Programme Director - Rights Respecting Schools

Programme Director - Rights Respecting Schools Team

Circa £71,000 per annum

Permanent

Part home/Part office (London) based

UNICEF ensures more of the world’s children are vaccinated, educated and protected than any other organisation. We have done more to influence laws and policies to help protect children than anyone else. We get things done. And we’re not going to stop until the world is a safe place for all our children.

This is a great opportunity to join the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) as the Programme Director of the Rights Respecting Schools Team who has overall responsibility for delivering the Rights Respecting Schools Award and associated advocacy objectives.

The Rights Respecting Schools team works with schools in the UK to create safe and inspiring places to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured, and they are able to thrive. Over 5000 schools and 1.7 million children and young people are actively engaged in the programme.

Leadership and management experience in a relevant field relating to child rights education and in-depth knowledge and understanding of UK school and education service structures, culture and significant issues are essential requirements.

Please bear in mind that when you write your response to our application questions, you demonstrate your knowledge, skills, and understanding of the role requirements and how well UNICEF UK’s values and mission aligns with yours. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT to generate your answers, will automatically exclude your application from our recruitment process.

Closing date: 9am, Monday 19th October 2026

First Round Interview Date:
Monday 2nd November 2026

Second Round Interview Date:
Monday 9th November 2026

In return, we offer:

• excellent pay and benefits (including flexible working, generous annual leave and pension, big brand discounts and wellbeing tools)
• outstanding training and learning opportunities and the support to excel in your role
• impressive open plan office space and facilities on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
• an open culture and workplace with colleagues who share our values, enjoy their work and are motivated to do their utmost for children.
• the opportunity to work in a leading children’s organisation making a difference to children around the world
• Our application process:
  We use a system called  Applied  that anonymises your responses and focuses on your actual skills that are relevant to this role. This benefits you by giving you a greater chance of expressing your skills in this objective selection process.

We anticipate most colleagues will do two days a week in the office on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, East London and the rest of the time from home. We will happily discuss other flexible options to suit your circumstances.

UNICEF UK promotes equality, diversity and inclusion in our workplace. We make employment decisions by matching business needs with skills and experience of candidates, irrespective of disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation.

We welcome a conversation about your flexible working requirements, personal growth, and promoting a workplace where you can be yourself and achieve success based only on your merit.

The successful candidate will be required to apply for a criminal records check. A criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working with us. This will depend on the nature of the role and the circumstances of your offences.

We only accept online applications as this saves us money, making more funds available for us to help ensure children’s rights.

If you require support in completing the online form or an application form in an alternative format, please contact Supporter Care on  during office hours.

If you do not hear from us within 14 days of the closing date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. Please note that we only provide feedback to shortlisted candidates.

Registered Charity Nos. 1072612 (England and Wales) SC043677 (Scotland).