Senior financial reporting and accounts manager jobs in hampton, england

GADN is recruiting for a new Director (Job share – Funding, Finance and Governance)   

GADN brings together NGOs and individual experts committed to achieving gender equality and the rights of women and girls in all their diversity across the world.  Our Secretariat is a small but highly respected team coordinating advocacy towards the UK Government and supporting our members to promote best practice. 

This new position will work alongside the existing Director to provide strategic direction and vision to the network and oversee the organisation’s operational work. In addition, the primary purpose of this role will be to bring in new sustainable sources of funding for the network in an increasingly difficult funding climate, and to ensure the smooth running of financial and administrative systems and Board governance.

We are looking for someone with leadership skills and vision who is passionate about our work and able to enthuse others. The ideal candidate will have a track-record in securing new funds and experience of external representation at senior levels with donors. You will bring experience in management, ideally at a senior level, and an understanding of budgets and financial planning.

This is an 18-month fixed-term position, for 14 hours a week.

If you are interested in applying, please review the job description and complete the application form by 9pm GMT on Wednesday 7 January 2026.

GADN values diversity and inclusion and encourages applicants from all backgrounds and life experiences to join our team. As we continue working to decolonise our practice and build an anti-racist organisation, we actively welcome applications from Black women and Women of Colour who we recognise are under-represented in the UK international development sector. Selection will be based on skill, experience and suitability for the role. If you share our core commitments, we would love to hear from you!

About the opportunity
Action Tutoring is the largest tutoring charity in the country. At the heart of our work is closing the attainment gap for pupils facing disadvantage in the UK by harnessing the power of tutoring. We are seeking an inspiring and strategic Interim Chief Executive Officer (maternity cover) to lead our growing charity, ensuring the charity continues to achieve benchmark-beating results for the pupils we support. In 2025-26, our work will reach 7,000 pupils supported by more than 80 staff and 2,500 volunteer tutors.  This role would suit someone with experience of interim senior leadership roles, wanting to make a difference in an area with proven impact on outcomes for children and young people.

Closing date: Wednesday, 17th December 2025
Interviews: Between 8th and 16th January 2026
Start date: Ideally, Monday, 23rd March 2026
Contract and hours: Fixed-term, 9 to 12-month maternity cover. We are open to discussions regarding the working pattern, and welcome applications for 0.8 FTE up to 1 FTE. A full working week is 37.5 hours. We offer flexible working hours. The core working hours are 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Applications from candidates seeking a secondment are welcome.
Location: Hybrid working with 2 or 3 days per week, in London, dependent on meetings and occasionally with short notice. Our London office address is: Fivefields, 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens, Victoria, SW1W 0DH
 

Duties and Responsibilities
The Interim CEO (maternity cover) is responsible for maintaining the high performance of the charity, overseeing the delivery of key strategic goals in line with our mission and aims. During the period of this appointment, you will lead the organisation through its annual school sales process (Spring 26), ensure the successful delivery of a key strategic project testing AI in our delivery model (Summer and Autumn 26) and set the organisation up for success in a new academic year (Autumn 26).

Vision, Strategy and Delivery

• Working with the Board to implement the vision and mission of the charity.
• Responsible for implementing the agreed strategy.

People and Cultural Leadership

• Overall people and cultural leadership, empowering the team the maintain the positive working culture with behaviours that align closely to the charity’s values.
• Ensuring operational excellence is maintained across the organisation.

Advocacy

• Representing Action Tutoring externally to a range of stakeholders, including school leaders, policymakers, the media and funders, to raise the profile of Action Tutoring and awareness of the cause.
• Sustain constructive working relationships with other education charities, sharing good practice and working collaboratively to improve educational outcomes.

Finance and Fundraising

• Overseeing financial management of the charity supported by the Director of Finance & Operations. 
• Lead fundraising alongside the Head of Philanthropy to ensure fundraising targets set by the Board are met.

Line Management

• Direct line management of the Senior Leadership Team (3 Directors), the Head of Impact & Quality and the Head of Philanthropy, covering the five departments of the organisati

A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found in the job description attached to the BreatheHR advert.

Person specification
Qualifications criteria:

• The right to work in the UK.

