Sponsorship and Fundraising Manager (£50,882 per annum)

Location: Craven Street with opportunity for hybrid working (see job profile for details)
Job level: Level E – Senior Manager/Specialist
Salary: Starting salary of £50,882 plus competitive benefits
Working hours: Monday to Friday, 35 hours per week

The College of Optometrists is the professional body for optometry. It qualifies the profession and delivers the guidance and development to ensure optometrists provide the best possible care. We promote excellence through the College’s affixes, by building the evidence base for optometry, and raising awareness of the profession with the public, commissioners, and healthcare professionals.

We are looking for a pro-active and energetic Sponsorship and Fundraising Manager who will join our established and busy Membership, Marketing and Communication team. This role will provide the expertise and delivery in engaging with funders and sponsors for a range of College activities.

A respected organisation in the optometry sector, we rely on sponsorship and funding to enable the delivery of key College events, research projects, and learning tools. We have a good pool of companies within the sector who do regularly support our work, and this role would be responsible for maintaining and building on those relationships, identifying additional ones, managing the portfolio of products that require funding, and supporting the teams to deliver on the sponsorship requirements.

We are at an exciting moment in our organisation where we are now able to widen the opportunities for sponsorship and fundraising. We want this to be strategic, working with the right people for the right products; and operational by creating sponsorship packages across our portfolio.

With strong stakeholder engagement skills, you will work across the organisation to identify opportunities, and the companies, organisations and funds to enable their delivery. Working collaboratively across the College, and especially with the Director of Knowledge, Events Team, and the Research and the Learning Group, you will provide the knowledge and expertise to ensure that the sponsorship and fundraising opportunities are realised.

Reporting to the Director of Membership, Marketing and Communications, you will be responsible for the strategic direction, planning, relationships and delivery of sponsorship and fundraising for College activities. (please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for more details):

• Strategy and planning – to complete the development of the College’s first fundraising strategy and create an action plan to support effective delivery of the strategy and provide effective return on investment for all fundraising activities
• Relationship management – to map, coordinate and manage the College’s network of relationships within the sector
• Fundraising – to generate funds for College projects and activities by way of individual giving, trusts, foundations, strategic partnerships or commercial packages
• Individual giving, Trusts and Foundations – to develop a coherent plan to identify and prioritise potential sources of funding for key areas of College activity
• Commercial packages and sponsorship - take the lead on developing and delivering sponsorship and exhibitor packages for College events, products and services

Successful candidates would need to demonstrate the following skills, experience and knowledge:

• Proven experience of working at a senior level in fundraising and sponsorship roles
• Proven experience of managing a range of fundraising and sponsorship activities and relationships
• Proven track record of successful fundraising / income generation from a variety of sources, including individual giving campaigns, high net worth donors, corporate partnerships and grant applications
• Experience of developing and securing industry and corporate packages for events and other content
• Excellent stakeholder relationship skills
• Collaborative approach with internal stakeholders

In return, we offer a variety of benefits including a generous pension plan (10% employer contribution), life assurance and a health care cash plan. The College has a TOIL policy and provides time off for events taking place during the evening and weekends. There is also potential to progress to a range maximum of £61,594 under our performance based/market driven incremental scheme.

• First interview will take place on 12 November 2025
• Second interview will take place on 24 November 2025

The College is committed to providing equal opportunities in employment and to avoiding unlawful discrimination. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, valuing the differences that a diverse workforce brings to the organisation. In support of this we follow a fair recruitment process in which shortlisting and other recruitment decisions are made on the basis of skills, competencies and experience demonstrated in the application and interview process.

If you require a reasonable adjustment to be made to support your application due to a disability or other condition, please let us know.

• Typical working hours at the College are 9 am to 5 pm (7 hours, excluding lunch) working five days a week. We operate a flexible working window from 8 am to 6 pm where you can vary your start and end time (working a 7 hour day). This role is flexible and can be worked over a variety of working patterns.
• We also offer hybrid working (a mixture of home and office working). Typically College staff will work around 20 - 40% of their time at the workplace (whether this is the office at Craven St, or a face to face meeting, exam or event at another business related site or organisation) per week.

• We act with integrity and transparency
• We listen and we learn
• We demonstrate respect and professionalism
• We achieve high quality
• We champion diversity and inclusion