Executive Head of Planning, Performance & Governance (Maternity Cover)

Job Summary

Salary: £70,000 per annum (full-time equivalent)

We are sector leading with our heritage, connections, and relationships. Our friends are superbly connected and ready to use their networks to help us. With a talented, hard-working team, we deliver amazing, creative and innovative fundraising that has a huge capacity to inspire people. We’re now looking for an Executive Head of Planning, Performance and Governance as a maternity cover role until early November 2027.  This is an opportunity to put the structures and frameworks in place that will drive our long-term income growth and global reach and help War Child transform the lives of children affected by conflict. The ideal candidate will be a strategic thinker who has a strong understanding of fundraising and marketing. You are a natural collaborator, who combines commercial acumen with a superb relationship-led approach to drive lasting, meaningful impact.

Hybrid working: This role is based on a hybrid working arrangement, with an expectation of around two days per week in our London office. There is flexibility regarding which days these are, depending on business and team needs. 

Your Role

The Executive Head of Planning, Performance and Governance provides organisation-wide leadership for strategic planning, performance management, governance and in turn sustainable income growth. The role turns War Child UK’s strategic ambitions into clear, prioritised plans, strengthens decision-making through high-quality insight and ensures that resources are focused on the opportunities with the greatest potential to increase impact for children affected by conflict. Working across directorates and with senior leaders, the postholder will identify complex performance and growth challenges, develop practical and innovative solutions, and create the conditions for accountable, collaborative delivery. The role has significant accountability and influence linked to long-term impact on organisational performance, sustainability and the delivery of War Child UK’s strategic ambitions. The role also supports credible engagement with trustees, partners, supporters and other external stakeholders.

Your Responsibilities

 Strategic Leadership

• Lead the organisation-wide strategic and operational planning cycle, translating long-term strategic priorities into clear objectives, outcomes, milestones and resource requirements.
• Work closely with Directors to inform and shape the five year  strategy, identifying and prioritising opportunities that drive sustainable income, reach and impact.
• Facilitate organisational prioritisation and strategic decision-making, ensuring alignment with organisational objectives, values, capacity and risk appetite.
• Ensure diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging are embedded within strategic planning and leadership practices.
• Create and maintain a culture committed to safeguarding, ethical practice and organisational values.
• Work closely with the CEO and Chair of the Board to ensure the governance agenda and board activities are aligned with the organisation’s strategic goals.
• Lead the organisation’s governance framework, ensuring effective governance, accountability and transparency across War Child UK.
• Advise the CEO, Leadership Group and Board on governance matters, organisational performance and emerging strategic risks.

 
Supporting Income Growth and Relationship Management

• Identify, assess and evaluate opportunities for sustainable organisational growth and income generation.
• Lead on the ‘elevating’ effectiveness and ‘measure what matters’ strategic intents in the five year strategy, paying particular focus to prioritising and implementing initiatives that will have the biggest impact of delivering our goals
• Lead the thinking and practice on developing business cases, forecasts and plans – partnering with fundraising, finance, programmes, people, communications and other teams.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with internal stakeholders, trustees, supporters and external partners.
• Communicate strategic priorities, growth opportunities and organisational performance in a clear and engaging manner – actively guiding the Leadership Group through key choices and priorities
• Foster shared ownership and commitment to organisational goals and outcomes.

Team Leadership & Management

• Lead and develop a multi-disciplinary function comprising Planning, Performance and Governance, providing strategic direction and effective management through direct reports and across specialist teams.
• Set clear expectations, objectives and performance standards for team members.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive and high-performing team culture, especially in a team that involves a number of cross-organisational disciplines
• Build organisational capability through coaching, development and knowledge sharing.
• Hold accountability for the effective management of the function’s budget and resources, making decisions on allocation and prioritisation in line with organisational strategy and agreed financial parameters.

 
Collaboration and Influence

• Work collaboratively across directorates to align plans, priorities and resources.
• Influence senior leaders, trustees and stakeholders through evidence-based recommendations.
• Constructively challenge assumptions and support informed decision-making.
• Communicate complex strategic, financial and performance information to a range of audiences.
• Build consensus and strengthen cross-organisational accountability for delivery.

 
Performance, Evaluation and Reporting

• Own and continuously improve the strategic performance management framework and reporting.
• Oversee the monitoring and evaluation of  financial and non-financial performance measures.
• Provide timely analysis, insights and recommendations to the Executive Team and Board of Trustees.
• Identify emerging risks, dependencies, opportunities and performance challenges.
• Track the benefits and outcomes of strategic initiatives, ensuring corrective action is taken where required.
• Use data, insight and evidence to drive continuous improvement and organisational effectiveness.

These duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the role.

