Managing Director, CHARITY PEOPLE role at Guardian Jobs

Location: Bath (on-site)

Salary: £80,000 per annum

Contract: Full-time, permanent (5 days/week)

Benefits: 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, 10% pension, private health insurance.

This is more than a job. It's a legacy in the making.

The foundation we are partnering with is at a pivotal moment in its history. With over 30 years of thoughtful, quiet philanthropy behind them and a bold new strategic vision for the future, this is a unique opportunity to shape the next era of charitable impact in the UK.

We're looking for a visionary and operationally brilliant Managing Director to help transform the Foundation into a national force for change in literacy, the arts, and the wellbeing of young people.

About The Foundation

Founded by the Brownsword family, whose values of creativity, community, and generosity run deep, the Foundation builds on a rich philanthropic legacy. Now, with significant new investment, the foundation is moving from modest regional grant-giving to a major player on the national stage with an ambition to give up to £5 million annually to projects that remove barriers to literacy, broaden access to arts and culture, and influence national policy through original research.

The Role

This is an outwardly facing strategic and change-making position. Reporting directly to the Chair and working closely with an engaged Board of Trustees, you'll:

• Lead the design and delivery of an ambitious, fully integrated grant-making programme, ensuring it's transparent, inclusive, and effective.
• Drive external communications and sector influence, creating a confident and values-driven voice for the Foundation.
• Manage strategic partnerships and research initiatives that turn knowledge into action, and evidence into policy influence.
• Build a small, high-functioning team and develop digital infrastructure to support everything from funding applications to impact reporting.

Who We're Looking For

We're looking for an entrepreneurial leader who is as hands on as they are strategic.

• Experience (ideally) in charity leadership, ideally within grant-making, philanthropy, education, or youth sectors.
• Proven skill in building and managing funding programmes.
• Emotional intelligence, diplomacy and relationship-building skills, comfortable engaging with grantees, researchers, trustees, and the wider community.

We are especially interested to hear from: Senior charity sector leaders; grant-makers or philanthropic programme leads; fundraisers with strategic leadership and grants experience; cross-sector candidates with relevant governance and impact experience.

Deadline: 9am on Friday the 17th of October

First stage interview: w/c 10th of November

Second stage interviews: w/c 17th November

Charity People is a forward thinking, inclusive organisation that actively and deliberately promotes equity, diversity and inclusion.