The JABBS Foundation for Women & Girls – Job Description - Director of Operations

About the JABBS Foundation for Women & Girls

The JABBS Foundation for Women and Girls (JABBS) has donated well over £30 million in the last decade to address vital social issues, with a major focus on supporting women and girls at risk of falling into or caught in the criminal justice system due to systemic disadvantage.

JABBS is focused exclusively on this agenda. In particular, it focusses on helping women, girls, their families, and communities overcome social barriers such as poverty or exploitation that push them towards criminal justice institutions rather than leading happy and flourishing lives.

We are at an exciting point in our journey, with programmes spanning frontline service delivery, research partnerships with the University of Birmingham, and advocacy for national policy change across criminal justice, early help, and other spaces. This is encapsulated in our 2024-2029 strategy which sets out:

• Our vision – to strive for a world where all women and girls lead free, safe and flourishing lives within a fair society, emphasising their strengths and enabling them, their families’ and their communities to realise their full potential.
• How we work – funding and platforming research that demonstrates the social factors and inequalities that lead to crime, prioritising practical solutions to make a positive difference in communities, advocating for change at the local and national level and bridging gaps in service provision (especially for women and girls) which would otherwise remain without our strategic investment.
• What we do – supporting projects falling under 4 strategic themes including women’s centres, criminal justice reform, early intervention and adaptive partnerships; giving special attention to Birmingham but working nationally with a focus on those women and girls at risk of falling into or caught in the criminal justice system due to systemic disadvantage.

JABBS is expanding its team to deliver on a range of functions, but in particular to support the programme delivery in connection with the Effective Women’s Centres (EWC) Partnership. Established in 2023, this brings together a partnership of women’s centre organisations across England with research partners at the University of Birmingham (UoB). Together they have pioneered evidence that women’s centres are a viable, effective alternative to custody for criminal-justice involved women.

At the heart of the EWC project is the recently validated Women’s Risk and Needs Assessment (WRNA). This sits alongside the newly developed Gendered Wellbeing Assessment (GWA) tool to be specifically used with non-criminal justice involved women and the upcoming Family Wellbeing Assessment (FWA). This suite of gender-responsive and trauma-informed comprehensive needs and risk assessment tools enable users to better understand needs, measure outcomes and inform effective casework. These assessment tools are housed in a bespoke Case Management System co-designed with our grant partners called ‘Themis’.

Following the announcement of a new funding partnership and associated grants programme, JABBS has ambitious plans to build on the EWC Partnership, through:

•   Implementation of a broader WRNA roll-out programme

•   A new phase of EWC research in partnership with UoB

•   Continued support to existing EWC partners

For further information, including some of our recent grants and news, please see the JABBS website here.

Role details:

Purpose of the role

The DOO will be the senior operational leader for JABBS, working closely with all programme leads and reporting directly to the CEO. Your core remit is to manage, implement, and continuously improve the organisation’s operational backbone — operating good governance including with the trustee board and larger grant programmes, finance and budgeting, grant-making operations (including risk profiling), people and HR systems, IT and data, compliance and office policies, office and supplier management, and impact — so the Foundation can give well, operate efficiently, and scale impact sustainably.

The ideal candidate will be a creative, pragmatic and strategic thinker, prepared to design, propose, advise on and deliver a broad range operations and programme management efforts to increase the impact of JABBS’ grant funding and partnerships. They will be happy doing hands-on work which can include a lot of smaller technical tasks, as well as strategic thinking. The role sits within a lean and productive team, working directly with the CEO daily. The postholder will also work closely with programme leads across our strategic priorities, and would join at a time where a wide range of policies and practice have been established, putting JABBS on strong foundations for future work.

They will also be able to demonstrate an authentic passion for supporting women and girls. This includes a commitment to understanding the nuances of high-quality specialist support for women, girls and their families, and the factors that can lead women into the justice system including poverty, abuse and associated challenges such as addiction and ill health. Provided they can demonstrate authentic commitment to JABBS’ cause, the ideal candidate may have come from the private, public or third sector.

Key responsibilities:

Person specification