Head of Performance and Improvement/Pennaeth Perfformiad a Gwella

The National Lottery Community Fund

Hybrid

Expires: Expiring in less than 3 weeks

Full time

£56,312 - £69,065 per year

Job summary

The Head of Performance and Improvement is a new role that will lead our work to drive excellence in our grant making in England. They will play a critical role in ensuring our grant making is not only delivered, but understood, improved, and aligned with our purpose. This team helps us answer key questions about our grant making:

Job description

Are we doing what we said we would? How well are we doing it? What have we learned? And what should we do next?

The Head of Performance and Improvement ensures our grant making is evidence-informed, insight-driven, and continuously evolving.

Partnering with the Head of England Operations and working closely with senior leaders, you will ensure performance insight informs improvements to our grant making as well as feeding into decision-making, and strategic direction. It’s a role that connects information and delivery, helping us fund with confidence and learn with purpose.

Key responsibilities may include:

Funding Development and Delivery
Directorate coordination of improvements to our grant making
Performance Management & Management Information
Learning & Continuous Improvement
Grant making Risks & Issue Spotting
Audit, Oversight & Compliance
Leadership Collaboration & Strategic Alignment

Interview details:

Date: Week Commencing 20 July 2026
Format: Online
Location: UK-Wide

We have a hybrid approach to working. Work pattern and location will be agreed with the successful candidate. The role can be based at any of our UK offices: Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle, and Newtown.

We will be hosting a briefing session on Monday 6th July, 12pm. To register for the session or for any questions about the recruitment process, please email: recruitment@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact: Baker.Rignell@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.

Person specification

How to apply:

Upload your CV in word format and write a supporting statement (1000 words) with the following criteria, we will use this to score your application.

Essential Criteria:

Experience of leading a multi-disciplinary team.
Experience of embedding and establishing performance management frameworks.
Strong knowledge of the funding cycle and implementing grant making best practice.
Extensive experience of engaging effectively with a range of stakeholders.
Excellent communication and negotiation skills, with an ability to communicate complex information to all levels of the business.
Ability to build strong relationships, influence a range of stakeholders and build buy in to bring about changes for users and customers.
Strong planning, priority setting and organisational skills within a complex environment.
Forward-thinking and solutions-focused, able to balance immediate operational needs with long-term strategic goals.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

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. (This can be related to a physical and mental health condition.)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,312, The National Lottery Community Fund contributes £16,313 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

A full list of our benefits can be found on our website.

Generous Civil Service Pension Scheme
Flexible working
Enhanced paid maternity/ paternity leave
Paid volunteering leave
Season ticket loan

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Upload your CV in word format and write a supporting statement (1000 words) with the essential and desirable criteria stated in the advert. We will use this to score your application.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals
nationals of the Republic of Ireland
nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Salary range

£56,312 - £69,065 per year