Interim Chief Executive Officer (maternity cover)
Location: Hybrid working with 2 or 3 days per week, in London, dependent on meetings and occasionally with short notice. Our London office address is: Fivefields, 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens, Victoria, SW1W 0DH
Interviews: Between 8th and 16th January 2026
Start date: Ideally, Monday, 23rd March 2026
Contract and hours: Fixed-term, 9 to 12-month maternity cover. We are open to discussions regarding the working pattern, and welcome applications for 0.8 FTE up to 1 FTE. A full working week is 37.5 hours. We offer flexible working hours. The core working hours are 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Applications from candidates seeking a secondment are welcome.
Action Tutoring is the largest tutoring charity in the country. At the heart of our work is closing the attainment gap for pupils facing disadvantage in the UK by harnessing the power of tutoring. We are seeking an inspiring and strategic Interim Chief Executive Officer (maternity cover) to lead our growing charity, ensuring the charity continues to achieve benchmark‑beating results for the pupils we support. In, our work will reach 7,000 pupils supported by more than 80 staff and 2,500 volunteer tutors. This role would suit someone with experience of interim senior leadership roles, wanting to make a difference in an area with proven impact on outcomes for children and young people.
Duties and responsibilities
The Interim CEO (maternity cover) is responsible for maintaining the high performance of the charity, overseeing the delivery of key strategic goals in line with our mission and aims. During the period of this appointment, you will lead the organisation through its annual school sales process (Spring 26), ensure the successful delivery of a key strategic project testing AI in our delivery model (Summer and Autumn 26) and set the organisation up for success in a new academic year (Autumn 26).
Vision, Strategy and Delivery
* Working with the Board to implement the vision and mission of the charity.
* Responsible for implementing the agreed strategy.
People and Cultural Leadership
* Overall people and cultural leadership, empowering the team the maintain the positive working culture with behaviours that align closely to the charity's values.
* Ensuring operational excellence is maintained across the organisation.
Advocacy
* Representing Action Tutoring externally to a range of stakeholders, including school leaders, policymakers, the media and funders, to raise the profile of Action Tutoring and awareness of the cause.
* Sustain constructive working relationships with other education charities, sharing good practice and working collaboratively to improve educational outcomes.
Finance and Fundraising
* Overseeing financial management of the charity supported by the Director of Finance & Operations.
* Lead fundraising alongside the Head of Philanthropy to ensure fundraising targets set by the Board are met.
Line Management
* Direct line management of the Senior Leadership Team (3 Directors), the Head of Impact & Quality and the Head of Philanthropy, covering the five departments of the organisation.
A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found in the job description attached to the BreatheHR advert.
* Right to work in the UK.
We are looking for some of the following attributes, though you might be more experienced in some areas than others:
* Proven track record as a CEO in a not-for-profit organisation, experience as an Interim CEO is desirable but not essential. The ability to get up to speed quickly will be vital.
* Experience of working within a delivery-based organisation and an understanding of how to ensure quality, efficiency, and impact in that context.
* Commercial mindset, with proven success in fundraising and/or sales targets to meet set targets and secure income for ongoing operations.
* Experience overseeing pilots of new delivery modes, applying a theory of change approach to learning.
* Experience in developing and executing strategic plans and complex projects to achieve organisational vision and mission.
* Strong communication skills, with experience representing organisations externally to various stakeholders (e.g., school leaders, partners, funders).
* Understanding of the education sector, and the needs and drivers of stakeholders across the education space.
* Ability to diagnose and dissect complex problems and encourage scalable solutions to novel issues.
* Experience in empowering senior leaders and the wider organisations to meet ambitious targets.
* Ability to foster a positive working culture, aligned with Action Tutoring's values.
* Strong financial management skills.
* Knowledge of governance structures and experience in working closely with a board of trustees, including managing strategic risk.
* Comfortable with data and committed to driving impact across the organisation.
You will be more successful in this role if you have the following personal attributes:
* Passion for addressing educational disadvantage and closing the attainment gap.
* Collaborative mindset and the ability to build strong, constructive relationships with other organisations and charities, fostering collaboration and sharing of best practices.
* High ethical standards and personal integrity, with a commitment to transparency and accountability in leadership.
* Resilient and adaptable with the ability to thrive in an evolving and challenging external environment, and to adjust to shifts in the education landscape.
* Strong commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive working environment.
* Hybrid working – We offer a flexible combination of office and home based working.
* Holiday – 25 days holiday a year (plus UK public holidays), increasing by a day for each complete year of service (up to five extra days). 3 additional days between Christmas and New Year.
* Flexitime and TOIL – We have a flexible policy for working hours, and offer TOIL where staff have to work particularly early in the day or late in the evening, so that they can reclaim those hours at another time.
* Team away days – The whole team across the UK gets together three times a year.
* Pensions – We have a workplace pension scheme with a 3% employer contribution.
* Sabbatical leave – We offer paid and unpaid sabbatical leaves to our long standing colleagues.
* Culture of celebrating – Regular thanks and praise and monthly recognition of 'heroes' to celebrate employees going above and beyond.
* Knowledge-sharing – Lots of opportunities to learn from others in the organisation, including policy briefings, shadowing colleagues and peer‑to‑peer development.
* Socials – Team socials around team days, regular bring‑and‑share team lunches and other activities.
* Proofreading Team – As well as checking the accuracy of all content Action Tutoring shares with external audiences, our proofreading team supports individuals who would value an extra pair of eyes on their writing.
* Ad hoc projects – Interested in other exciting topics relevant to our charity? Then join one of our working groups (including policy, diversity and inclusion, curriculum and training, socials, data and insights) and support with ongoing projects.
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