Senior Manager

​Working for City Hall makes a difference to the lives of Londoners. Our staff are at the centre of long-term planning and development for our great city.
 

Communities & Skills

Collaborative, open, inclusive and fair - we work with and through partners to ensure Londoners can shape healthy, empowered and productive lives. Communities and Skills is led by Executive Director, Tunde Olayinka and is comprised of the following units: Civil Society & Sport, Communities & Social Policy, Group Public Health Unit, Skills and Employment and Health, Children and Young Londoners. 

About the team

The Civil Society and Sport unit is part of the community and skills directorate. Its activities support the delivery of three main mandates: Supporting and Inspiring young London, Celebrating London and Supporting Londoners to benefit from growth.

The mandate focused activity around supporting and investing young people includes our collaborative sports fund Go! London in partnership with London Marathon group and Sport England, our work with the violence reduction unit to use sport as a as a way of improving young people's life chances and all work with US sports brands such as the NBA and NFL as well as other UK based brands like the LTA. Our work within the Celebrating London mandate focuses on enabling volunteer good practice and ensuring that volunteering is inclusive and accessible to all.

About the role

The postholder will lead the Strategy and Partnerships sub-team within the Civil Society and Sport Unit. This role is a member of the Unit SLT and responsible for the sub-team responsible for Communications, Strategy Planning, Governance, Partnerships, and special projects.

The postholder will work in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, to retain and grow external partnership investment into the mayor's work in civil society and sport, the Supporting and Investing in Young London mandate and the Supporting Londoners to benefit from Growth mandate. The post holder will be accountable for overseeing governance, strategic planning and research as well as developing approaches to maximising external investment into the unit and the mandates from partners such as Sport England, London Marathon, VRU, NBA, NFL and LTA.

What your day will look like

The role is a varied one, involving both line management responsibility and working with internal and external stakeholders.

• Meeting with an external stakeholder to discuss how they could help support the Mayor's priorities and what the benefits could be to them of working in partnership
• Briefing Mayor’s Office on an ongoing priority piece of work
• Presenting at MDB sub-committee to provide a progress update
• Working with your Senior partnerships officer to shape communications asks of a Deputy Mayor
• Working with SLT colleagues within the unit to analyse potential partnership gaps and opportunities

Skills, knowledge and experience

To be considered for the role you must meet the following essential criteria and competencies:

• Managing and developing performance: Substantial experience of a senior management role which has included line management and leading a team, working in a collaborative and collegiate way to deliver against shared objectives.
• Organisational awareness: A strong understanding of the issues associated with working in a complex political environment and the ability to negotiate and broker consensus within an organisation, as well as externally.
• Stakeholder Focus: Experience of leading on large scale complex multi partner projects from development and initiation to operationalisation and delivery, working in a partnership environment.
• Strategic thinking: Experience in the field of collaborative funding, working with corporates in the corporate social responsibility sector and/or in business and public sector/charity partnerships  in the areas of sport and community related projects and programmes, and voluntary and community sector networks is highly desirable.
• Communicating and Influencing: Strong experience in the field of communications and engagement, including a good understanding of community engagement strategies, and managing reputation of high profile stakeholders.
• Planning and Organising: Critical thinking, analytical and written skills, experience of analysing data from multiple sources and demonstrable ability to utilise these to assess, interpret, and present ideas, data, and information.

The GLA Competency Framework Guidelines further detailing each competency and the different level indicators can be found here: GLA Competency Framework

How to apply

If you would like to apply for the role you will need to submit the following:

• Up to date CV
• Personal statement with a maximum of 1500 words. Please ensure you address how you demonstrate the essential criteria and competencies  outlined above in the advert.

Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement have a maximum file size of 1.5MB each and upload your Personal Statement to the ‘CV and Cover Letters’ section’ of the form, ensuring you address the technical requirements and competencies in your Personal Statement.

Word or PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images. Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement are saved with the job reference number as part of the naming convention (E.g., “CV – applicant name - 012345)

As part of GLA’s continuing commitment to be an inclusive and equal opportunity employer we will be removing personal identifiable information from CVs and Personal Statements that could cause discrimination. 

If you have questions about the role

If you wish to talk to someone about the role, the hiring manager Alice Wilcock would be happy to speak to you. Please contact them at alice.wilcock@london.gov.uk

If you have any questions about the recruitment process, contact the glaopdcrecruitment@tfl.gov.uk who support the GLA with recruitment.

Assessment process

Once you have submitted an application, your details will be reviewed by a panel.

If shortlisted, you’ll be invited to an interview/assessment.

The interview/assessment date is: 24-25 July 2025 (may be subject to change)

Equality, diversity and inclusion

London's diversity is its biggest asset, and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London's diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic candidates and disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We would welcome applications from candidates who are seeking part time work as this role is open to job share. 

Please note we are a Disability Confident Employer so for candidates who wish to be considered under the scheme and meet the essential criteria, they will automatically be invited to interview. Please note, should you require any adjustments through the process, we will accommodate as much as possible. Please contact the recruitment team for further information if required.

Benefits

GLA staff are hybrid working up to 3 days a week in our offices and remotely depending on their role. As part of this, you will need to split your time between home working and coming into the office.

In addition to a good salary package, you will be paid every four weeks, providing frequent salary payments. We also offer an attractive range of benefits including 30 days’ annual leave, interest free season ticket loan, interest free bicycle loan and a career average pension scheme.

Additional Information

Please note, all candidates will need to confirm that the information provided in this application form is true and correct. Should a candidate deliberately give false information, including the use of AI software, they understand that this would disqualify them from consideration.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record (DBS) check but some roles may require additional security screening. 

Find out which DBS check is right for your employee - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

More Support

If you have a disability which makes submitting an online application form difficult, please contact resourcingteam@london.gov.uk.

The GLA is proud to be a Level 2: Disability Confident employer. We are committed to becoming a more inclusive and accessible organisation, and creating a truly inclusive and accessible workplace and culture for our disabled staff. We have named Disability Equality as a key corporate priority within our EDI Strategy. We welcome and encourage applications from disabled applicants. Should you wish to opt into the scheme, please let us know during your application.

Please note all applications for this vacancy must be submitted via our online recruitment system. We do not accept CVs alone for this role. Please upload a personal statement with a maximum of 1500 words to the ‘Additional Documents’ section of the form, ensuring you address the following technical requirements and competencies in your personal statement. Word or PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images.
 
The GLA Competency Framework Guidelines further detailing each competency and the different level indicators can be found here: GLA competency framework.

GLA staff are hybrid working up to 3 days a week in our offices and remotely depending on their role. As part of this, you will need to split your time between home working and coming into the office.

London's diversity is its biggest asset, and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London's diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith, or disability. 

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic candidates and disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. We are a disability confident employer who guarantee an interview to any disabled candidate who meets all of the essential criteria.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We would welcome applications from candidates who are seeking part time work as this role is open to job share. 

In addition to a good salary package, we offer an attractive range of benefits including 30 days’ annual leave, interest free season ticket loan, interest free bicycle loan and a career average pension scheme.