Senior advocate jobs in Birmingham

This is a home-based role, working Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Applications are welcome from candidates based outside Belfast, provided they are resident in Northern Ireland and able to commute to the Belfast office if required.

The External Affairs Manager plays a pivotal role in empowering people with sight loss to live the life they choose. This position leads the development of policy and campaigns within the country, aligning with Guide Dogs’ strategic objectives. Working collaboratively with the central policy, public affairs, and campaigns team, as well as the country leadership team, the role builds strategic partnerships with government bodies, local authorities, societies, and other key organisations. This ensures Guide Dogs remains informed and influential on all policy initiatives affecting the organisation and its stakeholders.

The post holder will be responsible for the day‑to‑day leadership, management and oversight of a team.

The post-holder is responsible for shaping policy positions, drafting responses to consultations from councils, combined authorities, and devolved governments, and driving impactful campaigns at a regional level. A key focus is increasing the involvement of blind and partially sighted people in advocacy and campaigning.

Additionally, the role leads the implementation of Guide Dogs’ regional marketing and communications strategy across the Devolved Nations. This includes raising brand awareness, engaging diverse audiences—service users, families, volunteers, donors, and the public—and delivering integrated communications plans that strengthen Guide Dogs’ presence and impact.

Key Responsibilities

Policy Development

• Lead the creation of country-specific policy and position papers, ensuring alignment with organisational strategy.
• Prepare responses to consultation papers from devolved administrations, local government, and regional bodies.
• Represent Guide Dogs on committees, working groups, and forums, staying informed on policy issues impacting the organisation and its service users.

Public Affairs

• Build and influence relationships with key stakeholders, including elected representatives and senior officials.
• Represent Guide Dogs at Government Scrutiny Committees and cross-party groups.
• Act as the primary liaison with local government and statutory agencies.

Campaigns & Influence

• Strategically lead and coordinate campaigns at a country level, ensuring alignment with devolved policy priorities.
• Develop and deliver campaigns addressing local needs of the visually impaired community.
• Foster partnerships within the Third Sector to build consensus and amplify Guide Dogs’ strategic aims. 

Leadership & People Management

• Provide strong leadership to local staff and volunteers, promoting best practice and knowledge-sharing.
• Oversee recruitment, performance management, and compliance with safeguarding policies.
• Ensure high levels of engagement through effective communication and leadership.

Financial Accountability

• Support fundraising initiatives and monitor operational budgets to ensure efficiency and compliance.

Diversity & Inclusion

• Champion Guide Dogs’ diversity agenda, ensuring services are inclusive and accessible.
• Work with external partners to create a more inclusive environment for people with sight loss.

How to apply 

Further details on the full role are attached below. When you are ready to apply, submit an online application form via this page.

If you would like to have an informal conversation about the role before applying, or require any accessibility support to apply, our friendly recruitment team is ready and waiting to help.

As part of your application ensure you provide evidence and examples of how your skills & experience meet the criteria as set out in the attached job description. You will also be asked to complete a few job-specific questions as part of this application process, so please be prepared to write your answers to these questions.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Guide Dogs welcomes applications from all sections of the community and actively encourages diversity to maximise achievements, creativity and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or nationality. 

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are proud, whenever possible, to offer an interview to all candidates that meet our selection criteria, and who indicate they wish their application to be considered under our Disability Confident interview commitment. For more details, visit our careers site.

If you are successful you will need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK via our digital ID checking supplier; in addition, we cannot offer visa sponsorship at this time.

Safeguarding

Guide Dogs is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk of harm with whom we work. We expect all our employees and volunteers to fully share this commitment.

At Guide Dogs, we believe in fair and equitable hiring practices. A criminal record will not automatically disqualify an applicant from consideration for a position. Each case will be evaluated individually, taking into account the nature of the offense, its relevance to the role, and the time that has passed since the incident. We encourage all candidates to disclose relevant information, and we assure you that it will be handled confidentially and fairly.

Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If you are applying for a disclosure role, please note that you will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check and sign up to the DBS update service.

For high volumes of applications, we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than advertised.

This is an exciting time for Parkinson’s UK, we want to reach as many people as possible so we can improve life for everyone affected by Parkinson’s. We are looking for people to join our network, make genuine connections, and be part of a larger team that works together to support the Parkinson’s community. 

