Chief Programmes and Communities Officer

The Brilliant Club
Recruitment Pack

Chief Programmes and
Communities Officer

Registered Limited Company: 07986971

Registered Charity: 1147771 (England and Wales), SC048774 (Scotland)

Registered Office: Fivefields, 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW1W 0DH

Chief Programmes and Communities Officer
Start Date: August/September
Salary: £79,303-£85,400 (plus £2,000 London weighting for those living in London and within
the M25).
Contract Type: Permanent

About the role
The Chief Programmes and Communities Officer will lead the charity’s Programmes and
Communities Division. This division oversees our work with pupils, university students and parents, so
that we can support young people from less-advantaged backgrounds to access and thrive at
competitive universities. It is also home to our Research and Impact team, who ensure that our
programmes are making an impact on the lives of young people and that our expertise is utilised
externally to enhance best practice in the sector.

The Chief Programmes and Communities Officer will be responsible for ensuring high quality
delivery across our programmes, ensuring we maximise our impact on the young people and
communities we support. They will also bring our programmes and communities work closer
together to strengthen the impact we have in the places of greatest need. They will represent The
Brilliant Club externally, leading the Programmes and Communities Division to sustain and build
partnerships with schools, universities and other stakeholders to enable the organisation to meet its
growth targets.

This role holder will also be a member of the Executive Leadership Team. They will be collectively
responsible for driving forward our strategic priorities, building our organisational culture and
supporting the charity’s financial and reputational success. The role holder will report into the
Chief Executive Officer and work closely with the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Engagement
Officer, as well as engaging with our Board of Trustees throughout the year.

About you
This role will suit a strategic leader with a demonstrable passion for furthering The Brilliant Club’s
mission. You will thrive in a fast paced, values driven environment, balancing big picture thinking
with a focus on strong operational delivery to ensure programmes achieve measurable and
sustainable impact.

The ideal candidate will have:

•  Experience of programme leadership across a large, multi-disciplinary team.
•  An in-depth understanding of the education and social mobility policy agenda.
•  Experience of designing, delivering and evaluating impactful programmes within the

education or charity sector.

•  Experience of working closely with communities to drive change.
•  A strong track record of managing complex, multi-partner initiatives, using data and

evidence to drive decision making.

•  Exceptional relationship development skills, and a track record of forging partnerships with

stakeholders in the education and/or wider social mobility sector.

•  Strong commercial awareness, with the ability to identify partnership opportunities and

secure new support for our work.

•  Experience of public speaking and representing organisations at a local and national level.
•  Experience on an Executive or Senior Leadership Team, reporting to a Board of Trustees.

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.

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. Due to the nature of our community organising
work, this role will typically require more evening and weekend work than other roles in the
organisation.

•  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.
•  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

The following areas of responsibility are the core of the role. However, the role is flexible and will
vary according to the needs of the team, and the background and experience of the successful
applicant.

Strategy, Research and Impact

•  Lead the strategic direction of the charity’s programme portfolio in alignment with the

organisational strategy.

•  Responsible for delivering and reporting on the programmatic and impact targets within
the charity’s strategy. Where targets are at risk, responsible for identifying and mitigating
this early and effectively.

•  Champion an evidence driven culture, ensuring all programmes are grounded in robust

research and behavioural insights.

•  Use data to drive decision-making, enhance programme effectiveness, and influence

policy and practice.

•  Support the development of insights, learning, and impact reports to strengthen the

charity’s reputation as a sector thought leader.

Programmes Management

•  Lead and manage a high performing Programmes and Communities Division, fostering a

culture of excellence, collaboration, and learning.

•  Oversee the design, delivery, and continuous improvement of all programmes and
community initiatives supporting young people’s progression to higher education.

•  Lead annual planning, budgeting, and resource allocation for all programme activities. This

includes building an in-depth understanding of the commercial composition of each
programme, and identifying how we can grow our impact in a cost-effective way.

•  Regularly review our programmatic operating models, to identify opportunities for

efficiency, collaboration and increased impact.

•  Embed strong governance, safeguarding, and compliance practices across all delivery

models.

Partnerships and Development

•  Responsible for ensuring excellent partnership management across all programmes. This

includes generating new partnerships, stewarding existing ones and identifying
opportunities to collaborate with others in the sector.

•  Develop and maintain high value relationships with key stakeholders from the education

and social mobility sector.

•  Serve as a senior ambassador for the charity, representing the organisation at national

forums, events, and stakeholder engagements.

•  Work collaboratively with the Engagement division to secure the partnerships and
resources required to grow impact, including identifying business development
opportunities, growing our traded income and ensuring our programmes are built on strong
commercial modelling.

•  Lead contract negotiations and bid writing processes as required.

Charity Leadership and Wider Support
•  Contribute to the direction and development of the charity as a member of the Executive
Leadership Team, including developing the organisational culture and reporting to the
charity’s Board of Trustees.

•  Adhere to information security policies included in the charity’s ISO 27001 manual and

complete information security training.

•  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 and project management skills with the ability to effectively

manage budget and resources.

•  Ability to lead teams of varied size and disciplines and support them to meet their

organisational targets.

•  Confident leading a team of experts and established programmes, whilst also bringing their

own insights and expertise to shape direction.

External Stakeholder Knowledge and Management

•  Knowledge of the school and university sectors, and the social mobility policy agenda
•  Experience of stewarding multi-stakeholder initiatives.
•  Experience working with communities to drive change.

Communication

•  Excellent business development skills, including brokering programmes with key sector

stakeholders

•  Confident networking and public speaking abilities, with an understanding of the

communications needs of a diverse range of audiences.

Initiative and Problem Solving

•  Ability to identify and deliver efficiencies across the organisation.
•  Understanding of continuous improvement and agile methodologies
•  Commitment to rigorous research and evaluation, and continuing to develop a strong

culture of evidence-informed practice.

Developing Self and Others

•  Significant experience of leading large, multi-functional teams to achieve success.
•  Experience in coaching and developing colleagues to foster high performance.
•  Confident in setting targets and hold themselves and others to account in delivering them.

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.
Deadline: 9am on Wednesday 22nd April 2026.
Interviews: First Round Tuesday 28th April 2026, Second Round Interview Tuesday 5th May 2026.
For more information: Visit our website or email recruitment@thebrilliantclub.org.