Operations Manager (Contracts, Compliance and Group Support) in London

Location: London Hybrid (ideal, 1-2 days a week in the London office) but remote working considered for the right UK-based candidate.

Salary: £40,550 per annum.

Reports to: Head of Operations.

Contract type: Full time (37.5 hours/week) fixed term for 12 months.

Contract Start Date: January 2027.

Recruitment Timeline:

• Applications will close on Friday 27th November 2026 at midnight (23:59).
• Candidates will be notified on the w/c 30th November 2026.
• The first round of interviews will be conducted on the w/c 7th December 2026.
• A second round of interviews will/may be conducted on the w/c 14th December 2026.
• Offers will be made on the w/c 21st December 2026.

At The Social Change Nest (SCN), we’re radically transforming the funding landscape and strengthening civil society. We remove the financial and administrative barriers that often prevent communities, grassroots groups and informal movements from accessing funding and focusing on their core mission. We also work closely with funders, enabling them to support social action with confidence and transparency.

We currently support over 700 groups across the UK and abroad addressing issues such as social injustice, climate, housing, wellbeing and animal rights. We are at the forefront of fiscal hosting in Europe and, since our inception in 2020, we have supported groups in securing over £50 million in funding, helping them take advantage of opportunities that may have otherwise been unavailable.

How We Work:

You’ll be joining a close-knit team, supported and developed to be the best you can be. We believe that every member of our team brings a unique perspective from their experiences and abilities and we encourage everyone to be curious about how we can improve everything we do, from how we interact as a team to how we deliver for our clients and communities.

Underpinned by our values of collaboration, curiosity, courage, and creativity, we work closely and with care with our partners because we believe relationships are the glue that hold us all together. We’re a growing business and operate at pace to keep up with the challenges that the sector faces. We have established a lot, but as we grow, we’re still working some things out. The right person will thrive in this environment and feel a level of ownership to support the build out of things we need as we need them.

The ideal candidate will enjoy working within a fast-paced and evolving organisation, and have a natural curiosity about how their role fits into the bigger picture. You’ll thrive on problem-solving and will feel comfortable handling multiple priorities at once, always seeking collaborative solutions. You’ll be adaptable and able to shift focus quickly when things change, ensuring strong communication across the team and with clients to keep everything aligned.

About You:

We are seeking a detail-oriented, proactive Operations Manager to take ownership of our contractual ecosystem and provide day-to-day operational support for our groups. SCN acts as an essential bridge between institutional funders and grassroots projects. In this role, you will be responsible for our business agreements, ensuring that all client Terms of Service (ToS), incoming grant agreements, supplier contracts, and subcontractor arrangements are robust, compliant, and aligned with our risk appetite. You will work closely with the Delivery team, helping solve and coordinate operational queries.

This isn’t just a passive review role—you will actively redline, draft bespoke clauses, and identify operational risks before they impact the business. You will combine contract oversight with risk management, protecting our interests while keeping funding moving smoothly to the communities who need it.

Skills & Experience:

• Professional Qualification & Technical Skills: IT literate and confident with technological change and using new software to improve financial processing. Demonstrate a natural curiosity for automation and a track record of implementing operational improvements.
• Core Experience & Expertise: Contractual Competency: 2-3 years of proven experience reviewing, redlining, and drafting commercial contracts (ToS, SLAs, supplier agreements, or grant agreements). Risk Aware: A sharp eye for business risk, with a solid understanding of liability, indemnity, and intellectual property clauses. Grant & Non-Profit Sector Knowledge: Prior experience handling public or private grant agreements and understanding their compliance, restriction, and reporting burdens is highly desirable. Adaptability & Organization: Strong organizational skills, exceptional attention to detail, and the ability to work in a fast-paced environment while juggling multiple contract workflows. Communication: Excellent interpersonal skills to build relationships, explain complex contractual risks to non-legal colleagues, and engage sensitively with diverse grassroots groups. Collaboration: Ability to work across teams effectively, bringing others with you, and ensuring relevant people are involved in processes where required.
• Strategic & Leadership Attributes: Ability to lead, manage, and work effectively both as a member of a team and on own initiative. A focus on continuous improvement, actively seeking out better solutions and workflows. Strong organisational skills, including exceptional attention to detail, the ability to manage financial planning and reporting accurately while juggling multiple priorities, and being proactive in managing and delegating tasks. Unwavering integrity, recognizing the weight of managing funds dedicated to social change.
• Communication & Relationship Management: Excellent interpersonal skills to build and manage client and colleague relationships. Ability to clearly communicate information and the need for robust process and collaborate effectively with internal and external stakeholders. Relationship-based approach to supporting clients, with an ability to engage sensitively with diverse groups.
• Adaptability and Problem-Solving skills: Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment, comfortable with shifting priorities and emerging risks, and possess an agile mindset for creatively developing systems and processes.
• Commitment to Social Impact: Demonstrable interest in social change, community engagement, and innovative approaches to governance and compliance. An understanding of power dynamics and community trauma is beneficial for acting as an empathetic link between SCN and its partners.

