National Programmes Manager

Location: Remote working (with some travel across The Girls’ Network regions in England as required)

Reports to: Head of Programmes and Impact

Salary: £37,000 per annum

Contract: Permanent/Full-time, 37.5 hours per week

Direct Reports: Up to 8 Programme Facilitators

Closing Date: Friday 29th January at 9AM

Interviews: 1st stage interview to be held between 4th & 5th Feb, 2nd-stage interview to be held on 13th Feb

About The Girls’ Network:

The Girls' Network is a national charity with a mission to inspire and empower girls from the least advantaged communities by connecting them with a network of professional women role models and volunteer mentors. We believe no girl should have her future limited by her gender, ethnicity, background, or parental income. Our vision is a future where all girls are supported to realise their ambitions, discover their self-worth, and shape their own futures.

We partner with secondary schools and colleges across multiple regions in England, including London, Merseyside, Portsmouth, Southampton, Sussex, Tees Valley, Tyne & Wear and the West Midlands. We match girls aged 14–19 with trained volunteer mentors for one-to-one support. Additionally, we offer group mentoring, workshops, and access to an Ambassador Community that provides continued opportunities for development, career support, and connection.

Role Summary:

The National Programmes Manager is responsible for leading, managing, and developing a team of regionally dispersed Programme Facilitators to ensure consistent, high-quality delivery of The Girls’ Network programmes across all localities. The post-holder drives programme performance and quality through effective people leadership, robust performance management, and the use of SMART objectives to ensure KPIs are met and organisational outcomes are achieved.

A core element of the role involves embedding best practice across all aspects of programme delivery and maintaining a strong, consistent approach to safeguarding through our work with children and young people. The post-holder is expected to be an experienced, supportive, and proactive leader, confident in managing performance, developing staff, and supporting team wellbeing and professional growth.

Key Duties/Responsibilities:

Performance and People Management:

• Provide leadership and line management to a remote, geographically dispersed team of Programme Facilitators through regular supervision, 1-1s, and appraisals to ensure high-quality programme delivery and consistent KPI achievement.

• Lead the recruitment, induction, training, development, and retention of Programme Facilitators, in collaboration with the People and Culture Manager.

• Foster a culture of continuous learning and development, including facilitating opportunities for cross-regional shadowing and knowledge sharing.

• Actively support the wellbeing, performance and professional growth of the team.

• Step in to cover or arrange support with programme delivery as and when required.

• Develop and deliver targeted training to staff as agreed with the Head of Programmes and Impact.

Safeguarding and Risk Management:

• Act as a first point of contact for day-to-day child safeguarding issues for the programme team, escalating concerns to the Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO) or Lead (DSL) as appropriate.

• Proactively monitor and mitigate safeguarding risks for young people on our programmes, keeping abreast of your team's training needs in relation to this.

• Conduct robust risk assessments when required and ensure adherence to organisational safeguarding policies and procedures.

Programme Management, Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Oversee the operational delivery of core programmes, ensuring consistency and quality across regions.

• Take ownership of, and responsibility for Programme Facilitators' annual KPIs and performance monitoring.

• Oversee the robust and accurate collection of regional and national data on young people participating in our programmes, maintaining high-quality records on our CRM (Salesforce) for monitoring and evaluation purposes.

• Analyse, evaluate and report on programme impact both regionally and nationally.

• Provide timely and relevant information and data to the fundraising and impact teams to support evaluation and reporting.

• Report on national targets to the Senior Leadership Team on a quarterly basis.

Strategic and Partnership Development:

• Develop and nurture strategic relationships with key stakeholders, including Combined Authorities, Local Authorities, Multi-Academy Trusts, schools and colleges to drive programme growth. Proactively work to secure new educational partnerships to meet regional and national expansion targets.

• Work with the Head of Programmes and Impact and the wider team to identify and capitalise on local, place-based volunteering recruitment opportunities, ensuring regions have a sufficient pipeline of volunteers to run programmes effectively.

• Collaborate with the fundraising team to secure, manage, and maintain corporate partnerships that support organisational outcomes, income generation, and programme growth. Support the creation of meaningful engagement opportunities for corporate partners, ensuring their strategic CSR objectives and contractual commitments (MOUs) are met, and work proactively to maintain partner satisfaction and retention.

• Act as a champion for TGN, promoting our mission, programmes and community engagement opportunities.

• Contribute to collecting youth voices through focus groups, case studies and other mediums to drive programme improvement and design.

• Identify opportunities for sustainable growth across England and contribute to the development of the organisational strategy.

• Represent TGN at awareness events and act as a key point of contact for stakeholders.

New Workstreams:

• Contribute to new projects and strategic initiatives as agreed with the Head of Programmes and Impact and the Senior Leadership Team.

• Support the development of new programmes and business development opportunities to meet evolving organisational needs and deliver professional growth.

Person Specification:

Essential:

• Previous experience in the charity and/or education sector.

• Specific knowledge of mentoring programmes and/or youth services.

• Proven experience in leading and chairing effective meetings with diverse stakeholders.

• Highly driven and independent with significant experience working remotely and managing dispersed teams.

• Exceptional relationship-building skills, with experience engaging diverse stakeholders and communities, and the ability to manage multiple relationships while balancing competing priorities both internally and externally.

• Experience in developing programmatic resources and supporting colleagues to use them effectively.

• Outstanding communication and presentation skills, with the ability to inspire, motivate and influence colleagues and external stakeholders.

• Exceptional organisational skills and planning skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities, meet deadlines, and think strategically to drive change and innovation.

• Possess strong administrative and coordination skills, with proven experience in accurate record-keeping, data management, and operational oversight.

• Highly proficient in using digital systems, online collaboration tools, and relevant social media platforms.

• Willingness to travel to our regions several times a year and work flexibly as required, including occasional evenings and weekend work.

• A genuine understanding and a deep-rooted passion for addressing the challenges faced by girls and young women from disadvantaged backgrounds.
  

Desirable:

• Experience in workshop facilitation and staff training.

• Formal programme management qualifications (e.g. PRINCE2, AgilePM) or equivalent experience.

• Knowledge of the statutory and education sector and its key providers.

• An understanding of safe and inclusive volunteer recruitment practices and experience of working with underrepresented groups.

• Direct, hands on experience working with young people and/or volunteers.

• Knowledge of trauma informed practice and childhood resilience/therapeutic models.

• Experience using Salesforce or similar CRM platforms.
  

How to apply

You will be asked to complete your application by submitting your CV and answering a few application questions. Please apply as soon as possible.

Appointees are subject to a DBS check. You must have the right to work in the UK to apply. 

Diversity at our core

The Girls' Network is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce and eliminating discrimination. In line with the Equality Act 2010, if you require any reasonable adjustments to support you with any stage of this recruitment process, please contact the People team.