Deputy Director, UK Funding / Dirprwy Gyfarwyddwr, Ariannu'r DU

The National Lottery Community Fund; Camden Town; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A national funding organization is seeking a proactive leader for the Deputy Director role to oversee a grant-making portfolio of over £110 million annually. This position focuses on responsible fund management and transformative community impact. The ideal candidate will have significant funding experience, strong relationship management skills, and a commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion in their work.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in various funding products, from identification of need to award.
• Strong relationship-management skills with internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience in influencing and negotiating with senior stakeholders.
• Proven leadership abilities to communicate purpose effectively.
• Experience in maintaining high quality and consistent standards in operational delivery.
• Experience embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into work.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the UK-wide grant-making portfolio with accountability for over £110 million in funding.
• Set vision and ensure responsible use of public funds.
• Collaborate to design community-led solutions aligned with funding ambitions.
• Develop relationships with senior-level stakeholders and management teams.
• Provide leadership and foster collaboration within teams.

Skills

Funding knowledge

Relationship management

Influencing skills

People leadership

Operational delivery

Equity, diversity, and inclusion

Job description

Overview

We are seeking a proactive and purposeful leader for the role of Deputy Director, UK Funding. This role is responsible for setting the vision and overseeing delivery for our UK-wide grant-making portfolio, providing larger funding to organisations looking to scale impact and shift systems, benefitting communities across the UK. The postholder will have accountability for over £110 million in grant funding annually and will play a central role in ensuring public money is used responsibly, strategically, and with transformative impact. You will be part of the Funding Strategy, Innovation and UK directorate leadership team, contributing to how we design and deliver bold, community-led solutions to meet the challenges of our time, aligned with our equity-focused funding ambitions.

Please note: content-related notes and issues with external postings are outside the scope of this description and not required in the duties and qualifications.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for UK Funding, overseeing the UK-wide grant-making portfolio with accountability for over £110 million in grant funding annually.
• Set the vision and oversee delivery to ensure responsible use of public funds, strategic investing, and transformative impact on communities.
• Contribute to the Funding Strategy, Innovation and UK directorate leadership team; collaborate to design and deliver bold, community-led solutions aligned with equity-focused funding ambitions.
• Represent the Fund and develop excellent relationships with senior-level external stakeholders, while building constructive relationships with senior-level colleagues across the Senior Management Team and all Directorates.
• Provide clear leadership to the brief, foster collaboration, and develop teams with a people-first approach to delivery and impact.

Qualifications

• Significant experience of specific funding knowledge across a broad range of funding products, from identification of need through to award and learning.
• Demonstrable experience of relationship-management both internally and externally.
• Influencing and negotiating skills to develop and enhance relationships with senior stakeholders across sectors, and experience working with non-executive Boards and Committees.
• Proven people leadership with an ability to communicate purpose and direction, enabling and developing teams.
• Operational delivery experience—maintaining high quality and consistent standards across teams, budget, financial controls, and external partnerships.
• Experience of embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) into all aspects of work.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of identifying and building significant, multi-stakeholder partnerships.
• Experience of working in a UK-wide context.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

National Lottery funding is for everyone. We are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and strive to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed. Our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. We welcome applications from people from diverse backgrounds, including ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities or long-standing health conditions, people who are LGBTQ+, and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as well as people of all ages. We are a Disability Confident Employer and will make reasonable adjustments, if needed, throughout the recruitment process and during employment.