Business Development Lead - FE & Public Sector

Business Development Lead, FE & Public Sector

Generation UK & Ireland · Manchester, United Kingdom (Hybrid) · Full-time · Posted 2026-10-12

Salary: GBP 46,000–46,000

Workplace: hybrid

Department: Central

Description

Location and working pattern:

• Location: Based in the North West (e.g., Liverpool, Greater Manchester).
  We will also consider candidates based in the West Midlands, West Yorkshire or the North East who closely meet the job description and are willing to travel. 
  Staff are expected to work from their nearest regional office once a week or once a month, depending on distance.  Current offices are in Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and London, with a further office planned for Liverpool.

• Travel: Regular travel across the North West and our operating regions (West Midlands, West Yorkshire, North East, Greater London), with occasional travel across wider England as we expand. 

• Working pattern: Hybrid model combining c.2 days per week working from home with c.3 days per week travelling to partner and funder meetings.

Salary: £46,000 commensurate with experience + 10% bonus

Contract: Permanent, 80% to 100% FTE. 

• Standard working hours are 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM (with 1 hour unpaid lunch break)
  We offer flexibility to employees to balance their commitments, including medical appointments, parental or caregiving responsibilities, and personal goals.

Responsibilities: College partnerships (c.50%); Public sector fundraising (c.50%)
Reports to: Chief Operating Officer

Key relationships

• Internal: Director of Funding & Grant Management; Head of Finance & Grant Management; Regional Programme Leads for FE Colleges 
• External: FE colleges; combined authorities and local government; central government departments (e.g., DWP, DfE)

Closing date: 17 November 2026, 11.59pm

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are looking for a diligent, highly organised self-starter who can (i) lead on FE college business development and (ii) build Generation's public sector funding pipeline and win new bids:

1. This role secures new FE college partners for Generation across the UK, pitching Generation's shared-delivery model, tailoring it to each college's context and building genuine buy-in. It then works through the practical detail of how the partnership would run with the college, negotiating terms through to a signed agreement, before handing over to the delivery team for implementation.
2. Accessing public sector funding is crucial to Generation UK’s growth and sustainability. Colleges part-fund Generation programmes from their budgets (e.g., Adult Skills Fund, SWAPs etc). Alongside this, the role leads Generation's applications for direct contracts with combined authorities (GLA, WMCA, LCRCA, WYCA, GMCA, etc) and government departments (e.g., Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Education). It also leads the coordination of joint proposals with college partners. 

It's a strong fit for someone who enjoys new business development and excels at managing relationships with FE college leaders and public sector stakeholders. This person can  engage stakeholders leading up to and throughout commissioning rounds, including writing compelling propositions and bids.

ABOUT GENERATION

Generation is a charity with the vision of a meaningful career for every person. Our aim is to support people facing significant and multiple barriers to employment into life-changing careers they otherwise could not access.

We achieve this with a unique methodology of profession-specific skills bootcamp training, focussed on in-demand careers (specifically in the tech, healthcare and green sectors), with extensive, ongoing pastoral support and matchmaking to employer partners. 

Generation launched globally in 2015, and has grown quickly to become the world’s largest demand-led employment initiative. We have placed >100,000  people into roles, working with over 4,000 employer partners to date across 16 countries and 26 professions.

Since launching in the UK in 2019 have now trained more than 3500 people. Our work focuses on supporting those from diverse groups facing barriers to desirable employment. For these learners, we have achieved an industry leading c. 70% job placement rate with learners now placed at >800 employers.

We have secured transformative corporate funding from Microsoft, the JP Morgan Charitable Foundation, the Macquarie Group Foundation, Barclays, Blackrock, and many more. We are also the leading charity delivering under contracts from the Department for Education’s Skills Bootcamp strand. This has driven our scale to new programmes, regions and beneficiary groups.

By joining Generation UK&I, you will become part of an organisation committed to social impact and determined to play its part in changing the system in this context. The work is fast-paced, exciting, and innovative. 

Find out more at https://uk.generation.org/ 

And you can hear more about our impact from our learners and beneficiaries themselves https://www.youtube.com/@GenerationUK-I/videos

And you can also learn more about our culture, directly from our incredible people on our website:

https://uk.generation.org/work-with-us/

Generation acknowledges the duty of care to safeguard, protect, and promote the welfare of staff and learners and is committed to ensuring safeguarding practice reflects statutory responsibilities, and government guidance and complies with best practice.  We carry out employment and right-to-work checks, and request a declaration of any criminal convictions from all staff as part of our recruitment process.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Key responsibilities

1. College Partnerships: Partner sourcing & business development (c.50%)

• Identify, research and proactively approach prospective FE colleges (and, where relevant, other training providers) across Generation's key regions.  These include the North West, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, North East, Greater Manchester and Greater London, as well as new areas as Generation expands.
• Build and manage a pipeline of prospective college partners across these regions. 
• Present and tailor Generation's proven shared-delivery model to prospective partners, adapting the proposition to different college contexts and regional needs.
• Lead negotiations with prospective partners through to signed agreement, including drafting and negotiating MOUs and partnership agreements.
• As part of partnership agreements, secure colleges' commitment to allocate their existing funding streams (e.g., Adult Skills Fund, SWAPs, Skills Bootcamp funding) to fund delivery of Generation programmes and deliver them with fidelity. 
• Once signed, formally hand over new partnerships to the delivery team for on-the-ground implementation and ongoing account management. This role owns the sign-up rather than ongoing delivery, though the role may support the initial induction period.
• Represent Generation at sector events and conferences to build Generation's profile and relationships across the FE college sector.
• Track and report progress against a new-partner pipeline and annual signing target.