Key Responsibilities and Duties:

• Contract Review & Execution: Review and finalize Terms of Service (ToS) for new clients and grassroots groups joining the platform. Review and sign off on incoming grant agreements, ensuring strict adherence to compliance, reporting milestones, and funding criteria before disbursements are initiated. Issue, review, and manage contracts for software/SaaS vendors, suppliers, and subcontractor agreements, ensuring deliverables, data sharing, liabilities, and intellectual property (IP) clauses are clearly defined. Identify patterns across contracts we receive that might highlight, as an example, how funders are shifting on regulations or compliance, and feedback to the Head of Operations.
• Drafting & Redlining: Draft operational clauses, addendums, and statements of work (SOWs) tailored to specific project or funding needs. Update and maintain SCN’s suite of standard template agreements (NDAs, master service agreements, vendor terms) to reflect changing business, legal, and regulatory needs. Identify “red flag” clauses (e.g., predatory indemnities, unfavorable liability caps, restrictive IPs) and negotiate acceptable terms with funders and partners. Ensure all contracts comply with relevant UK regulations, including GDPR/Data Protection, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards, and IR35 rules for subcontractors. Maintain an organized, secure contract repository and track key contract lifecycle milestones (renewals, notice periods, and termination dates). Act as key contact for all contracting concerns for the business and the team. Collaborate closely with relevant teams to manage contracts through to completion.
• Group Operational Support: Act as a first point of contact within Operations for day-to-day operational, contracting and compliance queries from SCN’s groups and clients, resolving queries directly wherever possible and escalating complex or higher-risk matters to the Head of Operations. Manage the operational administration of client and group relationships within the role’s remit, ensuring actions, documentation, approvals and outstanding information are followed through to completion. Provide regular feedback to the Head of Operations, highlighting agreements, deadlines, compliance issues or operational risks that need attention rather than requiring the Head of Operations to monitor individual cases. Coordinate follow-up actions arising from operational risks, incidents or compliance issues within the role’s remit, ensuring agreed actions are recorded, allocated and completed. Develop straightforward guidance, templates and processes that enable teams and groups to resolve common operational and contracting queries without unnecessary escalation. Work across Finance, Governance, Delivery and Operations to keep client and group operational matters moving, identifying blockages and taking responsibility for coordinating them through to resolution. Report any trends in operational issues or processes that may help us build resilience or efficiency in the way we provide operational support.

Other Important Information:

Terms: The role will be full-time (37.5 hours/week) on a fixed term contract for 1 year. As we often work with volunteers, occasional evening and weekend work may be required and compensated through TOIL. Occasional but limited UK or European travel may be required (by arrangement). We are open to exploring flexible working arrangements and supporting you to meet commitments you may have. All pay and benefits, holiday etc will be pro-rated with the length of your contract.

Location: We are happy to consider remote candidates, but you must be based in the UK. We have an office in London, which staff are welcome to use whenever they’d like, with most London-based staff going in 2 times a week. We hold quarterly all-staff strategy meetings and annual away days, which you will be required to attend in person, and we will cover the cost of your travel. You will also be required to come together with the team occasionally at other meetings. We try our best to keep these additional meetings to only when necessary.

Language skills & visa status: Candidates must be fluent in English. You must have the right to work in the UK independently, as we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

Holiday: 28 days plus bank holidays (25 days to book freely, with 3 days reserved for the Christmas and New Year closure).

Employer pension contribution: We offer a 3% employer contribution on a salary sacrifice pension, that you will be automatically enrolled on after 3 months of employment with SCN.

Additional Paid Time Off: We offer 2 days of paid voluntary time off, encouraging all staff to serve as trustees or any equivalent voluntary positions to contribute to their communities.

Mintago: The health and wellbeing of our staff is very important to us. We offer all of our staff access to Mintago which offers a 24 hour support line, structured counselling with external support. This includes a bank of online resources such as webinars and articles tailored towards health and wellbeing for both you and the members of your family, and access to some types of legal advice.

Financial Wellbeing: The financial wellbeing of our staff means a lot to us. We offer the following to our staff to help them reach their financial goals: Financial wellbeing platform allows staff to check their pension dashboard, plan for retirement and search for forgotten/lost pensions. There is also a smart saver plan and we provide access to financial advisers for free. Benefits app – retail discounts. Select from over 80 brands.

Start Date: January 2027.

Hiring process: We strongly encourage applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds. We are committed to our staff representing the wide variety of backgrounds represented in the communities we work with. If you are concerned that you may not fit 100% of the job specification – please throw your hat in the ring. We never put formal education requirements on any role as we value lived experiences as highly as formal education and training qualifications. We follow a blind recruitment process, which means that hiring managers for the role can only see your work history and cover note when deciding to progress to the interview stage. For any accessibility accommodations for this application please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to provide your accommodations.