Volunteering and Community Engagement Manager
Salary: £35,000
Full time annual leave entitlement is 28 days per annum
Are you a dynamic individual who can develop, lead and grow our volunteering and community engagement work in Surrey? Do you thrive on working with people, helping to empower them to use their skills and experiences to help others in the community? Can you make a difference at a local Surrey charity?
We are seeking a hard-working, driven and flexible individual to develop, lead and grow our volunteering and community engagement team to raise awareness and increase engagement locally of our vital work.
What you’ll be doing:
¨ Be an effective manager, line managing our Volunteering and Community Engagement teams with passion, creativity and purpose.
¨ Working with local partner organisations, building relationships whilst exploring possible funding/joint working/event opportunities, and supporting the teams to make sure they are best placed to have the biggest impact for the people we enable and empower.
¨ Develop and maintain strategic community engagement relationships across the county, in collaboration with Senior Managers, including those with Local Area Committees (LAC)/Neighbourhood Area Committees, and with the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector infrastructure organisation in each area (for example, Voluntary Action Surrey East) as well as those working across the county including Surrey Community Action, Surrey Youth Focus, Surrey Minority Ethnic Forum, and Surrey Coalition of Disabled People.
¨ Organise and facilitate our Breaking Down Barriers Workshops, and other similar initiatives inspiring change and inclusion across Surrey.
¨ Drive forward our volunteering and engagement strategies—shaping policies, streamlining processes, and ensuring our work reflects best practice and legislation.
¨ Working with colleagues in other teams to create a culture where community engagement is at the heart of everything we do.
¨ Using innovation and creativity to design and deliver new projects focussed on community engagement, and maximising community participation for those we support.
¨ Promoting and demonstrating a strengths-based, asset based community development approach, to ensure the people we support have the opportunities to be involved in all aspects of our work and in the community.
¨ Ability to work flexibly according to the business need, which will include organising and attending community engagement events during the evening and at weekends.
We’re seeking someone who has the following skills:
* Direct experience of line managing a team of staff and providing team leadership
* Relevant experience in the management of a volunteering programme, or extensive experience of directly managing volunteers with the ability to step up into this role
* Knowledge and understanding of volunteering best practice, strategy and policy
* Demonstrable experience of community engagement projects, working directly with beneficiaries and in building relationships with partner organisations
* Planning and organisational skills, including ability to plan, prioritise and deliver a complex workload
* Strong presentation skills, sufficient to deliver engaging training to staff and volunteers
* Strong communication skills – verbal and written, and ability to relate well to people from all backgrounds
* Experience using Microsoft Office and confident in using a database
* Understanding of data protection requirements and confidentiality
* Able to champion the role and contribution of volunteers
* Ability to engage and influence colleagues
What we offer:
* Salary: £35,000 plus 28 days holiday (plus bank holidays).
* Pension: We match contributions up to 6%.
* Wellbeing: Annual flu vaccination, eye tests, and contributions towards work-related glasses.
* Development: Ongoing training tailored to your role and career growth.
* A supportive, inclusive culture where your ideas and leadership will directly shape the future of volunteering and community engagement in Surrey.
Join us and be part of a team that changes lives every day.
Sensory Services by Sight for Surrey has been established for over 100 years. We enable and empower people who are Deaf, hard of hearing, blind, partially sighted, and deafblind to overcome barriers to be as independent as possible and thrive in their communities. We are a countywide charity based in Fetcham, near Leatherhead.