We are looking for some of the following attributes, though you might be more experienced in some areas than others: 

• Proven track record as a CEO in a not-for-profit organisation, experience as an Interim CEO is desirable but not essential. The ability to get up to speed quickly will be vital. 
• Experience of working within a delivery-based organisation and an understanding of how to ensure quality, efficiency, and impact in that context.
• Commercial mindset, with proven success in fundraising and/or sales targets to meet set targets and secure income for ongoing operations.
• Experience overseeing pilots of new delivery modes, applying a theory of change approach to learning.
• Experience in developing and executing strategic plans and complex projects to achieve organisational vision and mission.
• Strong communication skills, with experience representing organisations externally to various stakeholders (e.g., school leaders, partners, funders).
• Understanding of the education sector, and the needs and drivers of stakeholders across the education space.
• Ability to diagnose and dissect complex problems and encourage scalable solutions to novel issues.
• Experience in empowering senior leaders and the wider organisations to meet ambitious targets.
• Ability to foster a positive working culture, aligned with Action Tutoring’s values.
• Strong financial management skills.
• Knowledge of governance structures and experience in working closely with a board of trustees, including managing strategic risk.
• Comfortable with data and committed to driving impact across the organisation.

You will be likely be more successful in this role if you have the following personal attributes: 

• Passion for addressing educational disadvantage and closing the attainment gap.
• Collaborative mindset and the ability to build strong, constructive relationships with other organisations and charities, fostering collaboration and sharing of best practices.
• High ethical standards and personal integrity, with a commitment to transparency and accountability in leadership.
• Resilient and adaptable with the ability to thrive in an evolving and challenging external environment, and to adjust to shifts in the education landscape.
• Strong commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive working environment.

Summary

EduSpots is an innovative, dynamic, and community-orientated UK and Ghanaian registered charity which connects, trains, and equips grassroots voluntary educators (named ‘Catalysts’) to drive community-led change through education spaces named ‘Spots’. Our vision is of a world in which communities unite to create the futures they want to see, through education.

Since 2016, through collaborating with over 400 local voluntary community educators and actors – named ‘Catalysts’ – who take a central leadership role in the development of the network, we have supported 50 communities in creating and running community-led and owned education spaces named ‘Spots’’. Together, we are developing a model for a community-led education space with accompanying network engagement that could have global relevance. 

Our Ghana-based team creates collaborative learning opportunities through three leadership programmes for Catalysts which are increasingly facilitated by the EduSpots app: the Ignite, Catalyse and Inspire Mentoring Programmes. These enable the Catalysts to lead EduKidz (early years education), DigLit (digital literacy), EcoSTEM (STEM and environmental education) and Ignite Equity (gender equity) clubs for learners typically aged 3-16, alongside locally designed education projects, reaching over 10,000 learners of all ages annually. 

We are in an exciting period of our development, having more than doubled our income, programme breadth and reach in the last two years, with a recent independent evaluation by Expectation State offering further evidence in support of our model’s outcomes. We have been recently selected for two accelerator programmes, who are supporting us as we consider the scaling potential of our model. In the period, we are aiming to double our network reach, bringing an additional 50 Spots into the network.

We won the Tes International Award in 2018 and the Big Give Supporters’ Choice Award in 2022, and we were recently selected as a finalist for the 2023 Their World Scale-Up Innovation Prize. In 2021, our Founder was a Finalist in the UNESCO-backed $1 million Global Teacher Prize.

We are excited by our future. 

About this role 

The Global Head of Operations is a new role being introduced in 2026 with the core purpose of strengthening systems, processes and strategic delivery across both EduSpots Global and EduSpots Ghana, offering hands-on support to the CEO and wider staff across a range of areas.

In this senior role, you will work closely alongside the CEO, offering her the advice and skills needed to move EduSpots successfully through a complex period of growth in a challenging fundraising context, enabling more learners and Catalysts to participate in a unique community-led model of education, whilst sharing our practice more widely.

We are looking for an organised and empathetic strategic leader, ideally with strong or developing skills across project management, finance, HR and MEL skills and an ability to work independently in a fast moving work environment.

This role has the potential to grow into a Director of Global Operations or Deputy CEO role in time for outstanding candidates, and carries significant organisation-wide responsibility.

Candidates should hold a genuine passion for educational equity, a strong belief in the power of community-led models to transform lives at scale and a high level of flexibility in a fast-changing yet friendly and playful work environment.

Whilst this role is remote, and open to all global candidates, you will need to have understanding and experience of UK law, accounting and policy development, or a strong appetite to build experience in this area quickly.

