Essential Experience
- Proven senior leadership experience in a foundation, charity, social enterprise, skills/employment organisation, or comparable mission-driven context.
- Demonstrable experience designing or delivering high-impact convening, grant-making, influencing, commissioning, or programme investment.
- Strong understanding of the UK skills, employment, and social mobility landscape, including barriers faced by disadvantaged groups.
- Experience working at the interface of policy, employer engagement, and service delivery.
- Track record of building strategic partnerships that drive systemic or large-scale impact.
- Proven experience in providing strategic financial leadership to ensure organisational sustainability.
- Experience working with or reporting to a Board.
Desirable Experience
- Influencing policy and practice at national, regional, or sector level.
- Leading organisational start-up, growth, or transformation.
- Experience with impact measurement, learning systems, and evidence-based practice.
- Lived experience of the communities the Foundation aims to support (highly valued, though not required).
Skills and Competencies
- Strategic thinker – able to set clear direction while remaining adaptable to changing environments.
- Fluency in systems thinking, with the ability to understand how the skills agenda will change in the next 5-10 years as a result of demographic and technological change.
- Cross sectoral perspective across social impact organisations, training and awarding organisations, employers and government.
- Exceptional ambassador/ representative – ability to influence senior decision makers in government and the private sector.
- Skilled convener and partnership builder – ability to build partnerships and alliances to amplify impact and support the cause.
- Socially entrepreneurial – ability to see new opportunities to develop the offer and leverage in additional funding to enable even greater impact.
- Leadership across financial and operational domains, translating vision into actionable plans that deliver measurable impact.
- Insightful decision-maker with sound judgement, resilience, and the ability to balance ambition with risk.
- Inclusive and values-driven leader, committed to equity, diversity, and good governance.
Personal Qualities
- Passion for social justice, equity, and enabling access to good work.
- Collaborative, empathetic, and humble, with strong interpersonal skills.
- Entrepreneurial and proactive, with the ability to build something new with limited initial structure.
- Credible, authentic, and trusted by partners across sectors.
- Reflective and committed to learning, both personally and organisationally.