Homes Collective Lead, (Homes as a Foundation) Wates Family Enterprise Trust FTC

Homes Collective Lead

Wates Family Enterprise Trust (WFET) 24Month FTC

Location: Leatherhead (once a fortnight) then split between London/hybrid

Salary: £50,000 per annum FTE  

About the Role

At Wates Family Enterprise Trust, we believe that safe, stable housing is the foundation for a decent life.

We're looking for a Homes Collective Lead to play a pivotal role in strengthening collaboration across the housing and homelessness ecosystem. This is a unique opportunity to work at a system level—bringing together funders, practitioners, policymakers, researchers and people with lived experience to drive meaningful, long-term change.

This is not a traditional programme or grant management role. Instead, you will act as a connector, facilitator and strategist, ensuring organisations are working collectively—not in silos—to address housing insecurity, Temporary Accommodation and challenges within the Private Rented Sector.

Key Responsibilities

Programme Leadership & Grant Making

• Manage WFET's Homes grant portfolio (c.£350k, scaling to ~£1m over time)
• Build strong relationships with partners across housing and homelessness
• Identify opportunities for shared learning and system-wide impact
• Develop co-funding partnerships with aligned funders
• Use insights from funded work to shape long-term housing strategy

Convening & Collective Impact

• Lead the Housing Funders Policy Network to drive alignment and collaboration
• Coordinate cross-sector groups focused on housing data and systems change
• Convene learning spaces (online and in person) to share evidence and insight
• Foster collaboration and reduce duplication across the sector

Learning, Evidence & Influence

• Work with research partners to generate and interpret evidence on:
  • Temporary Accommodation
  • Private Rented Sector reform
  • Access, tenure and prevention models
• Ensure lived experience is meaningfully embedded in all work
• Translate complex data into actionable insights for stakeholders
• Support proportionate monitoring, evaluation and learning approaches

Strategic Engagement

• Identify and engage co-funders, investors and philanthropists
• Contribute to the development of WFET's Homes strategy
• Work closely with trustees and senior leadership to shape direction

About You

We're looking for someone who is collaborative, systems-minded and passionate about social impact.

Knowledge & Experience

• Strong understanding of UK housing and homelessness systems
• Experience working within or alongside housing, policy or homelessness organisations
• Track record of building partnerships and convening diverse stakeholders
• Experience in grant making or managing funded programmes
• Ability to interpret and communicate research and evidence effectively

Skills

• Excellent communication skills across a wide range of audiences
• Skilled facilitator, able to lead inclusive and constructive conversations
• Experience working across public, private, voluntary or academic sectors
• Ability to influence without authority through relationships and insight

Behaviours

• Highly collaborative with a shared leadership mindset
• Values-led, with a strong commitment to equity and social justice
• Comfortable navigating complexity and ambiguity
• Empathetic, proactive and solutions-focused

Additional Information

• This role manages a grant budget of c.£350,000, with growth to ~£1m over time
• The role does not include direct line management responsibility
• Jointly funded by WFET, Trust for London and Oak Foundation
• WFET is committed to supporting your professional development

Along with your CV and as part of your application, please submit a personal statement (maximum 1–2 pages of A4, using a minimum font size of 11).

In your statement, select up to three of the areas below and tell us about your experience:

• Bringing together groups with diverse or conflicting perspectives
• Influencing or seeking to change public policy
• Working within or alongside communities impacted by the housing crisis
• Using or interpreting quantitative data and evidence
• Delivering projects involving multiple stakeholders

For each example, please clearly outline:

• What you did
• What the outcome was
• Why this experience is relevant to this role

Closing date : 7th July 2026 

Interview dates: Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st July 2026 

Our commitments:  

Wates is proud to be an employer where anyone can thrive, and we welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds.  We encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every requirement, as we value transferable skills and assess all applications fairly.

We don't discriminate based on a criminal record; all applications are reviewed on an individual basis against the requirements of the role. Some roles may require additional checks, due to the nature of the work.  As a Disability Confident Leader, we offer an interview to applicants with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for the role and opt in to the Disability Confident scheme.  Reasonable adjustments are available, please contact us at recruitment@wates.co.u