About the role
The Hope Workshop is a growing social enterprise (currently a ministry that is part of Cornerstone City Church) providing garden furniture-making training and employment for men who are rebuilding their lives, including those in recovery from addiction, the long-term unemployed, new arrivals to Northern Ireland, and people leaving prison and reintegrating into society.
We are seeking an individual to help lead the Hope Workshop through its next chapter: growing from a church-based ministry programme into a self-sufficient social enterprise, while holding firmly to the Christian ethos and pastoral heart that has made it work so far.
This is an opportunity to help shape an organisation — we are looking for someone who can help us build the structures that will let a proven, life-changing model grow and thrive.
Purpose of the role
Manage operations and help provide strategic and operational leadership of the Hope Workshop, developing it into a sustainable social enterprise with clear governance, a growing furniture business, and a strong, structured programme of training and support. All of it rooted in a genuine Christian ethos of compassion and restoration.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership and Management
- Lead delivery of the Hope Workshop's long term development plan, from formalising current practice through to independent, self-sustaining social enterprise status
- Oversee the transition to a separate legal structure, while working in close collaboration with Cornerstone leadership
Programme & People
- Bring structure and consistency to the training and support programme, including formal impact measurement and progression pathways for participants
- Manage and develop a mixed staffing model of paid trainers and volunteers
- Ensure robust safeguarding and health & safety practice
Enterprise Development
- Develop income streams across grant funding, statutory contracts, and trading income, working towards a sustainable model
- Oversee the development of the commercial part of the organisation — pricing, production capacity, sales channels, and brand identity
Relationships & Partnerships
- Build and maintain referral relationships with statutory and voluntary bodies (e.g. Probation Board NI, NIACRO, employment and housing services)
- Represent the Hope Workshop to the community, but also to funders and partners
- Maintain and nurture the ongoing relationship with Cornerstone
Ethos & Culture
- Ensure the Christian ethos and values of compassion, dignity, and restoration remain central to the organisation's culture and practice as it grows and professionalises
- Model a pastoral, relational approach to leadership, consistent with the Hope Workshop's roots
Person Specification
Essential
- A committed, practising Christian, able to affirm and personally live out the ethos and values of Cornerstone City Church*
- Minimum 4 years experience in leadership in a not-for-profit context (church/charity)
- Proven ability to provide structure and oversight
- Experience of managing paid and volunteer staff
- A genuine heart for people who are marginalised, in recovery, or reintegrating after prison
- Excellent relationship-building skills, with the credibility to engage stakeholders
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
Desirable
- Experience within the criminal justice system, addiction recovery or other relevant sectors
- Experience of, or a strong aptitude for, organisational development
- Experience of fundraising and/or statutory contract management
*Being a practising Christian is essential for this role, given the nature of the organisation and the centrality of the Christian ethos to its mission, in line with equality legislation exceptions for organisations with a religious ethos.
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