Purpose

The purpose of this role is to provide support and excellent service to our students and Entrepreneurship delivery team ensuring that will are able to manage the successful delivery of a number of programmes, grant funding and funder relationships. You will develop and sustain key relationships with the funders of these programmes ensuring that reporting on both our impact and spend is carried out.  You will take the lead on all aspects of programme support including coordinating the input of external partners and internal colleagues and will play a key role in monitoring programme outcomes, reporting to funders, and maintaining positive funder relationships.

Key responsibilities

Programme Management

1.     Devise a clear programme management plan for each programme to identify and agree goals, key activities, colleague responsibilities, timelines, dependencies etc. in line with funder requirements and SSE priorities.

2.     Manage and monitor programmes throughout their cycle and maintain up to date records of progress against plan, including identifying and responding appropriately to relevant opportunities and risks.

3.     Manage the operational programme budgets, including liaising with the finance team to process invoices in association with the programmes.

4.     Manage the student grant budgets, where relevant, including overseeing the activities of Grant Managers and ensuring the timely identification and reallocation of underspend as appropriate.

5.     Produce and update as necessary all documentation for use in programme management, programme delivery and grant management in collaboration with Learning Managers and Grant Managers as appropriate.

6.     Issue contracts and agreements for all partners, freelancers and other parties involved in delivering the programme and monitor their performance against that agreement.

7.     Ensure systems and processes are in place for appropriate identification, escalation and resolution of any issues arising within the programme. Ensure accurate records are maintained in Salesforce by all colleagues and stakeholders in relation to the programmes.

8.     Conduct regular ‘360 reviews’ of key programme phases to capture learning and lead on planning and implementing improvements and innovations resulting from this process, including working with other Programme Managers on cross-programme developments.

Funder and Partner relationships

9.     Ensuring that all contractual requirements, such as narrative and financial reporting are delivered to a high standard.

10.  Ensuring that regular, positive, and constructive progress meetings are held with each funding partner, according to their preferred frequency and format.

11.  Regular liaison with SSE Central’s Finance team, as required, to ensure all expected income has been received and that expenditure is on track.

12.  Liaison with SSE Central’s Communications team in relation to any public-facing or communications aspects of each partnership.

13.  Sharing knowledge and understanding of each partner’s needs and expectations within the Entrepreneurship delivery teams and with external suppliers such as freelancers, to ensure the partnerships are well-supported across the organisation.

14.  Coordinating regular meetings of all internal stakeholders for each project to ensure all parties are updated on relevant aspects of each programme and partnership.

Student Recruitment and Selection

15.  Lead the programme’s recruitment and selection processes including working closely with the Head of Communications and Entrepreneurship Facilitators and the national outreach Lead to develop and execute strategies to target and recruit social entrepreneurs for SSE Programmes.

16.  Oversee the selection process for the programmes including ensuring appropriate information on all applicants is captured in our Salesforce system

Grant making

17.  Provide the necessary documentation and support SSE’s grant panels appropriate information, meetings run effectively, and the outcomes are recorded in accordance with our grant making policy by an administrator

18.  Working with the grants team ensure all new students are issued with and complete programme registration and grant offer documentation.

19.  Ensure complete and accurate recording of the recruitment and selection process for all applicants within the Salesforce system.

General responsibilities

20.  Provide effective induction, line management and development support for up to two Entrepreneurship Administrators

21.  Participate in regular one to ones with your line manager as part of your ongoing personal development and training.

22.  Work with colleagues in the Development Team to develop new proposals and budgets that meet the needs of social entrepreneurs and support the setup of new programmes as appropriate.

23.  Carry out other tasks that are within the scope, spirit and purpose of the job.

In addition to the above, you will take on one of the following specialisms:

Specialism - Fellows

• You will drive the development of our fellows offer, working closely with our digital content lead and the DEAT Director to progress our fellow’s strategy

• You will support the design and development of our fellow’s membership/collective

• You will plan and oversee our fellows’ events, scheduling a series of events each year, co-developed and delivered by fellows

• You will run the Fellows Futures Fund

OR

Specialism - Policy & Insights

• You will work closely with the Impact Lead and the Head of Communications to ensure that we are up to date with key policy and data trends affecting the social economy.

• You will ensure that our delivery content is reflective of the trends and emergent needs of those working in the social economy.

• You will Identify opportunities to convene others for cross sector collaboration and share our growing data and insights.

Key Relationships

The Entrepreneurship Support Lead (ESL) will report to the Head of Entrepreneurship support. The ESL will work closely with the other two ESLs, the Entrepreneurship Administrators, the Entrepreneurship Delivery Leads and Entrepreneurship Facilitators and Development Managers.

The ESL will also play a key role in relationships with external partners, freelance Grant Managers and programme funders.

Person Specification

Skills and experience

• Programme management skills with experience of coordinating complex programmes with multiple elements and stakeholders.

• Experience of managing expenditure against budget.

  Organisational skills and experience of managing a diverse workload in a fast-paced environment.

• Relationship management and communication skills, with experience of building relationships with internal and external stakeholders at all levels and from a broad range of backgrounds

• Influencing and negotiating skills, with experience of managing the competing needs of different stakeholders. 

• Written communication skills with experience of writing for different audiences and purposes.

• Ability to analyse and draw data from databases and spreadsheets and to effectively communicate findings.

• Experience in identifying and implementing new systems and ways of working to increase efficiency and improve quality.

•   Leadership and team working skills.

• Proficient in Word, PowerPoint, Excel and databases

Desirable

• Knowledge and/or experience of social enterprise or small business start-up.

• Experience of managing learning and skills development programmes.

• Experience of administering and managing grants.

• Working knowledge of Salesforce or similar. 

• Knowledge of business development and experience of working with development colleagues to leverage and add value to existing and new funder relationships.  

• Experience of line management.

• Experience of outreach or community engagement approaches.