Service manager jobs in holborn, greater london

Help shape a future where fewer people die by suicide

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At Samaritans, our vision is that fewer people die by suicide. Our ambition is to see rates decline to the lowest ever recorded rates in the UK and Ireland.​

As our next Assistant Director of Policy, Practice & Influencing, you’ll ensure our strategy and plans for policy, public affairs, campaigns, and industry partnerships help our work towards make this ambition a reality.​

This is a rare opportunity to shape national and sector-wide policy at a time when suicide prevention has never been more urgent. Working closely with the Executive Leadership Team and leading a high-performing team across policy, public affairs and industry partnerships, you’ll set the strategic direction for our influencing work.​

This is a high impact senior leadership role with strategic responsibility for influencing Westminster government, industry, and media. We’re looking for a confident strategic thinker and values- led leader, someone who brings clarity, compassion and credibility in equal measure.​

You’ll be a visible ambassador, trusted adviser, and systems thinker, someone who can help shape our Influencing function to be able to drive forwards progress with our mission. ​You’ll help us build new partnerships, and ensure our voice is not only informed by evidence, lived experience, and practice, but is far reaching and amplified ensuring that Samaritans remains at the forefront of influencing much needed change for the future.

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Full outline of the role available in the Job description file here.​

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Contract Terms:​​

• Initially a 12month fixed term contract
• £75,000 - £80,000 per annum with Benefits
• We’re open to how this contract is worked, our full time hours are 35 hours per week, but we are passionate about flexible working, and would support you to work part time, talk to us about your preferences.
• Hybrid working: Linked to our Ewell (Surrey) office with a blend of home working and access to work from our offices in Ewell and London Bridge.
• In-person working: Meeting in person and working collaboratively are things we value. We work in person around 2 days or more per month.

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What you'll lead:​

• Reviewing our function and developing the delivery of our policy and influencing strategy to drive systemic change in suicide prevention
• High-performing teams covering policy, public affairs and industry practice
• Strategic stakeholder relationships across Government, NHS, regulators, industry and third sector
• Ground-breaking thought leadership, advocacy, and responsible media influence
• Integration of lived experience and insight into all influencing activities

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About you: ​

You’re an experienced senior leader in public affairs, policy, or advocacy, with a track record of influencing change at national level. You bring clarity, compassion and credibility to every conversation. You understand the power of collaboration and storytelling, and you’re driven to create lasting impact.

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Your experience includes:​

• Leading multi-disciplinary influencing teams
• Shaping high-quality policy and public affairs strategies
• Navigating complex political and stakeholder environments
• Embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion in all areas of your work
• Making evidence-based decisions underpinned by research and real-world insight
• Inspiring engagement and bringing your team with you on the journey to contribute to your vision for the future.

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Why Samaritans: ​

​You’ll join a values-led organisation with a powerful mission and a collaborative culture. We offer flexible hybrid working, excellent benefits, and the chance to make a tangible difference in suicide prevention across the UK and Ireland.

For further information about Samaritans, including our charity structure, values, employee benefits, and application process, please read our recruitment brochure available here. You can also visit our careers website to access this.

We recognise the enormous benefits and the social justice imperatives of ensuring diversity at every level of our organisation. Samaritans is wholly committed to inclusion and diversity and to building a culture and environment where everyone is appreciated for the unique person they are. To ensure Samaritans is representative of those we support and who support us, we particularly welcome applications from disabled, racialised minority and LGBTQ+ candidates, as these people are under-represented at Samaritans.​

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Ready to lead change and help us save lives?

If you’re a strategic, compassionate leader with a passion for influencing policy and practice at the highest levels, we’d love to hear from you.

To apply, please complete the application questions including those outlined below, and submit your answers along with your CV and an optional brief supporting statement.​

• Why do you want to work for Samaritans leading our influencing work and what do you think might be challenging about the topic? 300 words max
   
• How would you go about creating a culture of influencing within the organisation and what success have you had of doing this? 300 words max
   
• Tell us about a time when you've developed and delivered an influencing strategy - what impact did you have and what learnings were there? 300 words max​

We kindly ask that you don’t rely on AI tools for your application answers, or to generate interview answers. We want to see your own unique ideas and writing skills. We want your application to stand out from the rest and showcase your own strengths.

Applications close: ​9am, Monday 28th July

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Interviews:

Virtual interviews will take place on the 11th and 12th August.

Informal second stage interviews will be held in person at our offices in Ewell on the 13th August. Those invited to attend will be informed on the 12th August. Unfortunately due to staff holidays we may not be able to be as flexible as usual in offering an alternative date so please do hold these dates in your diary, if applying.

Job Title: Food Education Network Director

Position Type: Paid/Part time

Reports to: Food Education Network Steering Group

Salary: £44,000 FTE equating to £26,400 pro rated

Location: School Food Matters, London TW9 2RD (minimum one day a week in office)

Working Hours: Three days per week

Holiday: 19 days including bank holidays that fall on working days

Pension: School Food Matters matches pension contributions at 7% of pensionable earnings

Contract: Fixed term for one year to be extended with successful fundraising

Background

The Food Education Network (FEN) began in 2020 as a coalition of organisations passionate about improving food education in schools and other settings to influence recommendations for the National Food Strategy.

