Development Manager

About Perennial

Perennial is passionate about building better futures for horticulturists and their families.  Established in 1839, Perennial is needed more than ever, helping anyone who makes or looks after gardens, sport grounds, woodlands and other green spaces.

At Perennial we believe that every horticulturist and their families, should have access to the services and support they need.  We are entering an exciting period of growth and development to enable us to meet current demand and increase our reach across the horticultural community.

We want our team to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve, offering equal opportunities to everyone.

Join us

We’re looking for a Development Manager to join our team in England. You’ll help turn our plans into real, practical results and play a key part in making sure people working in horticulture get the support they need. You’ll be genuinely people focused, passionate about holistic support, and confident building strong connections across the horticultural community where people work, network and train. So more people can thrive in horticulture. If you’re an experienced manager who can balance strategic thinking with hands on delivery directly with employers or advice agencies, we’d love to hear from you.

Culture

Our strategy is underpinned by the following cultural principles and values:

The Perennial Journey

Each and every relationship that we have with people accessing our services is unique to that individual and their family.  We want to continue engaging with people across horticulture ensuring that their entire Perennial journey is based upon trust, reliability, integrity and compassion.  As we grow it is essential that the person-centred approach is at the heart of all we do.

The Perennial Family

Wherever you go in the horticulture sector, you encounter people who have known each other and indeed been friends for many years.  Many of the companies that operate within the sector are family businesses.  This quality of friendship and family is unique to the sector.  We view all of our stakeholders as members of a family, the Perennial Family.  At the heart of this family are the horticulturists whom we work with and their own families.  We will grow and strengthen this network of relationships which brings such benefit to us all, but especially to those we serve.

Ambition

Perennial is in a uniquely powerful position to deliver life changing support for all horticulturists in need and their families; we are the only charity that covers the whole horticulture sector; we are well established; we are well managed; we are well resourced.  Whilst we deliver excellent services, there is much more for us to do, much unmet need to meet and new approaches for us to take.  We commit therefore to delivering our purpose and advancing on our vision with the ambition to make sustainable, measurable and brisk progress.

Innovation

We live in a rapidly changing world and the effects will be felt across all aspects of our work.  Parts of our sector will be profoundly affected by technological changes such as robotics and new propagation and cultivation methods; advances in I.T. will be constantly changing the way we operate and communicate.  In order to survive in this environment, we will need the capacity to change.  In order to thrive we will need to anticipate, embrace and even lead change.  Therefore, we will develop a culture of innovation that ensures that we are constantly looking to the future, that we encourage fresh thinking and ideas and that we are ready to implement new and better ways of operating.

Easy to do business with

We will make ourselves easy to do business with for everyone that comes into contact with us, internally and externally – horticulturists and their families, trustees, staff, volunteers, partner organisations, horticultural professionals, donors, volunteers and supporters.  Success will depend on a combination of what we do and how we do it and will be achieved through ensuring that our processes, systems and communications are clear and simple and that our behaviour and our personality is warm, welcoming, inclusive and trustworthy.

Data Driven and Evidence Based

We will base our decisions on sound data, analysis and evidence.

The Role

In this role, you’ll work closely with the Director of Services and the Head of Prevent Services to make sure our work is joined up and focused on educating, informing and influencing the people who matter. You’ll help keep the voices and experiences of people working in horticulture at the centre of everything we do.

You’ll also help connect our prevent campaigns, early intervention work and help services, making sure they all link together smoothly. Working with key industries, partners and colleges, you’ll help build long‑lasting relationships and spot opportunities to develop new work based on good evidence. You’ll support teams across the organisation to create strong, clear stories about our impact that feed into our stakeholder strategy.

You’ll play an important part in making sure our prevent and early‑intervention work has real impact. This means building strong relationships with our delivery partners, particularly the horticultural industry, colleges and industry trade associations, and creating opportunities for people to get involved in shaping our services. You’ll also take the lead on understanding customer satisfaction, managing feedback and sharing what we learn so we can keep improving. Alongside this, you’ll help teams understand how changes in social policy affect the people we support and what that means for our work.

About you:

As a Development Manager, you’ll offer practical direction and clear advice across Perennial’s services. You’ll bring good knowledge of the horticultural sector, a solid understanding of best practice and evidence, and a real feel for what service users need and expect. You’ll be a motivated and supportive individual who’s open to new ideas and committed to helping our services grow and adapt as needs change.

