Chief of Staff

Babyzone is a UK early childhood charity. We run free, open-access community hubs for families with children aged 0–5 in areas of high deprivation — no booking or referral needed. Since launching in 2019, we've grown to 14 hubs across England, Wales and Scotland, welcomed more than 100,000 parent and child visits — over 70% from the most deprived communities — and we're on track to reach 20 hubs by the end of 2027.

Our hubs are evidence-informed spaces: programmes co-developed with families, practitioners and world-leading researchers, then rigorously evaluated and improved. More than 300 partner organisations — NHS teams, local authorities and specialist charities — co-locate in our hubs to create a joined-up local system for families.

We are backed by significant multi-year philanthropic investment and are building the definitive evidence base for what works in the early years.

This is a new, senior role at the heart of Babyzone, working as Chief of Staff to the CEO with primary responsibility for fundraising and external partnerships.

As we grow from 14 hubs towards 20, our future depends on the funding and relationships that make each hub possible — major philanthropy, trusts and foundations, corporate partners, and the health, local authority and community partners who work alongside us.

We are looking for someone who can be the CEO's right hand and a fundraiser and partnership-builder in their own right: opening doors, building trusted relationships with funders and partners, and turning the CEO's strategy into delivery across the organisation.

As Chief of Staff, you will extend the CEO's capacity and lead the work that secures Babyzone's future.

Your primary focus will be fundraising and external partnerships: building and running the fundraising strategy and pipeline, stewarding our major funders, and developing the external relationships that underpin the hub network and our national influence.

Alongside this, you will run the office of the CEO — setting the operating rhythm, preparing the CEO for the conversations that matter, driving strategic priorities through to delivery, and representing the CEO internally and externally.

It is a role for someone comfortable moving between a funder meeting, a board paper and a hub visit in the same week.

• Own and grow Babyzone's fundraising strategy and pipeline across major donors and philanthropy, trusts and foundations, and corporate partnerships.
• Steward existing funders, including our major multi-year philanthropic investment, with excellent, honest reporting and relationship management.
• Lead the development of compelling, credible bids and proposals, building the case for support around the mission and the evidence base.
• Work with the CEO and wider team to identify, cultivate and convert new funding opportunities as the network scales.

• Build and manage strategic relationships across health, local government, corporates, philanthropists, academia and the wider early years and policy community.
• Support hub-level partnership development as we open new hubs, helping local teams build the relationships that make a hub work.
• Represent Babyzone externally alongside and on behalf of the CEO, and help convene and sustain our partner ecosystem.
• Support Babyzone's external profile and influence, keeping early years on the agenda with funders, partners and policymakers.

• Act as a trusted adviser and force-multiplier to the CEO, extending their reach and protecting their time and focus.
• Set and run the operating rhythm — leadership meetings, planning, priorities and follow-through — so decisions turn into delivery.
• Prepare briefings, decks and correspondence, and support the CEO's engagement with the Babyzone Board and relevant external and strategic partners.
• Lead cross-cutting projects and represent the CEO with internal teams, hub heads and external stakeholders.

• Lead Babyzone's statutory reporting, including Charity Commission filings, ensuring returns are accurate, compliant and submitted on time.
• Coordinate Board meetings and trustee reporting —…