Location: Hybrid with Tuesday/Wednesday core office days in London (with some UK travel)
Reporting To: Director of Social and Impact Investment
Contract: Full time, permanent
Date Closes: Tues 31st March 2026
Careers4Change is delighted to be supporting Esmée Fairbairn Foundation in their search for a Social Investment Manager.
Role Purpose:
Social and Impact Investment
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is a leading independent funder. We use social investment to support our three strategic aims: Creative, Confident Communities, Our Natural World, and A Fairer Future, with a social investment manager leading the investment strategy for each aim. We are recruiting for a social investment manager that will take ownership of our community, place-based social investments for Creative, Confident Communities. As well as working closely with the other social investment managers, the role also works with the grant funding team working towards Creative, Confident Communities. We have committed £100m of social investment since inception, recycling our £60m allocation. It is an exciting time to join the team, pulling together the spectrum of capital (grant, social and impact investment, endowment) across community energy, housing, social enterprises, funds and more, supporting brilliant organisations.
Purpose of the Role
To undertake due diligence and make recommendations on social investment proposals, working closely with applicants, colleagues and third-party advisers, as appropriate. To actively manage a portfolio of existing social investments for monitoring and reporting. To lead on and build a sub-portfolio focused on Creative, Confident Communities. To support the broader development of the Foundation’s social investment work.
Key Responsibilities:
- Work with the Director of Social and Impact Investment and other colleagues to lead on social investment applications: assessing social investment opportunities, conducting due diligence, including taking expert advice as and when required and making investment recommendations to the Senior Management Team and to the Approvals Committee / Trustee Board.
- Work collaboratively with the Director of Social and Impact Investment and Social Investment colleagues on developing a pipeline of social investment opportunities which are aligned with our key priorities / strategy from both a financial and impact perspective.
- Implement the decisions on approved social investments including any further due diligence, preparation and execution of all necessary legal and other documentation.
- Oversee and undertake monitoring and review of social investments including where appropriate, observing investee Board meetings and attending site visits from time to time, reporting back and capturing the overall learning.
- Support the Director of Social and Impact Investment on impact management activities across the social investment portfolio, working as part of the Social Investment team to set robust outcomes, extract and share learning and best practice internally and externally.
- Analyse and track financial and social impact performance of a portfolio of existing social investments to identify risk, flag concerns and enable proactive support.
- Support the Director of Social and Impact Investment with the design and presentation of the portfolio’s social impact to internal and external audiences.
- Be an active member of the wider funding team supporting and working closely with colleagues to help identify social investment opportunities.
- Undertake any other duties as may reasonably be required, including impact investments.
Qualifications
The Foundation is seeking a candidate with:
- Investment experience, preferably including place-based impact investment.
- Strong financial literacy, possessing the ability to undertake financial analysis of business accounts and structuring of investments.
- Understanding of the role of place-based investment in strengthening the bonds in communities in the UK.
- A self-starter with experience of developing and taking ownership of new initiatives.
- Excellent interpersonal skills: the ability to deal in a helpful, friendly and professional way with people from a range of different backgrounds.
- Work under pressure managing a substantial volume of transactions and working to deadlines.
- Ability to convene groups of people and organisations around a common issue.
- Has good written, oral and communication skills.
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation believes that a greater diversity of views, skills, and lived experience will help generate better ideas, and will lead to better decision making. We want to encourage applicants with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply. In particular, those with lived experience of racial inequity, disability, or poverty.
Careers4Change is a specialist recruiter introducing talent to the impact finance ecosystem.
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is a leading independent funder. We aim to improve our natural world, secure a fairer future and strengthen the bonds in communities in the UK. We provide c. £50million annually in grants to organisations working in the arts, children and young people, sustainable food and environment, and social change. We also have an allocation of £60 million for social investment and a £10m impact investment allocation, alongside our £1.3bn endowment.
In 2020 we launched a new five-year strategy with a focus on three interdependent aims: improving our natural world, tackling injustice to deliver a fairer future and nurturing creative, confident communities. Our strategy is underpinned by the need to tackle structural inequality, racism and the causes and impacts of climate change. We believe that we need bold action and impact like never before, so as well as funding brilliant organisations we will work alongside partners and collaborators to remove barriers and secure progress ourselves, using our voice to quietly influence and effect change.
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