Manager, Programmes & Services

Why This Role Matters

At Breast Cancer Foundation (BCF), programmes and services are not successful simply because the calendar is full. They are successful when people affected by breast cancer and their caregivers receive support that is relevant, safe, accessible and genuinely useful.

As our Manager, Programmes & Services, you will lead the Programmes & Services team and personally helm BCF’s Volunteer Management portfolio.

You will bring together programmes, beneficiary support, volunteers, partnerships, data and team capability to help BCF serve the breast cancer community well.

This is a hands-on management role. You will need to stay close enough to the work to understand what is happening on the ground, while also building the systems, people and capabilities that allow the team to operate well without everything depending on you.

At BCF’s current stage, this means personally leading Volunteer Management. As the organisation grows, day-to-day volunteer coordination may increasingly be supported by team members reporting into this role.

We are looking for someone who can run today’s work well while helping build tomorrow’s P&S function.

What You’ll Be Doing

Lead the Programmes & Services Team

• Provide day-to-day leadership of the P&S team, translating organisational priorities into clear plans, responsibilities and deliverables.
• Set priorities and standards across beneficiary engagement, programmes, services and Volunteer Management.
• Coach, delegate and develop team members, helping them build capability and take increasing ownership.
• Manage workload, timelines and dependencies across the team and make sensible trade-offs when resources are constrained.
• Build reliable systems, SOPs and ways of working that support consistent delivery.
• Create a collaborative team culture where information is shared early, concerns are raised appropriately and commitments are followed through.
• Work closely with other BCF teams so that cross-functional initiatives are approached as One BCF.

Lead Programmes, Services & Beneficiary Experience

• Lead the planning, development, delivery and review of programmes and services for people living with and beyond breast cancer and their caregivers.
• Translate BCF’s priorities into clear programme plans, responsibilities, timelines and measures of success.
• Strengthen beneficiary and member engagement, using feedback and evidence to keep programmes and services responsive to changing needs.
• Support the continued development of BCF’s survivorship and community well-being approach while maintaining essential services reliably.
• Oversee the effective use of programme resources and BCF’s centre-based support spaces.
• Ensure programmes are delivered thoughtfully, safely, within approved budgets and with appropriate governance.
• Regularly review what is working, what is not and what should change.

Personally Helm BCF’s Volunteer Management Portfolio

Volunteer Management is a significant portfolio within this role.

At BCF’s current stage, you will personally own and lead the portfolio, while building the systems and capability needed for it to scale as the organisation grows.

You will:

• lead BCF’s overall volunteer-management approach, including planning, systems, standards and continuous improvement;
• lead volunteer attraction, recruitment, onboarding, deployment, engagement, development, recognition and retention;
• assess volunteer needs across BCF’s programmes, services, campaigns and events;
• work with colleagues to match volunteer capacity and capabilities to organisational needs;
• develop meaningful volunteer roles and pathways, including opportunities for experienced volunteers to contribute in leadership or specialist capacities;
• ensure volunteers are appropriately briefed, trained, supported and supervised;
• maintain appropriate standards for volunteer conduct, confidentiality, safeguarding, boundaries and interaction with beneficiaries; and
• use volunteer participation, deployment, retention and feedback information to identify gaps and improve the volunteer experience.

As BCF expands, some day-to-day volunteer coordination may increasingly be delegated to team members reporting into this role. You should therefore be equally comfortable running the portfolio today and building the people and systems needed to scale it tomorrow.

Build Partnerships & Referral Pathways

• Build trusted working relationships with hospitals, medical social workers, healthcare professionals, community organisations and other relevant partners.
• Strengthen referral and engagement pathways so that people who may benefit from BCF’s support can be connected appropriately.
• Identify opportunities for collaboration, outreach and resource-sharing that strengthen BCF’s programmes and services.
• Work with partners to understand emerging beneficiary and community needs.
• Represent BCF professionally at relevant healthcare, community and partnership platforms.

Manage Quality, Governance & Resources

• Maintain appropriate programme and volunteer-management policies, SOPs and operating standards.
• Manage programme, volunteer, safeguarding and operational risks within approved authority.
• Ensure appropriate confidentiality, data protection and information-handling practices.
• Manage programme budgets and resources responsibly.
• Raise significant issues early, with sufficient context and possible next steps.
• Provide clear, useful updates to management and relevant governance forums.

Turn Data Into Decisions

BCF’s programmes, beneficiary engagement and volunteer activities generate a considerable amount of information.

We do not want that information to spend the rest of its life quietly ageing in a spreadsheet.

