Portfolio Officer x8

Join to apply for the Portfolio Officer x8 role at The National Lottery Community Fund in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Newtown.

Job Summary

Are you passionate and curious about creating change in communities across the UK? We are looking for eight people to join our UK Portfolio Team as Portfolio Officers. We have seven permanent roles available and one fixed term contract for 18 months. At The National Lottery Community Fund, we are driven by our strategy, ‘It starts with community’ and its four community-led missions, as well as our equity-based approach to tackling poverty, discrimination and disadvantage. The UK Portfolio supports the ambitions and potential of communities across the UK. We focus on scaling projects with a UK-wide benefit, through significant investments, which enable systems-level change for communities. Our funding is intended to complement the work of other country portfolios: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Portfolio Officers are at the core of what we do in the UK Portfolio and as we continue to develop in response to our strategy, we’re expanding our team. Our team is spread across the UK, and we are looking for people from a variety of locations within the UK. This is a time of optimistic change and growth as we deliver our ambitious new strategy.

Job Description

As a Portfolio Officer you will:

• Work closely with grant seekers to support them through our funding processes, assess their applications and write and present high quality assessment recommendations to our decision-making Panels.
• Manage grants using best practice, thematic expertise, and the experience of customers and stakeholders to improve our grant making and inform our decision making.
• Manage your own caseload, liaise with grant recipients, undertake project visits, identify, and manage risk and support organisations to deliver their projects and measure their impact.
• Ensure our grant management and assessment play an effective part in contributing to the Fund’s knowledge and learning as a grant maker.
• Use your critical thinking skills, curiosity, interest and understanding of our community-led mission areas to support and inform your approach to assessment and grant management.
• Be responsible for supporting people and communities across the UK, you will have a strong understanding of our vision, our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and our funding products.
• Work with stakeholders at different levels, represent the Fund at events, project visits and share learning from conversations, events, grant holder reports with the wider team so that we can maximise our impact.
• Work within the Fund’s policies and procedures and within the necessary legislation, in a way that is aligned with our values, visions and principles.
• At times, have opportunity to get involved in other work such as, helping to develop new funding products or contributing to cross Fund activities.
• Support the effective running of team meetings and be responsible for ensuring our data is accurate and of high quality.

You’ll be joining a dynamic and welcoming geographically dispersed team, working with impactful and fascinating projects that are responding to and addressing a wide range of topics across the Fund’s four community-led missions. We are looking for talented and proactive team players from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences who share our values and are passionate about making a difference through our funding. Whether through lived or gained experience you will really understand the communities we work with.

Whatever Your Background, The Role Would Suit People Who:

• are passionate about achieving social change and have a strong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
• have skills and experience in presentation and report writing and basic accounting and budget management.
• can apply their research, data gathering, insight and critical analysis skills to learn quickly about complex and nuanced issues.
• can synthesise complex information and present it to others in a clear and concise manner.
• can work flexibly at pace and to tight deadlines, using their initiative to manage their time working comfortably with competing priorities and deadlines.
• are adept at building and maintaining relationships with people from a range of backgrounds and job roles.
• are strong team players committed to sharing learning with their peers and the wider Fund to improve our processes and practices.
• are comfortable working with an online and geographically dispersed team.
• are comfortable learning and working with different systems and data.

You’ll report to one of our Portfolio Managers and work with other Portfolio Officers across different areas of the team. The role requires occasional (once a month) travel across the UK to observe and critically analyse the work of applicants and grant holders.

Interview Dates: 14-17 July and 22-23 July

Location: UK Wide - We have a hybrid approach to working. Work pattern and location will be agreed with the successful candidates. The role can be based at any of our UK offices: these are Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Newtown. Please note that only up to two of these roles can be based in London.

Person specification

On application, please align your supporting statement to the criteria below

Essential Criteria

• Communication skills: Excellent listening, written and verbal communication skills. Strong report writing skills to produce concise, written recommendations for assessment purposes to set deadlines, and with the ability to communicate complex ideas in an engaging and clear manner, tailored to different audiences.
• Analytical skills: Ability to absorb a wide range of information to make judgement-based decisions with confidence, offering challenge when appropriate and managing risk appropriately throughout the grant making lifecycle.
• Organisational skills: Ability to use your initiative and manage a complex caseload of assessments and grant management, dealing with competing priorities and deadlines and demonstrating strong organisation and prioritisation skills.
• Relational skills: Ability to build and nurture effective, collaborative relationships with colleagues, community organisations, customers and other external agencies. Commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and the ability to apply this throughout the grant making lifecycle.

Desirable criteria

• Sector insight: Knowledge and understanding of communities and the voluntary sector in the UK, and the ability to spot trends and identify opportunities for our programmes at least across one of our four community-led missions.
• Continuous improvement: Ability to identify opportunities for learning and improvement across the team by taking a proactive approach to problem-solving and continuous improvement.
• Data and finance: The ability to understand and assess data and financial information including business plans and accounts, and present this in a way that it can be accessible for others.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – therefore, we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we work hard to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed. We also believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. That’s why The National Lottery Community Fund is committed to being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. We recognise and celebrate the fact that our people come from diverse backgrounds. We positively welcome applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities or longstanding health conditions, people who are LGBTQ+, and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as well as people of all ages.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we take a proactive approach in making reasonable adjustments, if needed, throughout the recruitment process and during employment.

Alongside your salary of £25,000, The National Lottery Community Fund contributes £7,242 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Selection process details

Apply via The National Lottery Community Fund's Website. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact: Name: Recruitment Email: recruitment@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.