School Partnerships Officer

The Brilliant Club
Recruitment Pack

School Partnerships Officer

February 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: May 2026
Salary: £34,994 (plus £2,000 London weighting for those living in London and within the
M25).
Contract Type: Permanent

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 Director of School Partnerships. 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.

Between 2021 and 2026, we will work with 100,000 students across the UK to help them to develop
the knowledge, skills and confidence to access the most competitive universities. We will also
support 10,000 students from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed once they enter
universities.

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: 37.5 hours per week Monday to Friday, flexible working with 10am – 3pm core hours,

some evenings and weekends required.

•  Benefits include: 36 days’ holiday (inclusive of bank holidays) increasing by 1 day per year
up to a maximum of 41 days, employer contribution to pension, interest-free season ticket
loan, five professional development day allowance, BUPA health cover cash plan.

•  We’re happy to talk flexible working. 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

“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

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

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 Director of School Partnerships, create and implement a regional
plan to re-engage former partner schools, approach new schools and make new sales to
maximise our reach and hit regional sales targets.

•  Collaborate  with  a  lively  and  friendly  team  to  support  other  officers  and  sales  in  their

regions.

•  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.

Across the charity we all pitch in to help different teams and areas of work. This may mean you
attend and support with the delivery of other teams’ activities and events. From time to time, you
may also work with another team for a fixed period of time, or collaborate on a project to ensure
we deliver for the young people we serve. We think this is a good way to gain experiences in
different areas of the organisation and enhance your professional skills

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 Friday 20th March 2026
Interviews: First round: Thursday 26th March 2026 and second round: Tuesday 31st March 2026.
Interviews will take place virtually on Microsoft Teams
For more information: Visit our website or email recruitment@thebrilliantclub.org.