Head of Strategy - Diocese in Europe

The Diocese in Europe is looking for a strategic leader to develop plans that will grow the scale, impact and depth of the work of the Church of England across the diocese. The post will be filled by someone with a heart and a motivation to work for the church in a unique international context and with the ability both to work alone and with a range of colleagues and stakeholders. The Diocese in large in geographical scale and scope but limited in numbers of staff and resources. The postholder will be confident of their ability to function under such circumstances.

The Diocese in Europe is the Church of England’s largest diocese. It covers continental Europe, Russia, Turkey, Morocco. With over 250 congregations in 140 chaplaincies across more than 30 jurisdictions, the diocese serves a diverse and dynamic Anglican community, offering worship, pastoral care, and mission in a wide variety of cultural contexts. Guided by its strategy, Walking Together in Faith, the diocese is committed to sustainable growth, strengthening chaplaincies, and deepening its missional impact across in a complex and diverse international context. The next phase of the strategy will seek to equip its churches for long-term viability, foster innovation with new work and new locations, and enhance its witness and service across Europe.

This senior role will be central to shaping and developing the diocesan strategy across its strategic priorities. The postholder will work closely with senior leadership, clergy, and lay leaders to design strategic initiatives that equip the diocese for long-term growth and sustainability. They will play a key role in identifying challenges and opportunities, developing innovative approaches to ministry and mission, and ensuring resources are effectively aligned with the diocese’s vision.

The Role

The Head of Strategy will be responsible for managing the planning and development of the diocesan strategy and take a leading role in its delivery, working with the guidance of the Diocesan Secretary and collegiately with the Bishop’s Staff Team (BST) and other Heads of Department. The Head of Strategy will be a key member of the Bishop’s Strategy Group chaired by the Suffragan Bishop Andrew Norman. They will play a pivotal role in ensuring the successful development and implementation of the Diocesan strategy. The Head of Strategy will work closely with the Vision and Strategy division of the Church of England to deliver funding proposals that are vital to the delivery of the strategy.

Skills and Experience

• Strategic Planning and Development
• Engaging with the life of the diocese, bringing insight, innovation and creativity to transform the life and mission of the Church of England across Europe.
• Developing strategic planning identified as arising out of the Diocese in Europe strategic vision.
• Lead in facilitating and co-ordinating the development of the diocese’s strategic plan and its key strategic workstreams, working closely with senior clergy and lay leaders across the diocese.
• Strong analytical abilities, able to assimilate and analyse quantitative and qualitative information quickly, confident in using data and insight, identifying issues and priorities.
• Lead in income generation, writing funding agreements and delivering funding proposals of a high quality to secure investment to deliver the missional plans of the strategy.
• Guiding the senior team to define and implement any strategic change that may be needed to ensure the successful adoption and delivery of the strategy.
• Drive the activity to produce a clear definition of the programmes and projects necessary to deliver the vision of the diocese.
• Taking the key themes and outputs, to enable planning and design of programmes, confirming what is to be delivered, alongside the appropriate lead.
• Ensure that the strategic ambition is aligned with the financial plans and propositions.
• Define the programme governance framework, including the approach to effective planning, monitoring and delivery of the desired outcomes.
• Lead on the development of strategic sustainability planning to ensure financial and operational resilience.
• Assure the quality of applications for any external funding.
• Supporting the Diocesan Secretary and the Diocesan Bishop in working through the diocesan governance and other structures to ensure that all stakeholders across the diocese are engaged appropriately with any plans.
• Ability to work with stakeholders across different regions and identify strategic areas of commonality for development.

Change Management & Communications

• Act as adviser to the Bishop’s Senior Staff and the leadership of the Diocesan Board of Finance helping to create a positive environment for new work whilst demonstrating an understanding of and sensitivity to the continuing work in progress across the chaplaincies and archdeaconries.
• Assess the influences, interests and attitudes of key stakeholders and align the communication and engagement plan accordingly.
• Supporting the Head of Communications with the design, development, delivery and management of communications.
• Manage day-to-day oversight of the strategy from planning through to delivery, proactively monitoring overall progress and ensuring individual projects and the overall programme deliver to the appropriate quality, time and budgets.
• Manage and resolve any risks and issues that arise, initiating corrective action as appropriate.
• Effective co-ordination of all projects and their interdependencies, both within and external to the programme.
• Identify constraints and work to overcome them with the key stakeholders involved.
• Manage third party contributions to the programme (partners and other agencies, consultants etc).
• Report progress of the strategy and programme to senior stakeholders at regular intervals, including tracking the delivery of outputs and outcomes.
• Liaising with National Church teams to bring insight from change programmes in other dioceses.
• Managing the programme budget, monitoring expenditure and costs against the outcomes to be realised as the programme progresses.

