Head of Acquisition

Role Title: Head of Acquisition
Salary: £49,508 to £58,221
Location: Hybrid: London or Chard, Somerset
Tenure: fixed term - 1 year [Right to work in the UK required]

ActionAid UK is a member of the ActionAid Federation, an international charity that works with women and girls living in poverty. We work with our partners and dedicated staff in 43 countries to end violence and fight poverty so that all women, everywhere, can create the future they want

Are you a keen advocate of women and girls’ rights in emergencies? 

Are you  a strategic leader with exceptional acquisition expertise and a commitment to feminist principles and anti‑racist practice

Then we'd love to hear from you!

The Head of Acquisition provides strategic leadership for ActionAid UK’s fundraising supporter acquisition programme, shaping and delivering multi‑channel campaigns that bring new supporters into our movement and help drive long‑term organisational impact.
You will develop and oversee a bold, insight‑driven acquisition strategy, ensuring alignment with our mission and 2025–2028 organisational goals. You will lead a high‑performing team and collaborate widely across Public Fundraising, Digital, Stories, Media, Data & Insight and Supporter Operations.

Key areas of responsibility include:

Strategic Leadership

Lead the development of a compelling, data‑driven acquisition strategy and multi‑channel portfolio (including digital, DRTV, face‑to‑face, door drops and inserts).
Develop strong business cases for investment and innovation.
Work closely with the Head of Retention to ensure cohesive supporter journeys and integrated fundraising communications.

Team Leadership & People Management

Build and nurture a motivated, values‑driven team, ensuring coaching, feedback, and development opportunities.
Champion feminist leadership behaviours and ActionAid UK values across all work.

Operational Excellence

Lead the planning, management and evaluation of end‑to‑end funding acquisition campaigns.
Oversee budgeting, reforecasting, KPIs and performance reporting.
Ensure compliance with relevant fundraising regulations and data protection requirements.
Build strong, effective relationships with agencies, suppliers and internal partners.

Insight, Innovation & Continuous Improvement

Work closely with the Data & Insight team to ensure acquisition performance is measured rigorously and learning is embedded.
Drive innovation in channels, propositions and products, ensuring best practice and continuous improvement.

You will bring:

• Extensive experience leading high‑performing acquisition or direct marketing programmes across multiple channels.
• A track record of delivering substantial growth, innovation and strong ROI.
• Experience building and managing significant budgets.
• Strong analytical and data‑interpretation skills.
• Excellent relationship‑building skills and experience working with agencies.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, support and inspire a team.
• Commitment to ActionAid UK’s mission, feminist principles, safeguarding standards, anti‑racist values and data protection responsibilities.

Experience working with women’s rights organisations or the “Global South” is highly desirable.

Additional information

Diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging:

Diversity, inclusion and belonging are key to our organisational culture. We are on a journey to become not only an anti-racist organisation but one that proudly celebrates the diversity of all applicants and employees. We look forward to you bringing your full self to work, proudly sharing your unique perspective and helping us to shape our combined future. We especially welcome applications from those from under-represented/marginalised communities.

AAUK is a Disability Confident Committed organisation and as such any candidate that declares a disability will be shortlisted for interview if they meet the essential criteria for the role.

Referencing and safeguarding:

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, safeguarding, criminal records and terrorism finance checks. By submitting an application the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures. 

ActionAid UK is committed to preventing any form of sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse (including child abuse and adult at-risk abuse) and responding robustly when these harms take place. We expect all ActionAid UK staff and ActionAid UK representatives to share this commitment. We will not tolerate our staff or other representatives carrying out any form of sexual harassment, exploitation or abuse towards anyone we come into contact with through our work. 

Working practices:

ActionAid is committed to supporting flexible working. If you would like to discuss flexible working options, including the possibility of a job share for this role, there will be space to do so during the interview process.

ActionAid UK has a hybrid working policy for many of our roles. The requirement will vary from team to team and the responsibilities of individual roles. As a minimum, all colleagues are expected to attend the office 12 days per year, plus additional time for induction, training, and company connection days. Some roles may require in-office attendance on all days and if so, these will clearly be marked as in-office roles.

Please note that ActionAid UK does not offer fully remote working options. We encourage you to discuss hybrid working expectations at interview.

Recruitment processes:

Please note that ActionAid UK may review, shortlist and interview candidates prior to the closing date so we encourage all candidates to apply as soon as possible. If we receive a very high response, we may close the vacancy early and will not accept further submissions. Vacancies close at 23:55pm 

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Job Description