Senior student engagement officer jobs in stockport, greater manchester
The University of Manchester is part of the prestigious Russell Group of universities and highly respected across the globe as a centre of teaching excellence and research innovation and discovery.
With 25 Nobel Prize winners among our current and former staff and students, we have a history of world firsts, with our impact ranging from splitting the atom to giving the world graphene.
Our purpose is to advance education, knowledge and wisdom for the good of society, putting our three core goals of research and discovery, teaching and learning, and social responsibility at the heart of everything we do.
As Head of Supporter Engagement, you will provide University-wide leadership to develop, plan and implement sector-leading fundraising and supporter engagement strategies, policies and programmes – with a particular focus on Regular and Leadership giving (<£10k), Legacy Fundraising, and ensuring an exceptional prospect and donor experience for donors giving at all levels.
As the senior lead for the key public-facing aspects of our fundraising programme, you’ll be accountable for the performance of key fundraising streams. You’ll work closely with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that strategies and operational plans are in line with institutional needs. You’ll support and inspire your team to deliver ambitious targets. And you will provide support and strategic guidance to University leaders, academics, and colleagues across the University.
You’ll also be a member of our Development Leadership Team (DLT), meaning that you will play a significant role in our success across the whole fundraising mix. The transformation enabled by the launch of our first university-wide fundraising and volunteering campaign will provide further opportunities for your role to evolve during the campaign’s public phase.
This is an excellent opportunity for a motivated individual looking to advance their career in a collaborative and forward-thinking environment.
As Head of Supporter Engagement, you will undertake a range of activities commensurate with the grading and responsibility of the post. This includes:
- Lead the strategic planning for the Supporter Engagement team (currently Donor Experience, Regular and Leadership Giving, and Legacy Fundraising), working with area leads to translating business objectives into clear operational plans.
- Take overall responsibility for the development and leadership of strategic supporter journeys for key campaign audiences, and coordinate communications planning across the Division.
- Lead your team to conceptualise, plan and deliver communications, events, products and experiences that deliver strategic objectives, working collaboratively with colleagues across DDAR and the wider University.
- Proactively identify ways for Supporter Engagement activity to support and complement major and transformational fundraising.
- Identify and leverage opportunities to use university-wide communications and events to support fundraising success.
- Work to embed a culture of philanthropy across the whole institution, ensuring that the relationships, systems and products are in place to involve students and staff in fundraising.
- Be the University’s subject matter expert for your areas of responsibility, providing support and consultancy to senior colleagues, including University Executive members.
- Represent the interests of the Division at University-wide strategy groups and committees as required.
- Oversee financial planning and resource allocation across the Supporter Engagement team.
- Monitor performance across your areas of responsibility, motivating and inspiring your team members to deliver ambitious goals, supporting their development, and embedding a high-performance culture.
- Take shared responsibility for the overall leadership of the fundraising programme as a member of the Development Leadership Team (DLT).
- Be a proactive and visible leader across the Division and wider University.
- Actively contribute to the sector through thought leadership, representing the University at conferences and other sector meetings.
- Role model and embed the “Manchester Mindset” and embody the values and culture of the University and DDAR within your working practice and relationships.
Essential knowledge, skills and experience
- Experience of leading significant mass participation fundraising, legacy, and donor experience programme(s) in the higher education or charitable sector.
- A well-developed understanding of the fundraising mix, and the principles and processes that underpin fundraising success at all levels.
- Experience of developing and delivering strategies to achieve business objectives.
- Strong people leadership skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate cross-cutting teams to deliver exceptional work.
- Outstanding written and oral communication skills with experience of translating complex information into effective, persuasive and clear language for a variety of purposes.
- Proven experience of policy development and negotiation.
- Experience of working with a wide range of colleagues from a variety of disciplines across a large and complex organisation and providing consultancy and support to senior colleagues on a specialised area of expertise.
- Experience of effectively managing budgets.
- Excellent project management skills.
- Outstanding interpersonal skills with the necessary listening, facilitation and negotiation skills to represent the University at the highest levels, coupled with the highest levels of tact and discretion required to deal with highly confidential information.
- Enthusiasm and energy to act proactively, and the initiative, drive and commitment to work individually when required.
- A genuine belief in the world-changing power of higher education.
- Willingness to work outside normal office hours as required.
Desirable knowledge, skills and experience
- Experience of fundraising from diverse international audiences and designing strategies to meet their needs.
As one of the leading Universities our employees enjoy exclusive access to excellent benefits and schemes including:
- Generous annual leave allowance, including Christmas/New Year closure
- Pension scheme membership to provide benefits for you and your family
- Well-being programme with counselling, fitness and leading sports facilities
- Learning and development opportunities
- Season ticket loans for public transport
- Cycle to Work Scheme
- Workplace nursery scheme
- Staff recognition schemes
- Staff discounts on a range of products and services including travel and high street savings
Closing date: 9 May 2025.
As an equal opportunities employer we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status. All appointments will be made on merit.
Our University is positive about flexible working – you can find out more here
Blended working arrangements may be considered
Please note that we are unable to respond to enquiries, accept CVs or applications from Recruitment Agencies.
This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.
Thank you!
Passionate about educational equality? Join our team and make a difference.
Location: Hybrid, with monthly visits to our London office and regular college travel (2/3 days a week, with up to 4/5 days in busy periods).
Travel: You will be required to regularly travel to your assigned colleges, so reliable means of transport (e.g. car/bus/train) is essential. Colleges you may need to travel to include: Hopwood Hall Rochdale Campus, Hopwood Hall Middleton Campus.
For travel to the London office, you will be able to claim expenses.
Hours: Full-time (37.5 hours/week, Monday to Friday, flexible working patterns available).
Salary: Competitive, including London weighting where applicable.
Start Date: July 28th 2025.
Duration: Fixed term until August 2026, with potential for extension.
Benefits
✅ 36 days of annual leave (including bank holidays).
✅ Flexible working options (hybrid & remote available).
✅ Professional development and training opportunities.
✅ Termly in-person team development days in our London office.
✅ Be part of a growing, mission-driven organisation making a real impact.
About Us
Get Further is an award-winning charity that helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds secure essential English and maths qualifications. We support students in further education by providing specialist tuition, helping them progress into higher education, apprenticeships, and employment. Our programme has been proven to significantly improve student outcomes, with students on our programme more likely to improve by at least one grade compared to the national average.
We are now seeking a driven and passionate Programme Coordinator to join our growing team and ensure the successful delivery of our tutoring programmes.
About the Role
As a Programme Coordinator, you will be responsible for student engagement, timetabling, logistics, and tutor performance, helping learners secure vital qualifications for their future.
Programme Coordination
- Manage a portfolio of up to 300 students throughout the year, ensuring sustained engagement with tutoring sessions.
- Prepare for programme launches, including timetabling of sessions and logistical planning.
- Maximise student reach by filling available tutoring spaces and maintaining an active pipeline of students.
- Develop strategies to enhance student engagement and track attendance KPIs using our CRM system (Salesforce).
- Prioritise safeguarding and student safety at all times.
Tutor Performance and Delivery
- Oversee tutor task and session management to ensure consistent, high-quality delivery.
- Conduct regular check-ins with tutors, providing guidance and feedback.
- Observe tutoring sessions to uphold delivery standards and improve programme effectiveness.
College Relationships and Programme Logistics
- Build and maintain strong relationships with college staff to ensure seamless programme delivery.
- Manage logistical preparations, including scheduling sessions and room bookings.
- Maintain clear communication with college stakeholders and contribute to impact reporting.
- Support contract renewal discussions to sustain and expand partnerships.
Creative Problem-Solving and Innovation
- Identify and implement operational improvements to enhance programme efficiency.
- Contribute to wider organisational projects, such as tutor training, resource development, and student engagement initiatives.
- Lead special projects aligned with your interests to further our mission.
Championing Get Further’s Vision and Values
- Represent Get Further’s values in all interactions with students, tutors, and external partners.
- Ensure accuracy in reporting and programme evaluation to drive positive systemic change.
- Collaborate with the wider team to support the charity’s strategic priorities.
About You
- We are looking for individuals who are passionate about our mission and demonstrate the following:
- A strong commitment to tackling educational inequality and supporting disadvantaged students.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
- Excellent attention to detail and high standards for student success.
- Resilience, problem-solving skills, and a proactive attitude towards overcoming challenges.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with confidence in presenting to students and senior stakeholders.
- Strong organisational skills, time management, and ability to work independently.
- IT proficiency, particularly in Microsoft Word and Excel.
Desirable:
- Experience in education programme delivery.
- Familiarity with Salesforce.
- Understanding of the further education sector.
- Interest in or commitment to a career in the charity sector.
How to Apply
Complete our online application, including your CV (max 2 pages) and responses to the 3 application questions.
Suitable candidates will be contacted after the closing date. Screening calls will be held on 23rd May followed by First-round interviews on 5th June. If required second round interviews will be held on 12th June.
