About us
Our focus on complex health issues that disproportionately impact people living in cities.
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Portfolio Manager (Maternity Cover)
Closing date
06 August 2026
Employment type
Fixed Term Contract
Location
London, Hybrid
Salary
£60,000 - £63,000 / year
Overview
Impact on Urban Health is part of Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation. Our collective mission is to build the foundations of a healthier society.
As a member of the team, you have a real opportunity to shape our work and the impact we can have. This is fuelled by our desire to be more than the sum of our parts. We’re curious, we think big and we’re not afraid to take risks.
As part of our team, you will work alongside talented people from a mix of personal and professional backgrounds. We are a Living Wage employer and support flexible working, part-time roles and job shares.
Though our ambitions are serious, this is a friendly place to work with lots of opportunities to meet and socialise with colleagues. We believe there is immense power in diversity and aim to recruit and nurture talent who think and act differently.
There is more information about working with us herehttps://urbanhealth.org.uk/who-we-are/working-at-impact-on-urban-healthwhere you can find out:
There is more information about working with us herehttps://urbanhealth.org.uk/who-we-are/working-at-impact-on-urban-healthwhere you can find out:
- How we approach recruitment
- Our team, culture and values
- The benefits of working with us
- Our approach to diversity, equity & inclusion, health & wellbeing, and learning & development
The Innovation Manager supports the Director of Innovation to execute core parts of the innovation strategy by embedding improved delivery practices and test-and-learn capabilities across Impact on Urban Health and, where relevant, the wider Foundation, overseeing a priority set of cross-IoUH and within-programme innovation projects.
At Impact on Urban Health, we are building a portfolio of programmes that demonstrate the power of long-term approaches to complex health issues in urban environments. We focus our efforts on the London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark, working in partnership with residents, local and national government, and community and private sector partners to improve the health of local residents. By doing this, we aim to influence others in the UK and internationally to create better health. The programmes focus on children’s health and food, financial foundations for adult health, the health effects of air pollution, and children's mental health; and are all at different stages of development.
A Portfolio Manager builds part of a programme strategy, co-develops projects with partners, makes recommendations for funding these projects, and proactively manages the end-to-end partnership and funding lifecycle. This is a supported process, with lots of input and ideas shared across the team as the Portfolio Managers shape their projects. We build partnerships with a wide range of partners, from local communities, businesses, charities, the public sector and any other person or organisation that we think can have an impact on health equity.
A Portfolio Manager builds part of a programme strategy, co-develops projects with partners, makes recommendations for funding these projects, and proactively manages the end-to-end partnership and funding lifecycle. This is a supported process, with lots of input and ideas shared across the team as the Portfolio Managers shape their projects. We build partnerships with a wide range of partners, from local communities, businesses, charities, the public sector and any other person or organisation that we think can have an impact on health equity.
Key Responsibilities
Strategy and Programme Development:
- Build a deep understanding of the health issues your programme focuses on and the relevant systems that need to change to achieve greater equity.
- Collaborate with our Data, Evaluation & Learning team to understand different forms of evidence and lived experience relevant to your programme.
- Lead on strategy development for part of one or more of our urban health programmes.
- Identify organisations with whom to collaborate.
Partnership and Funding Lifecycle:
Lead the funding partnership life cycle. This includes:
Developing ideas and partnerships
- Approach relevant organisations and their teams, engaging them and co-developing projects and partnerships that support the delivery of our impact goals and programmatic strategies.
- Apply equitable funding principles in practice, including transparency, fairness, trust-building and power-sharing with partners.
Bringing partnerships through our decision-making process and contracting.
- Drive an inclusive/non-extractive due diligence process.
- Detail clear specifications and deliverables for projects which align with the relevant urban health programme.
- Deliver presentations at Executive Investment Committee meeting.
- Draft funding (grant giving) contracts using templates.
Managing and exiting partnerships
- Guide, advise and learn from existing project partners as they deliver to achieve our mutual goals.
- Utilise effective programme management techniques to monitor effective delivery against contracts and specifications.
- Ensure project partners report against agreed deliverables as required within contracts, and scrutinise to ensure that contracts are being fulfilled.
- Proactively address any areas where contracts are not being delivered upon, escalating where necessary.
- Work with our Data, Evaluation & Learning team and external evaluation experts to develop and deliver evaluation plans for projects and partnerships.
- Assist organisational development of partners, through commissioning grants plus support.
Scaling Impact, Influence and Thought Leadership:
Plan and deliver ways to scale solutions and grow impact through influencing, in collaboration with partners and internal teams across the organisation, such as Policy, Influencing & Communications, and Data, Evaluation & Learning.
This includes:
- Building diverse, cross-sector partnerships
- Formulating plans to scale the impact of your portfolio
- Convening and supporting partners to work together to influence policy and decision-makers
- Delivering thought leadership for your area of focus to influence relevant stakeholders, e.g. blog writing, attending and speaking at events.
- Contribute to strategic communications, campaigning and influencing activity where relevant.
Role responsibilities are not exhaustive, and you would be reasonably expected to take on wider tasks that are commensurate with the level of your role
Skills, Knowledge and Expertise
Skills, abilities, and attributes:
- Demonstrable commitment to equity and good health for all, in particular those affected by poverty and racism
- Ability to draft robust contracts from templates.
- Inclusive and high-quality communication and influencing skills, including strong presentation skills.
- Strategic thinking and problem-solving skills – able to come up with solutions to complex problems.
- Strong relationship building skills and ability to engage a wide range of audiences including effective community engagement.
- Ability to manage uncertainty, navigate complexity, seek clarity and actively ensure roles and responsibilities are clear.
- Commercial acumen (though we will support you to develop this).
Knowledge, experience, and qualifications:
- Experience / proven ability in programme / project management.
- Demonstrable understanding of philanthropy, grant giving processes and practice.
- An understanding or experience of a range of different entities and organisations, for example local, national, international organisations, voluntary or community organisations, social enterprises, government, policy makers, businesses, statutory bodies.
- An understanding of what makes funded / grass roots organisations effective in the work they lead.
- Experience in community organising, asset ownership or asset stewardship (desirable)
- An understanding of community wealth building principles in the context of place regeneration (desirable)
- Experience in blended finance capital stacks (desirable)
Experience in or knowledge of one or more of the following areas will be desirable:
- Experience of working or living in diverse urban areas.
- The healthcare system and how it affects local communities.
- Public policy and regulations.
- Private sector advocacy and lobbying.
- Innovation
Benefits
- Contributory pension
- Annual personal development budget
- Annual health and wellbeing personal allowance
- Enhanced maternity, paternity, and parental leave pay accessible without length of service requirements.
- Health and wellbeing programme that offers optional free yearly health check-ups.
- Support for healthy eating via fruit bowls and onsite lunch facilities.
- Agile working, flexible hours, and supportive IT kit.
- Shower facilities and bike lock area.
- Generous annual leave (27 days + bank holidays)
- Subsidies for glasses
- Employee Assistance Programme
About us
As part of our team, you will work alongside talented people from a real mix of personal and professional backgrounds, in an environment where different perspectives and lived experience are valued and respected.
Who we are
Our team
Our team bring together a unique combination of expertise, skills and drive to meet our ambition of making cities healthier places for everyone to live in.
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Who we are
Working at Impact on Urban Health
Our purpose and values as an employer.
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