Associate Director of Legal Services
Salary: Up to £65,000
Location: Newark office on occasion – mainly Home based with occasional travel to Newark/other places of work across the UK
Full time: 35 hours per week (Mon-Fri)
Permanent contract
Closing date for applications: 16th November 2025
First interview: 24th November 2025
Second interview: 25th November 2025
About Us
The Wildlife Trusts are a grassroots movement of people from a wide range of backgrounds and all walks of life, who believe that we need nature and nature needs us. We have more than 944,000 members, over 38,000 volunteers, 3,600 staff and 600 trustees. There are 46 individual Wildlife Trusts, each of which is a place-based independent charity with its own legal identity, formed by groups of people getting together and working with others to make a positive difference to wildlife and future generations, starting where they live and work.
Every Wildlife Trust is part of The Wildlife Trusts federation and a corporate member of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, a registered charity in its own right founded in 1912 and one of the founding members of IUCN – the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Taken together this federation of 47 charities is known as The Wildlife Trusts.
The next few years will be critical in determining what kind of world we all live in. We need to urgently reverse the loss of wildlife and put nature into recovery at scale if we are to prevent climate and ecological disaster. We recognise that this will require big, bold changes in the way The Wildlife Trusts work, not least in how we mobilise others and support them to organise within their own communities.
About You
If you are a highly experienced and self-motivated lawyer ready to take on a pivotal leadership role, this is your opportunity to create and shape the future of legal services at one of the UK’s best-loved conservation charities. As our Associate Director of Legal Services, you will lead our Legal Services function, working with Trustees, senior leaders and colleagues across RSWT and the wider federation. You will build a commercially led Legal function which will be at the heart of our work enabling bold and confident action in pursuit of our mission to bring nature back.
We are seeking an exceptional individual with outstanding legal and strategic leadership skills, able to inspire confidence and embed a strong commercial culture across a diverse and dynamic organisation. You will have the experience and judgement to navigate the unique landscape of a federation of 46 independent Wildlife Trusts.
You will bring proven experience of delivering high-impact outcomes through your legal expertise whether delivering complex commercial contracts, managing environmental issues, supporting campaigning work, or working within the charity sector.
You will share our values of passion, respect, trust, integrity, pragmatic activism and strength in diversity. We are passionate about our mission, but never judgmental — and we are committed to inclusivity. We particularly welcome applications from people who are underrepresented within our sector, including people from minority backgrounds and people with disabilities. We are determined to build a movement that recognises, values and celebrates individual differences and identities.
About You
RSWT take our safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. Please click here to read our commitment statement.
The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk. For applicable roles, applicants must be willing to undergo checks with past employers and Disclosure and Barring Service checks at the eligible level.
As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to offering an interview to anyone with a disability that meets all the essential criteria for the post. Please let us know if you require any adjustments to make our recruitment process more accessible.
RSWT are committed to increasing the diversity of its staff through its Levelling the Field recruitment pledge and will put any ethnic minority applicants that meet all the essential criteria for the post through to the next stage of recruitment.
Please do not use artificial intelligence tools to assist you to complete the application form. We may not accept applications that have been completed utilising AI tools.
About Us
The Wildlife Trusts are a grassroots movement of people from a wide range of backgrounds and all walks of life, who believe that we need nature and nature needs us. We have more than 944,000 members, over 38,000 volunteers, 3,600 staff and 600 trustees. There are 46 individual Wildlife Trusts, each of which is a place-based independent charity with its own legal identity, formed by groups of people getting together and working with others to make a positive difference to wildlife and future generations, starting where they live and work.
Every Wildlife Trust is part of The Wildlife Trusts federation and a corporate member of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, a registered charity in its own right founded in 1912 and one of the founding members of IUCN – the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Taken together this federation of 47 charities is known as The Wildlife Trusts.
The next few years will be critical in determining what kind of world we all live in. We need to urgently reverse the loss of wildlife and put nature into recovery at scale if we are to prevent climate and ecological disaster. We recognise that this will require big, bold changes in the way The Wildlife Trusts work, not least in how we mobilise others and support them to organise within their own communities.
About You
Are you passionate about nature’s recovery across the UK and telling this story to inspire others? Do you believe that community voices are central to nature’s recovery? Then this may be the role for you.
