We are seeking a change advocate with strong project development skills, a focus on funding for stability, and experience in commercialisation to manage our Reading is Caring programme.

Scottish Book Trust is a national charity that believes books, reading and writing have the power to change lives. A love of reading inspires creativity, improves employment opportunities, mental health and wellbeing and is one of the most effective ways to help break the poverty cycle. We work towards a Scotland where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive through literacy.

What we offer

• Full fixed-term role

• Competitive salary

• Flexible hybrid working between home and our Edinburgh City Centre Office, with great access by train, bus, and tram

• Generous holiday entitlement

• Company Sick Pay

• Pension with 5% employer contributions

• Death in service benefit

• Free access to employee assistance programme

Scottish Book Trust’s Reading is Caring (RiC) team delivers the Reading is Caring programme that is designed to train both professional and family carers in how to use shared reading techniques to improve the connection and enhance wellbeing with the person living with dementia.

Following a successful award of funding from the Dementia Resilient Communities Fund, Scottish Book Trust is looking to appoint a Reading is Caring Manager to continue the development of the programme over the next 12 months. The Reading is Caring Manager will be responsible for the strategic planning, development and evaluation of the Reading is Caring programme. Our aim is for the programme to become a nationally accessible, self-sustaining model of training in our evidence based shared reading methodologies by advocating for and promoting the programme across the dementia sector.

Due to the limited nature of the funding, we are ideally looking for someone who can start this full-time position immediately to ensure delivery of the project goals within the funding time frame.

The role also includes developing/securing multiple income strands to enhance ongoing sustainability.

The role line manages the RiC Trainer and RiC Co-ordinator, as well as supervising freelancers on short term contracts

JOB PURPOSE

The National Trust for Scotland is Scotland’s largest membership organisation and Scotland’s largest charity land manager. We manage many of Scotland’s most significant woodlands, from the extensive Caledonian pinewoods of Mar Lodge to rainforest hazelwood’s in the Hebrides and endemic Whitebeam woodlands on Arran.

As a founding member of both the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest and Caledonian Pinewood Partnership and as a key delivery partners with the Scottish Government for landscape scale ecological restoration of native woodland in Scotland, we are recruiting a post to help drive this exciting work.

You will lead the Trusts outreach for native woodland restoration across Scotland, developing several large scale projects. You will build partnerships with private landowners, communities of place and communities of interest, including other eNGOs and conservation organisations. You will have the backing and support of our nature, fundraising, planning, community engagement, estates and media teams.

The focus of your work will be developing two Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest landscape scale projects in West Lochalsh and on Arran and provide initial contact and support to pinewood managers who look after threatened remnants, to bring their sites into recovery.

We are looking for strong communication & diplomacy skills, which can be influential at a network scale. Someone who can build trust and influence in land management situations, across a diverse range of partners with different interests and objectives. Someone who can develop partnership project plans, acting as the bridge between our internal expertise, existing and new partners. In particular you will develop delivery project content to a “shovel ready” stage, so your fundraising colleagues can draft applications.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Making initial contact, maintaining and/or developing ongoing communication and liaison with external landowners, stakeholders and associated organisations.
• Understanding external landowner’s and communities’ values, objectives and constraints and communicating the Trusts, with a view to building trust, understanding and cooperation in relation to collaborative, nature positive land management.
• Develop collegiate partnership operations and memoranda of understanding with both internal and external stakeholder input and support.
• Liase with internal NTS expertise across multiple disciplines, to inform your delivery of external communications and advice to stakeholders.
• Develop collaborative landscape scale funding bids across multiple estates and landholdings, including both NTS land and externally owned land, in association with the Trusts fundraising team.
• Supporting applications for government grants including Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme, Agri Environment Climate Scheme, Nature Restoration Fund etc.
• Coordinate delivery of landscape scale nature restoration projects across multiple estates and landholdings, including both NTS land and externally owned land, including budget management.
• Procure and manage contracts associated with landscape scale nature restoration projects, monitor delivery of grant conditions and complete grant claims & reports.
• Organise partnership meetings and events to strengthen networks and collaboration within the partnership.
• Write reports for partners and funders showing progress against agreed objectives and funding obligations.

Fountainbridge Canalside Community Trust (FCCT) is a dynamic local charity and social enterprise working to make Fountainbridge a better place to live, work, do business and visit. We deliver projects that promote inclusion, sustainability, and community wellbeing.

Our work includes community boating activities, greenspace development, volunteering programmes, wellbeing walking groups, the Edinburgh Canal Festival, and a growing programme of community events. We are also preparing to open a new Canalside Community Space and to build a new sustainable trip boat for 2026—an exciting period of growth that this role will help bring us to life.

We are now looking for a motivated and skilled General Manager to lead our small, dedicated and experienced team and help shape the next stage of FCCT’s growth.

About the Role

As FCCT’s most senior staff member, you will provide strategic leadership while staying closely connected to day-to-day operations. This is a hands-on and varied role, ideal for someone who enjoys combining big-picture thinking with practical community-focused delivery.

