Chief Operating Officer

Guardian Jobs; Waterloo; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading charity as Chief Operating Officer to lead vital operations and strategic initiatives focused on reducing suicide across the UK. You will play a pivotal role in shaping CALM's vision and ensuring impactful service delivery, while fostering a collaborative and values-driven culture.

Qualifications

• Senior leadership experience across operations and finance.
• Strong track record of building effective teams.
• Experience in high-growth or mission-driven organizations.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery of CALM's strategy and oversee operations.
• Champion internal culture and employee experience.
• Ensure planning, budgeting, governance, and reporting across organization.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic Planning

Operational Excellence

Collaboration

Stakeholder Engagement

Job description

Join CALM as Chief Operating Officer and lead the strategic delivery of a bold, creative, and life-saving charity — turning vision into action and helping save lives across the UK.

Who We Are

We’re Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), a suicide prevention charity on a mission to reduce the devastating impact of suicide in the UK. Suicide is the single biggest killer of men under 50 and the cause of thousands of deaths every year. Each one affects around 135 people — family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, acquaintances and communities. That’s why we do what we do. We take a stand against suicide in the UK — loudly, boldly and with purpose. We run a life-saving helpline and webchat service offering free, confidential support to anyone struggling or in crisis. Our website is packed with tools, guides and resources to help people take action and find support.

We run powerful, award-winning campaigns to challenge stigma, spark conversations, and shift attitudes around mental health and suicide. We use everything from sport, music and comedy to social media and street art to reach people in unexpected places and get them talking.

From Project 84 to The Invisible Opponent and Missed Birthdays, our campaigns make headlines, drive awareness and change lives. Working with major brands and organisations, we’ve helped put suicide prevention on the national agenda, including the appointment of the UK’s first-ever Minister for Suicide Prevention.

CALM is powered by a passionate, creative and committed team. We fundraise, campaign, design, share stories, write code, organise events, build partnerships, and everything in between — all united by a shared goal: standing together against suicide.

We believe in hope, humour and human connection. We support each other, champion individuality, and work hard to make CALM a place where you can be yourself, grow, and make a real difference.

About The Role

As CALM’s Chief Operating Officer, you’ll play a critical role in leading the organisation to deliver on its bold mission to stand against suicide across the UK. Reporting to the CEO, this is a key leadership position that balances operational excellence with strategic delivery, ensuring CALM’s people, services and systems are set up to deliver maximum impact, today and in the future.

You Will

• Lead the delivery of our current two-year strategy and help shape the next phase of CALM’s long-term vision
• Oversee Operations, Finance, People, and Services – ensuring each area is high-performing, values-led and impactful
• Champion CALM’s internal culture and employee experience
• Ensure strong planning, budgeting, governance and reporting across the organisation
  
  

This role is a true partnership with the CEO, complementing their creative, campaign-led leadership with strategic clarity and operational rigour. You’ll bring confidence, calm, and collaboration to everything you do, helping CALM through ambitious growth while keeping our values, people and purpose at the centre.

Who We Are Looking For

We’re looking for a strategic and grounded leader; someone who can bring structure to ambition, turn vision into action, and guide CALM through complexity with clarity and care, all without losing the heart, humour and hope that define who we are.

You might come from a charity, commercial, or mixed-sector background. What matters most is that you know how to run an organisation with purpose, focus, and impact. That includes understanding how to operate within a charity’s governance framework and working confidently with a CEO, board and senior stakeholders.

You Will Bring

• Senior leadership experience across operations, people, finance, governance and/or delivery
• A strong track record of building effective teams, systems and processes that scale impact
• Experience in a high-growth or mission-driven organisation
• Confidence working with senior stakeholders, the board, and cross-functional teams
• A collaborative, values-led leadership style — calm under pressure and clear in decision-making
  
  

You’ll need to be strategic and hands-on, values-led and results-driven. Most of all, you’ll be passionate about CALM’s mission and culture, ready to help lead an organisation tackling urgent issues with creativity, energy and optimism.

Please click 'Apply on website’ to be redirected to the Peridot Partners website, where you can find full details of the job description and register your interest to apply.

Applications for this role close at 9 a.m. Monday 21st July.