Influencing and Grants Manager

Charity People is delighted to be partnering with a legal charity to recruit an Influencing and Grants Manager.

The organisation was launched in 2020 with a decade-long vision that people who use the UK immigration system can access justice fairly and equally, enabling them to get on with their lives. It is a unique and ambitious collaboration of several funder partners who have pooled more than £15 million of new funding to strategically invest in legal advice, strengthen immigration sector organisations over the long term, and local and national influencing to support the lawful and fair functioning of immigration, nationality, and asylum processes.

As Influencing and Grants Manager you will work with colleagues, funder partners, sector experts and directly affected communities to lead the implementation of the organisation's influencing strategy.

Primarily an influencing role, the postholder will also be responsible for managing a small number of influencing grants and will work closely with the Grants Manager and Grant Partner Community Manager to ensure that the process for grant renewals runs smoothly.

Contract: Permanent position, offered on either a full-time (35 hours) or part-time (28 hours) per week basis
Salary: £45,000 per annum full-time salary (£36,000 pro rata for four days per week)
Location: Hybrid role between home and London office, with one day per week in the London office
Closing date for applications: 9am on Friday 15th May
Interviews: First stage interviews will be held remotely week commencing 25th May, with potential for second round interviews week commencing 1st June

The organisation has entered a new phase and is investing in influencing work to harness the organisation's partnerships, expertise, information and connections, both as a funder collaboration but also alongside grant partners and directly affected communities. This coupled with a change in government presents new opportunities to influence change in the way immigration advice is funded and delivered, and the broader functioning of the immigration system and how people access justice.
This is an exciting role, which offers the opportunity to work with a wide variety of stakeholders to develop and implement the charity's influencing strategy

Core responsibilities within the role will be as follows:

• Work with colleagues, funder partners, sector experts and directly affected communities to lead the implementation of the organisation's influencing strategy
• Lead the day-to-day delivery of the organisation's influencing work, identifying opportunities to shape policy, public debate and practice
• Build and maintain relationships with key external stakeholders including parliamentarians, policymakers, sector bodies, campaigners and funders
• Monitor political, policy and sector developments relevant to migration, racial justice, access to justice and the advice sector, and advise colleagues on emerging opportunities and risks
• Coordinate responses to consultations, policy developments, parliamentary opportunities and external calls for evidence
• Manage consultants or external specialists engaged to support influencing activity
• Convene and facilitate meetings, briefings and events with grant partners, funders and other stakeholders to support shared influencing priorities
• Work with colleagues and partners to capture learning from influencing activity and use this to strengthen future work
• Manage a small caseload of grants, building positive and constructive relationships with grant partners
• Work closely with the Grants Manager and colleagues on grant renewals, recommendations and decision-making processes including preparation of papers and summaries for the Grants Committee and other internal decision-making meetings
• Contribute to the ongoing development of the organisation's strategy, priorities and ways of working

We would love to see applications from candidates with the following skills and experience, and are interested in examples of your skills and experience from voluntary as well as paid work.

• Experience of delivering influencing, policy or campaigning work that has contributed to positive change
• Experience of building relationships with policymakers, funders, community organisations or other external stakeholders
• Experience of managing grants, partnerships, programmes or equivalent relationships
• Understanding of the UK migration, racial justice, legal aid or advice sectors (or comparable social justice fields)
• Experience of coordinating projects with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities
• Strong written communication skills, including drafting briefings, reports or external communications
• Commitment to the organisation's values and mission
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build trust across different groups
• Able to work collaboratively while also managing your own workload independently
• Good judgement, political awareness and sensitivity when handling relationships and external issues
• Organised, proactive and able to manage multiple priorities
• Willingness to learn, adapt and work in a fast-changing environment

We're particularly interested to receive applications from candidates who have the below, although this is not essential:

• Lived experience of the UK immigration system

If you're interested in hearing more about this opportunity, please send your CV to Alice at Charity People in the first instance. Alice can be reached at .

Charity People is a forward thinking, inclusive organisation that actively and deliberately promotes equity, diversity and inclusion. We know organisations thrive when inclusion is at the forefront. We evidence our commitment by matching charity needs with the skills and experience of candidates irrespective of background e.g. age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We do this because we believe that greater diversity leads to greater results for the charities we work with.
In the same way, the charity is committed to making recruitment practices barrier-free and as accessible as possible for everyone. This includes making adjustments or changes for disabled people, neurodiverse people or people with long-term health conditions. If you have any access requirements or would like us to do anything differently during the application, interview or assessment process, including providing information in an alternative format, please let Alice Wood know.
As part of the Disability Confident Scheme, we guarantee to interview all applicants with a disability (as defined in the Equality Act 2010) who meet the minimum requirements of the person specification.