Job Description

Please note: Your application will not be considered without submitting a cover letter and including your notice period.

Role: Head of Region - East

Are you a good fit?

You want to work with a highly respected and aspirational brand, at the heart of a network of many of the UK’s leading figures and employers. 

You know that technology has a significant role to play, but that human interaction and relationships are of even greater importance.

You want to feel like a valued member of a growing team, in an organisation which recognises that that its people are not just a number, but its greatest asset and part of an extended family, working together to support each other to meet organisational and not just individual goals.

Ideal candidates will be looking for a demanding post in a fast moving entrepreneurial charity. This is an exciting time to join our team as we take Speakers for Schools to the next level. 

You should be sociable and confident and happy building and maintaining relationships with multiple internal and external stakeholders

What is Speakers for Schools?

Founded by ITV Political Editor Robert Peston (Trustee), and chaired by Andrew Law (Caxton Associates), Speakers for Schools was created to help level the playing field for UK state schools and their students by giving them the same access to the UK’s leading figures from politics, business, science, sport, the arts and more, as that enjoyed by private schools.

Bill Gates, Baroness (Martha) Lane Fox, Professor Brian Cox, David Dein, David Cameron, Natalie Bennett, Ed Balls, Naomi Campbell and over two thousand other influential, eminent and inspirational people, have been kind enough to volunteer their time to speak with Speakers for Schools. Almost a million Young People have attended a Speakers for Schools talk.

In 2016, we launched our Experience Programme. Experience works with our outstanding network of speakers and partner employers, to offer young people, amazing work experience opportunities, which would often be out of reach to them.

Our Experience Programme has more than trebled in impact since September as employers such as the Bank of England, M&C Saatchi, Disney, Spotify, Santander, Morgan Sindal, BA, BP, Cisco and others offer placements to thousands of Young People. In March we launched a ground-breaking virtual work experience programme in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Main purpose of role

You will be championing the East by creating an ecosystem of employers, schools and young people to provide equal opportunities for all. Based remotely, with frequent travel to stakeholders across your region. 

Leading our community - Focusing on relationships, connectivity and working to bring leaders together in a shared mission of equal access. You will be responsible for connecting a network of schools, colleges, employers and partners in the East.

Delivering our experience - Forging a regional ecosystem to provide quality experiences for young people with regional employers. Bringing innovation to work experiences and skills across the region to build a talent pipeline, bespoke for the your region.

Driving our impact - Supporting young people in developing their aspirations is at the core of what we do. The absolute essence of your role will be to transform lives through ambition-changing experiences, opening opportunities for those with the highest needs.

Key Duties

• Build a strategy for connecting an ecosystem of schools, employers and young people.
• Manage relationships with stakeholders ensuring an exceptional experience.
• Creatively communicating with stakeholders to keep them engaged and active.
• Lead a small team of Regional Partners, managing motivation and performance.
• Proactively reach out to schools and employers to onboard them to our mission.
• Collaborate with the delivery team to ensure a seamless service for work experiences.
• Working with internal systems and processes for a slick operation and clear reporting.
• Lead on national projects that support the wider customer team and head office team. 

Key Skills

• Unrelenting passion for your community and the difference that can be made, raising the region higher, one aspiration-building work experience at a time.
• Influential networker able to work across employer senior leaders, educators, careers leaders and young people to persuasively power a process of quality work experiences.
• Innovative thinker with a flair for finding new ways to deliver a difference, bringing new ideas that are relevant to your region and your personal knowledge of its macro economy.
• Inspiring leader with solid people management skills to build and lead a small team of Regional Partners with a purposeful strategy to achieve targets and have the greatest efficiency in your operation.
• Key collaborator able to connect your region to the national team and the London head office, working to achieve our wider charitable aims and lead independent projects.

Key Experiences

• Extensive experience connecting employers and educational institutions, leading employability services.
• Extensive experience owning a strategy, innovating services and delivering against targets.
• Good track record of managing a team, leading by example and performance managing.
• Good experience working collaboratively to activate and achieve projects.
• Experience of working in a start-up organisation would be an advantage

We are looking for people who:

• Are sociable and confident and happy building and maintaining relationships with multiple stakeholders
• Excel at organising their workload and enjoy driving work forward independently
• Think strategically and can change tactics while still meeting larger objectives

We are looking forward to holding video interviews through January and appointing our Head of Region swiftly so we can start delivering a difference in February and beyond. You must have the right to work in the UK without visa restriction to be considered.

It's not just a matter of qualifications. As an eclectic team, one size does not fit all. A degree level qualification may be useful, but experience, effort and amazing communication skills is just as valuable.

Why us?

Speakers for Schools are a dynamic, swift-moving and fast-growing charity. We are on a mission to support a million young people across the UK annually by 2023. Having taken the first steps on the road to achieving this, our team has doubled in size in the past year. This has supported 278% growth in our Experience programme and 10% growth in our Inspiration programme during the past 12 months.

We want to level the playing field, making sure that all young people can access inspirational opportunities and experiences to fuel their ambition.

We are united and unique in our mission to transform lives through raising aspirations of millions of young people every year. Each year, 1,500 senior leaders, celebrities and industry experts deliver a difference to by sharing their story with students in schools and colleges in every corner of the UK. We connect employers such as Disney, The Bank of England, Spotify PwC and almost two hundred others to communities to provide access to the top opportunities for all across the UK. With us, you will be part of inspiring a generation to reach higher, broaden horizons and get equal access to the top.

To keep growing our charity and our impact, we need top talent and we are committed to treasuring, developing and supporting them to thrive within their roles.

Diversity at our core

At Speakers for Schools, we are committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce, and eliminating discrimination. Our aim is for our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best.

We welcome applications from all, including those where employment has been affected by Covid19 and those seeking to change careers. Diversity if at our core, join us.

How to Apply:

Please apply as soon as possible submitting your CV and a one page covering letter which outlines your specific interest and ability to successfully fill this role, as well as your salary expectations and current notice period.

Please make it clear in your cover letter what previous experience you have working with Salesforce. 

Please note, if you do not provide a covering letter your application will not be considered.

Appointees are subject to a successful DBS check, as contact with young people is likely.

The Journey to joining Speakers for Schools:

Interviews will be scheduled as applications are received, before the closing date, and will take place over Microsoft Teams. We may appoint before this date depending on applications.