About SCN

At The Social Change Nest (SCN), we’re radically transforming the funding landscape and strengthening civil society. We remove the financial and administrative barriers – like bank accounts and legal structures – that often prevent communities, grassroots groups and informal movements from accessing funding and focusing on their core mission. We also work closely with funders, providing Grant Distribution and Fund Management services, enabling them to support social action with confidence and transparency. 

We currently support over 600 groups across the UK and abroad addressing issues such as social injustice, climate, housing, wellbeing and animal rights. We are at the forefront of Fiscal Hosting in the UK and, since our inception in 2021, we have supported groups in securing over £23m in funding, helping them take advantage of opportunities that may have otherwise been unavailable.

The Social Change Nest is part of The Social Change Group. We are a Disability Confident Employer, and an accredited Living Wage Employer. In addition, we were listed as one of the top social enterprises in the UK in the SE100 for the last three years.

How we work

You’ll be joining a close-knit team, supported and developed to be the best you can be. We believe that every member of our team brings a unique perspective from their experiences and abilities and we encourage everyone to be a curious soul about how we can improve everything we do, from how we interact as a team to how we deliver for our clients and communities. 

Underpinned by our values of collaboration, curiosity, courage, and creativity, we work closely and with care with our partners because we believe relationships are the glue that hold us all together. 

We’re a growing business and operate at pace to keep up with the challenges that the sector faces. We have established a lot, but as we grow, we’re still working some things out. The right person will thrive in this environment and feel a level of ownership to support the build out of things we need as we need them. 

The ideal person will enjoy working towards building something new and exciting for our clients, and be able to thrive when things change quickly which you need to adapt to. You’ll be the type of person that will intuitively look at the entire system and how your role and function fit into it, always looking to collaborate and make sure there’s great communication across each part of the business.

About the role

We are looking for an organised and proactive person who will lead the delivery team for our Grant Management portfolio and Process Hosting services. This involves ‘portfolio management’, which means supporting groups as they scale, as well as oversight of the services. You will manage at least two Partnerships Managers, each with their own portfolio of groups, and be responsible for continuing to shape and refine the delivery of the service.

Many of our groups are at the beginning of their journey in impact or size. Our Grant Management service supports our groups through this journey, ensuring we understand their needs, finding practical solutions to support them to achieve their goals, ensuring contracts are delivered in line with agreements, supporting them with budgeting and advising where financial decisions need to be made. Our Process Hosting service is new but growing, and provides groups, coalitions and networks with crucial admin, governance and secretarial support suited to non-hierarchical structures. As the Senior Portfolio Manager, you will be responsible for supporting groups and leaders facing complex dynamics and testing creative solutions to address their challenges.  

This role combines customer service, impact-scaling support, portfolio management, deep facilitation and team leadership. This role will be an integral part of the business, and your understanding of the service and what is important for our groups will support the growth of our business. You will report to the Head of Programmes and work closely with the rest of the Delivery team as well as other functions across SCN.

About you

This role would suit someone who is detail oriented and process-driven as well as skilled in relationship-building and facilitation. You will have an analytical approach, excellent attention to detail, and confidence in facilitating spaces, conversations and workshops.

You will be proactive, a creative problem-solver, an excellent communicator and confident in managing competing priorities. You will be keen to make an impact in a small team and be hungry for searching out opportunities to develop yourself and the business. We are looking for someone who is happy working on their own initiative with energy, enthusiasm and good humour. This role involves customer facing work so you must be comfortable with working with groups of people from varied backgrounds along with your work colleagues. 

You need to have a good understanding of how change happens within communities, grassroots groups and informal movements, particularly the role governance and admin play in the messy, interconnected world that is social change.

Skills and experience 

Person specification includes: 

• Demonstrable experience of working with clients or partners in a collaborative and flexible way. You must be able to build strong relationships with people from varied backgrounds and work with them to find practical solutions to emerging challenges. 
• Experience of working with startups, early stage ventures, or supporting community groups to grow
• Ability to facilitate meetings and group spaces, with an understanding of group dynamics
• Experience of managing budgets
• Experience of managing contracts successfully to completion, and managing emerging risks
• Exceptional organisational skills
• An understanding of grant giving and granting processes 
• An exceptional attention to detail 
• Experience in line management
• Ability to manage various tasks at the same time, and capable of managing time effectively
• IT literate
• Experience of working within a team
  
  

Desirable: 

• Experience building and/or managing a team 
• Experience identifying trends to support product development and the shaping of services
  
  

We will give you full training on our internal systems and processes and other methodologies that will be relevant to your role. 

Key responsibilities 

• Portfolio management (60%):

  You will manage several partner accounts, specifically those that are high profile or complex. For Grant Management, this involves:

  • Working directly with groups and movements to understand their needs and help them navigate challenges in their journey of scaling, e.g. governance, budget management, recruitment etc.
  • Facilitating monthly meetings with partners to build relationships, discuss emerging needs, and track progress on contracts with funders.
  • Liaising with funders on behalf of partners where needed.
  • Track grant budgets and support partners with risk management.
  • Ensure partners’ contractual obligations are met. 
  • Nurture relationships to help build positive, long-term partnerships.