Main duties and responsibilities 

Systems

• Work with the CEO and staff to proactively strengthen systems and processes across the organisation, including monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks and operations. 
• Support the wider team with IT, including general skill development, leading the Google Space system. 
• Monitor compliance to organisational policies and lead the quarterly review of the organisational risk register, working with the Ghana Head of Operations. 

Finance 

• Work with the Finance and Admin Officer to produce monthly and quarterly global management accounts, cash flow analysis and to complete the annual audit. 
• Lead the financial planning of the organisation, working with the CEO and the Ghana Head of Operations to create the annual budget. 
• Work with the Ghana Head of Operations to strengthen financial systems, processes, and training across the organisation. 
• Work with the Ghana Head of Operations to prepare budgets for funding bids as needed.
• Work with the grants team to track grant spending and produce consolidated financial reports (including expenditure from the UK and Ghana) for donors. 
• Ensure EduSpots’ new accounting software (QuickBooks) is fully embedded and utilised.
• Oversee bank account management, including payments, checking bank statements, and reviewing bank reconciliations for UK and Ghana.
• Ensure staff payroll (likely to be outsourced) and payments to freelancers / consultants are done accurately and in a timely manner.

HR

• Work alongside the CEO, Head of Operations, Safeguarding and Inclusion Managers  and wider staff to develop strategies to sustain and strengthen a high performing and friendly work culture. 
• Work across the team to strengthen HR and performance management structures, informed by best practice and legal frameworks. 
• Lead the recruitment of staff, consultants and volunteers in the UK (advertising roles, drafting contracts, contacting referees and completing all filing and administration relating to recruitment).
• Onboard new staff, provide training on policies and procedures, and track key information (leave, appraisals, etc) for UK staff. 
• Regularly review and keep the Staff Handbook up to date.
• Depending on skill-set, work with the CEO to lead professional development for staff across the organisation, liaising with trustees and advisory group members.

Administration & Governance

• Manage and maintain databases and our Google Drive system. 
• Ensure compliance with GDPR and adherence to our child safeguarding and protection policy. 
• Maintain insurance renewals, tracking and filing.
• Review and keep up to date all organisational policies in line with current legislation, working with the Trustees and Directors. 
• Assist the CEO in the administration relating to EduSpots’ governance, including board meeting arrangements and minute taking.
• Support the CEO in all ad-hoc tasks that arise, working closely alongside her to ensure the smooth running of the organisation. 

Strategic insight 

• Work closely with the CEO and staff/Catalysts across the organisation to ensure all EduSpots’ decision-making is strategic and in the best interests of the Catalysts, Sparks and Communities we partner with. 

Other areas 

• Depending on experience, you may in time take on management responsibilities for some staff, but this role is principally a systems strengthening and quality improvement role, working closely with the CEO to offer advice and additional capacity. 
• Depending on experience, you may support with grants writing / management and/or community fundraising. Experience of fundraising would be of significant benefit to the organisation in this key leadership role. 

Personal Specification 

Essential 

• Minimum of 7 years’ experience of operations in a small/medium charity context. 
• Self-starter with the ability to hit the ground running and work with minimal supervision with high levels of flexibility.
• Self-motivated, with an ability to motivate and energise others.
• High level strategic understanding, critical thinking and the ability to strengthen systems in a fast-paced high performance environment.
• Excellent communication, both oral and written.
• The ability to thrive and adapt in a fast-paced, creative and impact-driven culture. 
• Strong administrative skills with a high level of attention to detail. 
• Experience in creating user-friendly tools and processes to support project and quality management.
• Experience using Google Suite, with strong Excel skills.
• Tech savvy – ability to learn new tech tools efficiently.
• Experience coordinating others. 
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills with strong empathy and cultural sensitivity 
• Strong personal alignment with the mission, vision and values of EduSpots. 

Highly desirable 

• Experience supporting charity Boards, and working with external bodies including auditors, tax authorities, and other official bodies is highly desirable.
• Experience complying and strong familiarity with UK charity regulations and requirements.
• Experience preparing budgets and financial reports for donors/grants. 
• Experience of working in a cross-cultural team.
• Experience of working with an international charity would be advantageous. 

Please send a tailored covering letter and CV addressed to the CEO Miss Cat Davison by Wednesday 31st December with a hope to meet shortlisted candidates for a first-round interview in the week starting Monday 12th January. 

