Strategic design lead jobs in Manchester

We are recruiting a Head of Income and Engagement to provide strategic leadership and vision for two critical functions—Fundraising and Marketing & Communications—bringing them together into a unified, high-performing team. This role focuses on shaping strategy, building external relationships, and driving organisational growth through income generation and brand engagement, rather than day-to-day operational management.

You will set the direction for attracting significant funding, particularly through corporate partnerships, while strengthening what PAPYRUS already does well:

• Securing grants and trusts funding
• Harnessing the passion of our large, committed supporter base - including bereaved families and others who raise voluntary income for us

In a challenging financial climate, you will lead efforts to grow these income streams and maintain a strong, values-driven presence across press, social media, and broadcast channels. The role requires influence, innovation, and the ability to inspire all managers and staff, as well as external stakeholders.

Please visit the careers site for the full job description and person specification for the role.

Salary: £58,523 per annum (Scale SCP 46) progressing by increments to £62,852 per annum (Scale SCP 49)

Hours: 36 hours per week Location: Remote with regular travel across the UK

Contract: Permanent 

Benefits: You will receive 28 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays (pro rata for part time workers), hybrid and flexible working arrangements, an attractive pension scheme, Simply Health membership, enhanced sick pay and enhanced parental pay. Please visit our website for more details.

Closing date: midnight on 22nd February 2026

We reserve the right to close the vacancy earlier if we receive sufficient applications so, please submit your application as soon as possible.

PAPYRUS is committed to the principle of equal opportunity in employment, and its recruitment policies are designed to ensure that no job applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, disability, gender re-assignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

PAPYRUS is committed to safeguarding all children, young people and adults at risk that interact with the organisation. The organisation recognises its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of these vulnerable groups by a commitment to procedures to protect them. The charity expects all staff and volunteers to fully support and promote these commitments.

Funders In Good is looking for a Programme Officer to join our programmes team and help deliver initiatives that support and grow social ventures.

Funders In Good provides capacity-building support, including training, diagnostics, tailored grants, and strategic support, to help social ventures enhance their growth and impact. By 2035, our goal is to help build 10 best-in-class community organisations serving Islam and Muslims in the UK. We back ventures and leaders who are contributing to our vision of a society in which commitment to God is flourishing.

As a Programme Officer, you will work closely with the existing team to develop and deliver high-quality interventions. You will support key areas of work within our programme framework, contribute to the delivery of ongoing projects, and assist in other important areas of the organisation, such as our Funder Community and core operations.

We are looking for an organised, experienced, and confident Programme Officer who is committed to our vision.

To apply for the role, please submit your CV and prepare a supporting statement (maximum 200 words per question), answering the following questions:

1. What resonates with you about Funders In Good’s God-centred mission and long-term approach?

2. How you would plan, deliver, and evaluate a cohort-based capacity-building programme.

3. How you would handle a disengaged venture leader while managing competing programme priorities.

Please read the Job Description for full details or to arrange an informal chat with the team.

Homeless Link are looking for an inspirational, experienced and ambitious senior leader who will lead on the design and delivery of a step-change in our impact on homelessness services in England. This will be achieved through a transformational approach to supporting Homeless Link’s member organisations and the wider homelessness workforce. With new funding and a greater sense of purpose you will shift the dial in sector leadership and frontline service delivery across England. In partnership with colleagues across the organisation, you will take us a step closer to our stated aim of an end to homelessness. 

Homeless Link is the national membership charity for frontline homelessness agencies and the wider housing with health, care and support sector in England. With more than 750 members, we work to improve services and campaign for policy change that will help end homelessness and ensure that everyone has a place to call home and the support they need to keep it.

The successful candidate will have an in-depth understanding of current & developing frontline homelessness practice, knowledge of how the homelessness and supported housing sectors operate, a strong track record of maintaining strategic partnerships, and senior leadership experience within the not-for-profit or related sector.If you can provide the strategic leadership to support and enable frontline member organisations and their staff to be more effective, impactful and resilient, we would love to hear from you. 