  
  For Process Hosting, you would work closely with a Partnerships Manager to:

  • Advise on decision making that supports the group/coalition with their strategy and operations. This will range from advising on the business model, governance structures, funding opportunities, design and implementation on operational processes to support their mission.
  • Support the planning and management of governance related meetings.
  • Support with the processes around recruitment and voting.
    
    

  Lead on delivery of the Grant Management service (25%):

  • Develop and hold the processes and spaces needed to ensure smooth and consistent delivery across the Grant Management team.
  • Develop the service as we grow, thinking about how we can adapt the model of delivery to fit our purpose. 
  • Work across the team to input on how SCN can continue to improve and innovate. You will bring the key perspective from partners and support by providing feedback on their experience and needs to inform changes to systems and processes. 
    
    

  Management (10%):

  • Manage the Grant Management team (at least 2 Partnerships Managers).
  • Support the team’s delivery, set work objectives and development goals.
  • Ensure the team understands our purpose, how their work fits within that, and our ways of working and culture.  
    
    

  Support the SCA and SCN team (5%):

  • Support internal activities and the development of the wider team that contribute to The Social Change Nest’s overall mission and strategy.
  • Collaborate with the team and bring new ideas that work towards team success.

Terms and benefits

Terms: The role will be full-time (37.5 hours/week) permanent contract  – we will consider well-structured JobShare applications. As we often work with volunteers occasional evening and weekend work will be required and compensated through TOIL. Occasional but limited UK or European travel will be required (by arrangement). 

We are open to exploring flexible working arrangements and supporting you to meet commitments you may have.

Salary: £37,000 p/a

Location: You must be based inside the UK. We have an office in Kings Cross, London which London-based staff are in 3 times a week or more, but if you are based out of London you will be home based. 

We hold quarterly all-staff strategy meetings and annual away days which you will be required to attend in person which we will cover the cost of your travel. You will be required to come together with the team occasionally and these travel costs will not be covered, we try our best to keep these to when only necessary. 

Language skills & visa status: Candidates must be fluent in English. You must have the right to work in the UK independently, as we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

Holiday:  22 days plus bank holidays. We close the office in the days between Christmas and New Years – this time is paid for all staff and is in addition to your annual leave entitlement.

Employer pension contribution: We offer a 3% employer pension contribution, that you will auto enrol for after 3 months of employment with SCA.  

Additional Paid Time Off: We offer 2 days of paid voluntary time off, encouraging all staff to serve as trustees or any equivalent voluntary positions to contribute to their communities 

Mintago: The health and wellbeing of our staff is very important to us. We offer all of our staff access to Mintago which offers a 24 hour support line, structured counselling with external support, and a bank of online resources such as webinars and articles tailored towards health and wellbeing for both you and the members of your family, and access to some types of legal advice. You can see their website for details. They also offer access to a 24hr virtual GP.

Financial Wellbeing: The financial wellbeing of our staff means a lot to us. We offer the following to our staff to help them reach their financial goals:

• Salary sacrifice/exchange schemes for groceries (and pensions will be coming soon!). Staff members can choose a set amount to be taken out of their gross pay (before being taxed)  each month, to be put towards purchasing groceries from all major grocery retailers. 
• Financial wellbeing platform allows staff to check their pension dashboard, plan for retirement and search for forgotten/lost pensions. There is also a smart saver plan and we provide access to financial advisers for free.
• Benefits app – retail discounts. Select from over 80 brands.

Start Date: ASAP

How to apply

To apply please fill out this application form. Please note that CVs, cover letters, and/or copies of the question outline will not be considered. You can also view the questions and draft your answers here before submitting it through the Google Form.

We recognise that AI tools are becoming increasingly prevalent in various aspects of professional life, including the job application process, view our AI use guidance for some points to consider.

Applications will close at: 9am, 14th October 2024

First round interviews will be held between 21st and 25th October 2024

Second round interviews will be held between 28th and 31st October 2024

Hiring process

We strongly encourage applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds. We are committed to our staff representing the wide variety of backgrounds represented in the communities we work with. If you are concerned that you may not fit 100% of the job specification – please throw your hat in the ring. We never put formal education requirements on any role as we value lived experiences as highly as formal education and training qualifications. 

We follow a blind recruitment process, which means that hiring managers for the role can only see your work history and answers to application questions when deciding to progress to the interview stage. 

If you need any accessibility accommodations for this application please do not hesitate to contact us at hello@thesocialchangenest.org or by calling +44 7958 298 727 and we will be happy to provide you with those accommodations.

Please visit our main vacancies page for our equal opportunities statement.