Investment Director

About Impetus

Impetus transforms the lives of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds by ensuring they get the right support to succeed in school, in work and in life.

We find, fund and build the most promising charities working with these young people, providing core funding and working shoulder-to-shoulder with their leaders over the long term to help them become stronger organisations.

At Impetus we focus on the critical factors that influence the education and employment outcomes for disadvantaged young people in the UK, working with charities that have the potential for impact at scale, helping their leaders to deliver lifechanging, benchmark-beating, sustained outcomes.

We provide these charities with the funding and the tools to grow and deliver on their promises to the young people they serve. We also seek to influence government and the wider sector to back effective support for young people and invest with other like-minded organisations to tackle the most difficult and under-supported challenges. We are resolutely focused on outcomes and impact, driven by quality evidence.

Impetus is a registered charity and our charity number is 1152262.

About the Investment Team

The Investment Team is responsible for selecting charity partners, managing our charity investments and supporting our charity partners to improve and scale their impact.

The Investment Team also leads the Impetus Leadership Academy, a leadership development programme to support talent from ethnic minority backgrounds in the UK youth sector to progress into senior leadership roles.

The team is made up of 18 people, including former teachers, charity chief executives, charity impact leads, management consultants, social investment portfolio managers and impact consultants.

The team is led by a Portfolio Director who sits on the Senior Management Team. The Portfolio Director has 5 direct reports: a Deputy Portfolio Director, three Sector Leads (who lead our work in School engagement, School attainment and Employment Sectors) and an Impact Lead. Sector Leads line manage 6 Investment Directors. Investment Directors line manage Investment Managers (currently 5). Investment Directors and Investment Managers tend to primarily focus on a sector but might have mixed portfolios, depending on need, experience and interest.

The Investment Team has a good track record of role progression. All four Leads and a number of our Investment Directors were promoted from within the team.

The team is passionate, rigorous, determined, creative and warm. We come from a range of backgrounds and bring a broad mix of perspectives. We care deeply for our colleagues, our charity partners and the young people we serve.

Job description – Investment Director

The Investment Director (ID) is a key member of the Investment Team, playing a leading role in identifying, assessing, and supporting portfolio partner charities and other non-profit organisations to deepen their impact and scale their outcomes. This role works closely with other Investment Directors and Investment Managers to deliver external facing support to portfolio partners as well as internal projects to support the development of the investment model and portfolio strategy.

Investment Directors use strategic thinking, analytical rigour, and senior relationship skills to support a portfolio of amazing organisations that, together, will help shift the life chances and outcomes of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK.

Key responsibilities

Finding high potential charities and non-profit partners for our portfolio

• Identifying potential charitable organisations for investment.
• Leading in-depth due diligence process to assess and build partnership foundations with potential partners – covering leadership and governance, and their impact, scale, and partnership potential.
• Modelling from first contact of origination, our approach to engaged and trust-based investment management support.
• Developing and championing high quality investment propositions to our Investment Committee. 

Managing partnerships with portfolio partners

• Managing relationships with partner Chairs and CEOs 
• Agreeing Service Funding Agreements, including appropriate annual investment milestones to allow for a clear assessment of re-investment potential at end of phase 
• Regularly monitoring and assessing partner progress / risks against milestones and making recommendations for progression or exit  
• Escalating key risks on performance, leadership and safeguarding  
• Conducting annual partnership review with Sector Leads and partner CEOs
• Working with Impetus Finance colleagues to ensure timely distribution of grant payments, in line with Service Funding Agreements.

