The Brilliant Club
Recruitment Pack
Access Projects Officer
May 2026
Registered Limited Company: 07986971
Registered Charity: 1147771 (England and Wales), SC048774 (Scotland)
Registered Office: Fivefields, 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW1W 0DH
Access Projects Officer
Start Date: August/ September 2026
Salary: £34,994 (plus £2,000 London weighting for those living in London and within the M25).
Contract Type: Permanent, Full Time
About the role
We are excited to be recruiting for an Access Projects Officer to join the Access Projects team.
The Access Projects team oversees the development and delivery of bespoke access projects in collaboration with other institutions (typically universities and schools). Projects are designed to meet the needs and context of a partner institution and underrepresented groups of students. The Access Projects Officer role plays a key part in delivering our strategic goals, including driving our work with priority groups of students.
Reporting to the Head of Learning and Programme Design, you will:
Work with a range of stakeholders including tutors, schools and partner institutions to design, deliver and evaluate the projects that you lead on,
• Lead on project renewal conversations with project partners,
• Organise, manage and deliver bespoke pupil-facing events,
• Track and evaluate resource use for each project against predicted use.
About you
The role will best suit someone who:
• Has excellent organisational skills, with an ability to prioritise and manage time effectively
• Has the ability to be flexible and adapt to changing priorities
• Has experience building relationships with external stakeholders in a professional setting
• Has project management skills, with appropriate levels of time and resource input
• Has knowledge of educational interventions, including impact management
• Has knowledge of the university and/or school sectors, and the university access agenda
• Has experience of designing and/or delivering university access programmes, or other educational interventions
• Is committed to own professional development
• Has the ability to adhere to information security policies included in the charity’s ISO 27001 manual and complete information security training
• Has a demonstrable passion for furthering The Brilliant Club’s mission
About The Brilliant Club
What we do
Access to higher education and the life-changing opportunities that come from attending the most competitive universities is not equal. 28 in 100 of the most advantaged students progress to the most competitive universities. In contrast, only 2 in 100 of the least advantaged young people access these universities.
We think this is fundamentally unfair. We work across the UK to support less advantaged students to access the most competitive universities, and to succeed when they get there.
Our programmes support social mobility through a range of approaches:
• Through The Scholars Programme, 15,000 students each year develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to access university
• Our pioneering approaches to university transition and student success ensure that less advantaged students are supported to achieve a strong degree
Parent Power empowers parents and carers to become champions for higher education in their communities and address any barriers their children face.
We hope that you’ll consider joining us, as we work to create a fairer society where no child’s education is limited by their background.
Working for us
• Hours: 37.5 hours per week Monday to Friday, flexible working with 10am – 3pm core hours, some evenings and weekends required.
• Benefits include: 36 days’ holiday (inclusive of bank holidays) increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 41 days, employer contribution to pension, interest-free season ticket loan, five professional development day allowance, BUPA health cover cash plan.
• We’re happy to talk flexible working. We have offices in Leeds and London; this role will be based at the London office.
• After your first month in this role, we expect you to be connecting face-to-face with colleagues on at least one day per week. In your first month, we’ll ask you to be in offices a
little more regularly than this to make sure you’re getting to know your key colleagues and feeling connected to the organisation.
Our values
The Brilliant Club has three core values that underpin how we work. We look for people who share these values:
• We get to a solution
• We seek and act on the best data available
• We understand that little things go a long way
Diversity at The Brilliant Club
We mobilise the PhD community to support students who are less advantaged to access the most competitive universities and succeed when they get there. We think it is important that our charity reflects the lived experience of the communities we work with, and we want to be an organisation where employees from any background can thrive. We particularly welcome applications from disabled, Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic, Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Non-binary (LGBTQ+) candidates, and candidates from low-income families.
“I am the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Staff Engagement Lead at The Brilliant Club. My role is to help make the charity an inclusive working environment for all of our colleagues. I work with our amazing Staff Networks and colleagues in HR to ensure everyone at the charity has a sense of belonging.”
Emily - Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Staff Engagement Lead
“As the first in my family to go to university and having worked as a teacher in a
state school, I applied to join The Brilliant Club with a real passion for the
charity’s mission. I am grateful every day that I work at a charity that is
supportive of both professional development and flexible working, as well as
being full of kind and passionate colleagues.”
