Senior Social Change Consultant job in London

Who we’re looking for:

We are looking for a Senior Consultant who wants to be part of a growing organisation that makes impactful social change. We keep the leadership of people with experience of social issues at the heart of that change – it’s an important value of ours and expect our team to share this value.

We’re not your typical consultants. We meet our clients where they are at and co-create innovative solutions with them to help increase their social impact. Typically we work with organisations across the UK and Europe on innovation, systems change, strategy development, governance, network development and management, research and evaluation, and training (this is not an exhaustive list!). We are never dogmatic about our approaches and the team comes with a wide range of expertise in all aspects of change. We are methodologically diverse in co-creating responses to the challenges faced by our clients, and welcome a diversity of perspectives on the many ways that change is made.

The Senior Consultant will be an integral part of the consultancy team, working closely with the Head of Consultancy and providing leadership within the rest of the team and our clients. You will often be the main point of contact for our clients, ensuring that their needs are being met, challenges are being overcome, and the contract is being delivered to a high standard within budget and on time. You will be comfortable with complexity, co-creation and have curiosity for the intricacies of how social change happens. But also bring an analytical approach, attention to detail and an excellent writing style.

Your skills and experience

Client & Project Management: Proven ability to work with clients in a collaborative and flexible way, while maintaining a close eye on effective project delivery. Clients come to us with challenges that require agile and iterative processes. You must be able to balance strong relationships with clients, flexibility to react to emerging challenges, and all within the constraints of resources available.

Facilitation: Trained and experienced in facilitation techniques with a comfortable and collaborative style which is able to accommodate a variety of learning styles.

Experience of building and developing a team: Our work often involves bringing people together to build a shared vision and strategy to unlock social impact. You should feel confident leading people through that process and developing their leadership along the way, both internally with your team, but also with our clients and partners.

Systems change and varied approach to social change: You will have an understanding of what it means to take a whole systems approach to social change, with a demonstrable understanding of a variety of approaches to social change (movements, network, community organising, asset based community development, and beyond). An interest in or experience of governance is desirable.

You will have a minimum of 5 years of experience in social change, and at least 2 of those years in a consultancy role or similar. You should be used to working with and/or overseeing multidisciplinary projects, and confident serving as a SCA representative with clients and stakeholders, including mid to senior leadership of major foundations, local authorities, NGOs, and/or corporations.

Our clients work with us to grow their impact/network/movements so an understanding of network theory and/or social movements is needed. Of course we will give you full training in our own methodologies. We work with many organisations operating within the charity sector, so a broad overview of the sector and its limitations is useful. This must be balanced with a good business sense for effective delivery of consultancy services and sustainability.

You will typically be working on 4-8 clients/projects at any one time, we are in a period of growth and flux so you must be ready for the messy, passionate, and interconnected world that is social change and a growing business.

What you’ll be doing

The following are key duties and responsibilities of the Senior Consultant:

Project Delivery and Client Management 70%

• Coordinating and implementing client projects, development of project plans, fieldwork task schedules, scheduling and preparing for workshops and interviews, gathering documentation, and liaising with client staff.
• Leading in client management to gain an understanding of client business conditions, risks and controls
• Report writing that can incorporate qualitative and quantitative research and/or communicates back to clients a summary of our work together in a practical and actionable way.
• Facilitation of workshops and meetings
• Some basic budget management on specific projects

Team Management – 20%

• You will be managing a team of up to 3 full time and one part time consultants.
• We have a very collaborative way of working and you will very often be working with people across the entirety of the business on a regular basis, but you will lead on the pastoral care, time management, and professional development of your team.
• Work with the Head of Consultancy and the Principal Director to manage capacity and resource effectively

Proposals and Business Development 5%

• Support the team to reach the business development targets
• Developing proposals for small consultancy projects
• Support on writing bids.
• Spotting new business opportunities

Internal Business Practices – 5%

• Identify and make recommendations to improve work processes as applicable.
• Support with internal activities and support the development of the wider team that contribute to The Social Change Agency’s overall mission and strategy
• Provide support as required to the administration of the consulting practice.

Application instructions and timeline

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. We will be assessing applications and interviewing candidates as and when we receive them. We will appoint the successful candidate as soon as we find a suitable person. If you are still seeing this job advert on our website, it means the role has not been filled yet. Please apply as soon as possible to avoid missing the opportunity. 

To apply please fill out this application form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScC27GKp9qbJbW-R2MLbYrrpOtPiAwA8KTTB7WK2s_suyqGEQ/viewform