We are actively seeking to increase diversity within our organisation and would greatly welcome applications from people with lived experience of homelessness, from a black or minority ethnic background and/or with a disability. 

For full details and how to apply please click the Redirect to Recruiter button

Strategic Development & Growth Lead

Autistic Parents UK (APUK)
Part-time – 12 hours per week | Remote (UK-based) | Fixed-term (3 years) 

Autistic Parents UK (APUK) is a national Disabled People’s Organisation led by and for autistic parents. We are entering an exciting new phase of development and are looking for a Strategic Development & Growth Lead to help shape and strengthen our future.

This is a senior, strategic role within a small but ambitious charity. Working closely with our Board of Trustees and Services Lead, you will drive organisational growth, secure sustainable funding, and build partnerships that expand our reach and impact. You will play a key role in ensuring APUK continues to support autistic parents  across the UK while remaining firmly rooted in autistic-led, neuro-affirming values.

About the Role

You will lead on developing and delivering APUK’s organisational strategy, identifying opportunities for sustainable growth, and strengthening systems and infrastructure. A key focus of the role will be developing and implementing income generation strategies, including securing grants, building partnerships, and exploring new funding opportunities such as training and commissioned services.

You will also oversee marketing and communications strategy, helping raise APUK’s profile and engagement with communities, partners, and stakeholders. Alongside this, you will support internal development, including governance, monitoring and evaluation systems, and supporting the charity’s expansion as it grows.
The role is subject to a basic DBS check. 

About You

We are looking for someone with strong experience in strategic development, organisational growth, or income generation within the charity or not-for-profit sector. You will be a confident communicator with a proven track record of securing funding, building partnerships, and delivering strategic initiatives.

You will understand and be committed to Disabled People’s Organisation principles, neurodiversity, and the social model of disability. 

You will be comfortable working collaboratively in a remote, values-led organisation and able to manage priorities strategically within a part-time role.

Why Join Us?

APUK offers a supportive, autistic-led working environment with flexible working arrangements and opportunities for professional development. This is a unique opportunity to play a central role in shaping the future of a growing national organisation and making a direct difference to autistic parents and their families.

We are committed to inclusive recruitment and particularly welcome applications from autistic, neurodivergent and disabled people, individuals from racially minoritised communities, and LGBTQ+ applicants. We are happy to make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

 

Operations Lead

Salary: £32-£36k/year, depending on circumstances (5-day week equivalent is £40-45k/year)

Location: Remote

Working hours: 4-day week (30 hours), flexible, includes some evening and weekends

Contract: Fixed term - one year with intention to extend indefinitely, funding permitting

Closing date: 9am, Monday 2nd March

Interviews: Monday 9th March, Tuesday 10th March

Start date: April 2026

Overview

High energy costs are a nightmare for millions of UK households, while huge profits are made at our expense. Poor housing and heating systems are a key part of the problem, along with dependence on polluting, climate-changing fossil fuels. FPA is a campaigning organisation that sets out to attack the root causes of fuel poverty along with the specific injustices facing people and communities. We want to see the UK’s energy system decarbonised as rapidly as possible, with a just transition for communities and workers that includes affordability. 

Working closely with pensioners groups, trades unions, disabled campaigners, tenants’ organisations and others on the frontline of fuel poverty, we’re using protest and direct action to fight for real, sustainable solutions to the cold homes crisis. We are looking for a committed operations person and fundraiser who shares our passion and values, to oversee systems and processes which support our strategy and core team to do their best work.

About the role

Fuel Poverty Action (FPA) was started in 2011 by climate activists who wanted to ensure that the green energy transition doesn’t happen at the expense of those with less social and economic power. Rather, they saw the break with fossil fuels as an opportunity to end the scourge of fuel poverty in the UK - a chance to rethink priorities and design inequality out of the energy system.

We are seeking a new, well-organised Operations Lead to slot into this structure, to take care of administrative and operational functions and support the Directors with fundraising: bids, budgets and reports, managing relationships with funders and cultivating a donor pipeline.

