Strategic Relationship Manager in Bristol

We are the public body that looks after England's historic environment. We champion historic places, helping people understand, value and care for them. As our Strategic Relationship Manager, you will lead Historic England's (HE) strategic relationship with the English Heritage Trust (EHT), acting as the primary conduit between the two organisations. You will provide robust oversight of EHT's financial performance, administration of grants, governance, and compliance with the Property Licence and Operating Agreement (PLOA) governing management of the National Heritage Collection.

Through high-quality analysis, insight and constructive challenge, the role ensures that HE fulfils its stewardship responsibilities for the maintenance and conservation of the Collection, protects public value, and supports EHT to deliver sustainable, high-quality outcomes for the public. You will be responsible for communicating HE's relationship with EHT, including critical analysis, to high level stakeholders internally and externally including but not limited to Commission and DCMS.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership experience of strategic partnership development, ideally within the heritage and/or visitor economy sectors
• Robust understanding of monitoring organisational performance, including financial oversight, KPIs, risk and assurance frameworks
• Experience of charity accounting and governance
• Track record of influencing at senior level and managing complex external stakeholder relationships, including with Government
• Experience of preparing clear, concise briefing papers and reports for senior leaders, boards and external stakeholders

This is a full time, permanent position. The location of this role is National where we offer hybrid working, you will be based in one of our following offices and from home - Newcastle, York, Manchester, Birmingham, Swindon, Bristol, Portsmouth (Fort Cumberland) and Cambridge.

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive defined benefit pension scheme to which we make 28.97% employer contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having won the Gold Award from MIND for workplace wellbeing in seven consecutive years, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance. We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone.

We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can. We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Historic England wants all of our candidates to shine in the recruitment process. Please tell us what we can do to make sure you can show us your very best self.

At Historic England we use a hiring system called Applied. Applied is a behavioural science-backed recruitment platform that reduces bias, improves quality of hire and increases diversity. We do not use CV application for the majority of our hiring processes. You will answer a selection of questions that allow our hiring teams to test your skills and suitability for the role.

At Historic England, we value the expertise and individuality each candidate brings and want to hear about this in your own words. If you require the use of AI tools or other resources to support your application, we ask that all information is factually accurate, original, and reflects your own experience. To best represent yourself, we encourage you to write in your own words and use AI-generated content only as inspiration-not as direct input.

Provisional interview dates: 27th or 28th April 2026.