Barnardo's exists to  Change childhoods. Change lives.

We believe every child deserves a safe, happy childhood and the opportunity to thrive. Too many children and young people face disadvantage or harm, and we're here to change that. Our teams work together to deliver excellent services, influence policy, and shift public attitudes — and we need passionate leaders focused on striving for excellence to help us do it.

About the Role

We're looking for an experienced Head of Digital (Acquisition and Loyalty) to drive improvements across our digital marketing & fundraising and e-marketing programme. This is a critical role in our Fundraising & Marketing function, supporting teams who lead brand, marketing, fundraising and more widely across the charity. As a function we focus on growing awareness of Barnardo's and inspiring support through our brand, campaigns, and fundraising, we raise around £46 million annually and build a vibrant community of supporters who are inspired to do more - shop, donate, volunteer, advocate and foster.

You'll bring your expertise to support a talented team of digital specialists to accelerate our growth through digital channels — scaling up our digital marketing and fundraising capabilities, driving continuous improvement, and ensuring that customer and supporter experience is at the heart of everything we do so we make it easy to join and a joy to stay.

What You'll Do

• Lead, in collaboration with other teams, across paid digital marketing and digital fundraising acquisition (excluding Retail)
• Maximise supporter retention, lifetime value, and loyalty through strategic leadership of our email marketing programme
• Collaborate as part of our integrated campaign approach to support the delivery of integrated, audience-led campaigns that inspire increased consideration to support, drive action and grow income
• Champion the voice and experience of our supporters in digital infrastructure and systems change
• Manage a budget of £500K–£1m, and drive continuous improvement including when needed building the case for investment
• Foster a culture of agility, continuous improvement and data-driven decision making
• Represent Fundraising & Marketing in key governance groups and deputise for the Director when needed

What You'll Bring

We're looking for someone with:

• Proven success in digital marketing, eMarketing and preferably in digital fundraising as well
• Experience leading high-performing teams and managing digital budgets
• Strategic planning skills and a deep understanding of audience insight and performance data
• Strong relationship-building, and influencing skills across internal and external stakeholders and a love of working in integrated cross functional teams
• A passion for delivering amazing supporter experiences and driving long-term value
• A commitment to Barnardo's values: Respecting the unique worth of every person, encouraging potential, working with hope, and exercising responsible stewardship

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values.  We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people. 

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay. 

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours.  More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application. 

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

• Reference number:21798
• Job Title:Head of Digital (Acquisition and Loyalty)
• Location:Workplace offer: Hybrid working, Barnardo's hub/office or home address
• Contract type:Fixed term
• End date:14th Jan 2027
• Hours:36.25
• Salary:£54,686 - £70,311 plus Office at Home Allowance - £312 per annum
• Closing Date:13 October 2025
• Interview Date:TBC