This role would suit someone familiar with the operational and HR elements of running a company or organisation, somebody with management experience who is caring and collaborative and comfortable juggling a varied workload.

Critically, we are seeking someone who shares our political vision, as reflected in the Energy For All manifesto (link in attachment). 

Key responsibilities

• Administration: Managing the email inbox; maintaining up to date contacts and mailing lists; developing and refining systems, processes and platforms to support internal and campaign activities.
• Information management: Ensuring high standards of record keeping, data protection and secure information storage across the organisation, enabling staff and members to share and access resources and know-how. 
• Fundraising: Creating and implementing a three-year fundraising plan; managing existing donor relationships and completing reports; working with directors/fundraising volunteers on grant bids and budgets.
• Line management: Providing light touch management for at least one colleague.
• HR functions: Overseeing recruitment and onboarding of new staff and freelancers, overseeing HR policies and contracts, identifying training needs and opportunities.
• Strategic thinking: Inputting into FPA’s long and short term strategic plans, with an eye to the setting and monitoring of appropriate targets.
• Writing and editing: Including overseeing the production of our Annual Report.
• Events: Organising online and in-person events and meetings, including annual strategy days and a 2026 conference.

For the full person spec and further information, please refer to the attachment below.

Compensation Policy 

We’ll compensate team members on the following basis:

• All salaried team members are contracted on the same terms and conditions

• We have a 30 hour week maximum for all team members - most commonly worked as 4 x 7.5 hour days

• Team members are paid an equitable and sustainable compensation rate which is the pro rate equivalent to a full-time (5 day) salary of £40-45,000, regardless of role or level of experience

• Our compensation rates have been set following Platform’s best practice Social Justice Waging System:

Annual salary (30 hours per week):

• Band 1 - No dependents or children and inherited wealth: £32,000 

• Band 2 - One or more children or dependents and inherited wealth OR No inherited wealth but no children or dependents: £34,000

• Band 3 - One or more more children or dependents and no inherited wealth: £36,000 

Further details

• 4-day full time week

• 3% employer-matched pension

• Genuinely flexible working

• 25 days holiday per year, plus bank holidays

• £15 / month working-from-home broadband stipend 

We have no central office or shared office budget, so it is imperative that you are comfortable working from home and that you are based in the UK.

Some costs-paid travel and monthly evening and occasional weekend working will be required.

The appointment will be for one year with a hope of extension, funding permitting, and a four month probationary period.

Please take a look at our website for a deeper understanding of what we do: fuelpovertyaction(dot)org(dot)uk

We particularly welcome applications from marginalised groups, especially people of colour and other ethnic minorities, people who identify as LGBTQIA, disabled people and those who identify as working class or have done so in the past. 

#Operations Lead #Operations #Operations Strategy #Strategic Operations #Fundraising #Fundraiser #Campaigns #Fundraising Campaigns #Fundraising Strategy #Social Justice #Climate

The Food Ethics Council's mission is to put people, animals and planet at the heart of every food decision. We're looking for a part-time Communications lead to take the lead on designing and delivering communications that support us to engage with our key audiences and tell strong authentic stories about the work we do in the food system.

Duties: include supporting the Executive Director in developing and delivering the communications strategy, providing strategic input on framing and language of our work, using social media to develop communities of interest, website management, designing social media assets, liaising with comms teams in organisations we partner with, writing and coordinating blogs and/ or video content. See job description for list of main duties.

Employee benefits: We offer flexible working. We will pay a pension contribution of 4% of your basic pay per month (minimum employee contributions required in line with pensions law, unless you choose to opt out). Annual leave - 25 days per year + public holidays FTE 

#Communications Lead #Flexible Working #Remote Working #Engagement #Storytelling #Digital

An exciting opportunity to help turn a new national initiative into reality as it moves from planning into delivery. Over the next year, we will be launching a new, national Foundation Degree while building the foundations of a wider programme of work. This role will play a key role in shaping and delivering our communications during a critical launch phase. The role combines strategic thinking with hands-on delivery, spanning external positioning, marketing for the Foundation Degree, and building the Centre for the Children’s Workforce's longer-term communications capacity. Working closely across the team, delivery partners and external suppliers including our university partner, the role will help ensure that our work is communicated effectively as we grow.

