Canal & River Trust
Programme Engagement Coordinator (Boating Transformation Programme)
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About the Trust
We're one of the UK’s biggest charities and we care for 2,000 miles of canals, rivers, docks and reservoirs because we believe life is better by water. We're looking for people who support our cause and want to make a difference for future generations. Could this be you?
Along with our waterways we also manage museums, archives and the country's third largest collection of historic buildings, as well as the nature and wildlife that calls our canals home. All of this enables us to provide wellbeing opportunities for millions of people each year.
Join Our Team: Transforming Boating Officer (Internal title) opportunity
Navigate your future and lock in your career as we keep our canals open and alive.
The Transforming Boating Officer will play a key role in delivering the Trust's ambitious three-year Transforming Boating Programme, helping to improve customer experience, strengthen relationships with the boating community and support the delivery of the Trust's Better Boating Plan. Working alongside the Transforming Boating Programme Planner and wider transformation team, you will coordinate programme activities, engage stakeholders, monitor performance and help turn customer insight into meaningful improvements.
This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to a high-profile national transformation programme that will have a lasting impact on more than 35,000 boaters across England and Wales. You will work across multiple teams and stakeholders, using consultation feedback, performance data and customer insight to support decision-making, drive service improvements and embed positive change across the organisation.
Working Hours & Location
This is a home-based role which follows a 37 hour working week and will be assigned to one of the Trust's key operational hubs. Regular travel across England and Wales as required to competently perform the role. A valid UK driving licence and access to a vehicle are essential.
Role Overview
Working across the organisation, you will build strong internal relationships, champion programme objectives, support the delivery of key project activities, and monitor progress against agreed outcomes and performance measures. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to a high-profile transformation programme that will have a lasting impact on customers, colleagues, and the future of boating on the Trust’s waterways.
Key Responsibilities
- Coordinate the practical and administrative logistics for the recruitment, onboarding, and ongoing engagement sessions of the Citizens Boater Panel and other stakeholder co-design groups to successfully embed the lived experience of boaters into programme delivery and policy development.
- Support the delivery of consultation, engagement, and implementation activity across multiple programme phases, including pre-consultation research, live consultation activity, and the implementation of approved policy and operational changes.
- Work closely with programme leads to identify, coordinate, and deliver operational "quick wins", ensuring opportunities to improve customer experience, communication, and community relations are progressed quickly whilst supporting wider multi-year transformation objectives.
- Execute the face-to-face field strategy, directly managing a network-wide calendar of towpath pop-ups, leaflet drops, regional engagement hubs, stakeholder workshops, and community events to maximise participation and ensure diverse boating voices are heard.
- Gather, analyse, and present stakeholder insight from boaters, National Boating Organisations, community groups, and engagement activities, ensuring customer feedback directly informs programme delivery and decision-making.
- Routinely extract, track, monitor, and report data against agreed project performance indicators (KPIs), supporting transparent reporting and evidence-based decision making across the programme.
- Support the implementation, tracking, and operational alignment of proposals derived from the Transforming Boating Programme and the Trust's Better Boating Plan, ensuring new approaches are effectively embedded across the organisation.
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Key Relationships
- Boating Transformation Programme Manager: Day-to-day line management, project coordination, risk escalation, and delivery planning across consultation workstreams.
- Transforming Boating Programme Planner & Boating Change Manager: Supporting programme delivery, KPI reporting, strategic alignment, and preparation of updates for senior leaders and governance boards.
- Internal Teams: Working closely with colleagues across Licensing, Enforcement, Welfare, Operations, Communications, and Legal teams to support collaboration and embed programme outcomes across the Trust.
- Citizens Boater Panel & Stakeholder Groups: Acting as the primary contact, coordinating recruitment, onboarding, engagement activities, and ensuring customer insight informs programme delivery.
- National Boating Organisations & Local Boating Communities: Building positive relationships to support consultation activities, community engagement events, and the distribution of accessible information and feedback opportunities.
