Executive Director Of Uk Operations

Executive Director of UK Operations

Location: Home base with regional travel required

Salary: £99,724 - £117,322 pa depending on experience Band B **(Geographical allowance may apply)

The vacancy

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award exists to support young people to build life-long belief in themselves; supporting them to take on their own challenges, follow their passions, and discover talents they never knew they had.

Today’s young people are facing a perfect storm of challenges, and it is our ambition that every young person should have the opportunity to develop the essential skills, self-belief and resilience they will need to thrive in life and in work.

We are looking for an Executive Director of UK Operations to join our dynamic team. You will play a vital role in delivering our ambitious growth strategy, leading a team over 200 operational staff to reach 1.6m participants by 2026 and remove barriers to access for the most marginalised and excluded young people.

You will be accountable for the design of the DofE Programme, licensing, training and quality-assuring our Licensed Organisations as well as overseeing our multi-million pound strategic growth programmes, and our £2m+ Resilience Fund that provides grants and bursaries to remove barriers to access.

As a member of DofE’s Executive Leadership Team, you will also contribute to the overall strategic and operational leadership of DofE, working collaboratively with senior colleagues to ensure DofE activity is aligned behind our strategy and modelling our values and behaviours.

About you

You will be an exceptional leader of operational teams who has worked at executive level and can provide empowering and motivational leadership to a Directorate of over 200 field-based staff, and our network of 5,000 Licensed Organisations and 40,000 incredible volunteers leaders.

Highly collegiate, with a ‘can do’ attitude and knack for developing impactful and innovative partnerships, you will be an authentic and inspiring leader who is adept at turning strategic vision into practical action.

You will be passionate about the power and potential of young people, and be strongly customer- and impact-focused, always seeking ways to improve the quality of operational delivery and participant experience. You will have a track record of building organisational cultures where safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, diversity is celebrated, and everyone is empowered and enabled to be the best they can be.

If you have a passion to improve the lives of young people, and the experience and drive to lead an exceptional team of Operations staff to expand DofE’s reach and ensure every young person has a high-quality, impactful DofE experience, we would love to hear from you.

Closing date for all applications: Sunday 14th July - Midnight.

First interview: Week commencing:  15th  July - to be held via Microsoft Teams

Second Interviews: Week commencing: 22nd July - to be held at the DofE London Offices SE1

Additional interviews or conversations may take place week commencing 29th July. 

If you would like to access the application form in a different format or if you would like any assistance that might help improve your experience while completing the application, please contact us by email recruitment@dofe.org.

The DofE are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people. All successful applicants will be required to undergo an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (e.g., DBS/PVG or similar),  references covering any gaps of employment/education, confirm eligibility to work in the UK and complete a health check.

The geographical allowance is based on a staff member having a home or office-based postcode within 30 miles (as the crow flies) from Charing Cross, WC2N 5HS. The allowance is 7% capped at £4,000 (pro rata) per annum

About DofE

Since its launch in 1956, the DofE has empowered millions of young people to become the very best they can be. It was established by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, our Patron, and is still guided by the same set of principles he laid down.

The flexibility and adaptability of DofE have allowed the DofE to spread around the world. We operate through a social franchise model in the UK, licensing and supporting a wide range of organisations to deliver DofE programmes to hundreds of thousands of young people every year.

Despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak our ambition to grow the number of young people who can access a DofE programme remains unchanged and we continue to engage new partners and develop innovative ways of working with businesses, the voluntary sector, and policymakers across the UK to ensure that any young person who wants to do their DofE can do so. To find out more visit DofE.org/about.

Diversity, equality & inclusion

The DofE is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive staff team and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

We recruit, develop, promote and value people and the DofE is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workforce. In order to meet the changing needs and aspirations of the most diverse generation of young adults ever, our staff need a range of perspectives, skills, and lived experience.

While we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds to join our passionate and friendly team, at present people of colour, disabled people, and people under 25 are not as well represented as we would like. As such we particularly encourage applicants from these backgrounds.