High Value Relationships Lead

Are you a senior fundraiser who thrives on building deep, meaningful relationships, understanding what motivates people, earning trust, and working collaboratively to make real change? Do you want your work to help create a world where people with a learning disability are valued equally, heard, and included in every part of society? If so, we want to hear from you.

At Mencap, we’re proud of the long-term partnerships we’ve built with organisations like Sport England, British Gas Energy Trust, and Pears. These are thoughtful, values-led relationships that have already delivered significant impact, and we know there’s even more potential to unlock. 

This is an exciting moment to join us. Our new strategy, Mencap 2030, sets out a bold vision for the organisation, and high-value fundraising is central to making it real. We’re investing in our fundraising capability, with an engaged and supportive Executive team, and an active CEO and Board who understand the power of transformational partnerships and are committed to backing this work. 

We’re looking for a High Value Relationship Lead, a strategic, relationship-driven fundraiser who can take our high-value fundraising to the next level – securing multi-year, transformational support and deepening engagement across major donors, trusts and foundations, and statutory funders. You’ll lead a talented, committed team, shape our high-value approach, and build strong, credible pipelines that turn ambition into real, lasting impact. Equally importantly, you’ll ensure our fundraising feels authentic, keeping people with a learning disability at the heart of every conversation, proposal, and partnership. 

This is a full-time (37.5 hours/week), permanent role with flexibility on location.

If you are passionate about transforming lives through the power of high‑value partnerships, we encourage you to apply now with an updated CV. Applications close on 1st of March with interviews to be held shortly afterward.

Benefits

Here at Mencap, we offer an impressive range of benefits designed to support and reward our employees to ensure that our teams feel valued and appreciated.

Our benefits package offers 32 days of paid holiday (including bank holidays, pro rata), along with a range of perks such as discounts at leading high-street retailers, access to health cash plans, interest-free loans, and many more exciting offerings.

For more details on what we have to offer, please see the attached document outlining all the fantastic benefits available to you as a member of our team!

About Mencap

Our vision is for the UK to be the best place in the world for people with a learning disability to live happy and healthy lives.

We're here to support people with a learning disability, their families and their carers. We fight for a kinder, fairer and more inclusive society for people with a learning disability to live in.

At Mencap, everyone works with people with a learning disability either providing support or advice, or alongside one another as colleagues.

Belonging at Mencap is for everyone, every day, everywhere.

·Everyone is expected to treat people well and make Mencap an inclusive organisation.

· Every day we grow and learn. It’s okay to make mistakes but we learn from them and make changes

· Everywhere people will feel respected, valued, and safe to be themselves.

We have Belonging network groups that meet online and are open to all colleagues. The groups include people who identify as Black and Asian, LGBTQIA+, disabled or with a long- term health condition, women, parents and carers, and their allies.

We want to encourage everyone to apply to work at Mencap and we offer a variety of different contract types and working patterns. We’re not looking for specific experience. It is your personality and values that will make you a great colleague. We will train and develop you to succeed in the role you’re applying for.

The Role
We are looking for a Volunteer Lead to provide critical direction and expertise, driving forward a new, organisation-wide approach to volunteering — one that is inclusive, impactful, and aligned with our mission to improve outcomes for deaf children and their families.
 
We are looking to push boundaries and test new ways of doing things to reach our customers and engage with volunteers. The chances are, we haven’t done it before, so we are looking for a brave and creative mindset to breathe new life into our approaches..
 
