Action Tutoring

About the opportunity Action Tutoring is the largest tutoring charity in the country. At the heart of our work is closing the attainment gap for pupils facing disadvantage in the UK by harnessing the power of tutoring. We are seeking an inspiring and strategic Interim Chief Executive Officer (maternity cover) to lead our growing charity, ensuring the charity continues to achieve benchmark-beating results for the pupils we support. In 2025-26, our work will reach 7,000 pupils supported by more than 80 staff and 2,500 volunteer tutors. This role would suit someone with experience of interim senior leadership roles, wanting to make a difference in an area with proven impact on outcomes for children and young people. Closing date: Wednesday, 17th December 2025 Interviews: Between 8th and 16th January 2026 Start date: Ideally, Monday, 23rd March 2026 Contract and hours: Fixed-term, 9 to 12-month maternity cover. We are open to discussions regarding the working pattern, and welcome applications for 0.8 FTE up to 1 FTE. A full working week is 37.5 hours. We offer flexible working hours. The core working hours are 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Applications from candidates seeking a secondment are welcome. Location: Hybrid working with 2 or 3 days per week, in London, dependent on meetings and occasionally with short notice. Our London office address is: Fivefields, 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens, Victoria, SW1W 0DH Duties and Responsibilities The Interim CEO (maternity cover) is responsible for maintaining the high performance of the charity, overseeing the delivery of key strategic goals in line with our mission and aims. During the period of this appointment, you will lead the organisation through its annual school sales process (Spring 26), ensure the successful delivery of a key strategic project testing AI in our delivery model (Summer and Autumn 26) and set the organisation up for success in a new academic year (Autumn 26). Vision, Strategy and Delivery Working with the Board to implement the vision and mission of the charity. Responsible for implementing the agreed strategy. People and Cultural Leadership Overall people and cultural leadership, empowering the team the maintain the positive working culture with behaviours that align closely to the charity s values. Ensuring operational excellence is maintained across the organisation. Advocacy Representing Action Tutoring externally to a range of stakeholders, including school leaders, policymakers, the media and funders, to raise the profile of Action Tutoring and awareness of the cause. Sustain constructive working relationships with other education charities, sharing good practice and working collaboratively to improve educational outcomes. Finance and Fundraising Overseeing financial management of the charity supported by the Director of Finance & Operations. Lead fundraising alongside the Head of Philanthropy to ensure fundraising targets set by the Board are met. Line Management Direct line management of the Senior Leadership Team (3 Directors), the Head of Impact & Quality and the Head of Philanthropy, covering the five departments of the organisati A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found in the job description attached to the BreatheHR advert. Person specification Qualifications criteria: The right to work in the UK. We are looking for some of the following attributes, though you might be more experienced in some areas than others: Proven track record as a CEO in a not-for-profit organisation, experience as an Interim CEO is desirable but not essential. The ability to get up to speed quickly will be vital. Experience of working within a delivery-based organisation and an understanding of how to ensure quality, efficiency, and impact in that context. Commercial mindset, with proven success in fundraising and/or sales targets to meet set targets and secure income for ongoing operations. Experience overseeing pilots of new delivery modes, applying a theory of change approach to learning. Experience in developing and executing strategic plans and complex projects to achieve organisational vision and mission. Strong communication skills, with experience representing organisations externally to various stakeholders (e.g., school leaders, partners, funders). Understanding of the education sector, and the needs and drivers of stakeholders across the education space. Ability to diagnose and dissect complex problems and encourage scalable solutions to novel issues. Experience in empowering senior leaders and the wider organisations to meet ambitious targets. Ability to foster a positive working culture, aligned with Action Tutoring s values. Strong financial management skills. Knowledge of governance structures and experience in working closely with a board of trustees, including managing strategic risk. Comfortable with data and committed to driving impact across the organisation. You will be likely be more successful in this role if you have the following personal attributes: Passion for addressing educational disadvantage and closing the attainment gap. Collaborative mindset and the ability to build strong, constructive relationships with other organisations and charities, fostering collaboration and sharing of best practices. High ethical standards and personal integrity, with a commitment to transparency and accountability in leadership. Resilient and adaptable with the ability to thrive in an evolving and challenging external environment, and to adjust to shifts in the education landscape. Strong commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive working environment.

About the opportunity As Head of Impact & Quality, you ll lead the department that covers impact measurement, evaluation of our programmes, data management, curriculum development, training and quality of tutors and other initiatives that drive the evidence-based culture of Action Tutoring. With a strong understanding of the charity's theory of change, you ll strengthen existing impact and quality processes and make strategic recommendations that develop these further. You ll play a vital role in helping the Senior Management Team balance quality and quantity with sustainable business decisions. As well as leading the department, you ll build external networks and represent the charity externally at relevant events, in person and online. As Action Tutoring begins planning for a new strategic cycle, you ll design, evaluate and advise on the scale up of pilots in new ways of achieving our mission. Closing date: Monday, 27th October 2025 at 9am Interviews: Monday, 3 and Tuesday, 4 November 2025. There may be a second round of interviews. Start date: Ideally Monday, 1st December 2025 Contract and hours: Permanent. Full time. We offer flexible hours with 9.30-4 as core hours. A full working week is 37.5 hours. We are open to 0.8 or 0.9 FTE for the right candidate. Place of work: This role can be remote, with occasional travel required. Our London office address is: 8-10, Fivefields, Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W 0DH Duties and responsibilities People and Cultural Leadership You ll manage the workload distribution across the Impact & Quality department functions and teams, ensuring that projects are delivered according to strategic priorities. You ll line-manage a small team of managers who have responsibilities for curriculum, training, quality, insights and data management activities across the department. Strategic and Senior Management You ll contribute to Senior Management Team discussions and decisions, representing the impact and quality functions, ensuring all decisions consider the implications on our evidence base, protecting the drivers of impact and maintaining our reputation as a sector-leading impact organisation. Impact and quality oversight Leadership and oversight to ensure continued smooth implementation of a Randomised Control Trial lasting the first 6-9 months of this role. You ll be accountable for the development and implementation of the Impact Strategy of the organisation. A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found in the job description attached to the BreatheHR advert. Person specification Qualifications criteria: The right to work in the UK. University degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field of quantitative or social research. We are looking for some of the following attributes, though you might be more experienced in some areas than others: Excellent project management and project sponsor skills and experience, able to juggle multiple complex projects that are cross-organisational and manage external stakeholders. Able to manage other experts and get the best from them drawing from an interdisciplinary approach to your work. Enjoys leading a team, supporting development of manager skills and capabilities. Understands how a theory of change drives the development of delivery and is able to apply this to new modes of operations. Strong logical reasoning, able to break processes into logical steps and understands how to maintain excellent data management practices. A confident user of databases able to utilise the data it holds to generate insights for the SMT. Champion good data governance in collaboration with the Data Manager. Experience of Salesforce CRM would be desirable but not essential. Very familiar with the principles of evaluation and how to design evaluations to produce meaningful and reliable insights. This includes qualitative and quantitative activities. Experience of working with external partners to evaluate work. Experience of developing pilots or start-up scale organisations would be desirable but is not essential. Strong numerical skills, able to conduct diagnostic and predictive analysis of quantitative data sets. Strong written communication and research skills, able to produce clear and jargon-free reports and summaries that synthesise qualitative trends. Strong change management skills and experience, ensuring innovations are launched and embedded successfully. Able to plan at a strategic level, factoring in external environment trends, financial limitations and scalable solutions. In addition, the job holder is expected to substantially demonstrate the four competencies in our competencies framework at the Head of Level. You will be likely be more successful in this role if you have: Experience working in the charity sector.