Director of Influence and Innovation

Director of Influence and
Innovation

Candidate Brief

Welcome

Dear Applicant,

I am thrilled that you are interested in this exciting new role of Director of Influence and
Innovation at Women in Prison (WIP).  You will be joining at an exciting time as we continue
to develop and design our work to deliver our strategy Together in Power.  The leadership
team you will be joining with me also includes a Director of Finance and Resources and a
Director of Development and collectively we hold accountability for the leadership of WIP,
hold relationships with our brilliant Board of Trustees and have collective decision making
responsibilities for decisions that relate to the strategic leadership and development of
Women in Prison.

This role is a new role and provides the vision and direction for our programming and
systems change work as we embed our strategy.   Our ambition is to offer women in prisons
and the community impactful direct support more independently of government demands
and funding and with a new and deeper partnership model. Our strategy also challenges us
to mobilise women, drive women-led influencing and campaigning and co-design
programmes with women with experience of the justice system.  We know we must design
and deliver programmatic work that incorporates systems change work so that we are not
propping up a harmful existing system.  The problem in the criminal justice system is not the
women themselves, but the structures and systems that oppress them. Women in Prison is
taking bold steps to design and embed new programmes that build evidence that directly
challenge those harmful systems.

At Women in Prison we pride ourselves on tackling the root causes of why women end up in
the criminal justice system.  We are passionate, ambitious and grounded in the reality of
women’s lives.  We are proud of our roots as a feminist grassroots organisation, and we
have grown from strength to strength since the 1980s, delivering services to women and
campaigning for change.  We exist to support women facing multiple marginalisation and
exclusion, who have been let down, and their rights denied.  We believe that prison doesn’t
work and we want to see an end to the harmful imprisonment of women in England and
Wales.

This role is critical to driving our strategy and work into its next exciting phase and ensuring
that we remain single-mindedly focused on impact.  In this role you will:

-  Co-design and deliver quality programmes delivering measurable and impactful

outcomes for women

-  Drive stronger influence and visibility with policymakers, funders and partners
-  Ensure that evidence from programmes is driving successful campaigns and policy

changes

-  Develop your team so they are empowered, motivated and focused on delivering on

the strategy and values of Women in Prison

If you are excited by our strategy and the breadth of what this role could offer to you, we
would love to hear from you.

I look forward to meeting you.

Sonya Ruparel, Chief Executive

About us

Women in Prison (WIP) was born out of the anger that our founder – Chris Tchaikovsky –
felt about what she experienced and saw when imprisoned in HMP Holloway in the 1980s.

During Chris's time in prison, a woman died after setting fire to her own cell. Chris saw that
the specific needs of women in prison and the damaging effect prison sentences were
having on women scarcely figured in public or political discourse. So, in 1983, alongside
international criminologist Pat Carlen, Chris founded Women in Prison. They pushed hard to
expose the scandal of women’s imprisonment and campaigned for change.

Our founders wanted to increase awareness of the lives behind the women in our prisons,
and the impact of poverty and abuse on women’s lives.  In Chris’s own words:

“Taking the most hurt people out of society and punishing them in order to teach
them how to live within society is, at best, futile. Whatever else a prisoner knows,
she knows everything there is to know about punishment because that is exactly
what she has grown up with. Whether it is childhood sexual abuse, indifference,
neglect; punishment is most familiar to her.”

In the early 1990s, the organisation was able to expand its remit beyond campaigning to
deliver direct support to women affected by the criminal justice system. WIP's initial focus
on prison in-reach services was then expanded to support women in the community
following their release.  Chris, sadly, passed away in 2002. Despite the loss of our visionary
founder, Women in Prison works to carry on Chris’s legacy.

Today, WIP is a national charity dedicated to making a difference to the lives of women
affected by the criminal justice system. We campaign for a new system of justice; one that
addresses the root causes of offending (including homelessness, domestic abuse, harmful
substance use, mental ill health and experiences of poverty and trauma).

