We are seeking a Funding Officer to join our passionate and friendly team in Northern Ireland.

This permanent position is part of our Southern Team, which covers the following Council areas: Ards and North Down, Mid Ulster, Newry Mourne and Down and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon. Led by a Funding Manager and supported by four other Funding Officers, you will be responsible for the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon areas while also working flexibly across the wider local team to help meet the demands of our funding programmes.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a dedicated team delivering over £30m annually to support communities and create real impact across Northern Ireland

Based primarily in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon areas, you will work from home and within local community settings. The role will also require travel to our Belfast office (around once every couple of weeks) as well as occasional visits to other parts of the Southern team area.

This is a varied and rewarding role and involves assessing funding applications across our programmes, managing grants and monitoring progress and building strong relationships with key stakeholders. You will use your local knowledge and experience to help ensure funding is directed where it can make the greatest difference to places, people and communities who experience poverty, disadvantage and discrimination.

Key responsibilities may include:

• Assessing funding applications across our programmes
• Managing your own caseload of grants, including liaising with grant holders, visiting projects, identifying and managing risks, and supporting organisations to deliver and evaluate their work.
• Understanding and responding to the different needs of communities, applicants and grant holders
• Providing constructive advice and feedback, supporting applicants while being confident to have challenging conversations where needed
• Representing the Fund by engaging with key stakeholders, including applicants, support agencies, Council staff, and by attending funding fairs and external meetings.
• Sharing learning from your conversations, events, project visits, reports and evaluations to help maximize our impact as a grant maker.

You may come from a voluntary sector background – many of our colleagues do- but we are also very open to transferable skills from other sectors. What matters most is your ability to build relationships, use sound judgement and support communities to thrive.

Interview details:

• Date: 9th or 13th October
• Format: Face to Face
• Location: Our Belfast Office

On application, please align your supporting statement to the criteria below

Essential Criteria:

• Communication skills: Strong listening, written and verbal communication with an emphasis on written communication for assessment purposes.
• Relational skills: Ability to build and maintain excellent relationships at different levels, with colleagues, community organisations and other external agencies with a strong commitment to equity and inclusion.
• Analytical Skills: Ability to absorb a wide range of information including ability to analyse accounts and numerical data and to make judgement-based decisions with confidence.
• Knowledge of the voluntary and community sector
• Values – Values driven and passionate about the Fund’s purpose, with a strong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
• An ability to use your initiative, manage your own workload and work to deadlines and a can-do attitude.
• Demonstrable IT skills and the ability to learn detailed processes quickly and accurately

Desirable

• Be responsive to emerging issues and trends which impact on your work, the work of your team, or the Fund

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – therefore, we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we work hard to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed.

We also believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. That’s why The National Lottery Community Fund is committed to being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. We recognise and celebrate the fact that our people come from diverse backgrounds. We positively welcome applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities or longstanding health conditions, people who are LGBTQ+, and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as well as people of all ages.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we take a proactive approach in making reasonable adjustments, if needed, throughout the recruitment process and during employment. (This can be related to a physical and mental health condition.)