Senior Legacy Engagement Manager

About us

Legacies account for over two thirds of the RNLI s annual income today and will continue to be a vital fundraising stream for many years to come. Our stewardship offering is evolving. Creating meaningful and personal connections with those who choose to support us with a gift in their Will is what can set us apart from others.

In this role, working alongside your peer, you ll be responsible for leading and inspiring our Engagement team, with a particular focus on how we steward and grow high-value legacy relationships. You will line manage up to five individuals who deliver both stewardship and awareness activity across their regions, ensuring our supporters receive a seamless and personalised experience and our volunteers are equipped to talk about gifts in Wills.

You ll collaborate closely with colleagues across Legacy Marketing & Administration, Philanthropy and Regional Engagement teams to ensure we take a more proactive, insight-led approach to identifying and supporting high-value pledgers. Working with your peer, you will shape the culture and direction of the team, ensuring focus, consistency and delivery across a range of key projects.

Your role

As a Senior Legacy Engagement Manager Stewardship and Blended Giving, you will focus on:

• Inspiring and managing the team, working in partnership with the other Senior Legacy Engagement Manager, to deliver a world-class stewardship programme for legacy supporter
• Leading the development of a more structured, insight-led stewardship approach, ensuring clarity on when a personalised, relationship-led approach adds the most value
• Supporting and guiding Legacy Engagement Managers to prioritise and build relationships with supporters most likely to leave significant gifts
• Driving a more proactive approach to identifying and engaging high-value legacy supporters, moving beyond passive acquisition routes
• Playing a key role in developing our Blended Giving approach, working closely with the Philanthropy team to connect legacy and major giving opportunities
• Collaborating with colleagues across the organisation to deliver a seamless, supporter-centric experience that secures and grows long-term income
• Using insight and data to continuously evaluate and improve our stewardship approach, identifying opportunities to enhance supporter experience and value
• Contributing to the wider legacy strategy, helping evolve our approach to meet new opportunities and challenges

About you

As an experienced fundraising or engagement leader, you ll be comfortable building meaningful relationships with supporters, working collaboratively across teams and inspiring others to deliver excellent stewardship.

To be considered for this role, you ll need to have:

• Strong leadership experience, including managing and motivating a geographically dispersed team and driving performance
• Demonstrable experience in managing high-value relationships, including stewardship of major donors or legacy pledgers
• Experience of developing and delivering personalised engagement approaches that drive long-term value
• Proven ability to use insight and data to inform decision-making and prioritisation
• Experience of working across teams to deliver integrated approaches, ideally including exposure to both legacy and major giving
• Ability to influence a wide range of stakeholders and drive change in a complex organisation
• Strategic thinking skills, with the ability to translate strategy into clear, practical delivery
• A valid driving licence

For more information and to apply, please visit our jobs page.

Closing date: 14 June 2026.

Interview date: w/c 22 June 2026 (on Teams).

The RNLI is committed to safeguarding; protecting a person s health, wellbeing, and human rights, enabling them to live free from harm, abuse, and neglect. We expect all employees and volunteers to share this commitment and have a zero-tolerance approach. The suitability of all prospective employees and volunteers will be assessed during the recruitment process in line with this commitment. This will include relevant criminal record checks being carried out dependent on the eligibility of the role. (England & Wales; DBS check, Scotland; Disclosure Scotland PVG, Northern Ireland; Access NI, Republic of Ireland; Garda Vetting; International, International Child Protection Certificate process).

Our staff and volunteers have been saving lives at sea without prejudice for 200 years. We respect and value diversity of background, skills and perspectives within our teams, and consider it essential to help us deliver a world-class lifesaving service. We are an inclusive organisation and welcome applications from everyone. In addition to having the skills needed for the role, we also look for applicants who share our commitment to living our RNLI values (trustworthy, courageous, selfless, and dependable), and helping us work towards Our Vision: To save Every One.