Our Women’s Centres in Manchester and London and the services we provide in
communities and prisons deliver trauma-informed, holistic, women-centred support to
enable those whom we work with to address the complex challenges they face.

Our Mission is to persuade decision-makers to radically reduce the women’s prison
population, by demonstrating how a focus on human rights, social justice, health and
investment in specialist community support services, including Women’s Centres, enables
women to move forward with their lives. We do this by:

1.  Leading inspiring, impactful campaigns to challenge the current system that propose

alternatives to criminalisation, and to radically reduce the number of women in prison

2.  Delivering high quality, trauma-informed programmes for women, in communities and

prisons, which focus on supporting women to address the systems that have led to their
offending, and supporting them to claim their rights

3.  Offering a platform for women’s voices which builds women’s confidence and self-belief,

strengthening an understanding of their rights and responsibilities, and provides
opportunities to speak ‘truth to power’ to bring about real change.

WIP’s extensive experience and history of frontline work gives power and legitimacy to our
campaigns, constantly increasing our influence with policymakers and building public
support.

We do not underestimate the challenges ahead, with an increasingly hostile external
environment and funders shifting priorities – we know we must be single minded in our
focus on impact with women who are disproportionately impacted by a harmful system.
Supporting women in their communities to have their voice heard, taking a clear trauma-
informed approach, and coproducing our programming and influencing work with women
will enable stronger communities that will drive change and end the harm of prison.

For more information

Visit our website to learn more about our work and impact.

Download our latest Annual Report and our strategy here:  Our strategy - Women In Prison

Job Description

Job title:

Director of Influence and Innovation

Reports to:

Chief Executive

Direct reports:

Head  of  Policy  and  Public  Affairs,  Head  of  Practice,  Head  of
Community Programmes, Head of Justice Programmes

Salary:

£60,000-£65,000

Working hours:

Full time, 35 hours per week. Flexible working considered

Annual leave:

30 days plus bank holidays for full time p/a. In addition, the
office closes for 3 days between Christmas and New Year.

Pension scheme:

WIP provides an auto enrolment pension scheme with 5%
contributions from the employer and 3% from the employee

Location:

Hybrid, North London (NW5), 1-2 days per week in the office

Job Purpose

This role not only drives our direct support to women but also wider change in society
through driving innovations in programming and influencing approaches.  Through co-
designing innovative programmes that embed systems change work, building strong
evidence of the impact of our work and co-designing influencing approaches, this role will
integrate our programming and advocacy approaches.

Centring the voices and agency of women with lived experience of the criminal justice
system, this role will ensure that our programmes are designed to meet the highest
standards of quality and impact, and that the insights from the work lead to co-designed
campaigns and initiatives to influence public opinion and policy.  As a key member of the
leadership team, the Director of Influence and Innovation will contribute to collective
leadership of the organisational strategy and sustainability of the organisation.

Key Responsibility Areas

1.  Programme Leadership – to drive a vision for programmes that are trauma-informed,

impactful, anti-oppressive, and offer alternatives for women

2.  Influencing – to deeply connect programme work to systems change work through

evidence, insights and women led influencing and campaigning

3.  Leadership and Collaboration – to be a key member of the senior leadership of
Women in Prison modelling feminist collective accountability and leadership

1. Programme Leadership

•  Develop and deliver an innovative vision and strategy for programmes in prisons and

in the community in line with the organisational strategy, ensuring they are co-
produced, women-led, take an intersectional feminist approach, meet gaps in
demand for women caught up in the criminal justice system and embed systems
change thinking

•  Drive innovation, learning and continuous improvement in programme design and

delivery that deeply integrates systems change approaches

•  Oversee the operational management of all programme delivery teams, ensuring
compliance with legal and safeguarding standards and funder requirements

•

Leadership on systems for measuring, evaluating, and reporting on programme
outcomes, insights and impact

