Peterborough Community Organiser

Peterborough Community Organiser

Citizens UK

• Closing:11:59pm, 17th May 2026 BST

Perks and benefits

Candidate happiness

8.30 (1763)

Job Description

Citizens UK

Citizens UK is the UK’s biggest, most diverse and most effective people-powered alliance. We bring communities and local organisations together to work on issues that matter; from campaigning for zebra crossings on dangerous roads, to reforming the immigration system, to the Living Wage campaign. We have a track record of winning change through hundreds of local and national campaigns. We know everyday people have the ability to shape the world around them. We believe that through developing local leaders, we can drive nationwide change and create community-led solutions to big and small problems.

Peterborough Citizens is part of Citizens UK, a nationwide alliance that brings together local groups to campaign for social justice and community improvement. In Peterborough, it works with schools, faith groups, and community organisations to address issues like housing, safety, and opportunity. We’ve been active for five years, building local leadership and creating positive change through collective action.

This role will focus on delivering the Pride in Place: Listening to Leadership programme across Peterborough. The Community Organiser will support the delivery of a 12-month programme that moves from listening → action → leadership, building long-term community power and neighbourhood governance.  The role combines core community organising practice with structured delivery of engagement, analysis, and leadership development.

Community Organising

Through our theory of social change, called community organising, we train thousands of everyday people to lead change in their communities, equipping them with the skills to hold politicians and other powerholders to account. We are made up of 500+ member organisations in powerful alliances throughout the UK. Our members include schools, universities, faith groups, parents’ groups, health practices, charities, trade unions and other civil society organisations.

Purpose

At Citizens UK, our organisers and project staff work within communities to develop leaders, strengthen organisations, campaign for change and organise across difference. There are various project roles and operational, communication, finance and HR roles that support the organisation and project staff and organisers to deliver on this mission and work. This work is rewarding and can be challenging; it requires a personal commitment to inclusion, a willingness to listen and disagree respectfully, and an interest in working in an organisation where our staff, member institutions and leaders will come from a diversity of backgrounds and often hold views that may be very different from our own. More information about how we operate within this context and build trusted relationships across difference can be found on our website and is covered in induction. Onboarding and navigating this relational culture, and type of work, is supported by line managers and further training.

Main Responsibilities

As a Pride in Place Community Organiser with Peterborough Citizens, you will use the Citizens UK method to build relationships across civic institutions—such as schools, faith groups, and community organisations—to develop local leaders and strengthen their collective power. You will lead a broad listening campaign to surface shared concerns, support communities to identify priorities, and co-create strategies that turn those issues into winnable campaigns, including engaging decision-makers and organising public actions. Grounded in the belief that local people can shape their neighbourhoods, you will help deliver tangible “you said, we did” outcomes, build sustainable structures for resident voice and accountability, and contribute to the wider Pride in Place initiative by embedding long-term community leadership and change.

Working as the Community Organiser for Citizens UK, reporting to Senior Organiser of Peterborough Citizens main responsibilities will include:

Build relational power to further the goals of CUK

• Lead

  community mapping and stakeholder identificationacross target neighbourhoods (Months 1–6), ensuring a clear power analysis of place, institutions, and key relationships.

• Develop and grow a substantial network of local influencers, including journalists, institutional leaders, and community figures; proactively initiate new relationships where gaps exist.

• Conduct a minimum of

  3 one-to-one relational meetings dailyas a core discipline, deepening understanding of leaders’ self-interests, concerns, and motivations.

• Deliver and support

  listening campaigns(school-based, community sessions, stakeholder meetings, home visits), ensuring engagement with seldom-heard groups and tracking participation.

• Analyse and translate listening insights into compelling

  Community Organising storiesthat influence others and advance CUK’s goals.

Strengthen institutions and develop BBOs

• Build a strong understanding of the

  interests, traditions, and cultures of member institutionsduring early engagement.

• Organise and sustain a

  local alliance or cluster of institutions(up to 15 standard members or 5 strategic partners) around shared issues identified through listening and analysis.

• Develop and support

  core teams within institutions, ensuring they can lead multi-institutional campaigns.

• Establish and strengthen

  local leadership and accountability structures, including Neighbourhood Boards where relevant.

• Run institutional development campaigns across diverse organisation types, aligning institutional priorities with community issues.

Support leaders through the Cycle of Action in order to create change

• Lead the transition from

  analysis (Months 4–8)to action by identifying priority issues and developing clear strategies.