Key Duties:

• Provide development opportunities within the horticultural community both directly with the industry and at industry trade shows and conferences.
• Take responsibility and lead for developing, coordinating and sustaining relationships with land‑based colleges and horticultural training providers.
• Keep your knowledge up to date and stay aware of good practice and emerging trends relevant to your region.
• Build new local relationships and strengthen existing ones to enhance our service delivery, reputation and influence across the region.
• Maintain strong financial and risk management processes in your area, ensuring all regional work meets legal and regulatory requirements including Health and Safety, Safeguarding, UK GDPR.
• Prepare and submit accurate reports as needed for senior leadership, Board and Committee meetings.
• Work across teams and with external partners to promote services and ensure our help, reach and prevent work is joined up and effective in your region.
• Share learning, success stories and effective approaches across your team, supporting continuous improvement and consistent quality.
• Represent Perennial professionally in all regional relationships with colleagues, volunteers, partners, agencies and other stakeholders.
• Carry out any reasonable tasks that arise as part of your role or in response to changing needs in your region.
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline of local and regional partnerships that help us grow our impact and support our work around policy, research and wider services.
• Develop and use practical, creative ways to grow our regional stakeholder panels and involve them in activities such as pilot projects, feedback sessions and other initiatives that support our goals.
• Support improvements in impact measurement, project planning, data quality and day‑to‑day project management within your regional area.
• Act as a champion for positive change, helping colleagues across the region understand the evolving needs of the people who use our services.
• Keep the team updated on changes in social policy that affect people in horticulture, helping us adapt our regional work in a timely and informed way.

Person Specification

Your skills:

• Able to build trusted, long‑lasting relationships across the horticultural industry and with key partners in your region.
• Good understanding of the horticultural sector and the issues affecting local communities and workplaces.
• Awareness of both local and national policy, and how it impacts people working in horticulture in your area.
• A confident, engaging communicator who can break down complex information and present it clearly to different audiences.
• Skilled at influencing, guiding and supporting people in a service‑delivery environment.
• Able to recruit and keep stakeholders involved in engagement, feedback and research activities across your region.
• Comfortable sharing industry insights and supporting teams to create clear, compelling stories that demonstrate our impact locally.
• A genuine commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in everything you do.
• Able to stay organised and calm under pressure, managing multiple priorities while keeping a close eye on detail.
• Confident in improving and developing service practices to support ongoing learning and better outcomes.
• Competent using IT systems and digital tools to support day‑to‑day work.
• Quick to understand new information and apply it in a practical regional context.
• Committed to ongoing learning and professional development.
• Comfortable working independently while also being a supportive, collaborative team member.
• Self‑motivated, positive and open to change, with the ability to adapt to shifting priorities across the region.
• Flexible in how you work to meet the varied needs of your area.
  

Key Terms and Conditions

These terms and conditions are provided for information only and in no way represent a contract.  In the event of an appointment if there is an anomaly between the contract and these terms, the contract is deemed to be the correct version.

Full information on terms and conditions are contained within a Staff Handbook, issues upon appointment.  Enquiries on specific matters are welcomed – the following are the key issues.

Location: Home-based (Bristol area or central England) with the ability to travel.

Salary: Circa £40,000 per annum pro rata (depending on experience)

Hours of work: 37.5 hours per week – including some weekends and overnight stays.

Pension: Perennial operates an auto-enrolment pension scheme and will match employee contributions up to the statutory amount.  Details of the scheme will be available following a formal offer of employment.

Holidays: 25 days per annum, plus bank holidays (with increases for long service)

General: Sick Pay, Death in Service Benefit (3x salary).  Perennial has a number of well-established, family-friendly policies, including ‘buying’ extra (unpaid) leave, time off for dependents, variations to normal working hours.  Further details available on request.

General Considerations: All Perennial jobs are subject to a probationary period (6 months) and a periodic review.

Smoking: In the interests of health and safety, Perennial operates a non-smoking policy on its premises and expects staff not to smoke in company vehicles.

The outline of terms and conditions are provided for information only and do not represent a contract.



Closing date: Midnight on 5 July, first interview will be 10 July.

We reserve the right to close this advert early if we receive sufficient applications.