Use of AI in application: We recognise that AI can be a useful tool when drafting your job application. But when misused, it can make your application generic and lack individuality, meaning your application won't stand out. If you do use AI, please make sure you use it wisely, and ensure that the final application reflects your unique personal experience, accomplishments, and skills.
Join Us in Making a Difference.
Apply now and be part of a team dedicated to empowering students.
Other roles you may have experience in could include: Programme Coordinator, Education Programme Manager, Student Engagement Officer, Further Education Coordinator, Tutor Coordinator.
Registered Charity
21 - 50
To support students in further education from disadvantaged backgrounds to secure gateway English and maths qualifications that unlock opportunities.
Thank you!
Reporting to: Director of Policy and Engagement
Direct reports: 1 x Scotland Policy and Public Affairs Manager and Legislative Lead, 2 x Policy and Public Affairs Officers, 1 x England Policy and Public Affairs Manager
Location of work: Home-based. The post holder must be easily and quickly commutable to London and will require frequent meetings in London. The role may involve some irregular travel throughout England and Scotland to attend events and meetings.
Contract type: Full-time, 35 hours per week, flexible hours may be considered. The role may require occasional evening and weekend work
Contract Length: Permanent
Salary: £54,500 - £56,500
BACKGROUND
Our work has never been more needed. The latest research suggesting that the number of children and young people at risk of hunger has rocketed to 2.6 million* means that one in five children don't have enough to eat.When a child is too hungry to learn, when they’re aching for something to eat, they can’t concentrate. They can’t absorb information. Big feelings and worries can be impossible to control. They fall behind in their studies.
Magic Breakfast provide a nutritious and filling breakfast to over 300,000 children and young people every school day. We work with schools in areas of high disadvantage, helping staff target the children most in need without barrier or stigma. Magic Breakfast are ambitious to grow our impact to remove hunger as a barrier to learning for all children and young people in the UK.
This is an exciting time to join Magic Breakfast if you wish to make a difference to the lives of children as we work to influence both policy implementation, with the national rollout of primary-aged universal school breakfast, and legislative change, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. There has also been commitment from the Scottish Government for a national breakfast scheme and we are seeking to expand our advocacy work into Wales. Magic Breakfast’s influence will be instrumental to ensuring school breakfasts are implemented in a way that is hunger-focused and barrier free.
In addition, thousands of secondary school children are at risk of losing their free school breakfasts from September next year. For many of these students, this is their only opportunity to have a nutritious meal before facing a demanding school day, including taking exams. And for the very youngest, we know that the disadvantage gap begins before they even reach reception. With the Government commitment to another 100,000 places in school-based nurseries, early years is also a critical part of our advocacy work.
Being part of the work of Magic Breakfast is your chance, together with parents, teachers and people across the UK, to demonstrate the power of school breakfasts and to shape the way forward to end morning hunger for good.
*Food Foundation Insecurity Tracker Jan 2025
JOB PURPOSE
The Head of Policy & Public Affairs will review, develop and implement our advocacy strategy and lead a team to influence the devolved legislatures across the UK to address child morning hunger, with a view to the underlying systemic causes of child poverty and hunger, by driving change through policy and legislation. The role operates at our ‘Head of level’ which is the most senior operational specialist level and provides both operational and strategic leadership.
This role will also provide wider leadership across the charity and input into organisational strategy development and planning as part of the Core Management Group. This role will ensure that the Policy and Public Affairs function is aligned to the wider strategic aims and outcomes of Magic Breakfast as well as the internal operational systems and delivery.
The strategic leadership will ensure an external and long term view, with an outward looking and forward thinking approach that builds thought leadership, relationships and partnerships, with positioning to anticipate and build on new opportunities to end child morning hunger for good.
It will require an experienced Policy and Public Affairs professional, with significant experience of high impact and demonstrable outcomes at a senior level in the field. The postholder will lead the policy and public affairs team to influence the Early Adopters Scheme, the national rollout of primary school breakfast provision in England and breakfast legislation in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill (CWB).
They will also develop, guide and lead plans to influence the Scottish government, particularly in the run up to the election in May 2026 and the influencing of manifestos; and will lead Magic Breakfast’s upcoming influencing work in Wales.
In the external leadership that the role provides they will build relationships with politicians, political influencers, special advisors and civil servants to establish long-term, sustainable solutions to child morning hunger in the UK.
As a compassionate, people centric and inspiring leader they will work to enable their team to grow and develop in their skills ensuring they can step away from the detail whilst retaining accountability, build effective resource management and progression pathways. This role may manage external consultants where necessary, and work collaboratively with external organisations to amplify our voice and asks and strengthen our position as a thought leader.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
· Review and define the advocacy strategy for 25/26 in line both with moving political environment and Magic Breakfast’s influencing agenda, considering the systemic barriers to ending child morning hunger for good.
