Chief Programmes Officer

Please make sure you read the “How to apply” section as we do not process any applications that don’t follow the correct process. 

Location: Our main office is in London, near Kings Cross Station. For London-based staff, we have two core office days (Wednesdays and Thursdays). We are open to candidates based outside of London.
Hours: Full-time or part-time (min 4 days/wk). We can discuss flexible working patterns as needed.
Duration: Fixed term until February 2026.
Salary: £60,000 - £70,000 pro rata (this includes £2,000 London weighting, if applicable).
Start date: As soon as possible

One in three students leave school each year without a pass in GCSE English and maths - this rises to over one in two for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Without GCSEs in English and maths, these young people are significantly more likely to drop out of education and are locked out of key professions, apprenticeships, and university courses.

Get Further exists to change this. Our charity has award-winning tuition programmes that help students from disadvantaged backgrounds in further education gain gateway qualifications in English or maths. We place highly qualified, specialist English and maths tutors in further education, who deliver a bespoke curriculum that builds confidence and skills in these core subjects.

Small group tuition is proven to be the most effective intervention for improving outcomes, fast. Students on our programme are more likely to move up at least 1 grade between the start and end of the course – with results twice the national average.

To help more students get further, we are seeking a Chief Programmes Officer who will be responsible for driving programme quality across the organisation.

Our team, culture and benefits
Our central team comprises some 26 members, all motivated to reduce educational disadvantage and ensure young people and adult learners get the gateway qualifications they need to succeed. We currently employ over 50 active tutors with the aim to increase this over the year. Our main office is in Kings Cross, London, although we also have team members based in Yorkshire, Norwich and elsewhere. We share our office with Axiom Maths. We promote a supportive, collaborative, and positive working environment.

As well as the perks of unlimited tea and coffee when in the office, we enjoy:
•    36 days of holidays per year (including bank holidays)
•    ongoing learning and development opportunities
•    flexible hybrid working
•    quarterly ‘in-person’ team development days at our offices in London
•    the joy of working in a progressive and socially conscious, growing organisation where we can have an outsized impact on its success and development.

Role Description 
We are looking for a senior leader, with extensive experience in education project and/or programme management, who can lead a fast-growing team within a mission-driven organisation. You will be a core member of the Executive Leadership Team, in particular working closely with the interim CEO, the Chief Operations Officer, the Director of Impact and the charity’s Senior Programmes Leaders. You will have direct exposure to the Board of Trustees and the unique opportunity to fundamentally shape the organisation and its direction.
The Chief Programmes Officer will be responsible for all aspects of programme delivery, including providing strategic direction and day-to-day oversight of the programmes delivery team, business development and stakeholder management with new partners in further education, and reviewing and improving delivery across all our programmes. You will work closely with the Director of Impact to refine and implement our approach to programme quality and impact to ensure we are providing the most effective programmes for the students we support. You will play a leadership role in the overall direction of the charity and work with the CEO, the Chief Operations Officer and the Director of Impact to ensure that the systems, processes, and ways of working for the Programmes Team are in place to ensure effective programme delivery. 

Main Duties and Responsibilities 
Executive Leadership
•    Working closely with the CEO, the Chief Operations Officer and the Director of Impact to provide overall leadership for the organisation, deliver the organisation’s new five-year strategy, and embed its values.
•    Regularly updating the board on programme delivery and developments through participation in full Board and subcommittee meetings.
•    Deputising for the CEO as needed, internally or externally, representing Get Further in public forums, with senior stakeholders, and with external organisations.

Business development and sales:
•    Planning, leading and engaging in sales activity to ensure Get Further meets its goals for growth in terms of college partnerships and student numbers and secures new partnerships in key regions and areas for expansion.
•    Line managing Senior Programmes Leaders, supporting their development and the delivery of KPIs with regards to college sales and renewals.
•    Working closely with the Senior Marketing and Communications Officer to ensure a joined-up and impactful approach to sales and marketing, including through conference attendance and participation, social media, webinars.