About You
You will be an organised and proactive coordinator with experience managing projects, engaging stakeholders, and turning insight into action. Passionate about people and communities, you'll be comfortable balancing competing priorities across multiple workstreams, supporting both short-term improvements and longer-term transformation activities, and building positive relationships that ensure customer voices shape meaningful change for the boating community.
Skills & Qualifications
Technical skills
- Experience coordinating projects, programmes, or complex operational activities within a large, matrix, or multi-stakeholder organisation, including managing logistics, actions, dependencies, and competing priorities.
- Strong IT, analytical, and data management skills, with the ability to extract, interpret, analyse, and present information, monitor progress against KPIs, and support evidence-based decision-making.
- Experience supporting programme governance and delivery through the maintenance of project documentation, action logs, risk registers, stakeholder records, status reporting, and performance tracking mechanisms.
- Experience gathering, analysing, and presenting customer, stakeholder, consultation, or community insight to inform service improvements, policy development, organisational change, or engagement strategies.
- Familiarity with structured project and programme management approaches (e.g. PRINCE2, Agile, MSP, or similar) and an understanding of how governance, assurance, and reporting contribute to successful delivery.
- Strong written communication skills, including experience producing, reviewing, and simplifying content to ensure information is accessible, engaging, and appropriate for a wide range of audiences.
- Experience supporting consultation exercises, stakeholder engagement programmes, public participation initiatives, community outreach activities, or customer-focused change projects would be advantageous.
- Experience coordinating workshops, engagement events, stakeholder meetings, or public-facing activities involving multiple audiences and partners is desirable.
- Valid UK driving licence and willingness to travel regularly across the inland waterways network throughout England and Wales.
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General skills
- Proven ability to build strong working relationships and navigate complex organisational structures.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with experience engaging a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
- Experience delivering public-facing engagement, community outreach, consultation activities, or customer engagement initiatives.
- Strong active listening skills and the ability to understand and respond to diverse perspectives.
- Compassionate and empathetic approach when working with customers, communities, and stakeholders.
- Confident coordinating events, meetings, workshops, or engagement activities involving multiple audiences.
- Organised and proactive, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and workstreams simultaneously.
- Professional and resilient, able to remain calm and constructive during challenging conversations and sensitive discussions.
DBS
As this role is on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 Exception Order applicants must state the details of any cautions or convictions whether spent or unspent on the self-disclosure section of the application form.
This job involves regulated activity with children and adults at risk as defined by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Therefore, an Enhanced Criminal Record check will be undertaken by the successful candidate prior to employment. A criminal record is not necessarily a bar to employment with us. HR will advise and decisions made on a case by case basis.
Contact & Application
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at CRT.recruitment@canalrivertrust.org.uk. We encourage early applications as we may close the vacancy once we receive enough suitable candidates.
What We Offer
In addition to your annual base salary of £29,670 - £34,800 (depending on experience) we also offer a competitive pension scheme, increasing holiday entitlement, and a range of employee benefits. For a full breakdown of our benefits, check out our brochure here: EVP - 1.
Learn more: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/work-for-us/our-benefits
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Our values
We care passionately for our waterways, and as importantly, for those who look after and use them. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce where everyone can thrive. We are striving to represent the diverse communities that we are a part of and welcome applicants from across all sectors of the community.
We want everyone to have the opportunity to perform at their best during our recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments - whether for a disability, neurodiversity, or health condition - please let us know what you need and how we can support you. We’ll work with you to make any necessary changes.
All of our jobs can be considered on a part time, flexible or job share basis.
We operate a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role. You are considered disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term negative effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. We recognise not everyone who is classified as disabled under the Equality Act personally identifies this way, or with this definition of disability. Please do not let this discourage you from applying under the scheme.
At Canal & River Trust, we are committed to fair, transparent, and ethical recruitment practices. As part of our hiring process, we may use AI to analyse applications and support us work more efficiently. However, all hiring decisions – without exception - are made by
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