Grants Manager (Fixed Term, Maternity Cover)

Organisation: The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland

Salary: Starting salary between £46,634 - £47,800 (offer based on experience) with future salary progression up to £51,979 per annum

Location: Edinburgh

Use your skills and experience to save endangered species from extinction and improve people’s lives through closer connections with nature. Join our small but highly successful fundraising team based in the heart of Edinburgh Zoo and you’ll have an amazing opportunity to make an impact on conservation in Scotland and around the world!

Who we are:

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) is a wildlife conservation charity with a bold vision: a world where nature is protected, valued and loved. Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park are our gateways to the natural world through which people can experience nature and learn how to protect it.

Our 2030 strategy includes three ambitious pledges:

• to reverse the decline of 50 species;
• to create deeper connections with nature for more than one million people;
• to enable more than 100 communities to better connect with nature.

The importance of your role:

Grant funding is vital to the delivery of RZSS’s ambitious strategy and the Grants Manager is a senior role in our small fundraising team. Working with the Head of Fundraising and colleagues across RZSS, the post-holder will generate high value grants to support a wide range of inspiring and innovative projects to care for endangered animals in Scotland and conserve them in the wild, whilst also helping diverse communities to realise the benefits of being close to nature.

This hugely varied role will include responsibility for managing relationships with existing major funders, increasing the volume and success of proposals and applications, managing reports and grant claims as well as identifying new funders and avenues for income generation. The fundraising team are based in Edinburgh Zoo (albeit this role can be offered as a hybrid position). This is a fixed term, full time position, working 37.5 hours per week, covering for a period of maternity leave.

Some of the things you’ll do:

• Contribute to and support the implementation and delivery of the fundraising strategy and annual fundraising plans to meet agreed individual and team targets.
• Manage the RZSS grants programme to support our strategy and business plans, including identifying opportunities as well as setting and monitoring targets/budgets.
• Generate annual income in the range of £1m+ to support national and international conservation and engagement initiatives.
• Account manage and enhance relationships with current major funders and deliver first-class stewardship, including organising site visits and events.
• Work on exceptionally large or complex fundraising projects, including defining projects and writing compelling proposals.
• Build and maintain a pipeline of UK and global charitable trusts, foundations and major funders through ongoing research and horizon-scanning.
• Identify and deliver opportunities to promote RZSS as a world class visitor attraction and gateway to nature, and position RZSS amongst major funders as an international leader in conservation and science.

What you’ll bring to the role:

• Extensive knowledge of grants management and stewardship principles.
• Extensive experience from working in a busy fundraising environment, with a proven track record of generating five and six figure grants.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to write compelling and persuasive grant applications and reports.
• Ability to build and maintain effective relationships and communicate confidently with a range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience of researching and managing donor information, including managing trust records on a CRM database and building prospect lists.

What you’ll get in return:

• Starting salary between £46,634 – £47,800 (offer based on experience) with future salary progression up to £51,979 per annum.
• 34 days annual leave (per annum – will be prorated for the duration of the contract).
• Discount in both retail/catering.
• Access to a healthcare plan.
• Access to Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), that provides 24-hour counselling and support, including health, legal, finance, wellbeing and family advice.
• Employer contributory pension scheme.
• You will receive a staff membership which will give you (and family/friends) free (and discounted) entry to both the Highland Wildlife Park and Edinburgh Zoo as well as a number of other Zoos across the UK.

This role is subject to standard pre-employment checks, including the candidate’s right to work in the UK and Basic Disclosure check. The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland is an equal opportunities employer. Our policy is to recruit a diverse workforce following the guidelines of the Equality Act 2010.

Closing Date: Friday 21 November 2025

If you are currently engaged by RZSS (this includes seasonal staff who are currently undertaking work for us) please discuss with your current line manager prior to submitting your application.

Please see the role profile for further information about this post and essential/desirable criteria.

RZSS offers a range of amazing benefits which can be found at https://www.rzss.org.uk/about-rzss/staff-benefits/