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Head of Region - South East
speakers for schools

Job Description

Head of Region (South East covering Southampton/Portsmouth/Reading/Slough/Oxford/Brighton/Hampshire and Sussex)

Based remotely, with frequent travel to stakeholders across your region. 

Are you a good fit?

We are looking for an entrepreneurial and highly networked Head of Region to join our dynamic, fast growing charity.

Do you have a proven track record of connecting employers and educational institutions with leading employability services?

Do you have a background in education and enterprise co-ordination?

Do you have extensive experience in business development, owning a strategy, innovating services and delivering against targets?

If you can answer yes to the above, please read on to find out more about this role within Speakers for Schools.

This role will see you creating an ecosystem of employers, schools and young people to provide equal opportunities for all.

Your key duties will be to:

  • Build a strategy to connect a network of schools, colleges, employers and partners in the South East.
  • Forge a regional ecosystem to provide quality experiences for young people with regional employers.
  • Bring innovation to work experiences and skills across the region to build a talent pipeline, bespoke for your region.
  • Support young people in developing their aspirations.
  • Manage relationships with stakeholders ensuring an exceptional experience.
  • Creatively communicate 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.
  • Work 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.

The absolute essence of your role will be to transform lives through ambition-changing experiences, opening opportunities for those with the highest needs.

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 experience:

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

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 role.

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.

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

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

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.

The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.