Senior manager jobs in Birmingham

About the opportunity 
 
We’re looking for a Senior Corporate Planning Manager to join our Corporate Planning team within the Finance & Assurance directorate. This is a critical leadership role responsible for designing, leading, and embedding a brand-new corporate planning process that will help turn our ambitious strategy into action. 

At Alzheimer’s Society, we are united by our mission to make a real difference to the lives of people affected by dementia. Within Finance & Assurance, our vision is to be the organisation’s single point of truth trusted partners and credible experts who enable meaningful impact. 

In this role, you’ll lead the development of a high-quality corporate plan, aligning activity and financial planning through a “plan then fund” approach. You’ll work closely with senior leaders across the organisation, providing expert insight, driving collaboration, and ensuring planning processes are embedded effectively. 

This is more than a planning role - you’ll act as a coach, facilitator, and strategic partner, helping colleagues build capability while shaping how planning is understood and delivered across the Society. 

We’re looking for someone who lives our values: determined to make a difference, a trusted expert, committed to working better together, and showing genuine compassion. 

About you: 
You’re a strategic leader with a strong background in corporate planning, data analysis, and organisational change. You’re confident working with senior stakeholders and can influence, challenge, and support decision-making at the highest levels. 

You bring a collaborative and coaching mindset, with the ability to guide and upskill others in planning processes. You’re comfortable navigating complexity, bringing together data, insight, and people to create clear, actionable plans. 

You thrive in a fast-paced environment, are driven by continuous improvement, and are passionate about delivering high-quality outcomes that make a real impact. You\'ll have: 

- Strong experience leading corporate or strategic planning processes within a complex organisation 
- Proven ability to align financial and activity planning to support strategic delivery 
- Experience analysing and interpreting complex data to provide insight for senior stakeholders 
- Strong leadership and people management experience, with the ability to coach and develop others 
- Excellent stakeholder engagement skills, with experience working at senior leadership level 
- Experience designing tools, templates, and processes that enable effective planning 
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate complex information into clear, engaging outputs
- A track record of driving continuous improvement and embedding new ways of working 

What you’ll focus on:  

- Leading the design and delivery of a new corporate planning process and end-to-end plan 
- Aligning activity and financial planning through a “plan then fund” model 
- Supporting the rollout of planning processes across the organisation and embedding change 
- Managing corporate planning communications and reporting requirements 
- Designing and delivering user-friendly tools, templates, and frameworks for planning 
- Providing expert analysis of internal and external data to inform strategic decision-making 
- Building strong relationships with senior stakeholders to drive engagement and collaboration Coaching and training colleagues to strengthen planning capability across the organisation 
- Facilitating planning workshops with leaders and stakeholders 
- Developing and maintaining a centre of excellence for corporate and operational planning 
- Championing high standards, accountability, and continuous improvement across planning processes 
- Leading and developing team members, fostering a high-performing, supportive culture 

Are you ready to lead a transformational planning approach that will shape the future of our organisation and drive meaningful impact for those affected by dementia? 

Important Dates 
The deadline for applications is 28th April 2026 
1st Interviews will take place across W/C 11th May 2026 
2nd stage interviews will take place across W/C 18th May 2026

LTSB is a social mobility charity. The Senior Programme Manager will lead our programme delivery to support young people from some of the UK’s most disadvantaged communities to realise their potential and build meaningful careers.

This will be a pivotal role in shaping and delivering LTSB’s national and regional programmes, leading delivery across the South to ensure high quality outcomes for young people and employer partners.

Working closely with the Director of Programmes, Head of Programmes, and regionally based Employment & Opportunities (E&O) team members, the role is responsible for driving performance against regional targets, strengthening employer partnerships and ensuring consistent, high quality programme delivery.

The postholder will lead and develop a team of Programme Managers, drive continuous improvement through data and insight and contribute to the ongoing evolution and scaling of LTSB’s programme model.

What you'll bring

• Strong project management experience, and managing multiple programmes simultaneously.
• In-depth knowledge of youth development, social mobility, and barriers faced by underrepresented young people.
• Experience managing budgets and delivering agreed outcomes within budget.
• Understanding of recruitment, eligibility checking, and participant onboarding processes.
• Experience of line management and developing high-performing teams.
• Excellent strategic thinking, communication, and relationship-building skills.
• Strong analytical capability with the ability to interpret data and drive improvement.
• Highly organised, adaptable, and confident leading through change.
• Confidence working with corporate employers, funders, and senior external stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of safeguarding principles and application of health and safety procedures.
• Ability to step into programme delivery when required.
• Good IT skills, including databases and standard office systems.
• Willingness and ability to travel regionally and nationally.

