Job Title: Senior Organiser

Salary: £45,420 per annum

Hours: 37.5 hours per week (some unsociable hours) Contract: Full-time

Based: Greater Manchester

New Deadline for applications: 5pm, Tuesday 13th February 2024.

Interviews: in-person on Monday 19th February 2024.

Citizens UK

Citizens UK is a people power alliance of diverse local communities working together for the common good. Our mission is to develop leaders, strengthen civic organisations and make change. Our 550 member communities are deeply rooted in their local areas and connect every day to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Through the method of community organising we enable people experiencing powerlessness to develop their leadership and come together with the power and strategy to make change. 

This leads to hundreds of neighbourhood improvements - from zebra crossings outside primary schools to renovated public toilets in cemeteries. And it leads to some of the biggest campaign impacts in the UK, such as winning over £2 billion of wages through the UK Living Wage campaign, securing a legal cap on the cost of credit to control exploitative lending, and ending the detention of children for immigration purposes. We enable local campaigns to grow into large-scale social change projects such as the Living Wage Foundation, Parents and Communities Together (PACT), Sponsor Refugees, and Refugees for Justice, that form an integral part of our theory of change. The most prominent of these is the rapidly growing Living Wage Foundation with a network of over 14,000 accredited Living Wage Employers across the UK.

Greater Manchester Citizens

Founded in 2017 with a gathering of 1000 people ahead of the then Mayoral elections, Greater Manchester Citizens has a membership of seventeen diverse civil society organisations. The independent alliance is the home of broad-based community organising in the region, training many civil society leaders and winning change on persuading employers to pay the Real Living Wage, refugee resettlement and tackling hate crime.

Purpose

As a Senior Organiser for Greater Manchester Citizens, you will bring communities together to drive change. This role will work closely with local civic institutions, such as churches, mosques, schools, universities, unions and other community groups to: 

• develop the leadership of people within those organisations - the 'leaders' who lead the campaigns we work on 

• help them identify the changes they want to see and create strategies to win those changes 

• strengthen organisations’ own abilities to achieve their missions. 

 This includes listening to members of the community to find common issues and then planning strategy and action to engage decision-makers to hold them to account. All of this work is underpinned by the knowledge that everyday people have the ability to shape the world around them. This work will be rooted locally, but you will be a part of a bigger national drive to make change alongside diverse local alliances across the UK.  

In Greater Manchester Citizens, the current campaign focuses are the real living wage, youth mental health and universal credit, but you will also work on other campaign priorities that are developed through the member institutions you work with. 

Main Responsibilities

• Build relationships with a diverse range of exciting people, from member organisations to politicians, journalists and funders 

• Support leaders from GM Citizens members to make change, through coaching, training and action 

• Develop ambitious winning campaigns for social justice and the common good 

• Develop and implement strategy and workplans with a wide range of member organisations like schools, universities, faith communities, charities to enable them to win campaigns together 

• Bring new member organisations into the alliance and develop new partnerships with large organisations  

• Raise money through membership income and grants from trusts and foundations 

• Manage political relationships locally and regionally  

• Deliver training in the method of community organising  

• Deepen and develop your professional practice in community organising 

Person Specification REQUIREMENTS

QUALIFICATIONS

ESSENTIAL:

Bachelor’s degree in any subject

DESIRABLE:

Evidence of further and continuing study including a possible professional qualification

EXPERIENCE

DESIRABLE:

At least three-years employment track record of successful Organising

ESSENTIAL:

Demonstrated ability to lead a team; including motivating and developing more junior staff

Experience of risk taking to create a project/situation/event that illustrates your values

Experience of successful fundraising

Demonstrated ability to manage complex projects on time and to standard

Clear evidence of campaigns won and people developed

KEY SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

ESSENTIAL:

Ability to inspire, motivate and lead (particularly people who are different than you)

Ability to organise yourself and others and to work responsibly in an unstructured environment

Financial management skills including ability to set and manage a budget

Ability to use imaginative strategies to help improve disadvantaged communities

Ability to plan and organise under pressure

Ability to work with and relate to all types of people

Ability to teach and run workshops

Ability to develop the potential of others

Ability to communicate well verbally and in writing

PERSONAL QUALITIES & VALUES

ESSENTIAL:

A passion for justice

A good sense of humour

A positive enthusiasm for working with faith congregations, trade unions, schools and other community organisations

An interest in and experience of politics and public life

Able to work in a team

Willingness to work within accountable relationships

Self-motivated and adaptable