Person Specification

• A desire to serve the Church in the Diocese in Europe and passionate about enabling both spiritual and numerical growth.
• An understanding of the organisational structure, breadth and dynamics of the Church of England, and Diocese in Europe.
• Significant experience of working with a variety of senior stakeholders in complex organisations in an internal or external consultancy role.
• Demonstrated experience in strategic planning, including developing and aligning strategy with people and financial planning in complex organisations.
• Proven ability to lead and deliver new initiatives and large engagement programmes involving diverse stakeholders.
• Knowledge of programme and project management methodologies, including planning, risk management and delivery.
• Strong relationship management skills and the ability to build trust across teams and promote good practice.
• Excellent interpersonal and communications skills, both written and verbal with experience of tailoring to different audiences and present credibly to senior leadership teams.
• Strong leadership and influencing skills, with the ability to bring clarity and direction to complex situations and resolve or pre-empt problems.
• Skilled at balancing strategic thinking with attention to detail; comfortable moving between high-level planning and detailed execution.
• Able to acquire, assess and present data clearly to support decision-making.
• Comfortable with financial sustainability planning and experience in writing funding agreements and investment proposals.
• Highly pro-active, and resourceful, demonstrate resilience, energy, and a commitment to making a difference.
• Ability to meet tight deadlines, work under pressure, and operate effectively in ambiguous or evolving contexts.
• Willingness and flexibility to travel for chaplaincy visits and to work outside standard office hours, including occasional evening and weekends.
• A person who shares the values of the Diocese; while not necessarily Anglican, is a practising Christian.
• Educated to degree level or equivalent.
• Experience of setting up new structures and programmes of work within an organisation.
• Very good IT and presentation skills.
• Experience of data analysis and presentation.
• Programme and project management qualifications or extensive relevant experience of developing and managing programmes and projects in a complex environment.

Personal Qualities and Competencies

• Achievement Drive – A desire to meet or exceed standards, welcoming feedback, and continually seeking to improve.
• Relationships – The ability to understand the perspectives, feelings and concerns of others and initiate, build and maintain relationships in a mutually beneficial way.
• Persuasiveness – The ability to convince others of a view, conclusion, position etc. Communicating in an impactful way, tailored to one’s audience.
• Problem Solving – The ability to investigate and breakdown a problem or situation into its component parts, identifying implications and the key underlying issues and establish possible solutions.
• Independence – A demonstrated belief in one’s capability to select an appropriate approach to a situation.
• Adaptability – The ability to adapt one’s behavioural style or method of approach where necessary to achieve a goal.
• Teamworking – The willingness and ability to work co-operatively and collaboratively with others toward a shared goal, contributing actively to the team.

Reporting and Support

The role will suit a self-starter keen to generate strategy and work with a range of colleagues in other parts of the DBF, wider Diocese and National Church to make it happen. Reports directly to the Diocesan Secretary as part of the DBF senior leadership alongside the Heads of Communications, Finance, and Safeguarding.

Key relationships:

• Bishop’s Senior Staff including the Archdeacons
• Head of Communications
• Head of Finance
• Key Stakeholders
• The Trustees of the DBF (Bishop’s Council) and the Diocesan Synod
• Chaplaincies of the Diocese represented at their Archdeaconry Synods
• National Church funding bodies

Work Pattern and Conditions

The Diocesan Office is in Westminster and though the role may be hybrid the expectation is that the post will be based in London [2-3 days a week]. This is a senior role so time can vary each week based on deadlines and the task. The employer is the Diocese in Europe Board of Finance, a London based charity and limited company. Initial 3 year contract. Some travel may be expected to key events and synods or chaplaincies but the role is not based on extensive regular travel. Occasional weekend or evening working covered by the Time Off in Lieu Policy. The Bishop’s Office is in Brussels and some key meetings may be there. Languages are not a requirement but an ability to work comfortably in a variety of settings is helpful and some experience of travel will be helpful.

The Diocese in Europe is keen to encourage applications from Women and candidates from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, who are currently under-represented in senior positions in the Diocese.