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Head of Research & Grants, 1001 Critical Days Foundation
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We are looking for a highly motivated proven team player to join our ambitious and fast-growing international charity with a mission to build a better world for babies where governments prioritise the 1,001 critical days as the foundation for a healthy society.
The 1,001 critical days – from pregnancy to age two – is the time when the building blocks for lifelong emotional and physical wellbeing are laid down. We deliver our mission by funding what works, acting on evidence, and driving change through advocacy.
About the Role
This is an exciting time to join us. As we grow our international efforts and sharpen our strategic focus, we are creating a new Head of Research & Grants role to lead our combined research and grant-making function.
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Reporting to the Chief Executive, you will be our senior operational and strategic leader for how we identify, fund and learn from the work that gives babies the best start in life. The grants and research effort of the Foundation is focused on the ‘So What?’. You will make sure every piece of groundbreaking research and every charity grant adds to our global advocacy for babies, informing and educating policymakers across the world about the 1001 Critical Days and how they can help parents and carers give their babies the best start in life.
Responsibilities
- Line manage our Grants Manager and our Research & Impact Manager, joining up our open-call grant-making, strategic partnerships, commissioned research and evaluation into one coherent programme.
- Translate our strategy into delivery: setting priorities, shaping our international approach, ensuring evidence drives every funding decision, and growing the credibility and reach of the Foundation with charities, researchers, policymakers, and funders worldwide.
- Maintain a sharp focus on delivering impact from every project.
- Be the public face of our research and grants work - building the Foundation's profile through external communications, thought leadership, and engagement with the early years sector.
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