Programme delivery:
•    Strategic leadership of the Programmes Team (currently a team of 10 full-time staff), including ensuring that the team has the culture, working environment and professional development opportunities to ensure they are well-equipped to deliver high quality programmes and to meet our delivery KPIs.
•    Overseeing efficient delivery of every aspect of each programme cycle, from liaising with the Chief Operations Officer to set and ensure achievement of targets for recruiting and training tutors, to leading the team to deliver on tuition logistics (including clear and timely student, tutor and college communications), and reporting on our impact to our partners in further education, ensuring programmes are high-quality and impactful for students and partners.
•    Identifying and rolling out developments to programme delivery that help to improve our ways of working at scale, to enable the team to deliver now and in the future.

Programme quality and impact:
•    Working closely with Get Further’s Director of Impact and the wider Impact Team to develop and deliver our processes for monitoring and evaluating the impact of our programmes, including communicating our results with existing and potential partners in further education to support the charity to meet its wider objectives.
•    Ensuring Get Further’s approach to curriculum, assessment and tutor training continue to develop and improve with insights from our impact data, including line management of our Maths and English Curriculum Managers.
•    Holding the relationship with Get Further’s subject advisory groups.

External relationships:
•    Building relationships and our brand across the further education, charity and policy sectors.
•    Leading on the delivery of a FE Advisory Group that provides advice and guidance to the charity to ensure programme delivery continues to move from strength to strength.
•    Supporting with fundraising and advocacy as needed.

 
Person Specification

ESSENTIAL    
•    A deep interest and commitment to Get Further’s mission, including the drive to expand our work and the ability to articulate and pitch our programmes authentically.
•    An excellent track record of sales within the education sector (minimum two years’ experience of directly selling programmes within education) and skilled in designing and delivering business development plans and/or marketing strategies.
•    Extensive experience in leading and improving programme delivery, including the ability to galvanise colleagues to reach annual KPIs.
•    Organisational and project management skills, to plan and make strategic decisions to prioritise and optimise time and budget.
•    Successful leadership and management of a diverse and growing team, supporting personal development of team members and developing colleagues to foster high performance.
•    A confident communicator who enjoys building networks, influencing, and promoting programmes passionately, with the ability to adapt content, tone and delivery of written and oral communications to the needs of the audience.
•    A proactive problem solver, able to spot inefficiencies and identify emerging risks early, and propose solutions as they arise.
•    Desire to learn, develop and advance personal career prospects.
•    IT skills – experience of MS Office, particularly Word and Excel.
Excellent spoken and written English language skills.    

DESIRABLE
•    A teaching qualification at Level 3 or above.
•    Familiarity with the further education sector.
•    Experience in programme delivery within the charity sector.

HOW TO APPLY 
Your application must include:
•    A CV of no more than 2 sides of A4; and
•    Your answers to the following three questions:
1.    Why do you want to work for Get Further? (200 words)
2.    Choose 3 subheadings in the ‘Main duties and responsibilities’ section of the role description. Regarding these subheadings, which of your projects/work demonstrate that you would be successful in this role? Describe your specific role in the projects/work and the impact that you had. (500 words)
3.    If your application is successful, what two aspects of the role would be the biggest challenge for you, and how would you resolve these challenges? (300 words)

Please send your application to applications@getfurther.org.uk with the subject Chief Programmes Officer by 9am on Wednesday 9th October. Suitable candidates will be contacted before the closing date and incomplete applications will not be processed. First round online interviews will be held the w/c 14th October.

We are passionate about diversity and inclusion and strongly encourage applications from people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. We are committed to ensuring that all applicants are treated fairly and with respect, irrespective of their actual or assumed background including gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic origin), religion/belief or disability.

This is a UK-based post and applicants must be living in and have the right to work the UK; if applicable please detail your visa status in your covering email. Get Further is an equal opportunities employer and will not discriminate against any candidate on the basis of any characteristic protected by the Equality Act 2010.