Community Development Manager

Job Title: Community Development Manager
Salary: £46,707 + benefits 
Location: Remote working with hub allocated when required for collaborative
working. 

We’re the charity who look after and bring to life 2,000 miles of waterways across Wales and
England, because we believe that life is better by water. Every role across the Trust plays
it’s part in transforming our canals and rivers into spaces where local people want to spend
time and feel better, bringing wellbeing benefits to millions.

We currently have a vacancy for a Community Development Manager (CDM) to join
our Yorkshire & North East regional operations team who have an exciting
community engagement plan to deliver.

In this role you take the lead for delivering the Trust’s community engagement, wellbeing,
participation and learning & skills strategy for the region; developing a mixed programme
of free and paid for activities and events. You will also take a lead in growing these parts of
our strategy by seeking out and developing partnership and external funding opportunities. 

Most of our office based colleagues continue to work from home currently. The role holder will
be home based but required to attend our Regional Trust hub(s) and other Trust locations
regularly for collaboration and face to face meetings. Regular travel across the region is
required. Find out more about our Yorkshire & North East team, region
& work HERE.

Knowledge, Skills/Qualifications & Experience

About the role

Reporting to the Regional Director, and home based but attending our regional hub in Leeds, you
will directly line manage and lead a engagement team. It is essential that you are able to
demonstrate that you have experience leading a team to deliver similar community engagement
activity, and are familiar with working with and supporting volunteers. Your key
accountabilities are;

• Community engagement & youth strategy: develop and deliver funded programmes of
  engagement, activity and participation. Developing relationships with communities to see
  benefits and increase participation on or by the water. Working with colleagues and volunteers
  to identify and secure funding for growth in this area, and deliver successful events and
  activities across the region.
• Income generating activities & events: lead on the delivery of activities and events
  across the region identifying opportunities and maximising income generation.
• Safeguarding lead: primary point of contact providing support to local safeguarding leads in
  the region. Ensuring awareness, consideration and compliance across all activities.
• Regional support: business planning, User forums, Trustee visits, restoration groups

Each of these areas have their own distinctive challenges to achieving successful delivery.
Through your previous experiences, you will need to unpick these and devise, collaboratively,
strategies that will drive forward achievable implementation plans.

All areas, however, have a common theme running through them. This is (and most importantly),
to connect with, engage with and influence some of the most diverse communities up and down our
waterway network about the unprecedented impact and value our strategic agenda can provide to
individuals across our Yorkshire & North East Region.

You will work closely with internal peers across other key functions within the Region,
ensuring a collaborative approach to the planning phase, and the delivery and promotion of the
outcomes.

Due to the crucial part this role plays within the Region, we are looking for someone who is
currently working at this or a higher level, be that through a similar role within the not for
profit/charity sector or a role within a comparable environment (Volunteering / Youth / Events
/ Health) where you are leading multi engagement strategies across diverse communities.

About you

Knowledge and Experience

• Experience of charity sector, not for profit, health, wellbeing, heritage or environment,
  customer focused organisation
• Experience of developing funded programmes with strategic partners
• Strong interpersonal and people skills, with experience of successful leadership of teams 
• Delivering community programmes with direct experience of shaping strategies and a proven
  track record of delivery from a range of sources that make you stand out amongst your peers.
• A tenacity and ability to influence, persuade and negotiate with external stakeholders and
  partners using previous and current networks and understanding of the sector.
• Strategic partnership development into ongoing relationship management with clear,
  presentable, tangible deliverables associated with this.
• Engaging and a variety of written, verbal and presentation skills with the ability to take
  the relevant and desired audience with you
• Valid UK driving licence as travel across our network, including urban and rural locations
  is expected
• Educated to degree level in a relevant subject is desirable

DBS

As this role is on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 Exception Order applicants must
state the details of any cautions or convictions whether spent or unspent on the
self-disclosure section of the application form.

This job involves regulated activity with children and adults at risk as defined by the
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Therefore, an Enhanced Criminal Record check will be
undertaken by the successful candidate prior to employment.

A criminal record is not necessarily a bar to employment with us. HR will advise and decisions
made on a case by case basis.

If you have any questions about this role, please contact [email protected]. We’d
love to hear from you.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient suitable
applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as
early as possible.

What We Offer

In addition to your salary of £46,707, you will benefit from
a competitive contributory DC Pension scheme arrangement, great holiday entitlement and
numerous other employee benefits, including several salary sacrifice benefits, all of which can
be found here.

• 25 days paid holiday, plus paid Bank Holidays, increasing to 27 days plus Bank Holidays
  after 3 years, and 30 days after 5 years of service
• Home working status with ‘hub’ facilities available if a need to work outside of home –
  flexibility. Monday to Friday working, no weekend working. 
• Annual £200 personal learning & growth award to spend on any learning related activity
  – hobbies; aspirations etc. 
• Free access to specialist counselling on a range of issues – health; financial; lifestyle;
  well-being; domestic & neighbourly matters. 
• Access to a range of employee benefits including – store discounts; boating holiday
  discounts; holiday purchase scheme. 
• 2 days paid volunteering leave, volunteering for local community project work.

At the Trust we care passionately for our waterways, and as importantly, for those who look
after and use them. We strongly believe that a diverse workforce brings with it a diversity of
ideas, thinking and ways of working which enhances what we do as a Trust. We are striving to
represent the diverse communities that we are a part of and welcome applicants from across all
sectors of the community.

All candidates will be treated on the basis of their merits, skills and abilities and solely by
being assessed against the requirements for the job.

When you join the Canal & River Trust you become a member of an engaged team working to
preserve our heritage for future generations. Come and share your passion and knowledge with a
team that makes a difference to millions of people every day.

Find out more about us on our website.