STRATEGIC LEAD
Skin Deep is looking for a new Strategic Lead to help shape our next chapter. This is a part-time leadership role for someone who can hold the big picture, keep internal systems strong, and ensure we are ready for what’s next. The role is designed to provide strategic and project management oversight while ensuring continuity through a period of transition and change.
Skin Deep makes culture in service of racial justice and liberation. Through our live events, online platform and print magazine, we produce and facilitate creative work that inspires, motivates, informs and nourishes people in the fight against imperialism, white supremacy and racial capitalism. Working at the intersection of culture and politics, we seek to collectively create an alternative cultural ecosystem that is able to generate the kinds of stories and songs that can show us the way to liberation, and bring us closer to it.
We are a small team with big ambition. Our work is rooted in hope, care and imagination. We are looking for someone who brings clarity and coordination, who understands how to keep infrastructure strong while holding space for creativity and growth.
The important bits
Contract type: Freelance or PAYE (to be agreed with the successful candidate)
Timeframe: Fixed term, two years, with the potential for renewal or promotion
Hours: 8 days per month. Working hours are flexible around fixed commitments like team meetings. Some evening availability may be required.
Rate: £185 per day, in line with our flat pay structure for core team members. (We are in the process of reviewing pay across the organisation and are open to negotiating the rate for this role as part of wider plans to improve our pay structure.)
Location: Hybrid office/remote, with one fixed day in the London office per week
Benefits: £100 annual training budget and £50 annual personal wellbeing budget
Start date: Ideally September 2025, though we are open to other timelines
Application deadline: 10th August 2025
Interviews: w/c 18th August and w/c 25th August
About the role
This is a leadership role with a focus on internal strength and alignment. You will work closely with our Creative Director and Legal Stewards to help Skin Deep run well and adapt to changing needs. This role combines strategy and oversight with hands-on involvement in the organisation’s daily life.
Key areas of responsibility include:
- Leading on strategic planning processes across the organisation, including setting priorities, tracking progress, and ensuring alignment with Skin Deep’s values and long-term vision
- Supporting and leading planning cycles across the year
- Keeping internal systems updated and functional, and recommending changes when needed
- Working with our accountants on budgets, forecasts, cashflow and payroll
- Overseeing HR processes including contracts, onboarding and internal check-ins
- Maintaining strong communication with Legal Stewards and the Creative Director on governance and forward planning
- Coordinating funding applications and reporting processes with relevant team members
- Offering support and structure during busy delivery periods or times of organisational change
- Line managing staff working in operations or administration, including providing regular support, setting clear goals, and ensuring their work contributes to the organisation’s overall direction
You will be supported by a junior administrator (to be recruited), who will look after meeting logistics, manage the general inbox, coordinate calendars and help keep day-to-day admin on track.
A little bit about you
We are looking for someone with experience in strategy, operations or leadership within an arts, culture, educational or social justice setting. You will have a confident, thoughtful and collaborative approach to managing internal processes and team needs. You understand that building the right infrastructure is a creative act in itself, and that our internal operations should embody our values and politics as much as our public programme does.
You will be calm under pressure and organised in your approach. You enjoy bringing order to complexity, helping others do their best work and contributing to a nurturing environment. You are experienced in managing systems and workflows, and you have a good grasp of what makes small teams sustainable.
You will be familiar with budgeting and cashflow processes. You are confident working with financial tools like QuickBooks or Xero. You will also be comfortable overseeing HR tasks such as managing contracts and supporting team development.
You will bring care, curiosity and commitment to the role. You will be willing to pitch in and help out where needed, as part of working in a highly collaborative and close-knit team. You will be aligned with Skin Deep’s values and interested in what it means to hold space for justice-oriented cultural work. You do not need to have all the answers, but you will be someone who learns quickly, communicates clearly and wants to grow with us.
How to apply
To apply for the role, please fill in this form: https://forms.gle/2xceFuUU67ReWfUeA.
It will ask for your CV and a response to a scenario (details below), which you are welcome to format in the way that feels best to you – we are happy to receive slides, a document, or a short video.
Instead of a cover letter, we’d like you to respond to the following scenario:
Imagine Skin Deep is about to launch a new project: a public programme with three events, a small commission pot, and a digital publication. Delivery will take place over three months, involving both Skin Deep staff and short-term freelancers, with a budget of £25,000.
What steps would you take to get this project off the ground and keep it on track? How would you approach financial oversight, team coordination, and internal decision-making? What would success look like at the end of the three months?
You do not need to provide a full project plan. We are more interested in how you think, how you would approach challenges, and how you would hold the organisational side of a creative process.
If you have any questions or access needs in relation to this process, please contact us at team@skindeepmag.com.
We particularly welcome applications from Black, POC and global majority people; trans and non-binary people; working class people; and disabled people.
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