People & Volunteering Manager

The Brain Tumour Charity; Fleet; Hybrid; GBP 46,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading charity organization in the UK seeks a people-focused manager to enhance employee and volunteer experiences. The role involves designing recruitment, engagement strategies, and overseeing the volunteer management system. You will champion inclusive processes and support team leaders across the organization. Candidates should have HR management experience, ideally within a charity, and a passion for community engagement. Join us in our mission to accelerate a cure for brain tumours and improve lives.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Health and wellbeing initiatives

Employee engagement initiatives

Qualifications

• Experience of managing an HR function, ideally within a charity.
• Experience managing or developing volunteer programmes.
• Strong understanding of HR best practice and employment law.

Responsibilities

• Support managers with informal and formal people processes.
• Lead recruitment campaigns and write compelling adverts.
• Manage onboarding and ensure a positive experience.

Skills

People management

HR best practice

Volunteer management

Excellent communication

Analytical skills

Education

Experience in HR function

Experience managing volunteer programmes

Tools

HR management systems

MS Office

Job description

The Brain Tumour Charity is leading the way in research, support, and advocacy for everyone affected by brain tumours. Our mission is simple but urgent: to accelerate a cure for brain tumours and improve life for everyone affected by this devastating disease.

Our people and volunteers are at the heart of our mission. This role is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced, people-focused manager to shape and deliver both our employee and volunteer experience. You will lead on the design and delivery of our people processes, recruitment, and engagement initiatives, while also driving forward our volunteer strategy and ensuring a positive, consistent experience for our 400+ volunteers.

Working closely with team members across The Charity, you’ll bring expertise, energy and creativity to support, engage and inspire people to give their best – whether they are employed by the charity or volunteering their time and skills.

📍Location

While contracted to our office in Fleet, Hampshire, our team supports a blend of office and home working provided you have adequate broadband and IT capability, with an average of 2–3 days in the office each week.

⏰Working hours

This role is 37.5 hours per week, with some out of hours working.

💰Benchmarked salary

£46,500 – £48,000 (dependent on experience)

We’re looking for a people-focused and purpose-driven manager who will bring energy, empathy, and expertise to our employee and volunteer experience. You’ll be equally confident in advising managers and leaders on people matters and delivering operational processes, from recruitment to onboarding.

You’ll be able to navigate HR and volunteering processes with confidence, ensuring our people feel supported, valued, and equipped to perform at their best. And you’ll have experience of managing or developing volunteer programmes, with a passion for creating a positive, engaging and inclusive experience for everyone who chooses to give their time and skills to The Charity. Whilst we recognise candidates won’t necessarily hold equal strength in employee and volunteer management, the role holder will need experience working across these areas in this role.

You’ll be curious, digitally minded and comfortable using insight and feedback to drive improvements. But above all, you’ll be motivated by our vision to find a cure for brain tumours and will be inspired by how incredible people and volunteering practices can play a part in making this happen.

Managing people operations and advisory support

• Support managers with employee relations advice and guidance (informal and formal people processes), acting as a trusted expert on all people policy and process matters.
• Oversee the employee lifecycle from recruitment through to leaving The Charity, ensuring inclusive, legally compliant and engaging processes throughout each stage.
• Lead recruitment campaigns and talent attraction, writing compelling adverts and building a diverse talent pipeline.
• Manage onboarding and induction processes to ensure a positive first 100 days at The Charity.
• Oversee the communication and administration of policies, contracts, payroll changes, and compliance checks (Right to Work, DBS, references).
• Partner with People & Culture team members to plan and deliver initiatives relating to wellbeing, performance, reward and recognition, and EDI.
• Maintain accurate records on PeopleHR (our HR database) and Team Tailor (our Applicant Tracking System), ensuring compliance with employment law and GDPR.

Managing volunteering operations

• Lead the operational plan with respect to volunteering, ensuring volunteering supports departmental priorities. This will include acting as the central point of contact for volunteering operations, providing guidance, support and inspiration to teams and volunteers on volunteering policy and process.
• Oversee the recruitment, induction and training of volunteers, working with the People Operations Officer, Senior Learning Officer and People Administrator, developing digital and in‑person learning resources. This will include promoting volunteering opportunities internally and externally, ensuring clear and engaging communications.
• Develop recognition initiatives to ensure volunteers feel valued and connected, including campaigns such as Volunteers’ Week and Trustees’ Week, working alongside the Internal Communications Manager role.
• Support Volunteer Coordinators across teams with advice, training and problem‑solving to ensure a consistently excellent volunteer experience.
• Ensure volunteering activity is safe and aligned with safeguarding, risk and data protection standards through ensuring policies and procedures are up to date and compliant with legislation.
• Manage the volunteer management system (Volunteero) and use data and feedback to evaluate and improve the volunteer experience.

