Volunteer Manager

We’re on the lookout for a Volunteer Manager!

About Literacy Pirates

Literacy Pirates runs a high-impact literacy programme for 8- to 13-year-olds. We work exclusively with children nominated by their school because they are behind age related expectations in literacy and face economic barriers to educational success.

Our 2025–26 Annual Impact Report shows that we supported 662 children across 45 schools, working with 510 volunteers. Of the 535 children supported through our online programme, 79% improved their literacy, 79% increased their confidence and 83% increased their perseverance. Our online programme achieves outcomes comparable to our in-person delivery.

The Virtual Ship enables us to reach underserved communities where children face economic barriers to educational success. In 2025–26, we supported children in London, Cornwall and Leeds. At the end of the 2026–27 academic year, we will close our in-person programme and focus exclusively on the Virtual Ship, reaching new communities across England where we can have the greatest impact. Our ambition is to grow from 662 children supported in 2025–26 to 3,000 children a year by 2030.

Role at a glance

• Reports to: Head of Programmes and Impact
• Direct reports: 2 Volunteer Coordinators

Purpose of the role

The Volunteer Manager is responsible for leading the Volunteer Team to recruit, train and retain a community of volunteers. Our low-stakes, relentlessly positive sessions where effort is celebrated and confidence flourishes are powered by a community of volunteers. Volunteers work with small groups of children under the guidance of a Session Leader to support them through reading and writing activities designed to improve their literacy, confidence and perseverance.

This role will lead the expansion of our volunteering work to enable the delivery of our programme as it transitions to an exclusively virtual programme at the end of 2026–27 reaching into new communities across England. The role will be responsible for maintaining the quality, safety and experience of volunteers as the programme grows.

We have a well-established onboarding pipeline for volunteers. The focus of this role is to maintain, improve and grow it, using data and applicant feedback to understand what is working, identify bottlenecks and drop-off points, and help more prospective volunteers become active and be retained as the programme grows.

Teams

The postholder works closely with colleagues across the organisation, and, in particular, with the leads of each team below.

Education: Designs and delivers learning programme optimised for virtual delivery, recruits and trains Session Leaders and Support team. (Led by Programme Manager).

School’s Partnerships: Recruits partner schools, manages referrals and maintains school relationships (Led by School’s Partnerships Manager).

Communications: Leads communication activities, including designing marketing materials and supporting team’s with marketing campaigns (Led by Communications Manager).

Key Responsibilities

1. Team leadership and planning

Lead the volunteer team; managing the two Volunteer Coordinators, setting clear objectives, providing support and feedback and building a collaborative, inclusive team.

Plan the team’s work and resources to meet recruitment, training and retention needs, balancing day-to-day delivery with longer-term improvement.

Work closely with the Education and Schools Teams to understand volunteer requirements as the programme grows and transitions to exclusively virtual delivery.

2. Volunteer recruitment and outreach

Lead a targeted recruitment and outreach strategy to grow a diverse volunteer community, ensuring sufficient volunteers are available throughout the year.

Build and maintain relationships with universities, volunteer networks and other recruitment partners, including identifying, meeting and securing new partners to broaden outreach beyond students.

Work with the Comms Manager to develop recruitment campaigns and materials.

Manage a welcoming, accessible and scalable onboarding process, using data to identify where applicants drop out and improve the journey into volunteering.

3. Volunteer experience and retention

Lead work to retain volunteers through developing and implementing a volunteer retention strategy.

Gather and act on volunteer feedback, championing volunteer voice in decisions about the programme and the systems that support it.

Create opportunities for volunteers to connect, feel recognised and remain engaged with Literacy Pirates and its mission.

Work across the Education, Communications and Fundraising teams to coordinate volunteer communications and activities, keeping the volunteer experience central.

4. Volunteer training and quality

Work with the Education Team to plan, deliver and review initial training and ongoing development to increase volunteers’ ability to develop children’s literacy, confidence and perseverance.

Ensure volunteers feel confident using the tools and approaches needed for virtual sessions, responding to their feedback and development needs.

Manage volunteer quality assurance and support processes, working with colleagues in the Education team to identify concerns, agree support plans and address issues constructively.

5. Safeguarding and safe volunteering

Oversee volunteer safer recruitment processes, including managing DBS/PVG checks and maintaining accurate records, in line with Literacy Pirates’ safeguarding policies.

Ensure volunteers understand and follow safeguarding, online safety and code of conduct expectations, and know how to raise concerns.

Work with the Designated Safeguarding Lead to escalate safeguarding concerns through agreed procedures and support colleagues with volunteer-related concerns or investigations as required.

6. Data, systems and continuous improvement

Use data on recruitment, onboarding, participation, retention and volunteer feedback to understand what is working, identify issues and agree improvements.

Set and monitor recruitment and retention targets with the Head of Programmes and Impact, sharing progress, risks and priorities with relevant colleagues.

Maintain and improve established volunteer processes so they remain effective and manageable as the programme grows, rather than rebuilding systems from scratch.

Oversee the team’s day-to-day use of the volunteer management system, Rosterfy, maintaining reliable records and clear process documentation, and working with the Operations team and the platform provider to resolve issues and agree improvements.

• Person Specification
• Essential

Driven by purpose

Committed to tackling educational inequality and improving children’s literacy, confidence and perseverance.

Passionate about volunteering and working with people from a wide range of backgrounds.

Volunteer recruitment and engagement

At least three years’ experience working directly with volunteers and recruiting them, with evidence of successful outreach and engagement.

A strong understanding of the volunteering landscape, volunteer motivations and recruitment networks, and the ability to reach audiences beyond students.

Experience of improving volunteer experience and retention, using feedback to make volunteering welcoming, accessible and rewarding.

Clear, confident communication and relationship-building skills, including presenting volunteering opportunities and working with recruitment partners.

Leadership and delivery

Experience leading projects or teams towards shared goals, coordinating work and supporting others to deliver.

Strong organisation, prioritisation and attention to detail, with the ability to balance longer-term priorities work with the demands of day-to-day delivery.

A hands-on approach and willingness to share practical work, including volunteer enquiries, welcoming volunteers and administration.

Experience of collaborating across teams, adapting to change and solving problems.

Data, systems and quality

Experience using data and turning findings into practical improvements.

Confidence using a volunteer management system or CRM to maintain accurate records and manage communications.

Experience of maintaining and improving established processes.

Understanding of safeguarding responsibilities when working with volunteers who support children, and a commitment to safer recruitment, confidentiality and appropriate escalation of concerns.

Desirable

Experience line-managing and developing staff.

Experience planning or delivering volunteer training and supporting volunteer development and quality.

Experience of leading or working in programme or process as it scales.

Experience supporting online volunteering or digitally delivered services.

Experience using Rosterfy or a similar volunteer management platform.

Lived experience or a professional background that reflects the communities we serve.