Chief Executive Officer

Job purpose

To lead the work of Refugee Futures, working with its trustees, staff and volunteers, to implement its vision and promote an inclusive culture; To be responsible for the implementation of Refugee Futures’ strategy, management and administration of the organisation, including its income generation and finances; To work with the Trustee Board to review the strategy on a periodic basis, and fulfil its governance functions ensuring that it receives appropriate advice and information on all relevant matters; To promote Refugee Futures externally and grow its impact and influence; To develop and maintain productive and meaningful strategic and operational partnerships with other organisations working in Stockton-on-Tees.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Contribute to the on‑going development of Refugee Futures Vision, Mission & Values and Strategy working with trustees, staff, and volunteers; and implementation of the Strategy.
• Lead team of staff and volunteers, enabling them to have regular supervision and appraisals to facilitate their work and development, including through appropriate training.
• Embedding of an inclusive culture, internally and externally, with a commitment to listening to the voices of Refugees and Asylum Seekers.
• Oversee and manage Refugee Futures finances working as appropriate with the Chair, Trustee Finance Lead and Finance Administrator, including management accounts, audit preparation/financial reporting, to ensure that Refugee Futures remains financially healthy and complies with its legal obligations, Charity Commission requirements, and good practice.
• Lead and deliver Refugee Futures income generation activities, including building relationships with public sector commissioners, grant making trusts, donors and supporters, reporting on the use of funds given.
• Ensure organisational clarity on the impact we deliver and work with staff to maintain systems of monitoring and collecting data including recording outputs and outcomes so as to evidence this.
• Provide the Board of Trustees, and other stakeholders with timely, clear and comprehensive reports so they can monitor and evaluate Refugee Futures performance and governance.
• Develop and maintain productive and collaborative strategic and operational partnerships with other organisations, in all sectors, including our collaboration with Durham University.
• Develop and implement a communications strategy to promote Refugee Futures work externally developing links with a wide variety of stakeholders.
• Undertake other relevant duties as agreed with the Chair and the Board of Trustees.

Person Specification

Essential experience

• The ideal candidate will need to demonstrate that he or she is/has:
• Experience of leading teams of people, and promoting an inclusive culture.
• Experience of strategic planning and implementation working with a diverse Board of Trustees.
• Proven success in generating income from a variety of sources, including from trusts and foundations, as well as delivering and reporting on agreed outcomes and the evaluation of services.
• Management experience, including the management of staff, budgets, projects and volunteers.
• An aptitude for, and/or experience of, networking and communicating with a wide variety of stakeholders.
• Experience of working with partner organisations in the voluntary and other sectors.
• Understanding of, and commitment to supporting vulnerable people, particularly from within the voluntary sector.

Desirable experience

• Experience of being the leader of an organisation as Chief Executive or similar.
• Experience of managing contracted programmes of work, commissioned and funded by a public sector organisation.
• Experience of working with, and listening to the voices of, Refugees and Asylum Seekers.
• Experience of integrating research into setting direction, reflection and learning and evidencing impact.

Key Competencies

• A leader, effective manager and team builder who is dynamic, persuasive, and resilient to meet the demands of the role.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, enabling good relationships to be established and maintained with Trustees, colleagues, partners, and other stakeholders.
• An ability to embed and promote an inclusive culture for their organisation, and with partner organisations.
• A good level of written and spoken English.
• The ability to work creatively and flexibly in a diverse range of situations and with a wide variety of people and organisations.
• An ability to manage competing priorities and a challenging workload.
• Self‑motivated, used to working alone without the need for constant support/direction.
• An excellent role model, able to engender an environment of mutual trust and respect.
• An innovator and motivator, able to think creatively and effectively to solve problems.
• An effective team player, able to foster new partnerships, work collaboratively across boundaries and evoke high levels of commitment and performance from others.
• A persuasive speaker, capable of positively influencing a wide range of audiences.

How to apply

Please check our website for more information at https://refugeefutures.org/work-with-us. Please e‑mail your CV, our EDI form (found on our website above), and a covering letter setting out how you meet the requirements for the post to recruitment@refugeefutures.org by 9am Monday 9 March 2026. Interviews for the post are likely to be held on Wednesday 25 March 2026.