Research programme manager jobs in edinburgh

About The Role

Contract: Up to 12-month fixed term contract, covering maternity leave.

About Alzheimer's Society - who are we and what’s our mission?

Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime.  

At Alzheimer’s Society, we’re the UK’s leading dementia charity and the only one to tackle all aspects of dementia by giving help and hope to people living with dementia today and in the future. We give vital support to people facing the most frightening times of their lives, while also funding ground-breaking research and campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be.  

Together with our supporters, we’re working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives. 

Our values make sure that our focus is clear for the challenges and opportunities ahead and remind us of what we all stand for.  

About the opportunity

We are thrilled to offer an incredible opportunity to become part of our High Value team at Alzheimer’s Society as part of a maternity cover.  

We’re looking for a passionate, people-focused communicator to join us. This is more than a fundraising role—it’s about building meaningful, lasting connections with supporters who want to leave a legacy of hope.

This is your chance to play a pivotal role in generating essential funds that drive our mission forward, supporting those living with dementia, funding ground-breaking research, and campaigning for change.
You’ll be the trusted guide for individuals considering leaving a gift in their Will, helping them feel valued, informed, and inspired every step of the way. You’ll also lead on delivering three engaging supporter events each year, bringing our mission to life and showing the real impact of legacy giving.
If you are seeking a varied and fast paced role in a supportive and experienced team this could be the move for you.

About you

You may not be from a fundraising background, that's ok! Let us know in your application how you match what we need for you to succeed. We need you to have; 

- Strong relationship building and communications skills, to a wide variety of audiences, with an interest in some public speaking (don’t worry, we will guide you), both virtually and in person.
- Ability and motivation to meet and exceed targets, both financial and service delivery.
- Confidence or keen interest to learn how to deliver an engaging presentations to small and large audiences.
- The independence and self-motivation to work remotely.
- Enjoys travel and has the flexibility to meet key stakeholders across the Midlands as well as an ability to attend regular internal meetings at our flagship offices across the UK.

Location: This is a homeworking role with travel across the Central West and Midlands and to other locations, including our national offices in London, Birmingham, Warrington, and Belfast.

Interview Dates: 24th & 25th July. 

Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging  

We need to ensure the voices around our table better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as part of a minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Alzheimer's Society.     

Our hiring process 

We want you to bring your whole self to the process. Applications are anonymised until interview stage, and we’re happy to support any adjustments. Share your feedback via our candidate survey when applying to help us improve. We may close early if we receive high interest (with 48 hours’ notice). Some roles may require a DBS check as part of our safer recruitment commitment. Thinking about using AI during the recruitment process? we know this can be helpful in many ways but remember to include your personal and authentic self too. Your voice and experience are what really set you apart. 

Giving back to you  

At Alzheimer’s Society, we value our people and take a total reward approach to pay and benefits. You’ll enjoy a generous double-matched pension scheme, 27 days’ annual leave (plus bank holidays and wellbeing days), and access to a free Bupa Cash Plan, 24/7 EAP, Thrive mental wellbeing support, and virtual GP services. Our Society Plus platform offers exclusive discounts, wellbeing resources, and recognition schemes, while our flexible working, family-friendly policies, and life assurance provide peace of mind and work/life balance. We also offer a free Will-writing service and long service awards to recognise your ongoing commitment.

Director of Development (Part time)

£70K FTE, 2 year fixed-term contract, 1 day per week 

We are looking for a senior philanthropy professional with a strong interest in music and a proven track record in growing and building high level funding relationships, to work part time to build and engage a committed network of major individual donors to fund the long-term sustainability of La Nuova Musica (LNM) and fulfilment of its creative vision. 

Welcome from the CEO

La Nuova Musica is a leading ensemble in its chosen field of music from the 17th and 18th centuries with a focus on the voice. This is a unique opportunity to shape future opportunities for LNM. You will be joining us at a pivotal time as the orchestra builds on its current success with a board that is fully engaged and eager to establish a professional, strategic approach to philanthropy. LNM deeply values the role of philanthropy, particularly as public funding is highly constrained.

 

You will have the full backing of the CEO, the Board and the Artistic Director who are ready to work closely with you to build and steward transformative philanthropic relationships that align with our artistic and strategic ambitions.

 

You will also have access to an influential network and be introduced to and collaborate with our most senior philanthropic supporters. While the number of supporters is currently small, they are among the most respected and well-connected individuals in the arts. 

 

We believe that this is a rare opportunity to make a lasting impact and, while our philanthropic foundations are still developing, they are promising. The Board understands that meaningful, long-term philanthropic growth requires time, trust, and strategic investment—and they are committed to supporting you on that journey.

About La Nuova Musica

La Nuova Musica is an early music ensemble led by its founder and Artistic Director, David Bates, and known for spirited performances that receive widespread acclaim from audiences and five-star reviews from the press. 

“If anyone can be relied on to make Baroque music sound newly hatched, it’s the aptly named La Nuova Musica. They dust out the tiniest corners of phrasing and embellish the music so that it sounds more dizzy with life than you’ve ever heard before”. The Times

LNM appears regularly at the Wigmore Hall, St Martin in the Fields, the London Handel Festival as well as festivals around the UK. They made their BBC Proms debut in 2022 with a performance of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas described as “a superbly evocative night” in The Times and “a musical tour de force” in Opera Today. In 2024 they appeared for the first time at the Grange Festival in a series of performances of Monteverdi’s opera, The Coronation of Poppea, hailed by Opera Today as “truly a five-star production, and easily one of the best interpretations of Monteverdi or a Baroque opera I have seen.'

LNM has also appeared in concert halls and festivals across Europe including the Handel Festival Halle, La Seine Musicale Paris, the Göttingen International Handel Festival, the Salzburg Festival, the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, and the Steffani Festival in Hanover.

