Head of Service Delivery

Role Purpose

The Head of Service Delivery will be responsible for overseeing the strategic alignment, development, and execution of all service functions. They will oversee the day to day delivery across our services, and ensure operational excellence, compliance and financial accuracy in all delivery systems. They will co-lead and support the Delivery Team, matrix-style with Head of Community and Impact, ensuring we build strong, trauma informed relationships with our clients and funders. In addition, this role will be driving improvements in our systems and processes, acting as a bridge between the complex financial and regulatory environments we work in and the practical values driven changemakers on the ground. As a key member of the leadership team, this role also contributes to the development of the organisation, while also modelling our values of collaboration, curiosity, creativity and courage.

ABOUT THE SOCIAL CHANGE NEST

At The Social Change Nest (SCN), we’re radically transforming the funding landscape and strengthening civil society. We remove the financial and administrative barriers – like bank accounts and legal structures – that often prevent communities, grassroots groups and informal movements from accessing funding and focusing on their core mission. We also work closely with funders, providing Grant Distribution and Fund Management services, enabling them to support social action with confidence and transparency.

We currently support over 700 groups across the UK and abroad addressing issues such as social injustice, climate, housing, wellbeing and animal rights. We are at the forefront of Fiscal Hosting in the UK and, since our inception in 2021, we have supported groups in securing over £23m in funding, helping them take advantage of opportunities that may have otherwise been unavailable.

The Social Change Nest is part of The Social Change Group. We are a Disability Confident Employer, and an accredited Living Wage Employer. In addition, we were listed as one of the top social enterprises in the UK in the SE100 for the last three years.

How We Work

You’ll be joining a close-knit team, supported and developed to be the best you can be. We believe that every member of our team brings a unique perspective from their experiences and abilities and we encourage everyone to be curious about how we can improve everything we do, from how we interact as a team to how we deliver for our clients and communities.

Underpinned by our values of collaboration, curiosity, courage, and creativity, we work closely and with care with our partners because we believe relationships are the glue that hold us all together.

We’re a growing business and operate at pace to keep up with the challenges that the sector faces. We have established a lot, but as we grow, we’re still working some things out. The right person will thrive in this environment and feel a level of ownership to support the build out of things we need as we need them.

The ideal candidate will enjoy working within a fast-paced and evolving organisation, and have a natural curiosity about how their role fits into the bigger picture. You’ll thrive on problem-solving and will feel comfortable handling multiple priorities at once, always seeking collaborative solutions. You’ll be adaptable and able to shift focus quickly when things change, ensuring strong communication across the team and with clients to keep everything aligned.

Key Responsibilities

Service Delivery Oversight – 50%

• Co-lead the long-term delivery strategy with focus on service implementation and improvement.
• Ensure services are aligned to our organisational strategy.
• Develop the service offer as it grows and build on learnings and feedback gained from clients, sector knowledge and emerging trends.
• Ensure smooth implementation and execution of all services by working with the team to ensure delivery against agreed objectives, outcomes, budgets and timelines.
• Lead on Relationship Management for financially complex clients relationships when required, e.g. where delivery is complex or bespoke.
• Resource management and budget management across the function.
• Support with the costing and measuring profitability of delivery of all products and services.
• Work with the Head of Innovation to test, operationalise and embed new products into the service delivery function.
• Support Head of Community & Impact with measurement of SCN’s social impact.

Systems/Process Leadership and Oversight – 10%

• Lead on the development and implementation of efficient and effective systems and processes that provide an excellent client experience.
• Oversee the development and continual improvement of systems for payments, reconciliations, reporting, and client support.
• Ensure financial processes carried out by the Delivery team meet compliance standards and are transparent to clients and funders.
• Ensure processes are efficient, consistent, and scalable while minimising risk.
• Drive digital innovation and automation in delivery systems, including optimisation of the use of our CRM system to support service delivery.
• Helping to set bespoke systems and processes for our more complex clients.

Team leadership and line management – 30%

• Member of SCN’s leadership team.
• Co-Lead the Delivery Team with the Head of Community and Impact, with a focus on effective and efficient service delivery and staff capacity.
• Line management of Grant Distribution and Grant Management relationship managers/leads.
• Create and nurture an environment of ongoing learning and curiosity and identify training and mentoring opportunities for team members.
• Ensure strong cross-organisational collaboration and knowledge-sharing.

Business Development and Comms – 10%

• Work with the CEO and Business Development Team, to land more complex client delivery, and hold some of these client relationships.
• To act as the spokesperson for Nest where needed.

Person Specification

Experience and Knowledge

We’re looking for someone who brings both hands-on delivery expertise and the ability to lead people, systems, and processes at scale. You’ll likely have:

• Proven experience leading service or programme delivery in a charity, social enterprise, or social impact organisation.
• A track record of managing compliance and governance in regulated environments (charity law, grant management, AML/KYC, safeguarding, or similar).
• Strong financial operations knowledge — comfortable overseeing reconciliations, multi-currency payments, audits, and grant/donor reporting.
• Leadership experience, including line management and team development, And experience of matrix-style management across functions (Finance, Innovation, Community & Impact).
• Experience of creating a positive, accountable culture, where you and your team are able to seek feedback, ask for help when needed, and contribute to collective leadership.
• Promotes cross-organisational knowledge-sharing and collaboration.
• Client and stakeholder management expertise, with the ability to build trusted relationships with funders, grassroots groups, and partners.
• Experience improving systems and processes for scale and efficiency, ideally including digital tools or platforms.
• The ability to apply a trauma-informed and culturally competent approach when working with partners and clients.

Desirable

• Experience in fiscal hosting, intermediary grantmaking, or fund management.
• Experience supporting unincorporated groups, activist networks, or grassroots movements.
• Exposure to international payments or grantmaking in high-risk contexts.
• Experience contributing to business development, fundraising, or partnership growth.

How to Apply

We strongly encourage applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds. We are committed to our staff representing the wide variety of backgrounds represented in the communities we work with. If you are concerned that you may not fit 100% of the job specification – please throw your hat in the ring. We never put formal education requirements on any role as we value lived experiences as highly as formal education and training qualifications.

Please send your CV and Cover Letter (up to one A4 page) to Careers4Change – see below