 
What you'll do
 

• Focus on the design & implementation of a new, sustainable approach to volunteering where you will use your expertise to shape the direction of travel.
• Provide strategic input on developing sustainable, scalable initiatives that serve our communities and respond to need. 
• Develop approaches to decentralise volunteer management whereby community groups, partners and staff have confidence recruiting, managing and engaging volunteers.
• Provide an oversight of the rollout of the volunteer management system, working with the Volunteer Advisor to ensure that it is tailored to the needs of volunteers, staff and customers. 
• Develop new and creative strategies to engage and reward volunteers that recognises diverse needs and motivations.

 
What you'll need
 

• Significant experience in a volunteering management role.
• Strong demonstrable experience of inclusive volunteer management, including recruitment, training, support & recognition.
• Knowledge of safeguarding, data protection & compliance relevant to volunteering.
• Experience of a participative approach to volunteering, co-creating initiatives in collaboration with communities or service users.
• Strong digital skills and a sound understanding of agile values & principles.
• A criminal record check / DBS disclosure (if offered the position).

What you'll get

• Home-based working with flexible hours.
• 25 days holiday - plus an additional 3 days at Christmas (& bank holidays).
• Pension (5.5% employer contribution).
• Healthcare Cashplan.
• Annual performance-based salary increase.
• Employee Assistance & Wellbeing Programmes.

 
What we do
 
The National Deaf Children's Society are the leading charity for deaf children. We give expert support on childhood deafness, raise awareness and campaign for deaf children's rights, so they have the same opportunities as everyone else.
 
 
Disability Confidence
 
We are a Disability Confident Employer and committed to offering interviews to candidates who request to be considered under the disability confident scheme and meet the minimum requirements of the person specification. Please contact our recruitment team with any accessibility or reasonable adjustment enquiries.
 
The National Deaf Children’s Society is a registered charity in England and Wales no. 1016532 and in Scotland no. SC040779.

Interim Income and Engagement Strategy Lead

Role Overview
The Talent Set is delighted to partner with a brilliant charity client of ours seeking an Interim Income and Engagement Strategy Lead. This pivotal role involves developing a bold, actionable strategy to enhance income streams and supporter engagement, ensuring the organisation’s growth and sustainability through a transitional period.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate closely with senior leaders to define and implement a comprehensive fundraising and supporter engagement strategy.
• Analyse current data and insights to shape strategic direction, focusing on maximising income opportunities across diverse channels.
• Work with heads of departments to align efforts and optimise performances.
• Support operational teams to ensure the strategy is feasible and effectively executed, introduced by April 2026.
• Provide leadership and guidance to a small, high-potential team, ultimately fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
• Engage with trustees and executive leadership to secure buy-in and ensure strategic goals are met.
• Bridge gaps between marketing, digital, and fundraising audiences, with a strong understanding of integrated communication approaches.
• Lead process reviews and develop plans that enhance operational efficiency and future focus.

Person Specification

• Extensive experience in designing and delivering income generation and supporter engagement strategies within a charitable context.
• Proven ability to analyse complex data sets and translate insights into impactful strategies.
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with a collaborative approach to working with senior leaders and trustees.
• Strong operational understanding and the ability to translate strategic ambitions into practical plans.
• Awareness of contemporary fundraising trends, including digital and marketing integration.
• Analytic, design-minded thinking, with an emphasis on process improvement.
• Financial acumen and confidence in working with budgets and data to influence decision-making.

What’s on Offer
Salary: Up to £500 per day (umbrella)
Up to 4 months 
Remote/Flexible working options

How to Apply
To apply, please submit your CV demonstrating your suitability for this role by clicking the 'apply now' button (please do not apply via email). We aim to get back to all successful candidates within 48 working hours.

Commitment to Diversity
The Talent Set are committed to diverse and inclusive recruitment practices, ensuring equal opportunities for all applicants regardless of race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, disability, or age. We actively encourage applications from a wide range of backgrounds and are always happy to make reasonable adjustments to ensure a fair recruitment process.

This opportunity offers a meaningful chance to shape a charity’s strategic future during a critical transitional period. Take the next step in your leadership journey by applying today.