Leanne, Chief Operating Officer
Safeguarding
The Brilliant Club is committed to proactively safeguarding children, beneficiaries and staff and to taking reasonable steps to protect all those who come into contact with the charity from harm. The safety and welfare of everyone affected by the charity’s activities, especially children, is a key governance priority.
As part of our recruitment and selection process and commitment to safeguarding, we will undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check of all individuals in this role. Any offer of employment will be subject to a satisfactory disclosure report.
Responsibilities
Business and Project Development
• Support and lead business development conversations with project partners, with a focus on renewing existing partnerships
Draft project proposals, including calculating bespoke costings, and work with partners to turn proposals into agreements
Research and develop approaches to working with underrepresented groups not traditionally supported by The Brilliant Club
Project Delivery
• Lead the delivery of projects, including:
o leading working group relationships with partners to manage project delivery
o managing the logistics of project delivery, including troubleshooting issues to ensure positive solutions are reached
o liaising with the Tutor Engagement and Teaching and Learning teams to recruit and train high quality tutors
o designing, or supporting tutors to design, project resources
o delivering sessions e.g. project launch event
o ensuring that project KPIs are met and that projects run to budget
• Work effectively with other departments to ensure the smooth running of projects - e.g. IT, HR, School Partnerships and Tutor Engagement
Collect and track project data, regularly evaluating patterns to identify areas for improvement; report to stakeholders on the impact of each project and collects their feedback
Team Support
Provide specialist support in a specific area of oversight. While officers take the lead for all end-to-end aspects of their projects, within the team each officer also has an area of oversight. These specialisms are flexible and subject to change according to the needs of the team. Current specialisms in the team are:
o Tutors (liaising with the Tutor HR and Tutor Engagement teams)
o Tech Developments (working with our Tech team to enhance our use of organisational systems)
o Tutor Pay (liaising with the Tutor HR, Tech and Finance teams)
Wider Support
• As required, support the wider Access Programmes teams to deliver their priorities, including some travel to support with external events where required.
Across the charity we all pitch in to help different teams and areas of work. This may mean you attend and support with the delivery of other teams’ activities and events. From time to time, you may also work with another team for a fixed period of time, or collaborate on a project to ensure we deliver for the young people we serve. We think this is a good way to gain experiences in different areas of the organisation and enhance your professional skills
Person specification
Time and Resource Management:
• Excellent organisational skills, with an ability to prioritise and manage time effectively
• Ability to be flexible and adapt to changing priorities
• Ability to identify opportunities to save time/resource
• Manages projects, with appropriate levels of time and resource input
External Stakeholder Knowledge and Management:
• Confidence handling enquiries from external stakeholders and adapting approach to meet different needs
Understands the main stakeholders at The Brilliant Club, particularly the PhD researcher community and project partners
• Actively shares useful information about stakeholders with internal colleagues at all levels
Communication:
• Excellent written and verbal communication
• Confidence presenting and delivering teaching to a range of audiences including schoolaged children and adults
• Confident adapting content, tone and delivery of written communication to the needs of the recipients
Initiative and Problem-solving:
• Proactively identifies problems in processes and identifies and enacts possible solutions.
• Effectively uses systems and structures to solve problems in a timely manner.
• Ability to spot inefficiencies in systems, implement improvements and evaluate processes.
• Responds quickly to solve problems, seeking advice and input from relevant stakeholders.
Developing Self and Others:
• Self-reflective and committed to own professional development
• Committed to the development of others
• Supports personal development of team, drawing on own experience and the experience of
Safeguarding at The Brilliant Club
The Brilliant Club is committed to proactively safeguarding children, beneficiaries and staff and to taking reasonable steps to protect all those who come into contact with the Charity from harm. The safety and welfare of everyone affected by the Charity’s activities, especially children is a key governance priority.
As part of our recruitment and selection process and commitment to safeguarding, we will undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check of all individuals in this role. Any offer of employment will be subject to a satisfactory disclosure report.
What comes next
To apply: Please submit your application by clicking here. As part of your application, you will be asked to submit your CV and complete the answers to some application questions.
AI Guidance for Candidates
Deadline: 9am on Monday 1 June 2026
Interviews: First Round Interviews on Thursday 4 June 2026; Second Round Interviews on Tuesday 9 June 2026.
For more information: Visit our website or email recruitment@thebrilliantclub.org.