Programme Officer

Imagine being told that you, or someone you love, is losing their sight. In that moment, two profound questions demand urgent answers: Can this be stopped? How will I live my life? Currently, research into preventing and treating sight loss is chronically underfunded, receiving a mere 1.2% of publicly funded health research grants: people who are blind or vision impaired are three times more likely to experience loneliness and isolation than the general population. We find and fund the brilliant minds and bright ideas that put change in sight. Our researchers are at the forefront, making breakthroughs and discoveries that will prevent, treat and cure eye disease. The partnerships we build and initiatives we support are changing life for blind and vision impaired people. We are Fight for Sight: we won't stop until we: Save Sight. Change Lives.

The Programme Officer will play an integral role in the Impact team within the broader Directorate of Impact and External Affairs. This is a pivotal time for Fight for Sight as we begin to implement our Impact Framework enabling us to communicate the impact of our extensive portfolio of current and past funded research projects to our internal and external audiences. The role is diverse and varied, offering the successful candidate the opportunity to build their exposure to a complement of grant management activities across our research and social change funding programmes. They will be instrumental in the delivery of our grant funding processes, will work closely with our Grant Assessment Panels and key partners to ensure we achieve the exciting ambitions laid out in our Research Strategy. They will also be expected to track and contribute to capturing the Impact of our funding programmes.

Role Responsibilities

• Efficiently and effectively managing multiple annual grant award cycles taking responsibility for the grants review processes and Panel meetings.
• Ensuring that grant making processes are delivered in accordance with industry best practice.
• Assisting with post-award grant activities such as grants finances.
• Courteous and timely management of queries from applicants and other key stakeholders, such as Grants Assessment Panel members.
• Contributing to and developing process improvements where necessary to continue to evolve our programme.
• Assist with the preparation of papers to support our decision-making processes including supporting our Grants Assessment Panels by ensuring they have all relevant information and that the meetings run smoothly.
• Take responsibility for keeping accurate and up to date records ensuring that these are readily and clearly accessible, primarily through our Grants Management System and Monday.
• Be the first port of call for colleagues with queries related to our grants portfolio, including providing support on donor-queries and funding applications.
• Highlighting opportunities for stories of impact with communications colleagues.
• Supporting with the collection of impact-related measurements.
• Assist with ad hoc tasks as required for example providing information for briefing documents, the organisation and delivery of in person and online meetings and events, minuting etc.

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience

• Experience or understanding of the health, social science, biomedical science sector.
• An interest or understanding of the UK vision sector.
• Ability to analyse and succinctly communicate complex information drawing out key points.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to adapt to varying audiences.
• Ability to effectively prioritise and manage a varied workload.
• Proficient in the use of standard IT packages including Microsoft Office suite especially Microsoft Excel.

Personal qualities

• Team player with a flexible approach to delivering organisational priorities.
• Organised, able to manage multiple ongoing tasks.
• Good attention to detail.
• Open minded and willing to take on board new concepts.
• Capable and curious, able to learn new processes and suggest ongoing improvements.
• Credible able to represent the organisation externally.
• Approachable and able to build relationships and work collaboratively with key internal and external stakeholders.

Flexibility

The role description is a general outline of duties and responsibilities and may be amended as we grow. The post holder may be required to undertake other duties as may be reasonably required from time to time.

Employee benefits

We value our staff and volunteers and want to make sure that they are supported in their work. Other benefits we also offer are:

• A great team and a supportive culture
• Employer pension contributions matching up to 10%, and death in service cover
• Generous parental leave
• Flexible/hybrid working options
• Apprenticeships scheme, study leave and financial support for training & development
• Cycle to work scheme, eye test vouchers, and a staff loan scheme, access to an Employee Assistance Program
• An active Social Committee and staff events

Application & Interview process

Please submit your CV and a cover letter/ supporting statement of no more than two pages which evidences the specification and answers the following questions:

• Why are you interested in working at Fight for Sight?
• Why are you interested in this role?
• What experience will make you the ideal candidate for this role?

Closing date for applications: 9am Monday, 1st June 2026

Interview dates: To be confirmed, likely to be on w/c Monday 8th June 2026. Interview venue: At our London office (Aldgate), but if there is a high volume of suitable applicants there may be a preliminary online interview.

Accessibility

We believe in fostering an inclusive environment where all individuals, regardless of their abilities or circumstances, feel supported and valued. If you have any accessibility requirements or specific needs that you would like us to accommodate during the application process, please let us know.

If you are unfamiliar with MS Teams and would like to familiarise yourself with the platform before the interview, we are more than happy to arrange a tech run-through to ensure your comfort and confidence.

Equal opportunities, diversity & inclusion

Don't meet every single requirement? At Fight for Sight and Vision Foundation we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workforce, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every item in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles that we have.

We have an inclusive and accessible recruitment process, including any adjustments required to support people from diverse community groups.