Role outline and purpose

The Head of External Relations leads strategic engagement and influencing activities to ensure hunger and hardship remain a priority for key external audiences, to build the breadth and depth of support needed to help end the need for food banks.  This role engages and influences target stakeholders in government, business, civil society and faith communities to prioritise hunger and hardship in their decisions and actions.

This role is part of Trussell’s Prioritising Hunger and Hardship programme, the goal of which is to keep hunger and hardship at the forefront of conversations and decision making – both amongst the public and key individuals and organisations relevant to our cause.  This role is focused on the successful delivery of the overall programme outcomes, contributing to the fulfilment of our long-term vision of a UK without the need for food banks.

Role responsibilities

· Leading the organisation’s external influencing strategy to shape key conversations, decisions, and activities among target audiences to ensure hunger and hardship remain a national priority.  Working closely with colleagues across the organisation focused on influencing and advocacy with relevant stakeholders (e.g. policymakers, advice sector, local authorities).

· Develop and maintain high-impact senior relationships with key parliamentarians, civil servants, faith leaders, youth organisations, the wider charitable food sector and other partners to build strategic support and unlock change.

· Oversee targeted engagement programmes that deepen collaboration with, and activate, key stakeholders and organisations to build and amplify the long-term wide-ranging support needed to end the need for food banks – including youth and wider civil society organisations, charitable food providers and faith communities.

· Shape and support coalitions that align around shared priorities, build a unified narrative, and strengthen the collective voice of organisations working to support people facing hunger and hardship.

· Act as an external spokesperson representing the organisation in media, at external events and high-level meetings and through written commentary.

· Provide team leadership, direction, support and line management.  This will include regular 1:1s and reviews to ensure object and targets are met.

Person Specification

Technical skills and minimum knowledge:

· Proven track record of developing and delivering successful influencing strategies, focused on wide-ranging and high-profile external audiences

· Extensive experience in senior stakeholder engagement, coalition building, and influencing with impact across a wide range of partners, including a strong understanding of the UK political landscape and policy processes

· An understanding and appreciation for faith communities, particularly the role churches play in mobilising communities to end the need for food banks

· Knowledge of issues related to hunger and hardship, with an ability to translate complex policy into accessible messaging

Behaviours and competencies:

· Strategic thinker with the ability to anticipate and respond to changing political and social environments

· Role model inclusive behaviour, values and leadership including empathy for people from disadvantaged, marginalised or socially excluded backgrounds

· Comfortable working in a fast-paced and high-performing organisation, combining problem-solving with collaborative interpersonal skills

· Effective communications and influencing skills: diplomatic, builds rapport, accessible and audience-appropriate presentation, and highly persuasive

Key Stakeholders

· Programme Leadership Team, particularly Heads withing Prioritising Hunger and Hardship (Head of Programme, Communications, and Research)

· Key influencing stakeholders within Making Social Security Work, Sustainable Holistic Advice, and Supportive Communities programmes (including Heads of Policy, Advice Advocacy, Community Building, and Community Design)

· Senior Audience messaging specialist (in programme)

· Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland leads

· Assistant Director of Income Generation

· UK parliamentarians and officials

· Senior sector partners

· Senior Church leaders

The opportunity

We are seeking an experienced and values-led Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to lead East London Waterworks Park in this next phase of our development. This is a rare opportunity to shape the first paid executive leadership role in a pioneering environmental charity.

The CEO role is wide-ranging and dynamic, and will evolve as East London Waterworks Park grows. The CEO will provide strategic leadership to help realise our ambition to purchase the Thames Water depot site in East London, while strengthening our capacity to deliver community-led rewilding and nature-recovery projects across London in partnership with landowners, local authorities and other stakeholders.

An important aspect of the role will involve introducing a sustainable staffing model that complements and develops East London Waterworks Park’s existing volunteer ecosystem, and strengthens our culture, vision and values. The CEO will be supported in this work by long-standing volunteers at both trustee board and operational level, who believe in the benefits this organisational change will bring.

About East London Waterworks Park

East London Waterworks Park is a community-led charity working to reconnect people and nature. Starting from nature-first principles, and with inclusivity at the heart of everything we do, we work with communities to co-design spaces to unlock a chain of positive changes that culminate in the long-term transformation of people and place.

Our work includes:

• co-designing East London Waterworks Park with the East London community, working towards purchasing a 14-acre Thames Water depot in Waltham Forest and transforming it into a biodiverse urban park with free, accessible wild swimming and welcoming community spaces

• co-designing other nature-first spaces on disused or brownfield land in London, returning land to nature in collaboration with local communities to encourage long–term community stewardship

• hosting engagement, education, and empowerment activities that build skills, confidence and deeper connections to nature.

East London Waterworks Park is a sociocratic organisation, with a decentralised organisational structure and a transparent and collaborative approach to decision making. We have grown organically since 2019, responding flexibly to the challenges we have encountered but always committed to our core vision: creating a new kind of urban green and blue space: one that is ecologically rich, inclusive, and shaped by the people and wildlife who use it.

East London Waterworks Park is currently entirely run by volunteers but we recognise the need to transition to a more sustainable structure. We want to introduce paid employees to ensure we can deliver the exciting projects planned in 2026 and beyond, while retaining our strong community-led ethos.

More information

If this sounds exciting, please review the attached recruitment package.

Chief Executive - Help & Care
Location: Home-based within easy reach of Dorset (regular travel across the region)
Salary: circa £85,000 per annum
Contract: permanent, either full-time basis (37 hours per week) or part-time (30 hours per week). We are happy to discuss flexible working arrangements for part-time hours, including how these are worked across the working week.

Are you an innovative leader who will put communities and social justice at the heart of transforming how health and social care is delivered in Dorset and the south of England?

Help & Care has been supporting communities across Dorset and the south coast since 1985. We deliver person-centred services that promote dignity, independence and connection - from dementia coordination and health coaching to our award-winning Roots gardening programme and social prescribing partnerships. Working with over 25 partners across health, housing and the voluntary sector, we co-produce services that make a real difference to older people, those with long-term conditions, carers and people at risk of isolation.

As our new Chief Executive, you will collaborate with a dedicated Board and a strong, highly motivated team focusing on the following key areas of responsibility:

• Strategic leadership: Define an ambitious, values-led strategy and deliver it, securing long-term impact alongside sustainable financial growth.
• Values leadership: Place Help & Care’s values - social justice, innovation, personal and collaborative - at the heart of decision-making and model them through visible leadership.
• Growth & income diversification: Lead business development to diversify income streams, winning commissioned contracts and developing social-enterprise opportunities to reduce reliance on public commissioning.
• Partnerships & advocacy: Strengthen and sustain senior-level relationships across the NHS, local authorities, commissioners and the voluntary sector; represent Help & Care across systems, media and stakeholder networks.
• Service quality & impact: Embed rigorous monitoring and evaluation so outcome evidence drives commissioning decisions, improves financial performance and enhances the organisation’s reputation.

• People leadership: Inspire, retain and develop a high-performing, compassionate leadership team and workforce, focused on talent development, wellbeing and accountability.
• Governance & financial stewardship: Provide the Board with timely, high-quality reporting, oversee financial recovery or sustainability plans as required, and ensure robust risk, compliance and governance arrangements.

Who you are:

• An experienced CEO or senior director from complex, multi-service health, social care or community organisations, with experience of developing and delivering multi-agency contracts.
• Proven track record of securing commissioned contracts, leading tendering and contract oversight, and developing income diversification, including social-enterprise opportunities.
• Comfortable driving strategic transformation and financial sustainability, with demonstrable expertise in strategic financial management.
• A values-led, collaborative and visible leader with high emotional intelligence and resilience, committed to social justice, person-centred practice and co-production; an effective public representative and mentor.

Why Help & Care?

