Head of Impact

Requirements

• A strong operator: able to take ambiguous initiatives and drive them to real-world outcomes — you're equally comfortable presenting to corporate leadership teams, drafting a governance policy, building a financial model, and unblocking an operational process.
• A natural relationship-builder with senior stakeholders: you can hold your own with C-suite executives and philanthropists, and you know how to turn a warm conversation into a multi-year commitment.
• Fundraising or partnerships experience — corporate partnerships, philanthropy, foundations, or B2B sales.
• A confident pitcher and proposition-builder: you can take a mission and a model, shape it into a compelling proposal, and win six-figure funding from corporates, foundations and major donors.
• Proven ability to work cross-functionally with product, engineering, and external stakeholders.
• An impact strategist: you can build a theory of change, put a number on outcomes, and turn it into a proposition funders can see themselves in.
• Experience managing and developing people.
• A systems thinker: you build processes that make programmes repeatable and scalable - selection criteria, deployment tracking, impact reporting, financial controls.
• Have worked in a company at the 20–100 person stage, where everyone does more than their job title suggests.
• Rigorous on governance and finance: you understand (or can quickly learn) charity governance - board packs, risk registers, reserves policies, audits, Charity Commission requirements.
• AI-native: you use AI tools to move faster and improve workflows - you research, draft and analyse at a pace that lets you punch above your weight.
• Deeply motivated to apply AI to meaningful real-world problems.

What the job involves

• You'll lead the Zero Gravity Fund, our registered charity that has deployed over £2.3m to talented students from low-income backgrounds, and is now expanding how it delivers impact.
• This is a highly autonomous, execution-heavy role covering the full breadth of running a charity inside a fast-moving AI startup.
• We're looking for someone who is deeply motivated to apply AI to meaningful problems and combines strong partnership instincts with operational rigour.
• You'll be the connective tissue between our Trustees, our funders, our leadership team, and the students we support.
• Own the strategy for the Zero Gravity Fund: set its direction with the CEO and Trustees, evaluate strategic options as the wider business evolves, and write the papers that drive board-level decisions.
• Shape how we deliver impact, not just fund it: design new impact models from first principles.
• Own our major funder relationships end to end: cultivate and manage partnerships with global banks, consultancies, foundations and major donors.
• Build and pitch new propositions: shape philanthropic funding models into compelling proposals, lead grant applications, and represent Zero Gravity in the room with senior decision-makers.
• Run charity governance end to end: prepare quarterly trustee board packs, manage the risk register and policy suite, support trustee recruitment and onboarding, and handle Charity Commission requirements.
• Manage the charity's finances day to day: financial controls, treasury management, working with our accountants and auditors on annual accounts, audit prep and VAT treatment.
• Lead and grow a small team: line-manage direct reports, run performance and development, and shape the team structure as the Fund grows.