Living Wage Foundation

The Living Wage Foundation was launched in 2011 by Citizens UK to tackle in-work poverty and ensure that workers earn enough to live on and participate in family and community life. Citizens UK is the home of community organising with diverse civil society alliances set up to develop leaders to work on the issues that matter to them, such as the Living Wage. Other projects include PACT (Parents and the Community Together) and Sponsor Refugees to add depth to the impact of Citizens UK’s work.

The Living Wage is a movement of businesses, organisations and people who believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. The real Living Wage is an independently-calculated hourly rate based on the cost of living and announced each November during Living Wage Week, our annual celebration of a growing network of 9,000 Living Wage Employers.

The Living Wage Foundation (LWF) celebrates employers that voluntarily choose to pay the real Living Wage through an accreditation scheme that recognises a long-term commitment to fair pay and has secured pay rises for over 300,000 low paid workers.

Purpose

The Living Wage Foundation has an exciting opportunity to join our dynamic team as a Senior Programme Manager. We are looking for a highly motivated and organised individual with the ability to manage teams, build strategic relationships with employers to grow the Living Wage network, and develop projects that will grow our accreditations schemes and proactively influence change across a broad range of stakeholders in public life.

Develop and deliver strategies, working collaboratively across the organisation.

• Direct a team and line manage multiple staff and freelancers, supporting them to deliver projects and contribute to the LWF business plan.

• Monitor and evaluate the impact of our work to refine our strategy and deliver projects effectively, whilst improving systems to make our work more efficient.

• Build and manage relationships with key stakeholders, policy makers and employers to support them to pay the real Living Wage and seek accreditation.

• Communicate evidence for change to influence key stakeholders to become part of the Living Wage movement, promoting all schemes and initiatives, and to champion the Living Wage to their networks.

• Create, develop and employ the tools and knowledge available to inform and advise employers on implementing the Living Wage throughout their organisation.

Main Responsibilities

Relationship Management

• Identify and develop relationships with key senior stakeholders, policy makers, large employers and employer networks to promote and grow the Living Wage.

• Identify opportunities and develop strategic partnerships with a range of stakeholders including project partners and funders to support the Foundation’s work.

• Provide a high-quality client experience for large, strategic employers that are interested in the Living Wage and provide excellent advice and guidance on how to implement the Living Wage to support their accreditation.

Project Management

• Oversee and support the development of UK-wide strategies with team to grow accreditations in all sectors and regions to deliver the Living Wage Foundation’s business plan objectives.

• Lead on complex projects to promote and grow Living Wage accreditations and develop the quality of service offered.

• Identify and build new opportunities to grow the income of the Foundation and manage bespoke budgets.

• Identify opportunities to make our work more efficient and effective by improving our systems, processes and policies.

• Monitor and evaluate the impact of our work, including oversight of data collection and producing reports for various stakeholders.

People Management

• Line manage and support the development of multiple direct reports in different job roles to deliver business plan objectives.

• Oversee and support the training and induction of team members; developing staff members to carry out their roles effectively.  

• Coordinate staff within the LWF and across the organisation to ensure we are meeting the expectations of our network and stakeholders.

• Work with Citizens UK community organisers, members and leaders to promote civic engagement with and ownership of the Living Wage campaign.

Communications and Events

• Oversee the organisation of events to celebrate and grow our network of Living Wage employers, including supporting the team in the delivery of Living Wage Week every year

• Identify and direct staff to effectively gather case studies and examples of best practice to develop materials and promote the Living Wage.

• Keep up to date on latest Living Wage policy issues and support development and communication of Living Wage criteria to ensure that the Living Wage Foundation is responsive to the needs of employees and employers.

• Represent the organisation effectively to external audiences in meetings, at events and in the public domain to promote and grow the work of the Living Wage Foundation.