• Facilitate

  action planning teamsand co-create campaign strategies with leaders, including timelines, tactics, and targets.

• Support and organise

  visible “small wins” campaignsto build momentum and confidence among leaders.

• Take the staff lead on major local actions and campaigns, ensuring strong turnout, effective public narrative, media engagement, and successful negotiations.

• Evaluate actions systematically, incorporating lessons learned into future strategy and strengthening the overall organising cycle.

Contribute to CUK’s financial viability through effective fundraising & financial management

• Recruit new dues-paying institutions, using relationships built during listening and engagement to secure

  long-term membership commitments.

• Negotiate membership fees and letters of understanding aligned with institutional self-interest and campaign priorities.

• Contribute to overall fundraising targets (£40k–£60k annually), ensuring at least half is secured through institutional dues (“hard money”).

• Manage campaign or chapter budgets effectively, including tracking income, monitoring expenditure, and ensuring timely collection of dues.

Contribute to effective teamwork

• Maintain accurate records of

  relationships, engagement, and campaign progress, contributing to monthly reporting and dashboards.

• Work collaboratively with colleagues and partners, sharing insights from listening, analysis, and action phases.

• Support the development of other organisers through mentoring, clear expectations, and proactive guidance.

• Demonstrate reflective practice by evaluating personal organising craft, identifying areas for growth, and maintaining a sustainable work-life balance.

• Produce reports and meet organisational standards consistently and on time.

Participate in the development of the craft of Community Organising and play a role in the Guild of COs

• Embed

  one-to-one relational meetings (3+ daily)as a non-negotiable core practice across all phases of work.

• Contribute to the

  design, delivery, and evaluation of national training programmes(minimum 10 days per year, pro rata).

• Participate actively in a

  Guild Team, contributing to a shared Community of Practice and continuous improvement of organising craft.

• Integrate learning from listening campaigns, leadership development, and action outcomes into broader organisational practice and knowledge-sharing.

Personal Specification

(D) Desirable, (E) Essential

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in any subject (D)

• Subject of relevance to community work or community organising (D)

Experience

• Previous campaign experience (D)

• Evidence of having acted in a leadership role with peers or in local community activities (e.g., organising clubs or societies) (E)

• Experience of project management; evidence of having delivered work on time and to standard (E)

• Able to demonstrate previous experience of ‘learning by doing’ in a work or project environment; evidence of being open to feedback and comfortably coachable (E)

Key skills and knowledge

• Excellent interpersonal awareness – ability to listen well and appreciate a viewpoint or opinion that is different from one’s own (E)

• Excellent concern for impact – ability to adapt own behaviour to address the needs or concerns of someone else (E)

• Good communication skills – able to speak with conviction and passion; and to make a logical argument (E)

Personal qualities & values

• A self-starter with ability to take initiative and work independently (E)

• A passion for justice (E)

• A positive enthusiasm for working with faith congregations, trade unions, schools, and other community organisations (E)

• An interest in and experience of politics and public life (E)

• Able to work in a team (E)

• Willingness to work within accountable relationships (E)

• Self-motivated and adaptable (E)

Our Organisers and some project teams work closely with our member institutions and will be expected to attend member events that take place in the evenings and occasional weekends. We operate a Time Off in Lieu approach and have very flexible working arrangements to ensure a good work-life balance.

The successful applicant will be required to undertake a satisfactory Enhanced DBS check. DBS checks are renewed on a 3-year cycle.

About the application process

We work within diverse communities bringing people together. In line with our Inclusion value, we would love to see applications from LGBTQIA+ people, people from racialised communities, people living with disabilities and people of faith, all to better represent the communities we work in. We want our employees to have the working conditions that allows them to fully participate, be able to be their best authentic selves and thrive doing so, and we have employee networks to support staff. Even if you don’t quite meet all the required criteria still consider applying, as we invest in our employees and support them to develop the skills and knowledge required to deliver their role.

For questions and reasonable adjustments regarding your application including information in a different format, or our recruitment process, please email recruitment@citizensuk.org. 

Initial phone calls 19th May

Interview date potentially - 26th AM or 27th May AM

Removing bias from the hiring process

Removing bias from the hiring process

• Your application will be anonymously reviewed by our hiring team to ensure fairness
• You’ll need a CV/résumé, but it’ll only be considered if you score well on the anonymous review