School Food Matters is now looking for an experienced and passionate leader with skills in advocacy and communications to lead the future development of the Food Education Network and its next stage of influencing government policy around food education from early years into the secondary phase.

Main Responsibilities

The Director will build on the foundations already laid to establish the Food Education Network as a new member organisation to bring the sector together. This role will involve building close relationships with a wide range of external partners to ensure the Network is a credible voice on food education policy and is campaigning with its members to make change happen. The role will be split between governance of the network (40%) and influencing government policy (60%). 

Principle Duties:

· Define and clearly present the top policy priorities around food education and take these to politicians, the media and wider world

· Build close relationships with key decision-makers to influence food education policy

· Raise awareness of food education within the educational community

· Support the steering committee to raise funds

· Grow and solidify the Food Education Network, setting out a one-year plan with clear objectives, purpose, operations and governance

· Continue to build the membership of the Network, reaching out to organisations in the food education sector who can help add to the Network’s voice and evidence

Ideal Candidate

· Can work confidently in a start-up role to grow an organisation almost from scratch

· Solid understanding of public affairs, policymaking, and communications

· Significant experience of working in advocacy at a senior level

· Proven ability to effectively influence a range of political stakeholders and communicate complex policy positions verbally and in writing

· Ability to bring together a range of stakeholders behind a shared strategy, matrix managing multi-disciplinary teams across organisations and managing differences of position and views

· Comfortable with managing multiple workstream, rapidly assessing the changing political environment and adapting strategies accordingly

· Genuine interest in championing food education.

About the role

Here at Joseph Rowntree Foundation, we are on the lookout for a Learning and Impact Lead – someone to help the Movement Effectiveness team and our network of partners to better understand how change happens and to demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of our programmes. You will create and deliver learning frameworks, capture and promote insight from their experiences, and identify how our resources; time, money, knowledge and being relational can make a difference in the world.

This is an exciting new role, and you will lead JRF’s strategy for learning and impact measurement across narrative change, movement building, and community organising initiatives and embed a culture of reflection, learning, and adaptive practice within JRF and among our partners.

Acting as a thought leader in the sector, sharing insights and innovations in impact measurement and evaluation with external stakeholders, you will work with colleagues to evaluate the effectiveness of storytelling and strategies in shifting public narratives about poverty and inequality.

 About you

We are looking for someone who has proven expertise in designing and implementing learning and impact measurement frameworks, particularly in one or more areas of narrative change, movement building, or community organising. You will have experience working with marginalised communities and a commitment to centring their voices and lived experiences in evaluation processes. With strong leadership experience, with the ability to inspire and manage diverse teams and stakeholders, you will have an in-depth understanding of systems change approaches and the complexities of measuring long-term, non-linear outcomes.

You will be a strong communicator with excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to engage and influence diverse audiences and a passion for social justice and alignment with JRF’s mission and values. With excellent qualitative and quantitative research skills, including participatory evaluation methodologies, you will have a track record of producing high-quality reports, briefings, and presentations that drive learning and decision-making.

How to apply

If you share our passion and this role sounds like you, then we’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Please submit your CV and supporting information via our website.

The closing date for applications is 7th August 2025.

Interviews will take place week commencing 1st September 2025.

We reserve the right to bring the closing date forward should enough quality applications be received prior to the current closing date.

Additional Information

Applications are welcome from all, regardless of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, race, sex, sexual orientation, trans status or socioeconomic background.

We positively encourage applications from people from marginalised backgrounds, including but not limited to those with experience of living in poverty.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and operate an anonymised recruitment process so that bias is eliminated from the shortlisting process.

At JRF we’re at our best when we’re continually building on trust, showing we care and making a difference – and hope others will do the same. So, for those roles which allow it, we’re developing a more blended approach to how and where you work. This means you can expect to work flexibly between the office and home (with an expectation of two days a week in your home office).

We are a Disability Confident Employer. This means that we are committed to the recruitment, progression and retention of disabled individuals. We shall also offer interviews to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the job. If you have a disability, please tell us if you would like to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme.

If you have any additional needs and need reasonable adjustments to be made to the interview process, please let us know.

We’re at a crucial point in a campaign which spans political advocacy, public communications and engagement with businesses, targeted towards ensuring the introduction of what our coalition calls a UK ‘Business, Human Rights and Environment Act’. This successful applicant will play a central role in shaping and driving forward the campaign, working alongside our civil society partners to do so.

We are a broad coalition, including NGOs, trade unions and law firms, and spanning a range of political and thematic priorities, from workers’ rights and modern slavery, to climate and the environment, global justice and the rights of women and girls, children and indigenous peoples. What brings us together is a shared commitment to improving corporate accountability for human rights abuses and environmental destruction: in line with this, collaborative work for change alongside our partners is at the heart of all we do.

The successful candidate will be highly motivated and have a real commitment to campaign for change on corporate accountability for human rights abuses. You’ll be enthusiastic and full of ideas, able to juggle multiple deadlines and tasks, while being ready to show initiative and take ownership of your area of work. We are a small team, and all are accountable for some of the mundane tasks necessary in a small organisation.