Portfolio Manager, Funding Department- 12 Month Fixed Term Contract

Comic Relief

• Closing:10:00am, 24th Jan 2026 GMT

Perks and benefits

Candidate happiness

8.54 (11377)

Job Description

Please note this is a hybrid role based on the successful candidate working at least two days a week in our London office. Remote contracts would not be considered for this role. 

​​ Comic Relief reserves the right to close the role early if a large number of applications are received.

Purpose of job:  

The Portfolio Manager will play a key role in the success of the team responsible for Comic Relief’s funding programme focused on tackling the effects of poverty. This role is focused on forced migration (in a team that also works in areas such as food insecurity, homelessness in the UK, and maternal and child health internationally),

The Portfolio Manager will hold direct responsibility for new Comic Relief grant making and ongoing grant management both in the UK and internationally, ensuring excellent grant making practice.

The Portfolio Manager will collaborate with other teams in the funding department and across the wider organisation to support Comic Relief’s overall objectives, including income generation.

Key Responsibilities:

Grant making and ongoing grant management

• Manage new grant making, including working with colleagues to design funding opportunities, assessing funded partners, designing appropriate ongoing support mechanisms, and working with learning colleagues in the Funding Team on appropriate data collection

• Manage assigned funding portfolios and relationships with funded partners, ensuring that the portfolio is managed in a timely and responsive way, using Comic Relief’s (CR’s) systems and processes.

• Coordinate with other colleagues across the different teams in the funding department to ensure effective and efficient ways of working, and fruitful collaboration and learning across different funded issues and areas.

• Manage all ongoing requirements, such as narrative, financial and risk reporting, collaborating across the funding team and wider Comic Relief as appropriate.

• Work with the Assurance and Finance teams to ensure ongoing compliance across the portfolio with legal requirements, our grant conditions, reporting requirements and best practice.

• Collaborate with Partnerships colleagues to manage donor reporting and other information needs for external and internal use, such as information about our funded work and our partners.

Cross organisation and sector collaboration

• Support resource mobilisation partnerships through collaborative and supportive working with Comic Relief’s communications, fundraising and partnership teams.

• Work with the Partnerships Team to support strong relationships with existing and potential co-funding partners, including corporates and/or trusts, foundations and institutions, and support proposal development, reporting and other requirements.

• Work collaboratively across CR to support storytelling around CR’s impact.

• Develop a good understanding of areas of social change within assigned funding portfolios and areas of new grant making to be able to represent Comic Relief’s funding and priorities to internal and external stakeholders

• Contribute to internal communications regarding the work of the team and the wider Funding Team.

• Represent Comic Relief to strategic partners and co-funders, in relevant networks, and at external events.

General

• Manage the work of consultants and other contractors as required.

• Communicate in an open, honest and transparent way with funding applicants, funded partners and funding partners.

• Ensure that, when applicable, people with lived or learned experience are actively engaged with our work, contributing to the design and decision-making process of our funding portfolios.

Note: Some UK and/or international travel may be required for this role.

Person Specification

Essential criteria

• Significant understanding/experience of the systems and structures that perpetuate social injustice and keep people trapped in poverty, including the best approaches to address them

• Experience and knowledge of grant making and programme design, including developing, implementing and evaluating programmes, and managing grants within a donor and / or implementing organisation.

• Experience of managing restricted donor funding and supporting ongoing donor management (e.g. government funding and/or funding from other institutions, trusts foundations or corporate entities)

• Personal and effective relationship builder with high emotional intelligence to nurture trust and respect in all relationships.

• Motivation, flexibility and resilience to navigate unforeseen challenges and collaborate effectively.

• Analytical thinker with the ability to see the bigger picture and make appropriate and effective decisions.

• An understanding or lived experience of social injustice, and proven track record of working in alignment with Comic Relief’s commitment to social justice, anti-racism, diversity, inclusion and equity

Desirable

• Experience with or knowledge of decolonising philanthropy and the wider funding sector

• Understanding of, and commitment to, the use of storytelling to engage the public in programmatic work

• Experience of budget management

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Comic Relief we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Why work at Comic Relief 

There are lots of good reasons to join us at Comic Relief. You can read more about our employee benefits, such as our commitment to flexible and hybrid working. We ask staff to come to the office twice a week, normally on agreed team days, so that we can do all those things that are difficult to do online. Our office is based in Whitechapel, London, There are lots of opportunities to develop your skills and experience at Comic Relief, including opportunities to become a Mental Health First Aider or to participate in our Employee Network Groups that focus on making Comic Relief a more inclusive place to work 

Disability Confident employer 

As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we take positive action by providing first-round interviews to candidates who have a registered disability, provided they meet the minimum criteria for the role, as demonstrated on their CV or application scores. We ask that candidates that wish to be considered for this scheme email Recruitment@comicrelief.com to discuss further. Please do not email CV's/cover letters.

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