Please note that first-round interviews will take place online on Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th May.

Second-round interviews will take place in-person on Tuesday 12th May.

Purpose of the Role:

The Senior Research, Policy and Influencing Manager will play a pivotal role in driving Cerebra’s mission to influence national and local policy and practice. You will lead on the translation of research into actionable policy recommendations, develop strategic partnerships, advocate for systemic change and influence, persuade and engage with policy makers to improve outcomes for children with neurological conditions and their families. Alongside this you will work with the Research and Information team on Cerebra’s research contracts and the development and dissemination of information.

This is a senior role requiring strategic vision, strong analytical and communication skills, and an ability to build influence across government, academia, and the third sector.

Key Areas of Responsibility:

1. Policy and Influencing  

• Identify opportunities to influence national and local policy agendas, including legislation, guidance, and funding priorities related to childhood disability and neurological conditions.
• Develop accessible and compelling policy briefings, consultation responses, reports, speeches, and presentations for a range of stakeholders, including MPs, government officials, sector partners and the public.
• Monitor policy developments across the neuro-diverse landscape and lead on timely, evidence-led responses.
• Analyse data, trends and policy developments to produce insights and recommendations.
• Translate complex ideas into clear, persuasive communications that support positive change.
• Ensure our policy positions reflect the real experiences and insights of the neuro-diverse children and families we support.
• Develop and deliver Cerebra’s policy and influencing strategy, ensuring alignment with organisational goals and research priorities.
• Develop and deliver influencing campaigns in partnership with Communications team.
• Work closely with the Communications Team by contributing to the drafting of responses to media enquiries on our policy and influencing work and act as the media contact if required.
• Liaise with the Legal Rights Team to assess the impact of current or proposed policies in terms of their actual or potential effects on children with neurological conditions at both national and local levels, and for their input into consultation responses.

2. Engagement and Relationship Building

• Build and maintain strong strategic relationships with decision-makers across government departments, policymakers, NHS bodies, local authorities, professional associations, and sector partners.
• Represent Cerebra at meetings and events, including engaging with MPs, civil servants, policy forums, advisory groups, and cross-sector coalitions and other key influencers, or brief the CEO or Directors if attending.
• Work closely with internal teams to ensure our policy and influencing work is grounded in practice and informed by those delivering services.
• Work closely with the Communications Team to ensure consistent, impactful messaging.

3. Research and Information

• With one of our Lead Research Officers leading, you will oversee the tendering process and delivery of our research contracts.
• Working with our Information Development Officer to ensure that we maintain our PIF Tick accreditation for our information resources.
• Carry out high-quality research and analysis.
• Use findings from Cerebra-funded and external research to produce policy briefs, consultation responses, and evidence-based recommendations.
• Alongside our Lead Research Officers carry out horizon scanning to identify emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities in child health, neurodiversity, and public service delivery.

4. Budgeting, monitoring and forecasting

• Working with the team and Director to set income and expenditure budgets for Corporate, Philanthropy, Legacy and Trust & Foundations to assist with any funding applications.
• Monitoring and reporting on income and expenditure and KPIs throughout the year.
• Providing quarterly income and expenditure re-forecasts.
• Ensuring all relevant information is recorded in line with charity, fundraising and data legislation and best practice.

5. Line Management

• Line management responsibilities for a small team, currently comprising of 3 staff.
• Be responsible for the day-to-day management of the team.
• Complete regular supervision and team meetings.
• Provide effective performance management to the team.
• Promote a positive and inclusive team culture aligned with Cerebra’s values.

6. General

• Monitor and evaluate the impact the areas of work that leading on.
• Support collaboration across the different Cerebra teams.
• Experience using Client Relationship Management (CRM) systems or similar digital tools for recording and tracking work.
• Uphold Cerebra’s Data Protection Policy and all relevant confidentiality and safeguarding policies.
• Carry out any other reasonable duties in line with the needs of the team and organisation.

Please see attached job description for person specification.