Head of Volunteering

From Puppy to Partnership: Help Transform Lives 

Lead our volunteer team and make a tangible difference by supporting volunteers in their vital work to help create life-changing assistance dogs for disabled people.

About Canine Partners

At Canine Partners, we breed, train, and support expert assistance dogs to create loving, life-changing partnerships with disabled people. Across the UK, we support people with a variety of physical disabilities and their families, carefully matching them with a dog that suits their needs, personality, and lifestyle.

Our dogs bring confidence and independence, love and companionship, reducing reliance on carers and giving people the freedom to live life their own way.

The Role

Position: Head of Volunteering
Hours: 37.5 hours per week
Location: Homebased 

Travel: Travel throughout the UK will be required (approx. once a month on average) for events, leadership meetings, staff engagement days and to collaborate with the team. More travel may be required during the induction period.

Our volunteers are key to the success of Canine Partners by supporting us in all areas of the organisation. You will develop and lead our volunteer strategy, focusing on how we recruit, train and retain our amazing team of 1000 volunteers. Canine Partners is progressing through a significant growth period, and we need to have more volunteers on board to help us achieve this. Through strong leadership, effective volunteer management practices and a positive volunteer experience, you will help build a resilient volunteer community that strengthens service delivery, enhances organisational culture and supports the charity's long-term growth and sustainability with the goal of helping more people.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead the development of innovative approaches to volunteer recruitment, engagement, retention and recognition.
• Lead the volunteer team who support the journey and experience of volunteers
• Collaborate with our communications team to develop and implement a volunteer recruitment strategy to increase volunteer numbers
• Support staff across the organisation to effectively recruit, manage and develop volunteers.
• Ensure volunteer related policies, products and procedures are aligned with the needs of the organisation and sector best-practice, ensuring we are an accessible and inclusive organisation for volunteers
• Regular board level reporting on measurable objectives and performance indicators

About You

• Significant strategic leadership experience in volunteering within a charity, public sector or community organisation.
• Strong knowledge of volunteer management best practice, governance and relevant legislation.
• Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills.
• Experience of developing and delivering volunteering strategies that support growth, organisational change and strategic objectives.
• Experience of implementing or optimising volunteer management systems, CRM platforms or digital tools to improve the volunteer journey.
• Experience of managing risk, safeguarding, conflict, disputes and complex volunteer-related issues with confidence and compassion

Most importantly, you will be passionate about the transformative impact that our assistance dogs provide to our beneficiaries.

Ready to Make a Difference?

If you are excited about this role, don't hesitate to apply! We welcome applicants who bring unique perspectives, and would be delighted to hear from you. Please apply online with a comprehensive CV and supporting statement explaining how you believe you match the requirements of the role.

Please note we may interview candidates prior to the closing date. If we find a suitable candidate or receive a high volume of applications, we may close this advertisement prior to the closing date so apply now to ensure you don't miss out! Please be assured that we contact all candidates regarding the outcome of their application, this may take longer if we receive high volumes of applications.

Closing date: 4th October 2026

We recognise the benefit of diverse experience and welcome and encourage applications from all sections of the community. We are a disability confident committed employer.

Applications are initially reviewed using our applicant tracking system, which may use automated screening criteria to help identify candidates whose skills and experience match the requirements of the role. All hiring decisions include human review.