Associate Director Investment

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have an exciting opportunity for an Associate Director Investment to lead the work to design, set up, implement and steer a new mission-aligned investment approach that delivers both meaningful impact and financial returns, while cultivating an ecosystem of aligned investors, funders, and partners. JRF's mission is to support and speed up the transition to a more equitable and just future, free from poverty, where people and planet can flourish. Its primary objective is to invest JRF capital in service of this mission.

The role will focus on ensuring a mission lens is applied first in exploring new investment opportunities, driving investment decisions and underpinning investment strategy, reallocating JRF's capital from market-first to impact-first investments aligned with its mission. The successful candidate will be responsible for supporting the JRF Executive team, Trustees and sub-committees to monitor and manage the charity's financial assets to ensure the long-term success of its mission by balancing the commitment to mission-aligned investments with the need for liquidity in the endowment, including honouring long-term financial commitments to programmes, workers and JRF's subsidiary, the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT).

This new strategy will require a careful, wholesale reorganisation of JRF's investment approach: the mindset and decision-making of individuals responsible for JRF's investments; its investment policies, practices and committees; its advisory and fund management partners; and its role as a wealth holder in the wider ecosystem.

We would like our Associate Director Investment to have deep understanding of alternative finance, social impact, and mission-driven capital with a profound commitment to JRF's mission and principles alongside social, economic, and environmental justice. You will have demonstrable experience and understanding of a financial or investment context, including access to a network of support and an understanding of financial markets, asset classes, macroeconomic and geopolitical considerations and how these impact portfolio values.

You will be a powerful and skilled communicator, able to influence across a broad range of professions and bridge between technical and accessible language alongside building and nurturing relationships with diverse stakeholders. With experience of designing and setting up ambitious programmes involving multiple stakeholders and/or in complex environments, you will be able to challenge conventional financial models and propose innovative approaches, novel policies and practices that go against the grain of a traditional approach alongside a solid appreciation of the need for financial returns.

A bold and visionary thinker, unafraid to challenge norms and push boundaries, you will be a connector, able to bridge finance, activism, and policy and a leader who inspires trust, collaboration, and action, demonstrating a positive approach to developing self and others and works towards creating a learning organisation.

If you share our passion and this role sounds like you, then we’re looking forward to hearing from you. Please submit your CV and supporting information via our online application platform. The closing date for applications is Monday 14th April. Interviews will take place in early May. We reserve the right to bring the closing date forward should enough quality applications be received prior to the current closing date.

Applications are welcome from all, regardless of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, race, sex, sexual orientation, trans status or socioeconomic background. We positively encourage applications from people from marginalised backgrounds, including but not limited to those with experience of living in poverty. We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and operate an anonymised recruitment process so that bias is eliminated from the shortlisting process.

In support of our approach to flexible working, we are happy to receive applications from those seeking full-time employment, as well as those who may want to share the role on a part-time basis. When making your application, please state whether you want to be considered for either full or part-time work and, if part-time, the number of hours per week you would be looking for.

At JRF we’re at our best when we’re continually building on trust, showing we care and making a difference and hope others will do the same. So, for those roles which allow it, we’re developing a more blended approach to how and where you work. This means you can expect to work flexibly between the office and home (with an expectation of two days a week in your home office).

We are a Disability Confident Employer. This means that we are committed to the recruitment, progression and retention of disabled individuals. We shall also offer interviews to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the job. If you have a disability, please tell us if you would like to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme. If you have any additional needs and need reasonable adjustments to be made to the interview process, please let us know.