Strategic Lead

Location: Bournemouth

Salary: Grade 7 - £50,474 per annum

Contract: Fixed term for 12 months

Hours: Full time - 35 hours per week

Closing date: Sunday 21st June 2026 at 11.30 pm

Are you an influential, analytical and ambitious individual with excellent leadership skills and a proven record of working in homelessness or social justice? Do you have experience of service delivery and project planning, budget setting and management, and stakeholder engagement? If so, consider moving to Shelter as our new Strategic Lead for Dorset and you could soon be making a real difference to people affected by the housing emergency.

About the role

You will be the local leader for Shelter s Community Services, leading the team in implementing Shelter s strategy locally, delivering the local response to the housing emergency and empowering the local community in Dorset to fight for home.

You will take the lead on the delivery of services and contracts to provide consistently high levels of performance, planning and delivering service development strategies, including seeking business development opportunities that align with our strategic aims, both across Community Services and in partnership with the Lead Solicitor.

Also, you will promote and direct systems change activity, so we better understand what is influencing people s experience of homelessness and bad housing and have effective plans to influence change.

You will act as an ambassador for Shelter in the local area, representing the organisation through media, networks and local stakeholder engagement.

Alongside this, you will plan and implement resourcing plans for your Hub, including staffing, volunteers and engaging people with lived experience and will manage the Hub Leadership team. Ensuring there are multiple and ongoing opportunities for people with lived experience of homelessness and bad housing to be part of Hub development, activities and learning is a key element of this role, as well as upholding and promoting a learning culture with the Hub.

About you

You will have a proven working knowledge of homelessness, housing and related issues affecting local communities. You have sound experience of managing and delivering contracts, partnerships and services along with experience of being involved in implementing and reviewing change management, whilst demonstrating excellent budgeting and financial reporting skills.

The ability to proactively develop and maintain key relationships and having impressive analytical skills to use insight and evidence to present data, manage performance and to identify and implement systems change are vital to this role, as are impressive interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written.

Benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave, enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.

About the team

Our team in Dorset has been providing housing advice and support services within the area for over 20 years. We have office bases in Bournemouth and Weymouth as well as working in community venues and partner organisation sites. We deliver a wide range of housing rights, legal services, community and support work and advocate for change to fix the broken housing system.

About Shelter

Home is a human right. It s our foundation and where we thrive. Yet every day millions of people are being devastated by the housing emergency.

We exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything.

We need ambitious, passionate people to join us. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.

Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. To win this fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, equitable and transparent. We are committed to combating racism both within and outside Shelter. We welcome you on our journey to becoming truly anti-racist.

How to apply

Please submit a supporting statement with responses to the 'About You' points 1 -5, highlighted in bold and outlined in the job description, of no more than 1000 words total. Please provide specific examples following the STAR format and ensure you demonstrate how you address the behaviour below throughout your responses:

• We prioritise diversity and have an inclusive and open mindset

Safeguarding Statement

Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.

Recruitment Agencies

Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.