Woman’s Trust is a leading, specialist mental health charity supporting women and children affected by domestic abuse. As we approach our 30th anniversary in 2026, we stand at a powerful moment of growth and transformation. Each year, our trauma-informed, women-led services provide life-changing counselling, therapeutic support and advocacy to women and children across London. Our ambition is to scale this work to reach many more nationally. With a dedicated team of 45 staff, a strong financial foundation and annual income of £1.3m and a deeply committed Board of Trustees, we are poised to shape an ambitious new strategy for the years ahead.

We are now seeking an inspirational Chief Executive Officer to lead Woman’s Trust into this next chapter. This is a rare opportunity to guide a respected organisation whose work is not only transformative but often life-saving. The CEO will steer our strategic and operational development, strengthen and expand partnerships, grow sustainable income, and champion our voice across policy, public campaigns and mental health advocacy. Alongside a dedicated and collaborative team and Board, you will play a vital role in delivering and developing innovative services—supporting women and children, survivors navigating the justice system, and peer-led support groups—ensuring we remain responsive to the needs and experiences of those we serve.

We are seeking an inspirational and experienced people leader who combines strategic thinking with the ambition needed to position Woman’s Trust for growth. Confident in representing your organisation at a policy and advocacy level, you will act as a powerful ambassador for survivors’ mental health, influencing systems, shaping debate and strengthening our public voice. With strong financial and governance insight and the ability to build trusted, values-driven relationships across sectors, you will model a growth mindset and a commitment to continuous improvement. Above all, you will uphold our feminist, inclusive and survivor-centred values, nurturing an empowering and equitable culture for our staff, volunteers, partners, and—most importantly—the women and children we serve.

To read more about the opportunity and our work, including how to apply, please download the full appointment brief.

If you have the passion, clarity and commitment to champion the mental health and wellbeing of women and children survivors—and the leadership to guide Woman’s Trust into a bold new era—we would be delighted to hear from you.

Closing Date: 21 December 2025

People Beyond Profit Screening Conversations: 22 December - 6 January 2026

Woman’s Trust Panel Interviews:

· First Stage (online): 13 & 14 January 2026

· Second Stage (in-person): 22 January 2026

Please note:

This post is open to female applicants only as this is deemed a genuine occupational requirement under Schedule 9, Paragraph 1 of the Equality Act 2010.

We are recruiting a Support Technician (End User Computing)  who will be based in our office in London. This role could be an ideal opportunity for a recent college or university leaver. We are prepared to shape the role to suit those who come from a wide range of experience. Alternatively, the role could be tailored for someone with substantial experience, leveraging their expertise to deliver value on more senior-level tasks and strategic projects.

Your goal is to ensure that every member of our 100+ staff has the equipment, access, software, security, and training needed to help us achieve our vision of a thriving Kingdom economy. 

Occupational Requirement (OR)

As a result of our Christian ethos, this post is covered by an Occupational Requirement (OR) under Part 1 of Schedule 9 to the Equality Act 2010. The successful applicant will be expected to be a practising Christian and to clearly demonstrate a personal commitment to the mission, principles, values and practices contained in our Ethos Statement, by:

· Active membership of local church congregation.

An understanding of the faith aspects of the work of Christian charities, including the preparedness to pray with colleagues, where appropriate.

Switchback is built on the transformational power of trusted relationships – and that applies to our supporters and partners too. As we get ready to launch our next strategic plan, we’re looking for a new Head of Development to help us grow an even stronger supporter base across the full fundraising landscape, ranging from philanthropy to corporate partnerships, to trusts and foundations.

We are an ambitious team who want to make a huge difference, both to the lives of the young men we support and to society through transforming the justice system.

As Head of Development and a member of the Leadership Team, you will play a key role in shaping and leading a new and ambitious Development Strategy to secure the resources we need to grow our frontline and influencing impact. You’ll lead on supporting and galvanizing our small but mighty Development Team to grow their skills and Switchback’s income. You’ll oversee our development systems and processes, maintaining our trajectory of growth to ensure we remain sustainable in future years. And you’ll understand how to interpret and use our robust data and compelling Trainee journeys to make a compelling case for support to the full range of existing and potential supporters.

We’ve grown our income from £1m in 2022 to £1.5m in 2025 and know that further growth requires a clear development strategy which engages supporters in our vision for transforming more lives through better resettlement policy and practice.

