Special events manager - volunteering

Special Events Manager – Volunteering

Contract type: 12 Months Fixed term–35hours per week

Location: London, UK
UK hybrid working – a minimum of 40% of working time is spent face‑to‑face (London office, external meetings or travel). 60/40 hybrid working at WaterAid means roughly three days wherever you work best and two days together in person.

Salary: £47,423 per year with excellent benefits.

As our Special Events Manager – Volunteering you will lead volunteer management across all of WaterAid’s festival and special events activity and manage teams of staff and volunteers onsite at some of the UKs biggest and most loved public events.

Responsibilities

• Recruit, train and manage over 700 volunteers across festivals
• Develop and deliver volunteer training, safeguarding and wellbeing processes.
• Support the special events team with operational plans, including volunteer schedules, logistics and volunteer welfare.
• Lead teams onsite at festival events as required including Glastonbury festival, and other WaterAid events.
• Champion WaterAid’s commitment to equity, inclusion and safeguarding.

Qualifications

• Proven experience of recruiting, developing, motivating, and managing large teams of volunteers at mass public events.
• Excellent knowledge and experience of safeguarding and welfare practices for volunteers and experience in delivering these in a live events environment.
• Proven experience of leading, managing and supporting volunteers and staff.
• Ability to manage cross‑team projects and establish excellent stakeholder relationships at peer and senior levels to deliver against shared objectives.

Benefits

• 36 days’ holiday (including 8 bank holidays)
• Option to buy an extra 5 days’ annual leave
• Employer pension contribution up to 10%
• Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
• Season ticket loan
• Free annual eye tests
• ‘Give as you Earn’ charitable giving scheme
• Enhanced parental leave (maternity, adoption/surrogacy, shared parental and paternity)
• Sabbaticals
• One paid volunteer day each year

Equal Opportunities

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, beliefs, customs, traditions, ways of life and status. This includes, but is not limited to, race, ethnicity, caste, colour, gender, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, disability status, neurodiversity, age, marital and family status, sexual orientation and gender identity, health status, place of residence, economic and social situation.

Safeguarding

We are committed to protecting everyone we come into contact with. We have a zero‑tolerance approach to abuse of power, privilege or trust across our global work, and to any form of inappropriate behaviour, discrimination, abuse, bullying, harassment, or exploitation. Safeguarding the people and communities we work with, our staff, volunteers and anyone working on our behalf is our top priority, and we take our responsibilities extremely seriously. All offers of employment are subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks (which can include counterterrorism, safeguarding and criminal records checks).

Together, we’ll change the world through water.