Director jobs in United Kingdom

We are seeking a Chair with small charity board experience to guide our transition to a charity, strengthen governance, and ensure voices of women and our team are heard as we continue to provide compassionate support to women impacted by trauma, substance use, sex working and exploitation.

What difference will you make?

This role will play a vital part in shaping the next chapter of Pearls Project. As we move towards becoming an independent charity, the Chair or Co-Chairs will guide us in strengthening our governance, developing our strategy for growth, and ensuring we remain rooted in our values of compassion, connection, and trust.

The Chair or Co-Chairs will help create a culture of reflection and learning within the Board by asking great questions, encouraging curiosity, and facilitating space for open discussion, feedback, and shared insight. By modelling reflective and relational leadership, they will support trustees to think deeply, listen well, and approach decisions with care and confidence.

This culture at Board level will be central to shaping how Pearls grows, influencing not only our governance but also the way our teams and volunteers work together. By fostering an environment of compassion, curiosity, and collaboration among trustees, the Chair or Co-Chairs will help embed these same qualities across the whole organisation.

It will also strengthen our work with women, ensuring that our culture of compassion and curiosity runs through every conversation, decision, and interaction. When our leadership and governance reflect these values, they naturally shape the way we show up in the community with empathy and listening and a willingness to do things differently when needed.

Through this role, the Chair or Co-Chairs will help establish the conditions for Pearls to grow with integrity, creating a charity that not only does good work but does it in ways that embody its values at every level.

• Contribute actively to the Board’s work, helping to shape the charity’s strategy and development in line with our values and objectives.
• Ensure the charity operates within its legal, financial, and regulatory responsibilities.
• Provide oversight and constructive challenge to ensure Pearls remains effective, ethical, and sustainable.
• Promote good governance and values‑led, trauma‑informed decision‑making.
• Support and advise the founding director and staff team with insight, encouragement, and healthy challenge.
• Champion equality, inclusion, and safety across all areas of our work.
• Act as ambassadors for Pearls, championing us through raising awareness of the charity, advocating for us and supporting opportunities for collaboration, partnerships and fundraising.
• Participate fully in Board meetings and subgroups, preparing in advance by reviewing papers and contributing to discussion.

We are looking for Trustees who believe in what we are doing now and are committed to helping Pearls grow into what we recognise through our work is needed in the future.

We are seeking people who share our values and approach to leadership.

• Lead with compassion, showing care, empathy, and respect in their decision‑making and governance.
• Communicate openly and with reflection and curiosity, creating space for different ideas, perspectives, and ways of working.
• Work collaboratively with women we support, fellow trustees, staff, volunteers, partners, and others involved with Pearls.
• Understand relational approaches, recognising that meaningful change often happens through connection and consistency, even when our ways of working do not follow traditional models.
• Are open to growth and change, embracing the evolution of the charity as we continue listening and responding to the needs and aspirations of the women we work with.
• Bring strategic thinking and awareness of the systems we work within, helping Pearls navigate complexity while staying rooted in our purpose and values.

The Chair will help create a positive and inclusive culture, facilitate open discussion, and ensure the Board works effectively together to support the staff and volunteers leading Pearls’ day‑to‑day work. We would love to explore a Co‑Chair model that reflects our collaborative and relational approach to leadership.

You do not need to bring all of the following skills or experience. We aim to build a balanced Board that brings diverse thinking, expertise, and lived experience. Over time, we want to create a team of Trustees who learn from each other and bring a range of perspectives that strengthen Pearls’ work.

We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds. You may have professional, lived experience in one or more of the following areas:

• Trustee board experience
• Finance, financial strategy, fundraising
• HR, people/team development
• Trauma‑informed practice, health and wellbeing
• Safeguarding
• Experience/leadership in charity, voluntary, health, or social care sectors

Pearls Project is entering an exciting and defining phase. After operating successfully for over a decade under the umbrella of other charities, we are now becoming an independent organisation with our own Board of Trustees. This next step will focus our governance, strengthen our identity, and build the resources needed to deepen our impact and sustainability.

Our new Board is being brought together, and we hope it will include people with a mix of lived, professional, and community experience who share a belief in trauma‑informed and relational approaches. Together, this team will help shape the culture, direction, and future strategy for growth as Pearls Project becomes a charity.

We are seeking a Chair or Co‑Chairs with board experience within a small charity who can help guide Pearls through this next chapter. The role involves leading and facilitating the work of the Board, supporting the founding director, and shaping a clear, shared vision for our future. It also includes ensuring effective governance, supporting new trustees, and embedding ways for the voices of the Pearls community – the women we support, our volunteers, staff, and partners – to be heard within strategy and decision‑making.

We are keen to explore and pursue, with the right candidates and Board make‑up, a Co‑Chair model that reflects our collaborative, shared approach to leadership.

You will work alongside others who are committed to us growing compassionate and relational ways of working and taking brave steps to support women more effectively, even when this means doing things differently to the norm. Together, we will steer Pearls towards a sustainable, values‑led future that keeps compassion, connection, and hope at its heart.

Seniority level: Not Applicable

Job function: Business Development and Sales

Industries: Civic and Social Organizations