This is an exciting role for a first-time leader - you will be fully supported by an experienced CEO and a collaborative Leadership Team, with a focus on your professional development. You’ll be joining at an exciting time of growth and building on a strong fundraising track record.
Our ambitious new strategic plan aims to support more Londoners than ever by 2030 and build the evidence for transforming national resettlement policy, with a staff team of 30 dedicated individuals aiming to push forward that vision. We are a hands-on, collaborative team, so you’ll need to enjoy getting stuck in with everything from bid writing to pitching to building our pipeline of prospective supporters.

We are seeking someone with a strong track record in building long-term funding relationships, who can apply that skill across the whole fundraising landscape, including with both institutions (corporates, trusts and foundations, and statutory grants) and individuals (high net worth philanthropists and individual regular donors).

You’ll be a confident bid writer who can guide your team in producing high quality applications and funder reports. You’ll be happy to absorb and build on Switchback’s style and continuously promote our gold standard of stewardship, which bolsters Switchback’s funder base.

Joining Switchback means you will also work closely with all members of our dedicated team, giving you a unique perspective that will support your work in demonstrating to funders how and why their support matters, and how supporting Switchback will help them meet their own charitable aims.

If you are an experienced, successful and creative fundraiser with a track record in building long-term relationships and who shares our values and vision, we would love to hear from you.

Why this role exists

We deliver practical legal support that changes lives. To grow responsibly, we need a COO to build operational excellence and keep systems ready to scale.

What you will lead

• Financial leadership — Build, manage and monitor the annual budget; lead forecasting and cashflow; produce reports; oversee accounting, payments, payroll and invoicing; maintain strong controls and compliance; track restricted funds; support grant bids and donor reporting.

• Day-to-day operations — Maintain efficient systems across casework, admin and volunteers; design policies, SOPs and QA; oversee IT, digital tools and case management; ensure GDPR-compliant data handling; lead operational responses to risk and regulation.

• Strategy and organisational development — Work with the Executive Director on strategy; lead service development, scaling projects and national expansion; improve volunteer pathways, client experience and internal processes; provide data-driven insight for the Board.

• People, volunteers and HR — Support recruitment, onboarding and retention; develop clear HR processes and documentation; ensure supervision, wellbeing and safeguarding frameworks.

• Governance, risk and compliance — Manage risk registers and mitigation plans; lead internal audits and quality reviews; prepare Board papers; ensure compliance with legal, regulatory and charity requirements.

You’ll thrive here if you show

• Ownership and follow-through: you take responsibility and land the work.

• Planning under pressure: you bring order, rhythm and clarity.

• Bold, informed judgement: you improve systems based on evidence, not habit.

• Entrepreneurial drive: you simplify, standardise and scale what works.

• Inclusive practice: you design operations that are easier to use and safer to deliver.

• Clear communication: you turn complexity into simple actions and updates.

• Team-building and collaboration: you help staff and volunteers succeed together.

• Constant learning: you refine processes and leave usable documentation.

What you will bring

• Significant operational leadership in a non-profit, legal, community or mission-driven setting.

• Strong financial management across budgeting, forecasting, reporting and controls.

• Ability to build robust systems in a small but scaling organisation.

• Strategic, organised and analytical working style.

• Confident people leadership and clear communication.

• Understanding of governance, safeguarding, risk and regulatory compliance.

• Commitment to trans equality, dignity and client-centred practice.

Helpful extras

• Experience in legal services or legal operations.

• Managing grants or donor-funded programmes.

• Experience scaling an organisation or building new infrastructure.

• Knowledge of trans community needs and support services.

Practicalities

• Hours: part time, with occasional evenings or weekends around live moments.

• Location: Central London base with sensible hybrid flexibility.

• Reporting line: Executive Director.

• Salary: based on experience and time commitment.

The Co-Founders Mindset

We are building a trans rights revolution at the Trans Legal Clinic. We deliver work that changes outcomes for people, case by case and system by system. That calls for a particular mindset. We call it the co-founder mindset. Co-founders take the mission personally, set the pace, turn ideas into working services and campaigns, bring others with them, and make change you can point to. Co-founders are entrepreneurial: they spot openings others miss, move decisively, and create momentum. Co-founders build teams, drawing in volunteers who believe in our mission, care deeply about our clients, enjoy working with us, and keep one another going. Co-founders are bold: they are willing to innovate, to be first, and to change the status quo; they check the source, avoid assumptions, solve problems, make firm, collaborative, evidence-based decisions, and take responsibility for results. Co-founders are pioneers. If you want responsibility, pace, and the chance to pioneer new routes to justice and public impact, this is the place to build your career.

