Legacy Engagement Officer (Maternity cover)

Guide Dogs - Where Every Role Makes a Difference

Come and join us as a self‑motivated and purpose‑driven Legacy Engagement Officer and be part of something life‑changing - helping people with sight loss live the life they choose.

As a Legacy Engagement Officer at Guide Dogs, you’ll deliver and implement the legacy marketing strategy to grow income from Legacy and In Memoriam Giving, helping more people with sight loss live the life they choose. You will champion and promote legacy giving to supporters and stakeholders, increasing awareness and the number of gifts left in wills. The Legacy Engagement Officer will be an expert in legacy fundraising, supporter engagement, and marketing strategy delivery. Our Legacy Engagement Officers play a huge part in ensuring everything we do enables us to deliver on our purpose and exceed expectations.

We’re looking for someone to join us on a maternity cover basis in this exciting regional role covering the Birmingham, Coventry and Redbridge service team areas so this role will require travel across these geographic locations. You’ll work across the region while being based at our National Centre, in line with the current post holder. The role is 28 hours per week, although we will consider applications for 21 hours, worked across full days.

Key Responsibilities

• Plan and deliver inspiring legacy events across your region, working with volunteers, Guide Dogs staff and supporters to bring powerful stories to life and grow engagement.
• Build and nurture meaningful relationships with legacy and in memory supporters, guiding them on their journey and maximising the impact of their support.
• Champion legacy and in memoriam giving locally, collaborating with regional teams and volunteers to raise awareness and encourage more people to leave a lasting gift.
• Lead key projects and initiatives that support the growth of legacy income, contributing to campaigns, materials and activities with national reach.
• Ensure a high standard of supporter care, communicating sensitively and professionally at all times.
• Stay informed and bring fresh ideas, keeping up to date with sector trends and opportunities to enhance our approach.

You

You’ll have a people-focused and organised approach to building and stewarding high-value relationships. You’ll enjoy working in a collaborative, fast-paced environment with a dedicated focus on delivering multiple projects and engaging supporters, whilst being committed to providing sensitive, high-quality supporter care. You’ll act with integrity and honesty in everything you do.

Skills and Competencies

• Educated to GCSE grade C or above in Maths and English or equivalent (QCF level 2 / SQCF level 5).
• Proven experience of developing and stewarding high value relationships.
• Willingness to manage and work across a wide geographical area.
• Proven experience of effectively managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Proven experience of managing project spend and working with a number of different internal teams to influence and gain support.
• Demonstrable knowledge of Legacy Marketing and an understanding of Will making and related issues (i.e. conflict of interest and undue influence).
• Knowledge of or willingness to learn Inheritance Tax, Probate Law, GDPR and the Charity Commission’s Code of Practice.
• Knowledge of, or willingness to train in, bereavement issues.

Benefits

We wouldn’t be able to change the lives of people with sight loss without our people. That’s why it’s important for us to provide a variety of benefits that reward our colleagues in a way that suits them and recognises the hard work and contribution that they make.

• 26 days annual leave. After three years of continuous employment, this increases to 28 days plus bank holidays.
• Real Living Wage Employer
• Flex pot - equal to a proportion of your annual salary to use on our wide variety of flexible benefits
• The option to buy and sell annual leave
• Discounts and cash-back scheme
• Excellent pension scheme (We will match your pension contributions plus 2% up to a maximum of 9% employer contribution)
• And lots more!

For high volumes of applications, we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than advertised.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Behind Every Guide Dog Is Someone Like You - We’re passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that celebrates and values diversity. Bring your whole self to work regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We don’t want you to ‘fit’ our culture, we want you to enrich it. 

How to apply

Further details on the full role are attached below. When you are ready to apply, submit an online application form via this page.  Please note - If you are successful you will need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK via our digital ID checking supplier.  We cannot offer visa sponsorship at this time.

As part of your application ensure you provide evidence and examples of how your skills & experience meet the criteria as set out in the attached job description. You will also be asked to complete a few job-specific questions, so please be prepared to write your answers to these questions.

If you choose to use AI tools to assist in completing your application, please use them appropriately.  We value authenticity. If you want to stand out, using a generic AI-generated response isn’t going to separate you from the crowd. This is your time to shine and showcase your unique skills, personality, and thought processes!  You can find our full statement on the use of AI to complete applications on our careers website.

If you would like to have an informal conversation about the role before applying, or require any accessibility support to apply, our friendly recruitment team is ready and waiting to help. Call them on 0118 3540345 or drop an email to [email protected].

Safer recruitment

Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If you are applying for a disclosure role, please note that you will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check and sign up to the DBS update service.

At Guide Dogs, we believe in fair and equitable hiring practices. A criminal record will not automatically disqualify an applicant from consideration for a position. Each case will be evaluated individually. We encourage all candidates to disclose relevant information, and we assure you that it will be handled confidentially and fairly.