External Engagement Manager
Location: Covent Garden, London
Salary: Up to £35,000 per annum, dependent on experience
Hours of Work: 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday with occasional evenings and weekends
About the role
City Lit is seeking a dynamic and proactive External Engagement Manager to amplify City Lit’s presence across London and beyond through effective stakeholder engagement, political awareness, and the delivery of high‑profile events that showcase the impact of adult learning.
You’ll play a pivotal role in building and maintaining City Lit’s relationships and partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders, including City Lit Fellows, charitable organisations, cultural partners, and policy influencers, helping us contribute to public conversations around lifelong learning and ensuring City Lit’s voice is represented where it matters. This includes supporting political engagement activity, such as monitoring policy developments, preparing simple briefings, and helping maintain positive connections with sector bodies and decision‑makers.
Alongside stakeholder and political engagement support, you’ll lead the planning and delivery of City Lit’s flagship events, including the Mental Wealth Festival, City Lit Awards, Fellows events, Classics Day, Art History Festival, and other key programmes.
Working closely with colleagues across City Lit, you will prepare event proposals, manage logistics, coordinate suppliers, and ensure each event is delivered to a high standard and reflects City Lit’s values and ambitions.
About the applicant
City Lit is London's largest provider of learning for adults, inspiring over 30,000 students a year and offering more than 5,000 courses, online and face-to-face. As a leader in our field, who have recently been rated as outstanding in all areas by Ofsted, we have a century’s reputation for delivering the highest quality student experience. Partnering with community organisations across London, we deliver bespoke projects that support individuals and communities.
To be considered, please submit your CV and a covering letter, detailing your skills and experience. The ideal candidate will:
- Have worked in or understand a customer-focused organisation.
- Have experience in organising events.
- Have proven administration experience.
- Communicate professionally and effectively.
- Can prioritise tasks to meet deadlines.
- Can work with a high level of accuracy in detailed work.
Our generous rewards and benefits are numerous and wide-ranging, including flexible working, generous course discounts that include friends and family, our pension scheme plus life assurance and enhanced Family Friendly leave. There’s also a season ticket loan programme, entitlement to access the student discounts programme (Totum) and other discounted retail platforms as well as preferential rates with Fitness First. Alongside these we all offer a 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme to support our staff as well as access to a online or over the phone GP service.
Sited in London’s creative community of Covent Garden, City Lit is a thriving hub of learning and opportunity with a palpable sense of purpose and identity and a culture of equality and inclusivity. We know diversity fosters creativity and innovation and we are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented these include applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those who have a disability and the LGBTQI+ community. We provide a professional and supportive community that blends teaching and learning to deliver endless possibilities.
For full details of the role, please refer to the Job Description.
Closing Date: 23:59 on 8th March 2026
Interview Dates: Week commencing 23rd March 2026
We reserve the right to close this role early should we receive a high volume of applications.