Our Recruitment Criteria

Ownership and follow-through

You are a self-starter who owns tasks and takes responsibility without waiting to be asked. You carry your work through to a tangible result. You define the problem, set a course, keep the right people informed, and deliver what you said you would.

Bold, informed judgement

You are willing to change accepted practice when the evidence supports it. You check primary sources rather than rely on assumptions, weigh real options and risks, make a clear, evidence-based, collaborative decision, and stand behind it.

Entrepreneurial drive

You spot openings other people miss and turn ideas into useful services, processes or campaigns. You move decisively and get others working on the plan alongside you with clear roles and timelines.

Planning under pressure

You keep priorities straight when time is tight. You organise people and tasks, set simple checkpoints, communicate early when plans shift and always deliver.

Inclusive practice

You design work that is easier for others to take part in with people who face barriers in mind. You identify what is getting in the way, make practical changes that remove those barriers, and check the effect with the people involved.

Clear communication

You write and speak in plain English and adjust tone and detail to suit clients, volunteers, partners and the public. You choose the right format for the moment and make it easy for people to act on what you say. You like feedback, don’t get offended and see it as a chance to improve.

Team-building and collaboration

You bring people with you and help groups perform well together. You draw in volunteers who believe in the mission and care about our clients, set shared expectations, handle disagreements well, and leave relationships stronger.

Constant learning

You improve your own practice and the system around you. You reflect honestly on what worked and what did not, learn quickly, and turn that learning into simple tools or habits that make future work better.

• Team-building and collaboration: you lead creatives and volunteers well.

• Constant learning: you test, measure and iterate.

What you will bring

• A strong portfolio showing strategy-led creative across static, motion and copy.

• Three or more years in creative communications or campaigns (agency, newsroom, charity or in-house).

• Confident in Adobe Creative Cloud and either Figma or similar; comfortable with short-form video editing and basic motion.

• Platform literacy across Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube, and working knowledge of analytics and paid promotion.

• Clear writing and an ear for tone; calm leadership and useable feedback.

• Sound judgement on reputation, privacy, GDPR and consent.

• Commitment to trans-led practice and the communities we serve.

Helpful extras

• Clinic or not-for-profit experience.

• Familiarity with gender recognition, healthcare advocacy, discrimination, housing and employment.

• Basic SEO and email automation.

Practicalities

• Hours: full time, with occasional evenings or weekends around live moments.

• Location: Central London base with sensible hybrid flexibility.

• Salary: £25,000.

• Reporting line: Executive Director.

The Co-Founders Mindset

We are building a trans rights revolution at the Trans Legal Clinic. We deliver work that changes outcomes for people, case by case and system by system. That calls for a particular mindset. We call it the co-founder mindset. Co-founders take the mission personally, set the pace, turn ideas into working services and campaigns, bring others with them, and make change you can point to. Co-founders are entrepreneurial: they spot openings others miss, move decisively, and create momentum. Co-founders build teams, drawing in volunteers who believe in our mission, care deeply about our clients, enjoy working with us, and keep one another going. Co-founders are bold: they are willing to innovate, to be first, and to change the status quo; they check the source, avoid assumptions, solve problems, make firm, collaborative, evidence-based decisions, and take responsibility for results. Co-founders are pioneers. If you want responsibility, pace, and the chance to pioneer new routes to justice and public impact, this is the place to build your career.

Our Recruitment Criteria

Ownership and follow-through

You are a self-starter who owns tasks and takes responsibility without waiting to be asked. You carry your work through to a tangible result. You define the problem, set a course, keep the right people informed, and deliver what you said you would.

Bold, informed judgement

You are willing to change accepted practice when the evidence supports it. You check primary sources rather than rely on assumptions, weigh real options and risks, make a clear, evidence-based, collaborative decision, and stand behind it.

Entrepreneurial drive

You spot openings other people miss and turn ideas into useful services, processes or campaigns. You move decisively and get others working on the plan alongside you with clear roles and timelines.

Planning under pressure

You keep priorities straight when time is tight. You organise people and tasks, set simple checkpoints, communicate early when plans shift and always deliver.