Their reputation is enhanced by a series of award-winning recordings for Pentatone and Harmonia Mundi. Their latest recording of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas was selected as one of two opera recordings for the prestigious Abbiata award in Italy, alongside a recording of Katya Kabanova conducted by Simon Rattle with the LSO.  It was one of Gramophone’s recordings of the year and BBC R3’s CD Review chose it as their Recording of the Week. “the way it zings off the page bristling with dramatic life and energy from the first bars, and with a range of voices and imaginative instrumental accompaniment, fills it with incident and colour”.BBC Radio 3.

An earlier release, Handel’s Unsung Heroes, was selected by BBC Music Magazine as their Recording of the Month and awarded 5 stars as “a stunning collection of Handel opera numbers. For originality, risk-taking and erudition, it towers above its predecessors. The project is a heroic achievement for all involved.” 

La Nuova Musica’s strategic goals

We are bursting with ideas and feel we have so much more that we want to achieve. We perform regularly at the Wigmore Hall in London and are in the process of establishing a presence in Salisbury (David Bates’ hometown) and in Oxford, where we are working with an excellent chamber choir of young amateur singers, Schola Cantorum.  By giving the same concert in all these cities, we make best use of our artistic and financial resources at the same time as broadening our reach.

We also aim to deliver new strands of activity. One is relaxed concerts for anyone who needs an informal setting to enjoy our performances. The other offers high quality professional experience to singers and players from the modern instrument world in understanding baroque and early classical music. This is important for several reasons, not least to build and strengthen the UK pool of musicians for the future to preserve this repertoire. 

 

We receive no public funding and are only able to continue thanks to the support of generous individuals who love what we do and want us to do more. As is the case in our sector, ticket sales do not cover the cost of performances. We also need to pay our administrative team for any activity to take place at all. We currently operate thanks to a small but highly experienced and committed team who work remotely, at significantly reduced rates, because of their belief in David Bates and La Nuova Musica. To achieve our vision, we need to secure ongoing funding for core running costs (approximately £120k per year) as well as additional funding for specific artistic projects and other activity (approximately £120k per year, though this will vary from year to year).

Thanks to the fantastic support of generous individuals, LNM can engage with some ambitious projects such as Handel’s Giustino, our first co-production with the Royal Ballet and Opera which takes place in October 2025. We have successfully raised the money required for this and can now put in place some important and ambitious projects for the next three years. 

These include:

·Promoting two concerts each year in St Martin in the Fields, which entails risk on a larger scale than the Wigmore Hall where we are engaged (paid) to perform. (£15k p.a.)

·Developing further our work in Salisbury with two annual concerts which feed off our regular series in the Wigmore Hall and St Martin in the Fields. (£12k p.a.)

·Developing our relationships in Oxford along the lines of Salisbury (see above) (12k p.a.) 

·Developing a relaxed concert strand where performances are specially prepared and delivered to suit anyone who needs an informal setting to enjoy our performances.  (10k per run of events)

·Grow existing strands of work which provide experience for amateur singers, young professional singers and players in informed baroque and early classical performances. (15k per run of events)

·Recording some of our best work to act as a calling card with promoters and the public. (£40- 50k per recording)

·Build on our existing work to make and keep early music relevant, thus protecting its cultural heritage, by commissioning new work for the ensemble which combines the sounds and techniques of early music with that of living composers. (£15-20k per commission)

The Role

Role Dimensions

·To deliver excellence in supporter stewardship, building commitment and increasing funding and support from current LNM major individual supporters

·To research and lead a prospect pipeline for new five and six figure multi-year commitments

·To design and execute special high-level events for prospect/donor cultivation and development

·To develop and write compelling propositions for key trusts and foundations

·To ensure all fundraising is conducted as per the Codes of Fundraising Practice and other regulatory guidelines

Essential Experience and Skills

oProven delivery performance at a significant giving level, both individually and leading others to achieve (including Trustees and senior leadership)

oAbility to build long term HNW relationships, alongside several personal skills including being persuasive, receptive, inquisitive, dynamic, politically savvy and inspirational

oProven experience of building and leading excellent donor stewardship programmes at a senior level, including high level implementation of special events, and proposition development for trust and foundations

oUnderstanding and knowledge of key fundraising regulations with experience of implementing process and systems required to deliver best practice.

Reporting Structures 

The Director of Development is a member of the senior management team and will report to the CEO John Summers, whilst working closely with the Artistic Director, David Bates, and Finance Director, Val Hawkin.

The entire team work remotely and meet up on-line and in person when required.

The Director of Development line manages a part time administrator (Job Description available on request)

The Cleft Lip and Palate Association (CLAPA) is the national charity for people affected by cleft lip and palate in the United Kingdom. 

We are looking for a Digital Communications Coordinator to cover maternity leave and to support our busy Communications team.

The Digital Communications Coordinator is a key role within CLAPA, responsible for implementing our digital communications strategy to engage and inspire the UK cleft community. This role moves beyond content creation to take ownership of CLAPA’s digital communications across social and email platforms, ensuring online communications are strategic and data-driven. Working closely with colleagues across the organisation, this role supports the planning, delivery, and monitoring of campaigns that inform, support, and connect the cleft community in the UK. 

This is a hands-on role suited to someone with a good understanding of digital communications and a passion for community engagement. The Coordinator will manage day-to-day digital content, respond to online enquiries, and support internal teams with their communications needs. They will also play an important part in maintaining CLAPA’s brand and voice across all channels, ensuring our communications are accessible, on-brand, and effective. 

NB - We reserve the right to close applications early if we receive a high volume of strong candidates.