• Lead a highly respected regional provider with an outstanding track record of co-production and innovation.
• Shape an organisation poised for growth and greater regional influence.
• Hybrid, home-based working, regular travel across Dorset, and the chance to safeguard vital services for local communities.

For full details of the role including how to apply, please download the full appointment brief. For an informal and confidential conversation about this position, please contact Jenny Hills at Harris Hill via apply button with times to speak and (optional but appreciated) a CV or professional profile which will be treated with the strictest confidence

Closing date for applications: 9am, Monday 23rd February 2026. Interviews and assessments on 3rd, 4th and 5th March.

As leading charity recruitment specialists and a certified B Corp, Harris Hill is committed to high and ever-improving standards of equitable and inclusive recruitment. We actively welcome applications from all sections of the community regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion, sexuality and other protected characteristics.

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Head of Communications to come and join our team providing maternity cover until January 2027 during a period of organisational growth.

Location – This role is mainly working from home with one day a week in our London office (usually a Monday). Occasional travel to our other programme sites (currently Stoke-On-Trent, Redcar, Middlesbrough and Scotland) will also be required.

Salary – Circa £60,000

Employment Type – Fixed term until January 2027, 35 hours per week

Team – Communications team

About you

We are looking for someone who can demonstrate the following:

· Strong experience in strategic communications, ideally within a start-up, growing, complex or place-based organisation.

· Experience setting up and embedding communications functions, including establishing foundations and building approaches as priorities evolve.

· Significant experience in people leadership, including developing others and building a strong, collaborative working culture.

· Experience influencing senior stakeholders and working with an SLT, including supporting government policy, media, funding and influence related activity.

· Strong content, storytelling and copywriting expertise and the ability to communicate a clear organisational narrative.

About the role

The responsibilities of this role include:

· Overseeing and ensuring the delivery of national and local communications strategies and plans, including national content activity and priority local campaigns and stakeholder engagement.

· Leading the set-up and embedding of new place-based communications functions.

· Leading and overseeing the planning and delivery of Thrive at Five’s 2026 Impact Report, communications relating to evaluations and learning, and our fifth-year anniversary, working closely with evaluation and fundraising colleagues.

· Maintaining and strengthening relationships with key national and local stakeholders in line with our communications strategy and goals.

· Providing professional and operational leadership and coaching to the wider Communications team to ensure they deliver to a high standard.

About us

Thrive at Five is a national charity focused on giving every child the best possible start in life. We know the foundations for life and learning are built in the earliest years, from pregnancy to five. By working alongside families, communities and local partners, we help build stronger, more connected support for parents, so more children get what they need to thrive and reach a good level of development by age five.

Thrive at Five is a relatively young organisation but with an already strong national and political profile, having been called out in Parliament for our ways of working in Stoke-on-Trent and invited to be interviewed at the 2025 Civil Society Summit by the Secretary of State for Education. We have grown rapidly in our first four years, with a growing team of nearly 40 across the country. 2026 will be a year of further growth and milestones for the charity as we celebrate our fifth-year anniversary and expand into our third and fourth regions. This will involve recruiting for a new teams, establishing our programmes and beginning to co-design and implement our work in partnership with communities.

About our benefits

· Pension contributions – We will contribute 3% and you can contribute 5% towards your pension through NEST.

· Hybrid working with one anchor day a week in our central London office near to Victoria train station, coach station and underground.

· 25 annual leave days per year plus bank holidays.

· In addition to your laptop and phone provided by us, you can also receive a £100 contribution towards your home-working set up.

· £100 contribution towards your professional body membership

Please note that as this role is subject to a successful Basic Level Disclosure check through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). If you have any unspent convictions, but wish to apply for this role, please advise us in your application. The successful candidate will also need to provide satisfactory references and current right to work in the UK.

To apply for this role, please submit your cover letter and CV by following the Apply Now button. Applications will be reviewed and shortlisted as they are received. While the closing date is midnight on Wednesday, 18 February 2026, we may close the vacancy earlier if a suitable candidate is identified.