Inclusive practice

You design work that is easier for others to take part in with people who face barriers in mind. You identify what is getting in the way, make practical changes that remove those barriers, and check the effect with the people involved.

Clear communication

You write and speak in plain English and adjust tone and detail to suit clients, volunteers, partners and the public. You choose the right format for the moment and make it easy for people to act on what you say. You like feedback, don’t get offended and see it as a chance to improve.

Team-building and collaboration

You bring people with you and help groups perform well together. You draw in volunteers who believe in the mission and care about our clients, set shared expectations, handle disagreements well, and leave relationships stronger.

Constant learning

You improve your own practice and the system around you. You reflect honestly on what worked and what did not, learn quickly, and turn that learning into simple tools or habits that make future work better.

Purpose of the job

This role is responsible for the design of UK Youth’s support to young people, youth organisations and youth workers. This could include structured youth work programmes, funding and grants+ programmes, professional development programmes, and campaigns.

You will lead and oversee end-to-end design processes, ensuring that UK Youth develops fully packaged offers that respond to the evidence base and people’s needs, drive forward our strategy and achieve incredible impact. You will work across UK Youth teams, with external design partners, and meaningfully involving young people and the professionals who support them in the design process.

You will be experienced in developing high quality funding propositions (proactively and in response to new business opportunities). You will be confident in taking a human-centred design approach to tackle some of the youth sector’s knottiest problems.  You will design solutions to important problems, ensuring that they are feasible, equitable, impactful and scalable.

In 2026, our priority topics for youth work programmes and network development are: mental health and wellbeing, employability, social cohesion and community safety.

 As a leader, you will work closely with research, evaluation, policy, service delivery, network development, and fundraising teams. You will help to improve the skills and confidence of colleagues across UK Youth to apply design methods in their own work and collaborate effectively with the Design team.

Why work at UK Youth?

UK Youth wants all young people to be equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. Youth work can be life changing (and even life saving.) In 2026, we will be launching our new strategy, positioning UK Youth to unlock youth work so that every young person in the UK can benefit. We work with others to ensure that the youth sector is strengthened and that provision is youth-led, evidence-informed, and delivers high-quality outcomes.

 UK Youth plays a unique role in addressing the lack of investment in the youth sector, the lack of cross-sector understanding in how youth work makes a difference, and the limited opportunities to embed effective solutions. These factors lead to mass inequality of access to youth services for young people. Come and be part of this change in a driven and supportive team that puts evidence at the heart of our work.

Role Responsibilities

• Designing Solutions

• Developing new business and funding propositions

• Embedding Human Centred Design

• Building a strong external network to support the Design team’s work

• Operations

Experience we're after

• Significant experience of leading and overseeing the development of new business propositions and proposals to time-limited funding opportunities

• Significant experience of designing interventions (digital and/or physical) for young people and/or those who support them 

• Experience using human-centred-design methods and mindsets; managing projects across the end-to-end design process

• Proven track record of inspiring and motivating diverse teams and improving collaborative ways of working across teams and departments

• Experience of developing high quality programme content and curricula for young people, youth workers and/or outdoor learning instructors (desirable)

• Experience of commissioning and managing external design freelancers and consultants (desirable)

• Experience of designing and/or delivering professional development programmes (desirable)

What we can offer you

We offer a competitive range of benefits, good work/life balance, excellent learning and development opportunities and vibrant organisational culture:

• Flexible/Agile Working

• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays (pro rata for part time employees)

• Funded training provided in; Safeguarding, GDPR, Information and Cyber Security & Equality & Diversity

• Other training available in support of your personal and professional development

• Pension scheme (currently UK Youth match employee contributions up to 5%)

• Membership of our life insurance scheme which would pay-out up to 4 times your salary

• Employee Assistance Programme to support employees both professionally and personally

• 20% discount off bookings at Avon Tyrrell, our New Forest Outdoor Centre, including camping, lodges and outdoor activities.

• IT equipment provided for the duration of contract

• CycleScheme and TechScheme

How to apply

If you would like to be considered for this fantastic opportunity, please complete an application via our completely anonymised recruitment system provided by Applied which looks to create a fair and unbiased application process for all. Scroll to the top of the page and start your application.

Closing date: Sunday 4th January 2026 at 23:59pm

Provisional Interview Dates: 12th and 13th January 2026

As this role involves working in a regulated environment with young people, any offer will be conditional to satisfactory background checks, which include criminal record check and employment reference.