•  Build and oversee equitable programme partnerships that support women’s needs

to be met holistically and in a trauma-informed way

2. Influence and Systems Change

•

Lead the organisation’s systems change approaches, ensuring that policy, advocacy
and campaigns are rooted in the lived experience of women we work with and what
needs to change, aligned with the strategy

•  Build relationships with key stakeholders as prioritised by the influencing approach,
including policymakers, government agencies, funders, and partner organizations at
national and local levels

•  Represent the organization as a spokesperson

•  Use insights from women we work with and frontline staff, data and evidence to

shape public policy and advocate for systemic change

3. Leadership & Collaboration

•  Contribute to the overall direction of the organisation through collective
accountability and leadership as a member of the Leadership Team

•  To directly line manage staff and support progression and development within the

directorate

•  To embed the organisation’s values in ways of working prioritising anti-oppressive

practices

•  To work closely with peers to align work across fundraising and communications

•  To work collaboratively with the CEO, leadership and Board to support a culture of

empowerment and accountability

•  Act as a change leader driving innovation, embedding change in learning and

evidence and with a focus on embedding equity, diversity, inclusion (including anti-
oppression and feminism) across programmes and influencing work

Person Specification

Essential Skills & Experience

•  Proven track record of senior leadership in a charity/NGO in programming, policy, or

advocacy.

•  Strong strategic thinking with the ability to connect operational delivery to systemic

change.

•  Demonstrated success in influencing policy, funding decisions, or public opinion.

•  Experience managing multi-disciplinary teams and complex budgets.

•  Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.

•  Good partnership management skills and approach

Desirable

•  Understanding of the political landscape that Women in Prison works in

•  Understanding of the rights and needs of women in the criminal justice system

Personal Attributes and other requirements

•  Commitment to the values of Women in Prison
•  Collaborative leadership style
•  Proactive and solution-oriented attitude
•  Commitment to anti-discriminatory practice and equal opportunities and an ability

to apply awareness of diversity issues to all areas of work.

•  Good verbal and written communication skills

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy Statement - Our Principle Commitments

Women in Prison (WIP) is committed to building and valuing diverse teams and taking
positive action to promote equality and challenge unfair and unlawful discrimination. We
recognise that women may experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination
based on their sex and additional, real or perceived characteristics, including age, disability,
gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion,
sexual orientation, social-economic background, immigration status, caring responsibilities,
spent convictions or trade union membership.

WIP works to tackle discrimination and the structural inequalities women experience. We
are committed to embedding diversity and inclusion in all areas of our work, including

recruitment, and aim to reflect the diversity and excellence of the women that we work
with. We actively encourage applications from women from a variety of backgrounds, and
with a range of skills and experiences. We are particularly interested to hear from women
from Black, Asian and minoritised communities and women with lived experience of the
criminal justice system who are underrepresented in leadership positions in our sector.

This role is only open to women, in accordance with the sex-based exemptions of the
Equality Act 2010 pursuant to Schedule 9, Part 1.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975.  Due to
the nature of our work it will be necessary for an enhanced disclosure to be made to the
Disclosure and Barring Service for details of any previous criminal convictions which are not
protected under the Act.

How to apply

Apply here

Application is by way of CV with a Supporting Statement that should set out your
motivations for applying and how your work experience to date meets the scope of the
responsibilities. As a general guide, your Supporting Statement should be around two sides
of A4.

Closing date:
Preliminary interviews (NFP):
First interviews (WIP):
Final interviews:

Midnight Sunday 12th April 2026
Week commencing 20th April 2026
Tuesday 28th April 2026
Week commencing 4th May 2026

To recruit the most appropriate candidate, a number of pre-employment due diligence
checks will be undertaken in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018. These checks
will help determine the character and suitability of the individual to carry out this particular
role.

Accessibility

If you require reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process, including
accessing a copy of the recruitment pack in large print or an alternative format, please
contact info@nfpconsulting.co.uk