Supporting values-led best practice through our work

• Build strong collaborative relationships with team members across The Charity to maximise the contribution of both employees and volunteers.
• Champion our values of being bold, collaborative, innovative, and community first through all people and volunteer initiatives.
• Keep abreast of external best practice in HR and volunteering to ensure our approaches are inclusive and effective.
• Provide line management support to People and Culture team members where relevant, ensuring clarity of expectations and activities, and supporting their development and wellbeing.

Experience:

• Experience of managing an HR function, including managing recruitment and onboarding activities, ideally within a charity or not-for-profit organisation, or a values-led environment.
• Experience of advising managers and leaders on employee relations issues, and in advising on and/or leading formal investigations and other formal people processes.
• Experience of managing or developing volunteer programmes, or significant experience in volunteer coordination.
• Experience of supporting organisational change and resourcing plans.
• Experience of building relationships and influencing across diverse stakeholder groups, including senior leaders and external partners.
• Line management experience and a track record of developing others.
• Experience of reviewing people policies and procedures to seek continuous improvement.
• Experience of managing people-related suppliers, including HRIS suppliers, and suppliers of reward and well-being products and services.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Strong understanding of HR best practice and employment law, and the ability to translate this into clear and compliant advice in your role as a business partner.
• An understanding of volunteering procedures, risks, and safeguarding considerations, and the ability to translate this into clear and compliant advice.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage and inspire a wide range of audiences.
• Confident using HR and/or volunteer management systems, MS Office, and collaboration tools.
• Analytical and data‑driven, with the ability to evaluate and report on impact.
• Organised and adaptable, able to balance strategic priorities with hands‑on delivery.
• Empathetic, approachable, and collaborative, with a high level of emotional intelligence.
• Personally aligned to The Brain Tumour Charity’s values, with a passion for engaging and supporting people to make a difference.
• To coordinate and support volunteers within your team – managing volunteer tasks and day to day communication, providing training, support and guidance and fostering strong relationships to ensure a positive volunteer experience.

We are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in all aspects of our organisation. We particularly welcome applications from individuals belonging to minority ethnic groups, LGBTQ+ communities, people with disabilities, and other underrepresented communities. We strive to create a workplace that celebrates diversity and provides equal opportunities for all candidates and we encourage all individuals to apply even if they don’t meet all the criteria.

Whilst we'd love to have you on board, we want to be upfront as we’d hate to waste your time applying for a role where we can’t take you on. At the moment, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for any of our positions. We are currently seeking candidates who are already authorised to work in the UK without the need for sponsorship, who can remain on a permanent basis.

Please apply by clicking the red ‘join our team’ button, attaching your CV and a covering letter explaining why you want the role, what you would bring to the team and how your skillset and experience will enable us to make a real impact for those affected by brain tumours. We'd like to encourage you not to use AI to write your cover letter as we want to get to know you, the real you!

We are keen to ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive so if you’d find it beneficial to submit your application in a different format, please drop us a line at [e-mail].

Advert close date: 11th January 2026

Please be aware we are not open for queries from 20th December 2025 until 2nd January 2026.

First interview date and location: 20th January 2026 over Teams

Second interview date and location: 26th January 2026 at our office in Fleet

The post holder will also:

• Contribute to achieving the objectives of The Brain Tumour Charity.
• Live and breathe our values by being bold, collaborative and innovative, with a community‑first approach to everything you do.
• Undertake any additional and ad‑hoc tasks as required.
• Participate in team meetings and other meetings as required.
• Monitor and evaluate activities and provide written reports.
• Represent The Charity at external events in a professional manner.
• Work within an equal opportunities framework.
• Adhere to all The Charity’s policies, procedures and working.
• Ensure all records are held in compliance with GDPR, The Fundraising Regulator Code of Practice and The Brain Tumour Charity policies.

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