Strategic planning and performance manager jobs

Abingdon House School is an independent day school for children aged 5–19 with special educational needs including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and associated social communication profiles. We deliver a mainstream-style environment with a fully integrated programme of education, therapy, pastoral support, and personal development.

You’ll be joining a multidisciplinary team of therapists and support staff at Abingdon House School — at the Prep School, this is made up of two OTs, two SaLTs, and one physiotherapist; at the Senior School, a team of three OTs, three SaLTs, and one physiotherapist.

We are proud of our integrated, multidisciplinary approach

At AHS, our holistic approach supports progress in academic studies, communication, independence and wellbeing. Every student follows a personalised pathway and benefits from therapeutic support throughout the day, delivered by a multidisciplinary team including teachers, therapists, and pastoral practitioners.

We are proud to be an ISA-accredited and Google Reference School. Abingdon House is inspected by both CReSTeD and the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), and we were recently awarded ISI’s highest accolade, “a significant strength”, for our highly effective interdisciplinary practice and the successful integration of therapeutic approaches into our students’ learning.

The role at a glance

• This will be a full time role
• You’ll be at our Senior School campus, working with students aged 11-18
• You’ll be based in Marylebone, Central London
• You will be a key member of the middle leadership team, reporting to the Assistant Headteacher responsible for therapy and pastoral provision. You will lead the delivery of high-quality speech and language therapy services that support the school’s integrated approach to education, therapy, and personal development.

Sponsorship opportunities

The Cavendish Sponsorship Programme

We are able to sponsor talented, dedicated therapists from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and America through the Cavendish Sponsorship Programme.

Once in a role, you will have the opportunity to upskill in a pathway suited to your professional interests. Within your visa, there will be scope to move into a new role at any one of our sites as you progress, if a suitable position becomes available.

Key responsibilities

The main aspects of this role are:

• Support the strategic development of the school’s SaLT provision and contribute to wider decision-making.
• Line manage the SaLT team, including supervision, performance reviews, and professional development.
• Oversee caseload allocation, workload planning, and therapy resources.
• Deliver SaLT training and CPD to staff across the school.
• Work collaboratively with therapy leads, SENCos and middle leaders to promote a multidisciplinary approach.
• Build strong links with external agencies, commissioners, and professional networks.
• Model evidence-based practice and encourage reflective practice within the team.
• Provide direct speech and language therapy to students.
• Plan, deliver, and evaluate therapeutic and educational programmes.
• Develop and deliver the communication curriculum for whole-class sessions.
• Set and monitor communication targets within pupils’ IEPs, working with parents and teaching staff.
• Adapt resources and learning environments to improve access for students with communication needs.
• Assess, record and report on pupil progress, including annual review contributions and intervention records.
• Uphold safeguarding responsibilities, working in line with policies and supporting the DSL where required.
• Contribute to wider school life, including clinical supervision, team meetings, whole-school events, and supporting therapist recruitment and induction.

Person specifications

We’re looking for an experienced and compassionate speech & language therapist to join our school. You’ll be able to show these essential skills and requisite experience:

• Qualified band 7 speech & language therapist
• HCPC registration
• Demonstrated experience working with children with SEN/SpLD in an education setting
• IT literacy for clinical and administrative tasks
• Strong knowledge of speech, language, and communication needs, with the ability to develop and implement tailored, evidence-based interventions
• Experience in leading, supervising, and developing a therapy team, including providing CPD and support for professional growth
• Knowledge of relevant risk management, health and safety, and child protection practices
• Excellent communication skills
• Proven ability to lead service evaluation, implement improvements, and ensure interventions are aligned with research and best practice
• Experience liaising with external agencies, professional networks, and commissioners to support school-based provision

What are the perks?

• Access to a full CPD programme career progression opportunities
• 13 weeks of holiday per year, plus two term-time personal leave days
• Flexible working opportunities, with weekly PPA that can be taken remotely
• Free lunch every day, plus cooked breakfast twice per week when on-site
• A great employee assistance programme with access to wellbeing support advice
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Competitive salary pensions contributions

Role details & how to apply

Start date: January 2026
Salary: Band 7 range, £47,810 to £54,710 depending on experience
Working schedule: 37 weeks per year (term time only), five days per week.
Applications close on 16th December 2025. If you require sponsorship, please indicate this in your application.
Type: In-person role with the option to work remotely for your allocated PPA hours

You may have experience of the following: Speech and Language Therapist, SaLT Lead / Speech Therapy Lead, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, Senior Speech and Language Therapist, HCPC-registered Speech and Language Therapist, Communication Therapy Lead, Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) Specialist, etc.

REF-225 229

Help recruit the volunteers who bring free, life-changing surgery to thousands across sub-Saharan Africa.
If you’re energised by people, purpose and global impact, this role will light you up.

Mercy Ships UK is entering an exciting new chapter. With a growing supporter community, two state-of-the-art hospital ships, and ambitious plans for the next five years, we are expanding our recruitment capacity, and we’re looking for a talented, proactive Recruitment & Development Officer to help drive this vision forward.

This is not a standard recruitment role. You’ll be joining a mission that transforms lives every single day. We recruit over 400 skilled volunteer professionals each year; from surgeons and nurses, to engineers, teachers and maritime specialists, all serving on the Global Mercy and Africa Mercy, the world’s largest charitable hospital ships. Their work brings hope and healing to people who would otherwise have no access to safe surgery.

What you’ll be doing

You’ll support the Lead Recruiter by identifying, engaging and nurturing prospective volunteers, helping match the right people to the right opportunities at the right time. You’ll grow and maintain our Talent Community, build new partnerships, and engage with networks across the UK and beyond. One day you may be sourcing candidates online, another you may be connecting with training institutions, hosting webinars, or representing Mercy Ships at events.

This role combines relationship-building, recruitment, communication and creative outreach; perfect for someone who enjoys a varied, people-centred workload with real purpose behind it.

What you’ll bring

We’re looking for someone who thrives on connection, communicates brilliantly, and can balance multiple priorities with warmth, clarity, and calm. Experience in recruitment, talent sourcing, or community engagement is ideal. An understanding of the charity sector or Christian audiences is helpful, but your attitude, integrity and passion for serving others will matter most.

Why join Mercy Ships UK?

Because your work will directly support surgeries, training, and long-term healthcare strengthening in some of the world’s most underserved nations. You’ll join a collaborative, values-driven team, with opportunities to travel, attend international summits, and contribute to a global mission that has transformed more than 2.88 million lives.

Key details

• Salary: £30,000 – £35,000 DOE

• Location: Stevenage (Hybrid – minimum 2 days/month in office)

• Hours: Full-time, Permanent

• Benefits: 25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays, increasing with service), up to 7% employer pension contribution, training/travel loans, free onsite parking.

If you’re hungry for meaningful work, excited to build relationships, and driven to help others step into life-changing opportunities, we’d love to hear from you.

Apply today and help us bring hope, healing, and transformation to those who need it most.

Purpose of the job

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

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

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

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

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

Why work at UK Youth?

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

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

Role Responsibilities

• Designing Solutions

• Developing new business and funding propositions

• Embedding Human Centred Design

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

• Operations

Experience we're after

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What we can offer you

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

• Flexible/Agile Working

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

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

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

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

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

• Employee Assistance Programme to support employees both professionally and personally

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

• IT equipment provided for the duration of contract

• CycleScheme and TechScheme

How to apply

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

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

Provisional Interview Dates: 12th and 13th January 2026

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