Job Description

Interim Director of Community, Culture & Services

Salary: £39,203 (£78,406 FTE)
Hours: 0.5 FTE, 17.5 hours per week
Contract: 6-month appointment
Location: Hybrid, with one required office day per week in London
Flexible working: There is flexibility around how the remaining 0.5 FTE hours are worked

Charity People is delighted to be partnering with a leading national charity to recruit an Interim Director of Community, Culture & Services for a six-month appointment.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a values-led organisation committed to supporting young people and families and ensuring their voices and experiences are at the heart of its work.

Working as part of a job share with the existing Director of Community, Culture & Services, you’ll take a key leadership role within the charity, with particular responsibility for the operational leadership of services and safeguarding.

The other half of the job share will have primary responsibility for Community, including participation and safeguarding, and Culture, including anti-racism, justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. Together, the two Directors will provide collaborative leadership across this important directorate and contribute to the wider strategic leadership of the organisation.

About the role

As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, you’ll work closely with the Chief Executive, fellow senior leaders, Trustees and Heads of Team, helping to shape organisational strategy and ensure the charity continues to deliver safe, effective and inclusive support.

A significant part of your focus will be overseeing operational service delivery and supporting teams to deliver services that are high-quality, safe, responsive and sustainable.

Direct experience of running a helpline is not essential. What is important is that you bring strong senior-level experience of leading operational services, alongside in-depth leadership experience of safeguarding children and adults.

You’ll understand how to balance strategic leadership with the realities of operational delivery, supporting senior teams, managing risk and ensuring safeguarding is embedded into organisational culture and day-to-day practice.

You’ll also bring a strong commitment to ensuring that young people and lived experience genuinely inform decision-making and service development. The charity is committed to embedding participation, co-creation, anti-racism, justice, equity, diversity and inclusion throughout its work. 

About you

We’d love to hear from you if you can bring:

• Significant senior leadership experience within an operational service environment, with experience of overseeing high-quality service delivery.
• In-depth safeguarding leadership experience, with strong knowledge of safeguarding children and adults, best practice and regulatory frameworks.
• Experience of creating and embedding a strong organisational safeguarding culture, with safety and wellbeing at its heart.
• Strong strategic thinking alongside the ability to provide pragmatic, effective operational leadership.
• Experience of leading, developing and supporting senior managers and operational teams.
• A track record of leading change and continuous improvement.
• The ability to build trusted relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders and partners.
• A strong commitment to equity, justice, anti-racism and inclusive leadership.
• An understanding of participation and co-creation, ideally involving young people and/or people with lived experience.
• Excellent communication, influencing and relationship-building skills.

Knowledge and understanding of mental health and the challenges young people face today will also be important, alongside a genuine commitment to the charity’s mission and values.

This is a brilliant opportunity for an experienced senior leader to make an immediate contribution to a high-profile national charity with a powerful mission.

It could particularly suit someone who has led operational services in a charity, health, mental health, social care, children and young people or similarly complex environment, where safeguarding, quality and the needs of people using services have been central to delivery.

You don’t need to come from a helpline background. You do need to understand what excellent operational services look like, how to lead them effectively, and how to create the culture, systems and leadership needed to keep people safe.

Above all, the charity is looking for an empathetic, collaborative and confident senior leader who can step into the organisation, build strong relationships quickly and provide thoughtful, steady leadership throughout this six-month appointment.

Key details

Role: Interim Director of Community, Culture & Services
Salary: £39,203 (£78,406 FTE)
Hours: 17.5 hours per week / 0.5 FTE
Contract: 6 months
Location: Hybrid, London and home working
Working pattern: One required office day per week, with flexibility around how the remaining hours are worked.

Deadline for Applications: Monday 19th October, 9am

If you would like to have an informal discussion about this role, please contact Abi at Charity People. 

The charity is committed to anti-discriminatory practice, anti-racism, justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, and to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults.

 

Charity People is a forward thinking, inclusive organisation that actively and deliberately promotes equity, diversity and inclusion. We know organisations thrive when inclusion is at the forefront. We evidence our commitment by matching charity needs with the skills and experience of candidates irrespective of background e.g. age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We do this because we believe that greater diversity leads to greater results for the charities we work with.

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