As the twin nature and climate crises continue to accelerate, communities are already feeling the effects of increased flooding, drought and soil loss. At the same time, nature disconnectedness is causing many people to feel powerless to act. This role seeks to redress that balance, by telling the stories of nature recovery from those that it is affecting directly. To give a voice to local communities and amplify these messages in ways that inspire others to take action be that through direct action, policy making, funding or wider support.
The Temperate Rainforest Restoration Programme is a £38.9 million, 100-year programme working in a long-term partnership with Aviva. Native to the British Isles, temperate rainforest is an incredibly rare and biodiverse habitat, rarer even, than its tropical counterpart. This programme is going beyond traditional habitat restoration and creating new rainforests on eligible sites across the bioclimatic envelope (the area along our Atlantic coastline with the specific conditions needed for rainforest to thrive).
This post will work across teams within The Wildlife Trusts’ to tell the story of this restoration and promote the importance of temperate rainforests based on connecting with people and telling their first-hand accounts of the work of Wildlife Trusts along the west of the UK, with a particular focus on Wales. This role will need to relay stories of how nature restoration benefits communities helping them adapt to our changing climate. Your work will give a voice to living memories of the land but also look ahead, effectively and compassionately communicating the need for a just transition to create more resilient landscapes that benefit future generations.
About You
You are a passionate science communicator with a demonstrable ability to inspire action in others for nature’s recovery. Your strong communications skills include the ability to create clear, audience-specific messaging and use digital tools to engage and connect with people wherever they are. You can build coherent narratives so that stories gather momentum over time and balance personal storytelling with the need to maintain brand consistency. Your outgoing and collaborative working style also makes you comfortable engaging with people face to face, going to meet people where they are and using these relationships to share real-world stories which foster a sense of shared ownership of content produced.
Experience of working in rural or farming contexts is beneficial, particularly in terms of Welsh culture and while knowledge of UK nature conservation, particularly woodlands, is helpful, it is not essential. What matters most is your ability to build rapport quickly and tell stories with conviction whoever the audience.
The Wildlife Trusts value passion, respect, trust, integrity, pragmatic activism and strength in diversity. Whilst we are passionate about promoting our aims, we are inclusive, not judgemental. We particularly encourage applications from underrepresented people within our sector, including people from minority backgrounds and people with disabilities. We are committed to creating a movement that recognises and truly values individual differences and identities.
The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk. For applicable roles, applicants must be willing to undergo checks with past employers and Disclosure and Barring Service checks at the eligible level. RSWT take our Safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. Please click here to read our commitment statement.
As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to offering an interview to anyone with a disability that meets all the essential criteria for the post. Please let us know if you require any adjustments to make our recruitment process more accessible. RSWT are committed to increasing diversity of its staff through its Levelling the field recruitment pledge and will offer an interview to any ethnic minority applicants that meets all the essential criteria for the post.
Please do not use artificial intelligence tools to assist you to complete the application form. We may not accept applications that have been completed utilising AI tools.
About the opportunity
As Trainee Accountant, you'll play an important role in delivering a high-performing, efficient financial accounting operation with partnership and improvement at its core. This is an operational and developmental role, offered with the opportunity of pursuing a formal Level 4 Professional Accounting Technician qualification through an 18-month apprenticeship programme.
You'll be part of our Finance & Assurance directorate, reporting to the Associate Accountant and working alongside our accounting assistants and trainees. Under the guidance of experienced Financial Accountants, you'll learn and deliver the fundamentals of effective accounting. From maintaining accurate financial records and supporting account reconciliations to assisting with audits and preparing financial reports, you'll gain broad experience across core accounting activities while building your technical knowledge and professional confidence.
Your potential qualification pathway
You'll have the opportunity to enrol on a fully funded Level 4 Professional Accounting Technician apprenticeship programme delivered by BPP and studied in allocated time alongside your day job. This 18-month programme offers pathway options including ACCA, AAT, CIMA, or ICAEW, leading to recognised professional diplomas. This programme is delivered through online live lectures, three-monthly coaching sessions and 24/7 access to learning materials via BPP's Virtual Learning Platform.
This is a role where your success is built on strong collaboration across multiple teams. You'll have opportunities to undertake specific improvement projects, identify ways to enhance processes, and support colleagues across the organisation to operate within best practice when it comes to financial accounting.