You Are

• A strategic leader, able to translate organisational ambition into focused, deliverable plans and measurable outcomes.
• An experienced fundraiser – who understands the sector landscape and UK giving market, with informed practice ideally in a marketing discipline to support your understanding of the role.
• Commercially and financially astute, with the ability to evaluate opportunities, develop robust business cases and balance growth, impact, affordability and risk.
• Experienced in performance management, organisational planning, data interpretation and using insight to improve decision-making and delivery.
• Confident in exercising sound judgement and making recommendations where information is complex, incomplete or contested, taking accountability for the quality of advice provided.
• A collaborative and relationship-focused leader, with the credibility to influence senior colleagues, trustees and external stakeholders, while providing constructive challenge.
• An effective communicator, able to present complex strategic, financial and performance information clearly to a range of audiences, both verbally and in writing.
• Experienced in leading and developing people, building capability and creating an inclusive environment where individuals can perform at their best.
• Knowledgeable in governance, risk management, project management, accountability and the ethical stewardship of organisational resources and information.
• Practical, curious and committed to continuous improvement, with the initiative to identify root causes, test solutions and embed sustainable change.
• Committed to War Child’s mission and values, including safeguarding, PSEAH, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
• Dedicated to maintaining your professional knowledge and continuing your personal and professional development.
• Professionally qualified in a relevant discipline, where this adds value to the role, or able to demonstrate equivalent expertise gained through experience and practice.

About Us

Our Values

• Bold: We use our passion and creativity to deliver high quality evidence-based work designed to maximise our beneficial impact for children in conflict.
• Accountable to children: Children can rely on us to respond to their voices and to treat them with respect and dignity.
• Anti-racism: Anti-racism is not merely a belief. It includes actions that we mainstream throughout our work to change and challenge policies and behaviours that perpetuate racism.
• Transparent: We expect to be held to account by our supporters and participants and we respond with openness and honesty.
• Supportive of each other: We support each other to achieve ambitious goals and be the best we can be. We are honest and open, sharing our successes & confronting our challenges.

Our Benefits

• Flexible working - we recognise the considerable benefits that flexible working can bring and are happy to discuss any possible flexible working options with our employees from hiring. For most roles, the following types of flexibility are usually possible: flexible hours, occasional working from home and compressed hours.
• Annual leave – 28 days per year (full-time) rising to 33 days with service, plus bank holidays
• Pension - all eligible employees automatically enrolled into a Group Personal Pension Plan with a 5% employer contribution, with minimum employee contribution on a salary sacrifice basis. This increases to 6% after one year's service. 
• Family leave – we offer enhanced Maternity, Partner/Co-Parent/Paternity Leave, Adoption & Shared Parental Leave
• Health & wellbeing - employees may take advantage of a healthcare cash plan and a range of wellbeing initiatives and training. In addition, all employees have access to free, confidential one-to-one wellbeing consultations with trained counsellors.
• Learning & development - dedicated to the investment in learning and continuing professional development for all our employees
• Workplace Nursery Benefit – employees make tax and NI savings on nursery costs for children up to the age of 5
• Flexible public holidays - up to two standard UK public holidays can be exchanged for those that have cultural or religious significance. 
  
• Cancer Cover: Voluntary contributions can be made through payroll allowing employees to claim back on a range of cancer treatments.
• GP 24/7 Helpline: A GP helpline is be available to all UK employees providing access to a qualified GP, 24/7 via a telephone or webcam consultation, and offers diagnosis, advice and reassurance on a range of medical matters, as well as authorisation of private electronic prescriptions.
• Welcome Bag for new starters: A War Child Tote bag, War Child T-shirt and some other practical things to welcome new colleagues to War Child.
• Discounts on War Child Merchandise: 25% discount on full price War Child merchandise, available to all employees, sold through Everpress. 
• Range of flexible benefits such a Cycle to Work scheme and season ticket loans.

Flexible Working

We positively support flexible working arrangements. These currently include: office working, homeworking, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexi-time, flexi-place (hybrid working) and job shares. We would be happy to discuss individual flexible working requests during the interview process.

How to Apply

• To apply, simply submit an application through our Current Vacancies page and attach a copy of your CV.
• On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their application as early as possible.
• If you have any questions about reasonable adjustments before or during your application, we welcome the opportunity to talk about what we can do to fairly adapt our process for you. Please share what you’re comfortable with to help us put the right support in place, by emailing careers@warchild.org.uk. Anything you tell us will be kept completely confidential by our HR team.
• We are unable to provide sponsorship for this post. In order to apply, you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in the country where this role is based.

Safeguarding

Our work with children and at-risk adults to ensure their safety is our top priority. We are committed to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in all aspects of our work. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any behavior or practices that put children and/or vulnerable adults at risk of abuse or harm.

Successful applicants will be required to comply with and sign our Safeguarding Policy, Code of Conduct, and PSEAH Policy. You can find the Safeguarding and Integrity policies here:
https://warchild.sharepoint.com/sites/Integrity

Diversity and Inclusion

We value diversity and inclusion and are committed to ensuring that all our people and job applicants are treated fairly, irrespective of where, what or whom they were born, or of other characteristics. We want to offer a safe and inclusive workplace where all our people, especially those who are currently marginalised or underrepresented, can be themselves at work. You can read our Diversity and Inclusion policy on our website, and if you have any questions about our commitment to diversity and inclusion do get in touch: https://www.warchild.org.uk/our-work/policies-and-reports/diversity-and-inclusion

Pre-employment Checks

Employment with War Child will be subject to the following checks prior to your start date:

• a satisfactory police record check to include a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and/or an International/National Criminal Record Check
• a clear vetting and Due Diligence check
• receipt of two professional satisfactory references