Funding Officer (Welsh Essential)/ Swyddog Ariannu (Cymraeg yn hanfodol) in Cardiff

We are recruiting for a permanent Funding Officer to join our Funding team in Wales. The ability to communicate in Welsh fluently and confidently is essential for this role. You will join our friendly team and work alongside our colleagues in Wales and across the UK. Depending on your location and preference, you can work from home or a combination of home working and office working in our Newtown or Cardiff offices.

As a funding officer you will assess requests for funding and manage grants using local knowledge, best practice, thematic expertise, and the experience of customers and stakeholders to improve our grant making and inform our decision making. By working closely with people and communities, you will understand what matters to them and where our funding can make the biggest difference. You will be responsible for supporting local people and communities across Wales, and have a strong understanding of our vision, being able to adapt your approach to the wishes of the people you are working with. You’ll also need to support our stakeholders, helping them to make connections that will help them achieve their goals.

You will be responsible for the pipeline of projects, understanding and responding to the different needs of our customers by providing advice and considered feedback, and be willing to have challenging but constructive conversations. Funding Officers will ensure our grant management and assessment play an effective part in contributing to the Fund’s knowledge and learning as a grant maker. You will manage your own caseload, liaise with grant recipients, undertake project visits, identify and manage risk, supporting organisations to deliver their projects and measure their impact.

We are open to a conversation on flexible working and job share.

Essential criteria:

• Ability to analyse information, including financial data and project plans in order to make written funding recommendations to decision-makers.
• Understanding of strengths-based approaches to working with people and communities across Wales.
• Remain calm under pressure and handle multiple and competing priorities, supporting others when needed.
• Ability to build and maintain effective relationships with colleagues, community organisations and other stakeholders at various levels.
• The ability to communicate in Welsh fluently (spoken and written).

Desirable criteria:

• Understanding of great customer service and being confident in presenting to external audiences.
• Knowledge of the wider funding context.
• Ability to learn from our funded projects and share that learning for the benefit of the wider organisation.

Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – therefore, we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we work hard to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed. We also believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. That’s why The National Lottery Community Fund is committed to being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. We recognise and celebrate the fact that our people come from diverse backgrounds. We positively welcome applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities or longstanding health conditions, people who are LGBTQ+, and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as well as people of all ages. As a Disability Confident Employer, we take a proactive approach in making reasonable adjustments, if needed, throughout the recruitment process and during employment.