About the role 

You’ll lead and coordinate our local campaigning work across London. Your work will help the charity improve the lives of people in local communities affected by Parkinson’s. You'll listen to the needs of our local communities and work with colleagues in our wider directorate to do focussed political campaigning work and advocacy. 

Your work will help raise awareness and increase knowledge about Parkinson’s. Through your campaigns you’ll ensure that the voices of people with Parkinson’s, their families and carers are heard.

What you’ll do:

• Be a first point of contact for supporters and campaigners in the local area,who want to improve services in their local area.

• Provide expert advice and support to colleagues and campaigners on how best to challenge and influence decision makers.

• Build close working relationships with our field staff and our local networks.

• Recruit and manage a sustainable network of local campaign volunteers.

• Lead campaigns to ensure everyone with Parkinson’s has access to the multidisciplinary team so they can live well with Parkinson’s.

What you’ll bring:

• Experience of campaigning and an understanding of the basic tools and techniques used in campaigning. 

• Experience of working with volunteers and services users including how best to support them to achieve their campaigning goals.

• Experience in organising events.

• Experience of delivering training to volunteers and staff. 

• Ability to work flexibly, sometimes evenings or weekends.

• Experience of using digital tools to work collaboratively and productively. 

This is an exciting time for Parkinson’s UK and we would love you to join us!

Please apply by sending us your CV, together with a detailed supporting statement which will fully demonstrate how you meet all the criteria of the role, as stated in the "What you'll bring" section of the job description.

Interviews for this role will be held on the 12 March 2026, online via googlemeet.

Following this, successful candidates will be invited to meet the Senior Local Campaign Officer in person for a second round interview.

The successful candidate will be required to:

• Live within the geography required (South East England)

• provide their own broadband service with a minimum download speed of 2Mb 

• have a confidential space in which to work

Anyone can get Parkinson’s. It’s vital that the people who work for Parkinson’s UK are representative of our diverse community. We actively encourage people from all sections of the community to apply, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, age, disability, sexual orientation, or religion.

Anyone can get Parkinson’s. It’s vital that the people who work for Parkinson’s UK are representative of our diverse community. We actively encourage people from all sections of the community to apply, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, age, disability, sexual orientation, or religion.

We are looking for a skilled and energetic Fundraiser to lead revenue generation at this outstanding, award-winning, international charity. Working alongside the Director, there is exceptional scope for securing the support of high net-worth individuals, regular givers and Trusts and Foundations. This is a new post and you will have an important role in shaping the future of HYT.

Please see attached the full job description below.

About the Foyer Federation

Young people who experience homelessness are more likely to experience it later in life too. Our purpose is to break this cycle.

For over 30 years, we have led a national network of 51 Youth Foyers, reaching approximately 3,100 young people aged 16-25 who can’t live at home every year.

Youth Foyers are more than a place to stay: they are thriving communities, with people - not circumstance - at the heart. By building on young people’s strengths, talents and aspirations, Youth Foyers offer a holistic living and learning opportunity for young people to realise their power and purpose, and move on equipped to thrive as independent adults.

What we do

Through community of practice events, consultation and training, and our quality development programme, we provide youth supported housing services with infrastructural support to adopt and deliver an impactful Youth Foyer service.

By working with services to build their resilience to external challenges, capacity to work holistically with young people, and high quality provision that centres youth voice, we increase the number of young people who move on from supported housing with the power and agency to thrive.

We’re now looking for a passionate programme coordinator with a flair for building positive relationships to join our team in the north west of England.

As Network & Programme Coordinator, you will be responsible for developing and nurturing relationships with staff and young people in our Youth Foyer network.

By proactively listening to the network’s needs, ambitions and experiences; offering coaching and development opportunities; and guiding Youth Foyers through our accreditation programme, you will support services to develop and deliver transformational opportunities for young people who can’t live at home.

You will also be responsible for the delivery of funded programmes for and with young people (16-25) and staff in north west Youth Foyers.

Find out more and apply

If you’re a proactive relationship builder with a passion for enabling young people to realise their power and purpose, we’d love to hear from you. 
More information on the role, who we’re looking for and how to apply can be found in the job pack on our website.