Key responsibilities include:

Leadership & Strategy

• Provide inspiring and inclusive leadership for staff and volunteers
• Work with the Board to deliver strategic and operational plans
• Oversee impact measurement and reporting, including the Annual Report

Governance

• Act as the key link between the Board and staff
• Support strong governance, including acting as Company Secretary

Finance & Fundraising

• Lead financial planning, budgeting, and reporting
• Drive fundraising, major grant applications, and income generation
• Build strong relationships with funders and partners

Operations & People

• Support and line-manage staff and volunteers
• Oversee social enterprise activities, community programmes, and events
• Lead delivery of flagship initiatives such as the Edinburgh Canal Festival
• Contribute to FCCT’s public profile and digital presence
• Participate in the on-call rota as Designated Person Ashore for boat operations

External Relations

• Act as the public face of FCCT
• Build partnerships with local groups, businesses, and stakeholders
• Champion the value of blue and green spaces and community wellbeing

About You

Essential:

• Strong leadership and management experience in a charity, social enterprise, or community setting
• Proven project management and fundraising skills
• Confident with financial information and decision-making
• Excellent people management skills
• Excellent communication and relationship-building abilities
• Able to balance strategic thinking with hands-on operational delivery
• Committed to inclusivity, sustainability, and community empowerment

Desirable:

• Experience in community development, volunteering, environmental or heritage projects
• Income generation or social enterprise experience
• Understanding of impact measurement
• Experience supporting volunteers and inclusive participation

What We Offer

• A varied and meaningful leadership role in a friendly, purpose-driven charity
• Flexible working from day one
• Training and development opportunities
• Pro rata holiday allowance including bank holidays
• Christmas shutdown period
• 5% employer pension contribution
• An annual canal boat trip

About Chapter One

Chapter One is a dynamic, growing charity with a vision of a world in which all children have the literacy skills needed to thrive. Our mission is to close the reading gap by providing children with one-to-one support at the time they need it most. We work in thirteen areas/regions of the UK and will support over 4,000 children in 2026-27.

Our unique Online Reading Volunteer programme pairs struggling five to seven-year old (P2-4) readers with reading support volunteers who are working professionals. The volunteer ask is very focused: readers commit 30 minutes a week to read with a child using a bespoke digital platform for an entire academic year. The results are transformative, boosting children's reading confidence and ability.

From a school perspective, online reading volunteers provide direct, meaningful literacy support for up to 10 pupils per class. The programme is particularly suitable for communities where it might be challenging to find parents and other volunteers who can commit to physically visiting schools to boost reading.

About the Role

Chapter One is seeking a Scotland Programme Manager who is an excellent communicator and is able both to motivate and support schools and teachers to implement our online reading volunteers programme, and also to ensure that the programme’s impact and benefit to disadvantaged communities is maximised throughout the academic year.

The post is ideal for someone looking for part-time, flexible, term-time only work from a home base and who is able to travel frequently in and around Edinburgh and Glasgow. The postholder will be joining a team of established Programme Managers who work in different parts of the UK and will need to have some flexibility to work some additional hours during busy autumn weeks, and conversely to work fewer hours during quieter periods of the year.

Key Responsibilities:

• Effectively explain Chapter One’s online reading volunteer programme and its benefits to school leaders and teachers.
• Install, setup and maintain Chapter One equipment in participating classrooms. This will include technical configuration/troubleshooting of mobile internet hotspots with IT team support.
• Organise and conduct initial teacher training and follow-up.
• Ensure a smooth initial launch of Chapter One’s programme in every classroom.
• Fully understand the operation of the Chapter One platform and database and effectively communicate this to others as needed.
• Liaise with colleagues performing technical and volunteer support roles.
• Through regular visits to/contact with schools, provide on-going embedded professional learning and support to teachers throughout the year as needed.
• Proactively monitor classroom adherence/fidelity to the Chapter One model, including systematic review of data reports and volunteer feedback, taking proactive action to resolve problems that arise.
• Analyse and manipulate data (largely in Google sheets) to produce reports and identify trends.
• Create regular data summaries for all participating classrooms.
• Lead annual review meetings for senior leadership at participating schools.
• Support programme monitoring, evaluation and research as required.
• Coordinate in person and virtual school ‘visits’ of volunteer teams to classrooms where necessary. This may include opportunities for Chapter One children to visit the office of the volunteers.
• Liaison with corporate partners as required.
• Weekly communication and status updates with Senior Programme Manager(s) and wider team.
• As a new school year approaches, secure commitments from returning schools and help find and target new schools to join Chapter One’s programme.

We are looking for applicants with the following essential qualities:

• Highly motivated individual with excellent interpersonal and organisational skills.
• Proven track record of working at a senior level in education, project management or a related field.
• Proven strength in both written and verbal communication.
• Highly IT literate, with excellent computer skills, able to troubleshoot software and technical hardware issues, adept with Google suite and Microsoft Teams.
• Ability to manipulate and analyse data to draw useful conclusions to improve programme delivery.
• Proven ability to work independently.
• Self-starter and quick learner.
• Ability to adapt and embrace a changing environment.
• Ability to drive and access to a car for work purposes.

Ideally, applicants will also have the following desirable qualities:

• Two years of teaching/education experience with primary age children.
• University degree.