2.      Public Sector Fundraising: Pipeline, bids & contracting (c.50%)

• Build relationships with central government and combined authorities, with a particular focus on Northern England, to unlock new funding opportunities.
• Coordinate with colleagues in the Fundraising & Operations team to maintain a shared view of combined authority and local authority relationships and opportunities across our operating regions.
• Build and manage a pipeline of public sector funding opportunities across England to meet an annual income target, monitoring tenders, securing places on relevant frameworks, and developing the partnership arrangements that position Generation to bid directly or with partners.
• Work closely with Generation’s regional programme leads for colleges and our FE college partners to develop joint proposals and/or joint tender responses, agreeing lead and delivery partner arrangements.
• Write bids end-to-end, including modelling the economics that underpin each proposal, drawing on colleagues’ expertise where needed.
• Track changes in skills funding and commissioning in our operating regions and nationally (e.g. devolution, new funding rounds), and brief leadership on its implications.
• Partner closely with the Head of Finance & Grant Management, who leads on financial claims, compliance and audit for public sector contracts, to make sure requirements are understood and met.

Requirements

ABOUT YOU

• Proactive builder: you establish effective systems to drive business development, and convert initial college interest into signed agreements.
• Relationship-builder: you build authentic, long-term relationships with FE college leaders and  public sector commissioners that unlock growth opportunities.
• Strong writer: you write clear, compelling proposals for different audiences including public sector bids and pitches for FE colleges.
• Outcomes-focused: comfortable owning a pipeline and a target, and making judgement calls about where to invest your time across two different workstreams.
• Analytical: able to model bid economics, track pipeline and targets, and sense-check budgets.
• Organised and self-directed: able to manage two distinct workstreams in parallel and focus on high-impact priorities.
• Values-aligned: you understand the need for our work and see the value of both college partnerships and public funding in driving Generation's scale.

EXPERIENCE

Desired experience & qualifications

• Proven experience in business development, partnerships, or fundraising, ideally spanning both relationship-led partnership/sales work and bid writing.
• Experience working in, or closely with, the FE (Further Education) college sector is strongly desired.
• Demonstrated experience writing and winning grant applications, tenders or contracts, ideally in the public sector, to secure 5 to 6 figure grants/contracts.
• Experience negotiating and closing partnership or commercial agreements with external organisations.
• Working familiarity with public sector contract and compliance requirements, although day-to-day compliance will be led by the Finance team.
• Comfortable analysing data in spreadsheets/dashboards to manage a pipeline and report against targets.

However, if you meet only some of these criteria, but believe you have transferable skills and experience, we would still strongly welcome your application.

About the process

• Stage 1: Upload your CV and answer three questions about your motivation for the role and relevant skills.
• Stage 2: Virtual interview
• Stage 3: Task and interview (in-person)
• Stage 4 (optional): Final check in case of a tie, or to confirm culture fit with another team member 
• Deadline for applications: 17 November 2026, 11.59pm

Benefits

At Generation, we're changing the lives of many individuals, and that in itself gets us out of bed! Here are a few other benefits you'll experience working with the UK team:

• Purpose and social impact in the heart of your work
• Opportunity to make your mark - you'll have a lot of autonomy to bring the Generation blueprint to life in a way that makes sense for your region
• Opportunity to get involved with a range of activities and varied projects - we're a small team, so there are lots of opportunities to get involved in projects across the whole organisation
• We offer flexible and remote working to accommodate everyone's preferred working pattern/preferences and unique needs
• WFH set up offer of support of £300 to help you make your working-from-home setup comfortable and efficient
• Professional Development is a priority for Generation and employees and you can access to up to £1,000 towards your learning & development per year. This support is accompanied by up to 5 days of training days/ study leave per year to enable your development activities.

A fair chance

Every role at Generation is open to applications from all sections of society. We believe in the potential of everyone; regardless of race, religion or belief, ethnic origin, different physical ability, family structure, socio-economics, age, nationality or citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other aspect that makes you, well, you.

We believe that the more diverse we are the better we become. More than just encouraging your application, we're committed to conscious inclusion that (we hope) cultivates an ethos of belonging, connection and shared purpose. We go further together. It’s this philosophy that drives us towards our mission. We open our doors to those who share this mindset.

We are particularly interested in hearing from candidates from marginalised groups. We will assess applications on a rolling basis and close this posting as soon as we have found the right candidate. We look forward to hearing from you.

Support with your application:

Here’s a recruitment support resource that explains our application process and offers tips to help you put forward your best possible application.
Applicant support resource_ Oct 2025

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