Senior Development Manager

Quick info

Hours: 37.5 hours a week, permanent

Salary: £40,000-£45,000 p/a

Location: Hybrid with 2-3 days per week in Farringdon office, London

Reporting To: Head of Development

Application deadline: Thu 30th April 2026

Ready to apply? 

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About The Social Change Nest

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 700 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 Europe and, since our inception in 2021, we have supported groups in securing over £50 million in funding, helping them take advantage of opportunities that may have otherwise been unavailable.

We work with all types of social movements and community groups, from climate to housing, wellbeing and animal rights. Read more about this here. 

The Social Change Nest is part of The Social Change Group. We are a Disability Confident Employer, and an accredited Living Wage Employer. 

About The Role

The Social Change Nest is at a very exciting time. We continue a trajectory of steep growth, onboarding and supporting hundreds of new groups every year. We are working closely with funders worldwide, helping them move large amounts of funding to unincorporated movements at the frontlines of social change. We are spending more time than ever raising awareness on how capital flows impact the ability of communities to create change, and how we can hack the system to enable more money to flow in an equitable way to unincorporated movements. We are looking for somebody who is excited about all this and ready to hit the ground running.

Key responsibilities

Business Development

  • Work with the Development Lead and the Head of Development to ensure that all new groups have an excellent onboarding experience that is both timely and values-aligned.
  • Deliver high-quality bid proposals and pitch documents to support business growth.
  • Develop and implement client management and engagement strategies, including our philanthropic networks, enhancing relationships and delivering value.
  • Quickly build strong rapport with funders and community groups to ensure effective implementation of our strategy.

 

Pipeline & Financial Management

  • Analyse and present HubSpot data to inform strategic decisions and refine our offering.
  • Support the Head of Development in managing the budgeting processes and preparing essential documentation for pitches and contracts.

 

Integration

  • Support the integration of Development with other departments.
  • Work closely with other members of the Development team to ensure our work is an orchestrated effort to deliver our strategic goals.
  • Spot opportunities for increased efficiency, build processes where missing, contribute to the overall development of the organisation.

Skills & Experience

  • Proven business development expertise in the philanthropic sector with a track record of winning new business, and able to apply these skills to enhance our business development strategies.
  • A good understanding of the philanthropic and grant-making sectors in the UK, Europe and the USA, with the ability to use this to enrich our strategies and client interactions.
  • Able to use your knowledge and skills to identify and seize opportunities for growth through partnerships, projects and clients.
  • Numerate and adept at analysing data to derive insights that guide business planning and strategy.
  • Outstanding customer service skills, both proactive and reactive. Your reliability, trustworthiness, and ability to respond to our clients’ needs set you apart.
  • Excellent pitch/proposals and bid-writing skills with an ability to craft compelling proposals that resonate with our target audience, including design and pricing.
  • Ability to adapt communication style, pitch and materials to a wide range of audiences, from grassroots community groups to large global foundations.
  • Capable of anticipating and evaluating the potential risks and returns of projects and able to assess risk as part of the process.
  • Experience in managing complex work strands and coordinating across different teams, demonstrating your leadership skills and strategic awareness.
  • Excellent interpersonal skills and a confident communicator. You excel in bringing people together to achieve shared objectives.
  • Experience in mentoring and supporting team members.
  • An advocate of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
  • A demonstrable commitment to serving underrepresented groups in the UK or abroad.

Terms and benefits

Terms: The role will be 37.5 hours/week. 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: £40,000 – £45,000 p/a

Location: London (Hybrid Working Environment, 2 -3 days in office). We hold quarterly all-staff strategy meetings and annual away days which you will be required to attend in person and 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: 28 days plus bank holidays (including 3 days between Christmas and New Years).

Employer pension contribution: We offer a 3% employer pension contribution, that you will be auto enrolled into after 3 months of employment with SCN.  

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:

  • 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.
 

How to apply

We are recruiting for this position through Careers4Change. 

> Apply now

You will be asked to send your CV along with answers to the following questions:

  • Please tell us why you want to join The Social Change Nest (400 words max)
  • Please tell us how your previous experience working in philanthropy is relevant to this role (400 words max)

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 cover note 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 people@thesocialchangenest.org or by calling 07958298727 and we will be happy to provide you with those accommodations.

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

Using AI in your application

We recognise that AI tools are becoming increasingly prevalent in various aspects of professional life, including the job application process. While we neither encourage nor discourage the use of AI in your application, we believe it’s important for candidates to be aware of both the potential benefits and drawbacks. Here are some key points to consider:

Potential Benefits of Using AI

  1. Reduces barriers: AI can help individuals with disabilities or those who are not native English speakers in the application process.
  2. Guidance: Can provide suggestions on what you might want to include in your response.
  3. Feedback: Can offer insights on how you could improve your responses.


Potential Drawbacks of Using AI

  1. Generic content: Can result in similar wording appearing across multiple applications, making them feel less unique.
  2. Inaccuracies: AI is sometimes overly creative with facts and may provide inaccurate information.
  3. Loss of personal touch: Your individual experiences and personality might not shine through if AI is relied on too heavily.
  4. Environmental impact:  AI consumes significant environmental resources with every prompt contributing to this.

Remember, the most successful applications are those that genuinely reflect your skills, experiences, and personality. Whether you choose to use AI tools or not, make sure you check your responses thoroughly and ensure that your application accurately represents you as a candidate.