England Director

About us

The National Lottery Community Fund is the largest funder of community activity in the UK - we’re proud to award money raised by players of The National Lottery to communities across the UK.

At the heart of everything we do is the belief that when people are in the lead, communities thrive. National Lottery funding is open to everyone and we’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of grassroots groups right up to large UK-wide charities and community groups. 

We support a wide range of projects with grants ranging from as little as £500 to multi-million-pound programmes.

About the Roles

We are looking for two new exciting roles to lead our funding in England.

We are looking for inspiring leaders who share our values and passion for funding great ideas that matter to communities and make a difference to people’s lives. They will embody and promote the culture of our organisation; placing people at the centre of our work, and inspiring and motivating our diverse teams to deliver our strategic aims.

As the England Director (Programmes, Operations & Regions) and England Director (Strategy, Partnerships & Engagement), you will have shared accountability for the England Directorate’s day to day operational delivery and longer-term strategic direction; positively leading the team into its next chapter of growth and development.

With dispersed teams across the UK, and significant operational and grant-funding budgets, you will be members of the Fund’s Senior Management Team and work alongside other Directors in delivery of our corporate goals and strategic vision.

England Director (Programmes, Operations & Regions),

You will lead our regional funding teams to deliver operational excellence; ensuring our ways of working respond and flex to the local context whilst remaining unified and consistent across our wider organisation. You will be comfortable with, and apply, a diverse range of approaches to different localities and regions of England, to maximise the impact of our funding in different communities.

Relationships are core to the way our regional teams work; stakeholders, applicants, grant holders, other funders, local decision-makers and of course, the local community. You will provide leadership on programme management requirements.

An innovative leader, you will have deep operational experience, a commercial conscience, and an ability to champion and deliver cultural and organisational change with continuous improvement. Working closely with senior stakeholders in the voluntary, public and private sectors, you will also lead on operational matters across the England portfolio. You will work with the England Committee Chair and the England Director (Strategy, Partnerships & Engagement) as well as leading, planning and managing the business delivery priorities. 

England Director (Strategy, Partnerships & Engagement)

You will lead our strategic and partnership teams to develop a strategy and implementation, and the development of key stakeholder relationships at national levels. 

You will lead our Performance teams to further develop and implement our approach to social and economic impact, and operational management & planning through data & insights. This strategy will empower and inform funding teams to incorporate learnings into strategic and day-to-day grant making decisions and embed a culture of continuous improvement.

An innovative leader, you will have demonstrable experience of motivating others to succeed, a commercial conscience, and an ability to champion and deliver cultural and organisational change with continuous improvement. You will lead on matters relating to England, and relationships with Government, working closely with senior stakeholders in the voluntary, public and private sectors. You will work with the England Committee Chair and the England Director (Programmes, Operations, and Regions),  leading, planning and managing organisational delivery priorities. 

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: 37 Hours per week

Location: England based (location flexible)

Application deadline: 1st August

Interviews w/c: 9th and 16th August

Final stages w/c: 23rd and 30th August

Testing to be completed at selection stage

Essential Criteria

For both roles, we are looking for experienced Directors (or equivalent), with strong commercial awareness and understanding of what matters to communities. You will have an improvement focus and outstanding interpersonal and communication skills. You will need to demonstrate:

• Exceptional people leadership, with an ability to communicate purpose and direction, enabling and developing teams within the Directorate. Leading from the front, engaging with staff with candour and persuasive vision, to provide them with a vision for the future and motivating them to succeed.
• Strong team player, with track record of operating at a senior leadership level in a complex and multidisciplinary organisation; bringing deep commitment to collaboration and delivering results within England Directorate and across the UK-wide Fund
• Operational delivery experience, the ability to set a culture that emphasises impact while maintaining highest quality and consistent standards across teams, budget, financial controls, and external partnerships.
• Developing, influencing and enhancing key relationships with senior external stakeholders across voluntary, public and private sectors
• Values-driven and passionate about the Fund’s purpose, your energy and enthusiasm will inspire the teams you lead. Open and honest you’ll listen to feedback, taking charge of challenging situations and coaching and developing talent within the organisation to empower colleagues to succeed.

The England Director (Strategy, Partnerships & Engagement) will also demonstrate an understanding of the big picture, confident with and able to anticipate economic, political, social, environmental, social and technological change with a track record of translating the big picture to create joined-up strategies and plans that have positive impact.

To apply please send your CV and a supporting statement to Eloise Dalgliesh– Recruitment Specialist: Eloise.Dalgliesh@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk

Should you have any questions, please note them in the email, Eloise will be in touch with the briefing pack.

Equal Opportunities

We believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. As such we particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, LGBTQ+ and from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds.

Equality, diversity and inclusion in our grant-making, and amongst our people, are all vital to our success in supporting people and communities to thrive.  We believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with.  We are committed to being an inclusive and great place to work, and recognise our people come from diverse backgrounds. We are a Disability Confident employer and positively welcome applications from disabled people.