Vacancy
Senior Rural Investment Manager
Contract: Fixed Term 12 months (maternity cover secondment)
Hours: Full-Time (35 hours per week)
Location: Central London, with home working
Reports to: Head of Operations
Direct reports: Rural Communities Officer
About The Royal Countryside Fund
Founded in 2010 by His Majesty King Charles III, then The Prince of Wales, The Royal Countryside Fund’s vision is of a thriving countryside – a living landscape of working family farms and prosperous rural life, built on connections and relationships – which in turn shapes rural places, creating vibrant, sustainable communities.
Our ambition is to be the countryside charity of choice for people living and working in rural and farming communities across the UK, and for those who care about helping them secure a sustainable future.
We are a small team of fifteen, based predominantly in our London office at Cavendish Square but with a hybrid working policy to enable homeworking. Our work spans the whole of the UK and all team members are encouraged to spend time travelling to rural areas to meet the farms and rural communities that we support. We have a full events calendar over the year which all members of the team are involved in and excellent opportunities to spend time engaging with wider stakeholder organisations and representing the charity at events and meetings.
Role Profile
This role comes at a pivotal moment for the charity where we are in the process of launching our new UK wide grant programme as well as piloting our first ever partnership grant programme with the National Lottery Community Fund.
The RCF’s 2024-28 strategic plan set out a clear ambition to grow and enhance our work with rural communities. This is both through grant giving, but also through developing more in-depth relationships with the rural community organisations that we support.
This role will be responsible for driving this strategic vision forward, and the successful candidate will have experience and ability to oversee a robust and transparent grant process, whilst also the ambition to build relationships, develop strategic partnerships, learn from our beneficiaries and help shape the future direction of our rural community support.
This particular role presents an ideal opportunity to develop a wide range of working practices through a varied work portfolio. Joining shortly after we have awarded the first set of grants in our pilot programme in Rural Cumbria, the candidate will be able to witness the first iterations of that programme, assess the impact and use their expertise and understanding to shape our future work based on that assessment. Similarly, the RCF is looking to embark on a second pilot programme seed funding community led groups in rural Northumberland. Both these programmes will allow the successful candidate to lead on their own new workstream and shape and develop this as the year progresses.
The RCF’s Rural Grant programme is unique in the reach it has in to remote rural areas, providing a lifeline of flexible funding and support to often forgotten communities. The successful candidate will have a fantastic opportunity to build relationships with these rural community organisations, spend time visiting them and following their projects, to see first hand the impact the programme is having.
The Senior Rural Investment Manager will work closely with the Head of Operations, Interim Head of Communications and the Executive Director. There will also be opportunities to engage with our Board of Trustees and members of our Grants Committee.
Expectations of travel
The Royal Countryside Fund operates across rural England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with a central office in London. Office attendance is expected in London 1-2 days per week. This role would require travel to rural locations across the UK every 3-4 weeks to visit beneficiaries or attend events, often involving 1 overnight stay. This travel requirement could increase slightly at especially busy times of the year.
Please apply by 5pm on Thursday 13th March by submitting a copy of your CV and a covering letter (maximum two pages) for the attention of Helen Day at recruitment@countrysidefund.org.uk