You will:

• maintain useful programme, beneficiary, volunteer and service measures;
• ensure records are accurate and reliable enough for decision-making;
• review participation, engagement, outcomes, feedback, volunteer deployment, retention and utilisation trends;
• connect information from different activities to identify patterns, gaps and emerging needs;
• translate findings into recommendations, dashboards and practical decisions; and
• help the team use data and feedback as part of everyday programme improvement.

A dashboard is useful only if somebody eventually makes a better decision because of it.

Use AI & Digital Tools Responsibly

• Use digital and AI-enabled tools appropriately to improve planning, research, analysis, reporting and productivity.
• Identify opportunities to reduce repetitive work and improve team workflows.
• Encourage appropriate adoption of useful digital tools across the P&S team.
• Check AI-generated outputs rather than accepting them at face value.
• Apply human judgement and remain accountable for decisions.
• Protect beneficiary, volunteer and organisational information and follow applicable confidentiality and data-protection requirements.

Use AI as a capable assistant — not an unsupervised colleague with access to confidential beneficiary information.

What Success Looks Like

You are succeeding when:

• the P&S team has clear priorities, good communication, appropriate delegation and reliable follow-through;
• programmes and services remain relevant, safe, well organised and responsive to beneficiary needs;
• BCF has a well-run Volunteer Management portfolio with appropriate capacity, engagement, development and governance;
• volunteers understand their roles and have meaningful opportunities to contribute;
• programme, beneficiary and volunteer work operate as one coherent P&S portfolio;
• partners experience BCF as organised, collaborative and dependable;
• team members build greater capability and ownership over time;
• data and feedback influence decisions and programme improvements; and
• the systems being built today can support a larger P&S function tomorrow.

The Kind of Manager Who Will Thrive Here

You lead with empathy and judgement.
You listen carefully, maintain appropriate boundaries and make thoughtful decisions.

You can lead people and still roll up your sleeves.
You are comfortable setting direction and delegating, but willing to stay close to the operational detail when needed.

You build systems, not dependency.
You create clarity, documentation and capability so that the team becomes stronger over time.

You take ownership and close the loop.
You communicate changes early, raise problems appropriately and make sure agreed actions are followed through.

You are curious about evidence.
You want to know why participation changes, why volunteers stay or leave, what beneficiaries are telling us and what should change as a result.

You keep learning.
You are open to feedback, new technology and better ways of working.
“This is how we’ve always done it” is rarely your final answer.

Essential Requirements

We are looking for someone who can demonstrate:

• Experience leading or managing programmes, services or community-facing work from planning through delivery, evaluation and improvement.
• Hands-on experience in volunteer management or community mobilisation, with the ability to personally lead a volunteer portfolio covering recruitment, engagement, deployment, development and retention.
• Experience supervising, coaching or developing staff and building reliable team delivery.
• Strong stakeholder and partnership-management capability.
• Sound understanding of volunteer governance, confidentiality, safeguarding and appropriate boundaries.
• Strong programme, project and operational management capability.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and budgets responsibly.
• Data literacy, including the ability to interpret trends and turn findings into recommendations.
• Confidence learning and using digital and AI-enabled tools responsibly.
• Clear communication, sound judgement and sensitivity when working with people from different backgrounds.

Good to Have

• Experience in the non-profit, healthcare, community or social service sector.
• Experience developing survivorship, psychosocial-support, referral or beneficiary-service pathways.
• Experience designing or scaling a volunteer-management framework.
• Experience with CRM, beneficiary or volunteer databases, dashboards or programme-evaluation tools.
• Experience developing staff or volunteers into greater leadership responsibilities.
• A relevant Diploma, Degree or equivalent practical/professional experience.

Why Join Us

This is a role with immediate responsibility and room to grow.

Today, you will lead the P&S team while personally helming Volunteer Management and staying close to the programmes and people BCF exists to serve.

As BCF develops, the team and systems around the role may also grow. A strong Manager should therefore be able to move from doing and leading, to increasingly building capability, delegating and leading through others.

For someone who performs strongly, demonstrates the right leadership capability and grows with the organisation, there may be opportunities to take on broader leadership responsibilities over time, depending on BCF’s future needs and organisational structure.

If your idea of management is not simply attending more meetings but building something that can become stronger than you found it, we would like to hear from you.

Our Approach to Hiring

BCF is committed to fair and merit-based recruitment. We assess applicants based on the skills, experience, capabilities and job-related behaviours relevant to the role and welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds who can contribute to our mission.