Project Leader

At the Forward Institute we’re all about responsible leadership – helping senior leaders in influential organisations to become a force for good. We’re now growing our advisory team so we can provide more hands on support to organisations serious about embedding responsibility and purpose at the heart of how they operate.

So we are looking for two creative and strategic Project Leaders, with a passion for culture, purpose and systems change. You’d be responsible for designing and delivering impactful and inspiring projects, managing these key pieces of work with our partner organisations.

If you are driven by purpose, want to deliver meaningful work and would enjoy working alongside a talented team with a diverse range of organisations (from the Government, Army and Cancer Research through to bp, John Lewis and Tesco) then we want to hear from you.

THE ROLE

We are looking for two thoughtful, hands on, dynamic and experienced Project Leaders to join us as our Organisational Change Team begins to scale up to meet demand. We need someone with practical experience and leadership credentials, and the passion and behaviours to inspire teams, colleagues and our partners. To flourish you’ll need to be creative and curious but also an excellent planner, able to anticipate and roll with the bumps along the way whilst upholding the highest standards of delivery.

Our Organisational Change Team was established to support our partners accelerate deep organisational change via bespoke work with senior leadership teams. Our ambition is to help at least ten major organisations become real exemplars of responsible leadership in the next decade. That’s no mean feat and we’re building an exceptional team to do it.

You will be responsible for:

Project delivery

• > Drive the day-to-day delivery of projects with key partners, ensuring we remain focused on impact and deliver meaningful, high-quality outcomes that will drive enduring change
• > Lead and be responsible for all key deliverables, such as workshops, interviews, insight gathering, presentations and other outputs.
• > Build dedicated project teams that draw on the best talent in our Associate network and from across the Institute, and nurture a creative and collaborative team for maximum impact
• > Ensure the commercial robustness of our work with effective budget setting and financial tracking of projects

Strategic thinking and insight and workshop delivery

• > Lead strategic thinking on projects, supporting the team to produce creative and insightful recommendations
• > Take charge of research and the insight gathering process for the projects you are leading
• > Prepare and help deliver workshops and events with senior leaders. This would include playing a confident supporting facilitation role, preparing supporting materials and post event outputs, and overseeing event coordination and logistics

Building the organisation

• > Help write creative and compelling proposals for our partners, listen for the real questions and identify the need, understand if and how we can best support them
• > Work collaboratively to help colleagues across different teams, get stuck into cross-Institute projects and help us take our mission to the next level

Relationship management

• > Support strategic relationship management across the Institute to leverage our fullest potential in advancing our mission
• > Build strong, trusted relationships with our partners, understand their challenges and become a trusted point of contact for all projects

ABOUT YOU

We don’t expect the person we hire to have ALL the following but hopefully this gives you a sense of what would enable you to thrive in this role and in our team:

APPLY IF YOU...

• > Have a minimum of 5 years relevant experience
• > Care deeply about building a better world, and helping large organisations better live their values and ‘walk the talk’
• > You like being in the driving seat – with brilliant organisational skill, motivational superpowers and an understanding of how to influence and keep projects moving
• > Can read the room – listen deeply, and are confident enough to work directly with senior leaders across very different sectors
• > Are a strong communicator - you have strong proposal writing skills, ready to turn high level concepts into coherent and compelling proposals, and help bring people on the journey with you
• > Know how to run multiple projects - a natural collaborator, you’re comfortable working with dispersed networks and working to tight deadlines, are adaptable and able to manage competing priorities without loosing sight of the longer term
• > Are a completer-finisher - all over the details, able to zoom out and see the big picture and then quickly zoom back in to deliver on time and to a high quality
• > Have an understanding of change – either because you’ve led it or experienced it from within an organisation, been involved in leadership development or because you’ve walked alongside organisations on the journey
• > Can build deep relationships; you build for the long term, you grow trust and influence, you understand the power of networks
• > You want to redefine consultancy; taking all the best bits and merging it with a blend of responsible leadership that makes it sing, paving the way for a new way for consultants to do business
• > You’ve got commercial and sales nouse - you’re listening for meaningful opportunities to advance the mission, ready to shape a commercially sound model and have an eye on accessibility across all sectors

YOU’LL LOVE IT HERE IF YOU...

• > Are driven by hope and optimism, tempered with pragmatism and inspired by the potential of our mission, our partners and our team
• > Are energised by diverse opportunities, with no day exactly like the next
• > You want to forge real collaboration, bring warmth and good humour, and positive intent to every situation
• > Have a curious mind and are always open to the insights and perspectives of others
• > Thrive working in a fast-paced environment, are happy to work without a big support structure around you, and would like to grow with a small but ambitious organisation

BENEFITS

CORE DETAILS

Salary: £50-66k based on experience

Type: We are recruiting at least two Project Leaders. At least one of these roles must be permanent but we are also open to part-time (4 days a week) and contract (6-12 months)

Start date: To start as soon as possible

We are based in London, one of the world’s most diverse cities, with a workforce that’s 36% ethnically diverse and where 39% of the working population is of working class background. We want our workplace to reflect the community we belong to. That’s why we welcome people from all walks of life who have the skills we seek – whether those skills have been gained through formal

working environments or elsewhere.

OTHER BENEFITS

• > Private health insurance with Vitality (which also provides discounted gym membership)
• > Pension allowance (5% employer contribution)
• > Generous holiday allowance (30 days paid holiday + bank holidays)
• > Hybrid working, with a generous allowance for setting up your home working environment
• > An intense but fun working environment. We’re a rapidly growing, high energy and ambitious team who love our work and making a big impact.
• > Working for an organisation where we take our values and purpose seriously, and work hard to practice what we ‘preach’
• > An opportunity to observe systemic change as it happens and be part of the team working out how big business can have a positive impact on the world
• > We invest in our people: not just through benefits but through training and development and promoting our team.
• > All our team have access to world-class development opportunities and an amazing range of speakers – from senior leaders like Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller (former Director General of MI5) to entrepreneurs like Sir Tim Smit (Founder of the Eden Project) to thought leaders like June Sarpong (Head of Creative Diversity at the BBC)

LOCATION

Our office is in Holborn, within easy walking distance of several over- and underground stations. We expect the team to split their work between the office and home.

TO APPLY

Please send your CV and a covering letter or video (maximum of 2 minutes),answering the following two questions:

1. > What is it that you are passionate about and what makes you a great fit for the Forward Institute?
2. > Why are you interested in this specific role?

Applications without a covering letter or video will not be considered.

We will be interviewing on a rolling basis with interviews starting the week beginning 12th September, and second round interviews starting the following week. If you are interested in the role, we encourage you to apply early as we will stop recruitment when we find the right candidate.

You will need to hold any relevant Visas/Work Permits.