VCSE Community Insight and Partnerships Officer

We’re recruiting: VCSE Community Insight and Partnerships Officer

Help community knowledge shape decisions across East Surrey

Voluntary Action Surrey East (VASE) and Central Surrey Voluntary Action (CSVA) are looking for an experienced relationship-builder to play a central role in delivering the East Surrey Community Insight Partnership (ESCIP).

ESCIP brings together voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations and connects community intelligence with health, local-authority and wider partners. Its purpose is to ensure that community experience is heard, understood and used to inform local priorities and decisions.

This is more than a coordination role. You will build trusted relationships, bring organisations together, gather and analyse community intelligence and turn it into clear, useful briefings for decision-makers. You will also help create stronger feedback loops, so communities understand what has been heard and what action has followed.

Role details

Job title: VCSE Community Insight and Partnerships Officer
Salary: £36,000 FTE, pro rata to £22,629 per annum

Hours: 22 hours per week, normally worked over three days
Contract: 12-month fixed term, with an intention to extend subject to funding
Location: Office-based in Oxted, with regular travel across East Surrey
Closing date: Friday 18 September 2026
Interview date: Tuesday 29 September 2026

What you will do

You will:

• Build trusted relationships with VCSE organisations, community groups and statutory partners.
• Coordinate the East Surrey VCSE and Community Forum.
• Plan and facilitate meetings, workshops and engagement activity.
• Gather information and intelligence from organisations and communities.
• Identify shared themes, emerging needs and gaps in available evidence.
• Turn varied information into concise briefings and practical recommendations.
• Strengthen two-way communication between communities and decision-makers.
• Ensure smaller organisations and under-represented communities can contribute meaningfully.
• Support programme monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
• Help demonstrate the value and impact of ESCIP’s first-year model.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for someone who is:

• An excellent relationship-builder, able to work with people from different organisations and backgrounds.
• A confident facilitator who can bring people together around shared priorities.
• Curious and analytical, with the ability to identify meaningful themes.
• A clear communicator who can make complex information accessible.
• Organised, self-motivated and comfortable managing competing priorities.
• Committed to inclusive engagement and ensuring that less-heard voices are represented.
• Comfortable working independently within a new and developing programme.

You do not need to have held a role with “community insight” in its title.

We welcome applications from people with transferable experience in community development, engagement, participation, research, service improvement, health, local government or partnership working.

Knowledge of East Surrey’s VCSE sector, health inequalities, neighbourhood working or integrated care would be helpful but is not essential.

About VASE and CSVA

Voluntary Action Surrey East and Central Surrey Voluntary Action are local infrastructure organisations that help voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations thrive.

Together, they bring complementary local reach, trusted sector relationships and experience of connecting community organisations with health, local government and other partners.

Through ESCIP, VASE and CSVA are creating a stronger and more consistent way to gather community intelligence, identify shared and emerging issues and ensure that evidence reaches decision-makers. Just as importantly, ESCIP will help close the feedback loop by showing communities what was heard, what action followed and where further work is needed.

How to apply

Please submit:

• A current CV.
• A personal statement answering the three questions contained in the recruitment pack, using no more than 350 words for each answer.

Download the recruitment pack: Community Insight and Partnerships Officer Recruitment Pack

Submit your application: samantha.aungthin@vase.org.uk

Applications must be received by Friday 18 September 2026.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview and short practical exercise on Tuesday 29 September 2026.

For an informal conversation about the role, please contact samantha.aungthin@vase.org.uk

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly encourage applications from communities that are under-represented in the VCSE workforce. Reasonable adjustments are available throughout the recruitment process.