The Brilliant Club
Recruitment Pack
June 2026
Registered Limited Company: 07986971
Registered Charity: 1147771 (England and Wales), SC048774 (Scotland)
Registered Office: Fivefields, 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW1W 0DH
School Partnerships Officer
Start Date: September 2026
Salary: £34,994 per annum (O4, full time), pro-rated to contract length. We would consider either a 0.6 FTE arrangement for 12 months (£20,996.40), or a term-time only arrangement for approximately 8 months at the same total cost, subject to final working pattern agreed
Contract Type: Fixed term maternity cover contract
About the role
We mobilise the PhD community to support students from less advantaged backgrounds to access the most competitive universities and succeed when they get there. We work with students who, because of their family income, parental history or the postcode they live in, are at risk of missing out on the life-changing opportunities linked to higher education.
We are excited to be recruiting a School Partnerships Officer to join the School Partnerships Team. Your job will be to raise awareness of our programmes and transform expressions of interest into school partnerships. If you are passionate about communicating with different audiences, quickly building relationships, and meeting ambitious targets that have a huge social impact, this could be the perfect role for you.
This role will require you to become an expert on our programmes so that you can confidently discuss their features and benefits with key stakeholders. You will be comfortable in winning the confidence of head teachers and senior school leaders of prospective schools who have expressed an interest in partnering with us. This isn’t just about administering a process, it’s about understanding the needs of individual schools and how our programmes can support their priorities. You will be tenacious and empathetic in equal measure. Alongside meeting with schools and securing partnerships, you will be involved with generating interest in our programmes, via marketing campaigns and network building. You will also work to improve the efficiency of our internal systems, so teachers have the best experience communicating with us.
The role will report to the School Partnerships Manager. It can be based at either of our Brilliant Club offices, located in London and Leeds.
About you
The role will best suit someone who has:
• Experience of partnership building or selling a programme, product or service to schools, trusts or other education sector stakeholders
• Resilience, tenacity and target-driven motivation in a challenging marketplace
• A desire to positively impact social justice via charity sales
• Knowledge of UK education system - school, college and/or university sector
• Experience of using CRM systems, such as Salesforce
• A demonstrable passion for furthering The Brilliant Club’s mission.
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: 22.5 hours per week (0.6 FTE) or 30 hours per week (0.8 FTE) term time only, subject to final working pattern agreed
• Flexible working with 10am – 3pm core hours
Benefits include: 36 days’ holiday (inclusive of bank holidays) increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 41 days (pro-rata for 0.6 or 0.8 FTE), employer contribution to pension, interest-free season ticket loan, five professional development day allowance, BUPA health cover cash plan.
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 experience of the successful applicant.
Partnership Development:
• Cultivate existing school, trust and network relationships and proactively create and nurture new relationships to increase sales of our programmes.
• Convert a high volume of school enquiries into sales to meet our strategy targets.
In collaboration with the School Partnerships Manager, implement a regional plan to reengage former partner schools, approach new schools and make new sales to maximise our reach and hit regional sales targets.
• Boost sales by representing the charity and its programmes at networking events and conferences.
Ongoing relationship management:
• Steward relationships with partners including schools and networks to ensure that partnerships are renewed and grow year on year.
• Support existing partners to engage with the range of programmes available and upsell and cross sell where we can add value to a partnership.
Reporting and tracking:
• Maintain sales processes, actions and data accuracy on Salesforce.
• Support the team in the development of systems to improve the tracking and monitoring of national partnerships across the charity.
• Support work on long-term process solutions to account management.
• Adhere to information security policies included in the charity’s ISO 27001 manual and complete information security training.
Person specification
Time and Resource Management
• Experience and enjoyment of sales and partnership building in a target-driven, fast-paced environment.
• Ability to organise own workload and prioritise effectively.
• Excellent ability to manage organisational projects, with appropriate levels of time and resource input, seeking feedback and support where required.
External Stakeholder Knowledge and Management
• Understanding of the complex needs of our stakeholders and ability to create opportunities for partnership with The Brilliant Club.
• Excellent ability to steward external partnerships, ensuring their needs are supported and opportunities to grow our impact are found.
Proactive, tenacious, willing to make the first move and follow up every possible opportunity to grow our reach and fulfil the charity’s mission.
Communication
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, especially the ability to explain complex concepts in a simple and compelling way.
Excellent ability to ensure communications consistently have the desired impact – influencing the audience to think, feel or do what was intended.
Initiative and Problem Solving
• Ability to proactively identify risks and solve problems.
• High level of attention to detail and commitment to recording information accurately.
• Ability to understand and use data effectively and communicate information clearly.
Developing Self and Others
• Ability to work as an enthusiastic and collaborative team member, with a desire to engage in cross-team support and development.
• Enthusiasm for personal development and learning new skills.
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 Monday 29th June 2026
Interviews: First round: Thursday 9th July 2026 and second round: Friday 17th July 2026. Interviews will take place virtually on Microsoft Teams
For more information: Visit our website or email recruitment@thebrilliantclub.org.