Chief Executive Officer

Drive and implement the strategic plan, managing the risks, resources, and strategies needed for success.

Execute the annual operational plan and deliver the associated KPIs and performance targets.

Lead the development of long-term strategic priorities, ensuring the charity is future-fit, impactful, and financially sustainable.

Inspire and align the Senior Leadership Team and wider organisation around a clear shared vision and strategy.

Oversee, through the Executive Director of Income Generation, a comprehensive review of current income generation activities.

Work with the Income Generation team to identify opportunities to attract new partners, funders, and individual donors to strengthen and scale existing assets.

Take an active role in shaping and supporting the income generation strategy and its execution to ensure sufficient funds to deliver the strategic plan.

Help to establish and embed a fundraising culture across the organisation, ensuring that every department recognises its role in enabling income growth.

Provide strategic leadership and oversight to the Music Services Management Team (MSMT) to ensure that services are designed and delivered in response to the needs of existing and future participants, within the strategic and operational parameters agreed by the Board.

Ensure Nordoff and Robbins has the resources, infrastructure, and skilled practitioners required to deliver a diverse and high-quality range of music therapy services and projects.

Embed a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring all services are evidence-led, participant-centred, and demonstrate clear impact and effectiveness.

Drive forward the UK positioning and reach—ensuring sustainable growth across the ecosystem, innovation, and equitable access across regions.

Provide strategic oversight for the design and delivery of a comprehensive programme of education and professional development, validated and non validated, supporting the future ambitions of Nordoff and Robbins across music, health, education, wellbeing, and social care.

Ensure the validated programmes, Masters in Music Therapy (MMT) and PHD programmes are delivered to the highest academic and professional standards, aligned with both regulatory requirements and the evolving needs of the profession.

Champion a culture of learning and practitioner excellence, ensuring that education and training programmes strengthen the pipeline and quality of future music therapists and practitioners.

Identify and prioritise key research themes that directly support Nordoff and Robbins’ strategic goals and thought leadership within the fields of music therapy, health, and social impact.

Oversee the research, impact, and evaluation portfolio, ensuring programmes are well-resourced, robustly monitored, and deliver meaningful, evidence-based outcomes.

Ensure that impact measurement and evaluation remain central to organisational learning and strategy—informing service development, advocacy, and policy engagement.

Champion the visibility and dissemination of Nordoff and Robbins’ research and evidence base to strengthen its national and international reputation as a leader in music therapy practice and scholarship.

Communicate Nordoff and Robbins’ strategic direction, priorities, and programmes to internal and external stakeholders.

Act as the primary spokesperson and ambassador for the charity, representing Nordoff and Robbins at key external events, media opportunities, and public forums.

Play an active role in the Power of Music for Health and Wellbeing Consortium and other sector initiatives that raise the profile of music therapy nationally and internationally.

Support and engage in major fundraising and cultivation activities, building and nurturing relationships with key donors, partners, and influencers.

Develop and maintain strong relationships with government departments, policy influencers, and sector bodies to advance the charity’s advocacy and policy goals.

Provide consistent, visible, and values-led leadership to ensure high levels of performance, collaboration, and staff wellbeing across the organisation.

Ensure that Board papers, reports, and updates provide Trustees with the insight and information required to review, analyse, and guide the organisation’s performance effectively.

Keep the Board up to date on legal, regulatory, and sector issues relevant to the charity.

Work closely with the Chair to maintain and strengthen a high-quality governance framework.

Ensure the organisation maintains compliance with all charity, company, and safeguarding legislation.

Build a strong, transparent, and collaborative relationship with the Board to support effective decision-making and accountability.

Put our mission front and centre with passion and commitment.

Be a role model for our values and behaviours, wellbeing and Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging.

Make sure we get the ‘Brilliant Basics’ right.

Actively strive for continuous improvement

Be clear, kind, curious and courageous in everything we do. We have the conversations that need to be had in a timely fashion.

Attend Nordoff and Robbins events (sometimes out of working hours) as a colleague and ambassador for the charity.

Work with integrity and fairness.