Supporting portfolio partners

• Providing direct support to CEOs and senior colleagues on key strategic topics, using a mix of at least monthly one-to-one meetings and group facilitation to:
• clarify theory of change
• define long term ambition
• develop growth strategy
• achieve a step change in the delivery and performance management of outcomes
• strengthen leadership (individual and collective) and governance capabilities
• develop path to scale
• build financial resilience
• Scoping and project managing pro bono capacity-building projects (in addition to providing direct management support). Ensure projects are delivered to a high standard and contribute to charity progression
• Identifying engagement opportunities for our donors and supporters with charity partners that are aligned with the charity’s activities and do not distract or undermine their core work
• Collaborating with Impetus philanthropy team to develop new funding streams (additional to direct Impetus grant funding) that support our partners’ ability to deliver impact at scale
• Effectively leveraging the support of investment managers to advance the objectives developed for each charity partner that is managed by an Investment Director
• Identifying engagement opportunities for our donors and supporters with charity partners that are aligned with the charity’s activities and do not distract or undermine their core work
• Collaborating with Impetus Philanthropy team to develop new funding streams (additional to direct Impetus grant funding) that support our partners’ ability to deliver impact at scale
• Effectively leveraging the support of investment managers to advance the objectives developed for each charity partner that is managed by an Investment Director.

Support to Impetus

• Developing expertise about “what works” in the sector through cultivation and use of expert input and engagement as well as investigation into key research and evaluative literature
• Working closely with team colleagues to use learnings from our work and domain expertise to inform our strategy, our model and delivery over time
• Leading on and contributing to internal topics, such as team strategy development, digital transformation, or equity, diversity, and inclusion
• Contribute towards Impetus’ public affairs and philanthropy objectives through input into case studies, research and policy campaigns, donor reports and fundraising events
• Sharing the learning from our work across the team, across the organisation and externally working within Impetus strategy, policies and procedures
• Engaging in Impetus pro bono, communications, and advocacy events, and engage charity partners appropriately in these events
• Where appropriate, line-managing and supporting Investment Managers on the team to grow and develop, and achieve their project, role and team objectives.

Person specification

The successful candidate will need to show evidence that they meet many of the following skills, capabilities and experience.

Essential

• A commitment to Impetus’ mission
• Senior level responsibility and a strong track record of building trust-based relationships with senior stakeholders, advising them on key strategic decisions, and challenging them in a respectful and collaborative manner
• A talent for strategic thinking around complex issues
• Strong financial acumen and analytical skills
• Understanding of impact measurement and evaluation fundamentals
• Tenacity and initiative
• Ability to flex personal style to needs of charity and leadership
• Growth mind-set to seek out and act on feedback
• Proven ability to work independently, and to exercise good judgment
• Strong planning and time management skills
• Interest in partnering closely with charities that are doing what it takes to get better
• A commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

If you don't tick all these boxes, but still feel that you fit the profile, please apply anyway.

Desirable

• Experience in the non-profit (charity or social enterprise) sector, through work, as a pro-bono volunteer or Trustee capacity 
• Experience in consulting, investment management, senior charity management, or other in-depth grant making and advisory work
• Knowledge and expertise in UK education or youth employability sectors
• Board experience in private, public or third sector
• Understanding of or experience with commissioning impact evaluations.

How to apply

You will need to:

• Complete the online form (including the equal opportunities monitoring form)
• Upload a comprehensive CV and supporting statement

The supporting statement should be no more than two sides of A4 and should address the criteria in the person specification.

You should also include the contact details of two referees, one of whom must be your current or most recent employer. Referees will only be approached with your express permission.

As part of our commitment to flexible working we will consider a range of options for the successful applicant. All options can be discussed at interview stage.

The deadline for applications is 11.59pm Sunday 10 November 2024.

Interviews

First round interviews and an assessment task will take place on 18 and 19 November 2024.

Second round interviews will take place on 27 November 2024.

You will also be required to provide proof of your eligibility to work in the UK.

Personal Data

Your personal data will be shared for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes our HR team, interviewers (who may include other partners in the project and independent advisors), relevant team managers and our IT service provider if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles. We do not share your data with other third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you. We do not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.

Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

We believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more open, creative and gets better results.

We want our team at Impetus to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our team to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop.

We want to reach a diverse pool of candidates. We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need in order to be successful.

Impetus is an equal opportunity employer and is determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, race, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation or marital status. We value diversity and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds.