Programme Manager - School Food Review

Employment Type Contract 1 year fixed term contract. 32 hours per week, can be worked flexibly.

Location Hybrid London, UK Flexible / hybrid with a minimum of one day per week in the Brixton office.

Seniority Mid-level

• Closing: 11:59pm, 23rd Oct 2026 BST

Job Description

Who we are

The School Food Review is a coalition of organisations spanning charities, educational organisations, caterers, unions and academics, committed to working together to improve children’s health by reforming the school food system. The group’s work is coordinated by founder members School Food Matters, Food Foundation, Bite Back, Sustain and Chefs in Schools, and is supported by Impact on Urban Health.

The School Food Review has identified three areas of action required to deliver meaningful change – equitable access, fairer funding and quality assurance. Work across these three areas is delivered through focused working groups, drawing on members of the coalition. This includes public campaigning, advocacy and policy development.

About Chefs in Schools

The post will be hosted by Chefs in Schools; a charity that exists to improve children’s health and futures through better school food and meaningful food education.

We work alongside schools and catering teams to transform what children eat every day, particularly in communities facing the greatest barriers to good health. We combine practical support, training, operational expertise and sector influence to help schools serve fresh, nutritious food that children want to eat.

We’re backed by some of the biggest names in food and are ambitious about both impact and scale. We want every child, everywhere, to have access to excellent school food and a real food education. We are a values-led organisation - bold, honest, collaborative, innovative and focused on solutions.

About you and the role

The purpose of this role is to plan, coordinate and oversee the work of our coalition, the School Food Review, to ensure that we are maximising the potential of the skills and expertise we can draw on from members and driving meaningful impact. You will lead the School Food Review’s Operational Group ('Ops Group'), made up of personnel from key organisations funded to work on the School Food Review, to ensure that the coalition delivers on its mission. Whilst employed by Chefs in Schools, your role will be focused within the coalition.

Day to day, you will project manage operational delivery across the School Food Review coalition, ensuring efficient and effective delivery against the agreed work plan, which you will be monitoring and developing in consultation with your colleagues in the Ops Group. You will ensure that the Governance Group and broader coalition membership are kept informed of progress, promptly flagging risks and identifying suitable mitigations.

You will have an understanding of the context that we operate in (education and food sectors) and a high-level understanding of the type of work that is being delivered (eg policy, campaigning and advocacy). You will have strong programme and project management expertise. Your expertise in this area will be combined with strong people skills, and the ability to manage effective partnerships with external organisations. Experience of working with a coalition, or in partnership with multiple organisations, is crucial.

The responsibilities, skills and experience listed below are intended to give you an idea of what we need for this role. If you don’t meet every single requirement, but feel as though you would be able to work with us to deliver the majority of them, we would urge you to apply anyway. We are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, and for us the most important ‘experience’ is passion for our mission. You may be just the right candidate for this, or other roles.

Key responsibilities

• Attend workstream meetings to support the development of plans.
• Seek input on planning from workstream leads and the Ops Group, gaining approval from the Governance Group and buy-in from the wider coalition.
• Manage delivery of the work plan to timelines, working in partnership with the workstreams and supporting them to remain effective.
• Manage the development of new delivery and workstreams, ensuring these align with the agreed framework from the Governance Group.
• Ensure measurable actions from the DEI Action Plan are delivered and embedded across the coalition’s work, including workstreams, work plans and evaluation.
• Ensure all workstreams regularly communicate progress and updates to the Ops Group and wider coalition.
• Work with the evaluation team to complete quarterly learning sessions and embed findings back into the work of the coalition.
• Plan and chair regular Ops Group meetings.
• Report regularly to the Governance Group on progress, helping to plan effective Governance Group meetings through timely, insightful reporting.
• Lead all liaison with the Chair of the coalition.
• Prepare budgets and forecasts for sign-off by the Governance Group, and manage and track all coalition spend.
• Prepare six-monthly funder reports to keep funders up to date with progress.
• Oversee effective member communications, including monthly newsletters and bi-monthly membership meetings to drive engagement.
• Lead targeted membership engagement to support specific workstreams as required, and onboard new members.
• Coordinate sign-off for coalition-wide reports, documents and materials, ensuring a consistent tone and adherence to brand guidelines.
• Ensure all coalition-related events are coordinated and delivered to a high standard.
• Keep in touch with external partners and the wider environment to understand issues affecting the sector.
• Represent the School Food Review in wider sector settings when required.

Skills & experience

• You have significant experience working in coalitions, partnerships or other multi-organisation settings.
• You have an interest in and belief in our mission to improve child health through better food and food education in schools.
• You have an understanding of the school food, education, public health or related policy environment.
• You have strong project or programme management experience, ideally involving multiple organisations, workstreams and competing priorities.
• You are highly organised and methodical, strong on detail, and able to plan ahead, manage deadlines and keep others on track.
• You are confident managing senior stakeholders, building consensus and navigating differing views and priorities.
• You are an excellent writer and communicator, with strong presentation, facilitation and meeting-management skills.
• You are skilled at building rapport and trusted relationships, while striking the right balance between being supportive and challenging.
• You have sound judgement and are comfortable working with governance structures, preparing clear information for decision-making and following through on agreed actions.

You would be joining a friendly, supportive team who work hard, but believe in a healthy work/life balance. We seek a diverse range of perspectives, skills, experience and knowledge. Joining a small, collaborative team means you’ll be able to contribute to, and draw on, a variety of projects and strategic insights.

• 33 days (pro-rata for part-time positions) of holiday per year including bank holidays
• Pension scheme with 4% employer contribution
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Free access to the CODE app for discounted restaurants & hospitality venues
• Enhanced parental leave
• £250 allowance towards elective training and development
• Access to the AIG Smart Health Platform offering free rapid access online GP appointments, counselling, and wellbeing support

First interview on either 5th or 6th November. Final interview on Friday 13th November afternoon - this interview will be in person and involve preparing and delivering a presentation to a small panel

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