About you:
You're someone with a willingness to learn and develop on the job, sharing your learnings with colleagues to foster whole-team development. You have an enthusiasm for a career in finance with ideas to help us constantly improve. You have strong numerical and analytical skills, and you're willing to proactively reach across to colleagues in different teams.
You'll need existing experience in a finance or bookkeeping function. This means you're already confident with fundamental bookkeeping principles, maintaining financial records, and working with basic accounting processes. You're comfortable asking questions, reaching across teams to solve problems, and sharing what you learn with colleagues.
You'll have:
- Five GCSEs with grades 9 to 4 (A to C), including English and maths, or equivalent, or relevant work experience (minimum requirement for Level 4 apprenticeship).
- Some existing experience in finance or bookkeeping - you should have completed a Level 3 qualification or have equivalent practical experience demonstrating competence in fundamental accounting principles.
- Willingness to learn and develop on the job, sharing those learnings with colleagues.
- Strong numerical and analytical skills, and awareness of basic financial principles.
- Good grasp of data and how it can be analysed and presented to improve understanding, engagement, and performance.
- Experience of developing basic financial reports.
- Working interest in quality improvement in processes, analysis, communications, or customer service, and experience supporting it.
- Experience of problem-solving, preferably in a financial environment, and willingness to proactively reach across to colleagues in different teams.
- Enthusiasm for a career in finance and ideas to help us constantly improve.
- Some existing experience in a finance or bookkeeping function would be beneficial.
What you’ll focus on:
- Supporting the Financial Accounting team and wider directorate, maintaining accurate financial records and supporting account reconciliations to ensure accuracy and identify discrepancies.
- Supporting auditing processes, liaising with suppliers and third parties, and assisting with the preparation and submission of tax returns.
- Undertaking specific improvement projects across the directorate, for example around optimising internal engagement or directorate records and files.
- Monitoring and responding to daily communications from colleagues, role-modelling brilliant partnership and customer service.
- Data entry, report preparation, and supporting Financial Accountants and Associate Accountants with administrative work, including basic data analysis and presentation.
- Identifying ways to improve processes and making recommendations to senior colleagues.
- Supporting colleagues across the organisation to operate within best practice for financial accounting, making suggestions to improve education and engagement.
Could your enthusiasm for finance and quality improvement help strengthen our Financial Accounting operations? Are you ready to develop your skills while gaining professional qualifications in an environment where learning and collaboration are valued? If you're looking for a role where development meets meaningful purpose, we'd love to hear from you.
Important Dates
Please note: the intended start date for this role will be February 2026.
The deadline for applications is: 23:59 on Sunday 16th November 2025.
Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a timed exercise on W/C 24th November.
Interviews will then be held via Microsoft Teams on 3rd and 4th of December.
About Alzheimer's Society
Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime.
At Alzheimer’s Society, we’re the UK’s leading dementia charity and the only one to tackle all aspects of dementia by giving help and hope to people living with dementia today and in the future. We give vital support to people facing the most frightening times of their lives, while also funding groundbreaking research and campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be.
Together with our supporters, we’re working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives.
Our values make sure that our focus is clear for the challenges and opportunities ahead and remind us of what we all stand for.
Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
We need to ensure the voices around our table better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Alzheimer's Society.
We want everyone we work with, as a colleague, volunteer, supporter, or someone we support, to feel included and that they belong at Alzheimer's Society.
Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee forum and Employee Lived Experience network groups help us promote inclusion and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people.
Our hiring process
During your recruitment process we want to make sure that you bring your whole self and can be at your best. We are working hard to ensure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible, so please do inform us of your experience and anything you think we could do better by completing our candidate survey when you apply. Please also contact Alzheimer’s Society Talent Acquisition Team via [email protected] for application support or any adjustments you might need.
To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value it truly adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to showcase them in your own voice.
We try to avoid closing roles early where possible, however if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close earlier than the advertised closing date. Should this occur, we will aim to provide you with at least 48 hours' notice.
We are committed to safer recruitment and ensuring the welfare of those we work with, due to the nature of some of our roles, we might need to carry out a DBS check at the relevant level.
Giving back to you
Our employees work hard every day to make a true difference in people's lives. We are proud to support them with a range of benefits, recognition and many options for working agilely, all contributing to a strong work life balance. We also have various learning programmes to support you in your development and help you grow to realise your potential and shape a career with Alzheimer's Society.
You can also visit our Working for Us pages, which give you more information about what it’s like to be an employee at the Society.