Forward Institute
Principal
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
About the Role
We are in an exciting period of growth, and we're looking for somebody to play a pivotal role in helping shape the future direction of our work with partners and take on increasing leadership responsibilities in the organisation. There is a strong sense of possibility in what we are building. We work with senior leaders on complex, often unresolved challenges. This requires curiosity, creativity, openness, and a willingness to engage with difficult questions.
We are looking for someone with strong commercial instinct, intellectual rigour, and a genuine obsession with how some of the biggest leadership challenges of our time, and specifically AI, will reshape organisations, leadership, and society.
You most likely have consulting or leadership development experience, experience building and growing something new, and the confidence to bring bold creative thinking into how senior leaders develop. You are as comfortable designing an experience as you are delivering it.
This is a role for someone ready to operate at the level of the leaders we serve, not just support them.
This is a role designed to shape and grow our responsible leadership advisory practice. We are looking for someone with strong relational instincts and a deep belief in responsible leadership. You will play an active role in the growth of the organisation and the direction of our work with partners, helping identify where we should invest, build capability, and deepen our impact. You will hold key accounts and lead impactful projects end to end with our partners, overseeing effective teams and contributing to our shared learning. This isn't a fixed job spec: we'll shape it with you, helping to develop your own craft and impact as you go.
Core Responsibilities
Responsibility for the Leadership and Delivery of Complex, High-Value Projects
This includes being responsible for:
- Exceptional partner management and the delivery of project outcomes that generate high partner value and are reputation-enhancing;
- Team leadership, development, and coaching through the delivery of the project work, including team members and Associates;
- Project budgets and P&L, and any strategic partnerships (e.g., digital providers) that are material to the delivery of the work;
- The delivery of the work such that it creates opportunities for cross-project learning and proposition iteration.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Responsibility for the Design of Creative Leadership Experiences that Supports Senior Leaders
This includes being responsible for:
- Being a central player in a core design capability to support all of our work, providing opportunities to design across programmatic interventions and bespoke advisory work;
- Pioneering design experiences that are trying to do something different with leaders across all sectors, outside of established approaches to leadership development;
- The evaluation and impact of the leadership interventions that support partner objectives and enhance the integrity of the FI’s mission.
About You
Mindset
- Entrepreneurial and can exercise judgement under ambiguity
- Commercially sharp, with a clear instinct for where value lies
- Deeply curious and about how AI will reshape organisations and leadership
- Own and engage with ideas of responsible leadership and apply them across everything you do
- Deeply relational, building trust quickly with senior leaders and teams
- Creative, drawn to designing something new rather than following convention
Capabilities
- Ability to lead the full life cycle of complex, high-value projects
- Strong commercial capability, holding multiple partner accounts, leading business development conversations, proposals, and pitches, and converting work
- Strong design instinct, creating impactful leadership experiences
- People leadership and management skills, playing a key leadership role, acting as a mentor for more junior members of the team, and effectively managing diverse project teams
- Excellent facilitation skills with senior teams
- Ability to translate a strong intellectual framework into clear, compelling partner propositions
- Ability to evaluate the impact of leadership interventions and demonstrate real outcomes
Experience
- ~8+ years’ experience in strategy consulting, leadership consulting, programme design and implementation, or learning and development
- Experience taking a proposition to market and growing it
- Proven track record of winning work through senior relationships
- 1 - 2 years’ experience engaging leaders with or working in AI, technology, or innovation
About Us
Benefits
Every person who joins us shapes our culture and our impact. In return, we accelerate your development - fast. This is a rare opportunity: to work alongside, and get direct exposure to, senior leaders, with a mission that matters.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
What we're doing here is genuinely pioneering. We're not following someone else's playbook, we're writing our own, and you'll help write it.
Here you will feel opportunity: small enough that your work matters and is visible, fast-growing enough that the opportunities keep expanding. We will support you to develop your mastery, autonomy, and purpose at an organisation that believes work should enrich your life.
Who We Are
We are pragmatic idealists. We pair moral ambition with the discipline to follow through, and measure ourselves by outcomes, not intentions.
We care for the work, the people we work with, and the leaders we support. Care without courage is just comfort, so we take the work seriously, in a way that is deeply human.
We build from multiple perspectives. We work with leaders from across business, government, and civil society, and from a range of backgrounds, because difference drives better thinking.
We challenge assumptions. We ask the questions others don't. Clarity starts with curiosity, and courage means acting on it; we would rather ask the hard questions.
How to Apply
To apply, please send your CV and a covering video (maximum 90 seconds) answering the following question:
What do you think responsible leadership looks like, and why does it matter?
We are an equal opportunities employer and are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment practices. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences.
We want to make this process as inclusive and accessible as possible. If you have any access needs or specific requirements, please get in touch.
Role closes on Friday 4th September and we will be interviewing on a rolling basis.
You must have the right to work in the UK.
About Us
Shaping a better future through responsible leadership.
We believe a better future is possible, and how we get there begins with leaders. The choices they make will determine the years to come.
Responsible leadership is the courageous and creative use of power to shape a better future. It is a choice, and we help leaders choose it.
Through breakthrough leadership programmes, advisory interventions, and our 1,500+ strong leader community, we equip leaders with the mindsets, capabilities, insight, and tools to transform their organisations.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills