An exciting opportunity has arisen to join a charity with an ambitious and exciting vision set in the heart of Portobello, West London, supporting and enhancing the lives of people in the local community.
Westway Trust is seeking an experienced and enthusiastic Senior Manager: Community Engagement & Grants who will drive work to ensure we are strengthening and developing the Trust’s position within the North Kensington community.
You will have significant experience operating at a senior level, with the right blend and balance of strategic, communication, innovation and people skills. You will have experience of supporting and enhancing the lives of people in the local community and will be committed to the value of participative community engagement. You will be comfortable in connecting with the wider community, able to listen and gather the views of local people and feed these back into the direction, work and decisions of the Trust.
Key responsibilities of the role include:
-To take responsibility for the development and delivery of the Trust’s community engagement activity.
-To be responsible for design, development and delivery of the Trusts Grant Programmes, including strategic partnerships.
-To be responsible for the impact measurement of the Trust’s Grant Programmes.
-To engage with agreed tenants and put in place mechanisms and reporting to capture their social impact.
-To build and support a diverse range of Community Forums and Networks and ensure they are linked to the development work of the Trust.
-To ensure other pathways are in place for the community to engage with the Trust in line with our Community Centring ethos.
-To play an active part in delivering a Trust-wide Stakeholder Engagement Plan, including with responsibility for Member Organasations.
-To work with colleagues inside the Trust and externally on the development and innovation of grant making, capacity building, health, social justice and anti-racism.
-To be part of the Trusts effort in driving innovation, including engaging with the balance between social and commercial returns.
-To engage with the Board of the African Caribbean Cultural Centre, in line with Trust policy.
-To engage with the Steering Group of Bay 20 (or the equivalent), in line with Trust policy.
-To be responsible for the programming and operation of downstairs at 2 Thorpe Close.
-To line manage a team of staff.
-To attend Executive Team as requested, Committees as required and provide reports and papers for Committees, line manager and the Board as required.
Essential Experience, Skills and Attributes:
-Significant and successful experience of operating as a senior charity manager.
-A track record of working collaboratively with partners and stakeholders to develop successful partnerships and achieve joint success against shared objectives.
-Significant experience of community engagement and an ability to balance a range of competing or sometimes contradictory views to arrive at an appropriate compromise position.
-Experience of grant making and management with all the associated processes, with strong attention to detail.
-Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to give compelling presentations to a range of audiences.
-The ability to be flexible and adaptable in response to developing priorities.
-The ability to be innovative and creative in order to arrive at practical solutions to sometimes complex issues.
-Experience of managing staff and supporting their development.
-Experience of managing resources and budgets.
-Strong interpersonal skills for both workplace and external representation contexts, operating with enthusiasm, flexibility, energy and commitment.
-Resilience, empathy, enthusiasm and determination to achieve results.
-Demonstrable understanding of commitment to, anti-racism and promotion of equality of opportunities, diversity and inclusion.
-A good understanding of the local area (desirable)
Benefits of working with us:
-Great location in the heart of Portobello, North Kensington
-Generous holiday entitlement of 25 days per year + statutory bank holidays
-Sick pay scheme
-Investor in People (IiP) employer
-Free gym membership at health club one minute walk from the office
-Pension scheme
-Life Assurance
-Season ticket / bicycle loan
-Free eye test voucher
The application deadline is Sunday 3 March when applications will be reviewed and shortlisted for interview. However, we reserve the right to close the application early (an early application is strongly recommended)