The Donkey Sanctuary is an international animal welfare organisation, offering care and protection to donkeys worldwide. Our vision is a world where every donkey has a good quality of life, and our mission is to improve the lives of donkeys every day. We will achieve this by transforming the lives of donkeys in need worldwide by fostering greater understanding, collaboration and support, and by promoting lasting, mutually life-enhancing relationships.
These are exciting times for the charity, and we have an excellent opportunity for a Project Manager with experience of successful delivery in systems implementations to join our busy Business Strategy & Programmes Team. As Project Manager, you will oversee and lead the planning, communication, implementation and delivery of projects of significant strategic benefit to the charity, involving operational teams and management at all levels. These projects sit within a global Technology Transformation Programme of work reporting to the Senior PM.
About you:
Holder of a recognised formal project management qualification (APM/Prince2/PMD Pro or equivalent).
Proven success in the management and delivery of multiple complex, concurrent projects in a busy environment with varying priorities, budgets and time frames.
Evidence of delivering successful system implementation projects through a typical project lifecycle, ideally with experience of organisation wide ERP implementations
Highly developed written and verbal communication skills.
Demonstrable experience of establishing, building and maintaining successful stakeholder relationships.
Able to lead and motivate project teams.
Demonstrable evidence of creating and implementing new processes.
A good understanding of the principles of good change management associated with large scale system implementations.
About the role:
Your principal duties and responsibilities will include -
Taking an active part in designing, adapting and delivering plans necessary to meet the aims and objectives of each project.
Leading in implementation management and monitoring/evaluation of delivered projects through relevant phases of an end-to-end project lifecycle.
Managing, escalating and communicating project progress and issues to senior management in relevant project/programme meetings.
Providing Project Management expertise to Project sponsor(s) and Senior Project Manager to ensure projects are delivered on time, to quality and within agreed budget for achievement of benefits realisation.
Active management of related risk, issue, decision, action and benefits tracking tools to regularly report on progress and areas of escalation.
Working closely with the Change Manager and wider project team to ensure stakeholders have sufficient engagement and support opportunities to enable adoption success.
Actively encouraging the generation of new ideas and opportunities across the organisation, gathering lessons learned, to improve structures, processes and adoption of different ways of working.
What we offer in return:
Based in Sidmouth, Devon - an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - this is a full-time, 2-year fixed term contract starting as soon as possible, working 35 hours per week, 08.30-16.30, Monday-Friday.
This is a hybrid working position, combining onsite and home working under our guiding principles for such roles. The working pattern will be agreed between the line manager and post-holder, with onsite attendance currently anticipated to be one day per week, but could be more depending on project activities.
Benefits:
Competitive pension.
Life assurance.
31 days holiday (including Bank holidays), rising to 34 will each full year of service.
Wellbeing team.
Recorded Pilates and Yoga classes.
Long service awards.
Healthshield plan -
Reimbursement of some medical expenses up to the specified limits per membership.
Offers, discounts and cashback on shopping, travel and entertainment from participating outlets.
Access to a 24/7 GP and counselling service.
Free parking.
Subsidised restaurant and shop.
Closing date for completed applications: Monday 7 September 2026.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy before the advertised date and therefore encourage early applications.
Interviews will be held via Microsoft Teams on Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 September.
The Donkey Sanctuary is a Disability Confident Employer.
The Donkey Sanctuary is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable people (children and adults), and expects all staff and volunteers to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to safer recruitment processes, including an application for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check where required for the post.
The Donkey Sanctuary also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and, for relevant posts, may request information from applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.
Please note: The Guaranteed interview scheme is only applicable to candidates who consider themselves to have a disability applying for roles based within the United Kingdom.
NOTE TO APPLICANTS: We look forward to receiving your application, but we do ask you to complete this in your own words, and not to employ an Artificial Intelligence (AI) writing tool or assistant. Applications that are considered not to be an applicant’s own work may not be shortlisted for interview.
Before submitting your application, please ensure you read our candidate journey page, in particular our FAQs section – https://jobs.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/jobs/candidate-journey/
