Project Officer, Literacy Champions (Middlesbrough)

Key information
Closing date: 10am, Monday 8 September 2025
Salary: £26,000 per year
Contract: Fixed term for 18 months
Hours: Full-time, 35 hours per week
Location: Based in Middlesbrough as a home working role
Interviews: Online, Monday 15 September 2025
We empower people with the literacy skills they need to succeed in life. Together we\’re helping people change their stories. You could join us to support our work with volunteers across Middlesbrough.
What Youll Be Doing
Our Literacy Champions project identifies, trains and supports volunteers who work with us to design new and exciting ways to promote literacy in their community. We currently have over 1,000 Literacy Champions across the country.
We are looking for an enthusiastic and organised individual to support and coordinate our Literacy Champions programme in Middlesbrough, with a particular focus on reaching early years and primary school-aged children and their families. Working alongside our national communities team as well as our education and communications teams, you will develop new strategies for recruiting volunteers and mobilising key community partnerships to increase our reach and build sustainability. You will also organise and deliver training events and maintain regular contact with volunteers, gather data, share learning and develop case studies to build an evidence base of impact.
You will be based in Middlesbrough, working from home with regular travel locally, as well as national travel when necessary. This will include coming to London three times per year for our regular staff days, as well as induction, and three team days per year that take place in other locations. All travel expenses will be covered.
What Were Looking For
You will be experienced in recruiting, training and supporting volunteers, and providing project support in a charity or educational context. You will have excellent knowledge of literacy issues, working with early years or schools settings and community-based organisations, coupled with experience of developing resources and training materials. You will need to live in, or within easy access of, the local area in which you will be working and have an excellent understanding of the community and its families.
Due to the nature of delivery, you will need a full clean driving license and access to your own vehicle. You will also need to be able to manage physical aspects of the role, including managing book stocks and other resources.
Why our work is so vital
Literacy changes everything.
It gives you the tools to get the most out of life, and the power to shape your future. Its the key to knowledge, confidence and inspiration. Its better results at school, and better jobs. If children grow up without the tools to communicate, without books to read or opportunities to write, its harder to get where you want to go.
The National Literacy Trust is an independent charity helping people overcome these challenges and change their life chances through the power of words reading, writing, speaking and listening. From first words, through school days to training, jobs and beyond.

• We work collaboratively in local communities, focusing our work in 20 areas of the UK that are facing the biggest challenges.
• We support schools, developing the most effective tools and techniques and providing resources and programmes to engage and inspire children.
• We campaign to make literacy a priority for politicians and decision-makers.
• We support vulnerable adults, people in the criminal justice system and young offenders institutions to build their literacy skills.

What we offer you
Our team are passionate about our mission and we have a strong and positive working culture, based on shared values and respect. We offer a range of flexible working options and promote a workplace where you can be yourself and contribute to our success, whoever you are.
As well as a competitive salary, we offer benefits including a generous leave allowance totalling 39 days (including bank holidays and office closure between Christmas and New Year), pension contributions of 8% of annual salary, a cycle to work scheme, employee assistance programme and other health and wellbeing benefits.
We support flexible working and promote a workplace where you can be yourself and contribute to our success, whoever you are.
Application details
Our people are our most important asset and we value and respect diversity in all its forms (seen and unseen). We particularly welcome applications from those from Black and Asian backgrounds, as well as candidates with disabilities and from the communities in which we work. We would like to increase representation of these groups among our staff as we know greater diversity will lead to an even greater impact for our work.
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