mailbox 
• Taking resposibility for Khulisa's invoice management system
• Carrying out monthly payroll administration

For a full list of duties and responsibilities, please see the attached job description below. 

The post holder will be required to work from home permanently but be willing and able to easily travel to various locations across the London and the North West as necessary to fulfill the requirements of the role and to engage with stakeholders and colleagues.

What we're looking for:

Abilities/Experience

• Experience in a similar position working across departments and teams to provide support - or a demonstratable ability to do this 
• Experience of using digital platforms for for scheduled and ad hoc administrative processes, including relating or organisation's operations or other functions 
• Ability to perform financial administrative tasks, such as expenses administration, using relevant software
• Excellent organisational and time management skills 
• Ability to prioritise competing commitments and work accurately and methodolically under pressure and work tight deadlines
• Ability to properly deal with sensitive / confidential information
• Experience working within a small but close-knit team
• Demonstrable ability to plan and prioritise own workload with minimum supervision 
• Ability to buy strongly into strategic objectives and reflect passion for Khulisa's work with and for Young People
• Willingness to work occasional weekends and evenings when required 

Knowledge/Skills

• Strong IT skills, including proficiency in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets
• A commitment to Khulisa's work 
• Some knowledge of Salesforce or other similar CRMs

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: We are actively looking to recruit a diversity of talent. We embrace, respect and value the difference in our employees and believe that we and our work is better for it. We are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive environment that consists of fairness, dignity, and caring for everyone, and one that enables every employee to flourish and realise their potential.