We are recruiting for an Assistant Programme Manager - A Fairer Start

About Nesta

We are Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good. We design, test and scale solutions to society’s biggest problems. Our three missions are to give every child a fair start, help people live healthy lives, and create a sustainable future where the economy works for both people and the planet. 

For over 20 years, we have worked to support, encourage and inspire innovation. We work in three roles: as an innovation partner working with frontline organisations to design and test new solutions, as a venture builder supporting new and early stage businesses, and as a system shaper creating the conditions for innovation. 

Harnessing the rigour of science and the creativity of design, we work relentlessly to change millions of lives for the better. Find out more at nesta.org.uk

About the Mission 

In our A Fairer Start mission, we want every child to have the fairest possible start in life, so they can thrive and realise their potential.

Children born into disadvantage are far more likely to experience poor health, lower earnings, shorter life expectancy and lower levels of happiness than their peers. Closing the gap through targeted support at crucial moments of development is not just good policy, it is good economics: such interventions and system shifts are easily paid for by the long-term benefits of higher economic productivity and lower social costs.

The AFS mission works to develop innovative, scalable solutions to the factors that prevent children from disadvantaged backgrounds from thriving. We work on a range of projects, from applied innovation through to policy design, across the domains of parenting support, early childhood education and care, family income, integrated family support and funding. 

The Role

This role supports the work of Nesta’s A Fairer Start mission. You will work closely with the Programme Manager, as well as the Mission Director, Deputy Directors and Project Leads to support the day to day running of the Mission and its projects, and to help the team function effectively.

Alongside your core duties, you will have the opportunity to support the mission more

broadly, either through supporting overall delivery of projects, and/or through working as a mission representative for critical organisational priorities such as Nesta’s commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

This role is also a part of Nesta’s community of Programme and Project Managers who work together to design and manage Nesta's processes and ways of working around how we plan, deliver and manage our programmes and projects.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Working with the Programme Manager to oversee and track project delivery and key milestones, both narrative and financial, to ensure we are accurately delivering against project schedules

• Supporting the Mission Leadership Team to balance and sequence the Mission’s projects and team’s resources, taking advantage of dependencies where possible, to optimise delivery

• Supporting project leads to accurately plan and implement their projects, for example by helping to create budgets and project plans

• Supporting the Programme Manager to deliver continuous improvement projects within the Programme Management Office and/or Mission team. 

• Designing and implementing resources and tools to support project leads and teams to improve the way they work

• Overseeing the team calendar, arranging logistics for meetings events and away days, and coordinating the taking of minutes where required

• Acting as first point of contact for the team for Nesta staff and external stakeholders, responding to inquiries or directing them to the right people

• Collaborating with the operations, financial, legal and communications teams when required and helping to translate their requirements to the other members of the A Fairer Start team.

• Supporting administrative processes within the team where needed and encourage and foster self sufficiency across the team around managing their own individual administrative tasks

• Being an active member of Nesta’s community of programme and project managers, contributing to or owning the development of Nesta’s programme and project management processes and ways of working. 

The Person

Essential

• Outstanding administrative, organisational and time management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities simultaneously

• Proactive problem solver who is willing to work both independently and as part of the team

• Strong attention to detail

• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders

• Balancing competing priorities for your time effectively and being responsive to the changing needs of the team

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to work independently and as a member of a team.

• Good working knowledge of digital tools such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar

• Experience managing or supporting small scale projects or programmes of work

• Experience coordinating the efforts of others to achieve a goal

Desirable

• Experience or training in agile project management

• Experience using specific management software to support coordination of projects and programmes (i.e. Asana, Salesforce, Slack)

• Experience managing or tracking budgets 

• Experience working in a relevant sector, such as a charity / not-for-profit, or in a subject area related to Nesta’s missions

What we offer

Salary: Circa £40,000 plus array of benefits, including private medical insurance, health cash plans, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more  

Location: This role is based in Blackfriars, Central London, hybrid working arrangement. Nesta’s policy is for staff to spend a minimum of two days a week in the office with the remaining days at your discretion. 

Term: Permanent

Hours: This is a full-time role but we offer a range of flexible working arrangements and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do. 

Reports to: Programme Manager (AFS), Programme Management Office

Making an application 

To apply for this role, please submit your application by 3rd August at 8am.

We will aim for interviews to take place on the week commencing 10th August.

At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results. 

We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop. 

This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful. 

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part-time hours, job shares and other arrangements.  

Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.