· Develop and maintain close relationships with the Department for Education and other key departments including Department for Health and Social Care and Treasury, to secure hunger and child focus as key priorities for breakfast provision.
· Develop, monitor and evaluate influencing plans for each devolved nation
· Support the development of influencing plans with coalition groups and organisations to influence school breakfast policy, commitments and implementation
· Review policy positions in Wales and Northern Ireland and define our advocacy approach, gaining external insights and analysing available research and data to shape the plan
· Develop a vision for advocacy beyond current demands, considering political appetite and gaining insight from lived experience communities and relevant sectors, to ensure that we are clear on future asks, and can build the foundation towards them.
· Work with Impact and Insights team to define future research needs to meet our longer-term advocacy plans
· Enhance and establish internal processes and ensure good internal information dissemination
· Work closely with key internal stakeholders to shape advocacy work and support broader organisational objectives
· Embed learnings and develop a fail fast, learn fast culture in the team
· Coach, support and lead direct reports enabling increased professional development, strategic decision making, proactive project management and robust political influencing
· Contribute to and help shape the work of the Core Management Group to ensure ongoing alignment for in year implementation of the strategic plan and create integrated future year plans which meet organisational goals
· Monitor and review KPIs to monitor and measure both team and cross organisational performance, using the results to guide teams and surface learnings
· Assess areas of risk and escalate where necessary and according to policy
· Develop and monitor annual team budgets
General
• Work collaboratively across the organisation, building good working relations and providing ad-hoc support to other teams and members of staff
• Passion and commitment to Magic Breakfast’s aim of alleviating morning hunger as a barrier to learning for children in the UK.
• Help to maintain a positive working environment; keeping the vision of Magic Breakfast at the heart of everything we do.
• Share Magic Breakfast’s commitment to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion
• Establish and ensure existing Ways of Working are adhered to across team
• Adhere to all Magic Breakfast policies and procedures and ensure that all activity is compliant with current legislation, GDPR, data protection and child safeguarding requirements
• Undertake any other duties commensurate with the role
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
· Strategy development, demonstrating a deep understanding of how to craft, implement, and evolve strategies that align to operational outcomes for the Policy and Advocacy function as well as enabling our organisation strategy in our aim to end child morning for good.
· Stakeholder management and partnership building with extensive experience of engaging, influencing, and collaborating with diverse stakeholders, including senior political figures, policymakers, funders and sector leaders.
· Ability to confidently and flexibly deal with volatile political environment, anticipating potential developments and adapting to emerging situations to meet aims
· Highly experienced in developing and shaping policy positions, using insights, research and data sets to inform and guide decision-making
· Understanding and experience of the role of the broader external environment to shape policy asks and political influencing, including the implications of a policy ask in one sector on another.
· Experience of influencing key political events such as budgets, national elections and the legislative process.
· Significant experience of coaching, supporting and managing the development of a team, with the ability to make difficult decisions and challenge where needed to deliver the organisational strategy.
Desirable
· Experience of education, food insecurity, child poverty or childcare sectors
Skills and Abilities
• Effective leadership mentality with confidence to step away from the detail and delegate responsibility, enabling others to use judgements, make decisions, learn from failures and continuously improve.
• Analytical and evidence based decision making, with the ability to turn data and analysis into policy and advocacy related recommendations or outcomes for action.
• Effective planning, prioritisation and project management skills. Able to organise self and team to meet planned objectives and strategic direction with the ability to pivot and manage the unexpected.
• Strong, influential and impactful interpersonal and communication skills and to advocate for own specialism, department and Magic Breakfast's mission, effectively conveying the organisation's impact and needs to a wide range of audiences.
• Operational and financial acumen and analysis: understanding and practical application of knowledge as required around funding considerations, budget development and management, risk management, and ensuring systems in place for efficiency by setting and maintaining policy and procedural frameworks.
• An outward looking and forward thinking approach that drives a sense of curiosity, innovation and continuous improvement. Always thinking what can we learn from others, what new developments can be explored and what are the opportunities for the function to improve and grow with others too.
WHAT WE OFFER
At Magic Breakfast we value our employees and work hard to develop offer a supportive, respectful culture which enables everyone to bring their whole self to work.
Please find attached our job pack
APPLICATION PROCCESS
Should you wish to discuss the role before applying please email our People and Culture Team, recruitment @ magicbreakfast. com
Shortlisting - w/c 5th May
Interview 1 - 15th and 16th May
Interview 2 - w/c 21st May
We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately, once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.
