About Breakthrough

Breakthrough is a social enterprise that trains and selects exceptional prison leavers and provides them with expert training, to bring diverse, inspiring talent to businesses through our fully-supported apprenticeships. We transform lives and communities through the impact we have on the individuals and businesses we work with and through reducing reoffending. We run two main programmes: a pre-apprenticeship course in prison and the community followed by digital apprenticeships.

We are in a rapid growth phase. As a team, we are ambitious and driven. We are just as passionate about our people as the social impact we aim to have. We invest in learning and development and are flexible around responsibilities to suit an individual’s development plan. We want someone to grow with us.

The role: Chief Operations Officer

We are looking for someone to manage our rapidly expanding business. This role will be varied - working across teams and at many levels from building strategy through to writing employee onboarding manuals.

This role is accountable for the successful delivery of our programmes, successful partnerships and planning ahead so we continue to scale our impact. With that accountability comes the autonomy to make business decisions; we are a small team and have little to no bureaucracy.

This role will be in our offices in Finsbury Park 2-3 days a week, with 2-3 days a week flexible.

There is flexibility with the CEO to divide some of the broader team responsibilities.

Key COO responsibilities include:

• Overseeing multiple programmes that are running in parallel
• Supporting the programme team to continually assess and evolve the programme in line with Associate feedback, employer feedback and market demand
• Delivering elements of the programme in prison and/or in the community
• Establishing and enhancing operations so all the teams are as effective as possible
• Managing funder relationships and associated reporting
• Building strategic partnerships with the tech companies that co-deliver our programmes
• Managing our network of volunteers
• Working with other members of the leadership team to ensuring the right coaching and development processes are in place for the other employees
• Developing and iterating the strategy for Breakthrough in collaboration with other members of the team
• Building out our digital technologies that enable our ways of working
• Designing and managing our plans and resolving any issues to delivery as they arise

The ideal candidate will:

• Have experience of running their own business and/or a director-level position from the early stage of a business
• Have experience in a senior management role of an organisation with over 20 employees
• Have experience of organising and facilitating large complex programmes
• Be excellent at planning, managing multiple projects and leading a team to reach a shared goal
• Have excellent organisational and communication skills
• Have experience managing government procured contracts
• Have experience of recruiting for large employers
• Have experience working with underrepresented groups
• Be ambitious and bring energy and innovation to each element of the role
• Be passionate about driving equality in business and strongly believe in the vision of Breakthrough