Community Programme Manager

Open Government Products (OGP) operates like a startup within the government; We are a fast-paced, dynamic team of engineers, designers, and product managers dedicated to public good. We autonomously identify opportunities to solve public problems using tech, rapidly prototype, and launch solutions - from citizen apps to automating public agency operations. Embracing an open-sourced and flat hierarchy, we cut through bureaucracy to focus on real-world, user-centric innovations that drive change.

The Public Engagement (PE) team helps connect OGP's work with the people and communities we serve. We shape how our organisation, products and initiatives are understood, develop campaigns that drive awareness and engagement, build relationships with the media and partners, and manage OGP’s public presence.

This is not a standard community or events management role, as our work aims to measure something harder, whether someone who shows up once comes back, keeps building, and eventually initiates a programme for other citizens. If you’ve run community or volunteer programmes before and want to see engagement convert into people actually leading rather than just attending, this would be a different bet.

Our community programmes bring volunteers, students, builders and civic tech practitioners into that work, through hackathons such as Build for Good, stewards who run their own cohorts, and communities of practice that keep people engaged between events. These programmes are growing. We want them to run as a steady pipeline: people who start as participants and come back as contributors, champions and organisers.

We’re looking for a Community Programme Manager to own this end to end. You’ll run the programmes, support the stewards and volunteers who deliver them, and track whether people are building, returning and contributing, beyond turnout on the day.

You’ll work closely with the corporate communications & product marketing team within PE, OGP product teams, and community partners, including volunteer-run groups. Not every opportunity will come with a clear brief. You’ll spot gaps, test ideas quickly and take them from idea to outcome.

This is an individual contributor role with significant ownership and autonomy.

• Run community programmes. Plan and deliver hackathons, steward cohorts and communities of practice, from design and recruitment through to follow-up. Make events an entry point to a longer relationship with the community, and not an endpoint.

• Grow and support Build for Good community of volunteers. Recruit, onboard and coach the people who run programmes, and give them the playbooks, tools and recognition to keep going. Build a path from participant to contributor to organiser.

• Build the community that backs our mission. Work with PE on how communities amplify OGP’s campaigns and take part in its work. Create ways for members to contribute time, skills and voice.

• Measure what matters. Set and track indicators for retention, contribution and sentiment. Run surveys and feedback loops, and help turn results into decisions about what to keep, change or stop.

• Feed the product loop. Capture problems and ideas that surface in the community and pass them to the civic tech builders. Help teams reach a ready audience of testers and early users.

• Document and share. Maintain playbooks, templates and evidence so other teams and partners can run similar programmes.

• At least 5 years of experience running community, volunteer, youth or civic programmes. Experience with hackathons, open-source or tech-for-good communities is a strong advantage.

• A track record of building something that lasted beyond one event, such as a volunteer network, alumni community or recurring programme.

• Strong organiser and communicator who can motivate volunteers without formal authority, and write clearly for different audiences.

• Comfortable with data. You can design a simple survey, read the results and change the programme because of them.

• Takes initiative and is comfortable with ambiguity. You identify what’s needed and drive it to completion, and you know when to escalate.

• Curious about technology and committed to public service. A technical background is not required.

• Experience in the community building spaces, tech for good communities, or the non-profit sector is a strong advantage.

Ownership and Autonomy - Beyond technical tasks, this means having autonomy to voice opinions and suggest future directions. Building what you believe in drives the creation of great solutions.