Location: London / Hybrid with attendance in our Victoria office at least 2/3 days a week.

Salary: £110,000 - £125,000

Benefits: 30 days annual leave, flexible working environment, enhanced sick pay, 5% employer / 3% employee pension contribution, bike to work scheme.

Reporting to: Chair of the Board of Trustees

Direct reports: Senior Leadership Team

About Bite Back

Bite Back is a youth-led movement challenging a food system that’s rigged against children’s health. We campaign so that every young person—regardless of their background—has access to affordable, healthy food and the opportunity to thrive.

By the age of 11, the health of 1 in 3 is at risk of future food-related illnesses such as Type 2 Diabetes, tooth decay and obesity. But we can fix it. Powered by our youth activists, we hold the food industry to account, shift public opinion and narratives, and push for bold policy change.

Our ambitious and agile charity has achieved much since we established 5 years ago. We are now seeking a CEO to lead us into the next chapter of growth. This is a unique opportunity to scale our impact, deepen our influence, whilst staying fiercely true to our roots as a creative, youth-led movement.

Young people are at the forefront of our organisation and a key role of the CEO will be to support our activists to make their voice heard.

Purpose of the Role

As CEO, you will be the strategic leader of an organisation determined to bring about change. You’ll work with our youth activists, staff, trustees, and partners to deliver transformational impact. You’ll build a strong and inclusive culture, drive organisational change, and expand our reach and relevance across the UK and potentially beyond.

This is not a typical CEO role. Bite Back is bold, dynamic, youth-led and missionfirst. We’re looking for a leader who shares our values, understands youth-led movement building, and brings the clarity, skills and commitment needed to guide us through a critical moment of growth.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Vision

• Lead the development and execution of a bold organisational strategy with youth activism and food justice at the heart.
• Maintain strategic clarity across the organisation, ensuring alignment, focus, and adaptability in a fast-changing landscape.
• Ensure that young people are at the forefront of our public messages to advocate and secure change.
• Ensure Bite Back is ambitious in impact, authentic in its voice, and always youth-led.
• Build and sustain a vibrant, inclusive and values-driven culture that is real, respectful, fresh, resilient and energetic.
• Empower the Senior Leadership Team, supporting high performance, strategic alignment and personal development.
• Enable collaborative teamwork, ensuring smooth coordination across programmes, advocacy, brand, and operations.

Stakeholder and Community Relationships

• Build trusted, collaborative relationships with youth activists, staff, trustees, partner organisations and wider networks.
• Ensure that power is shared meaningfully with young people and that their leadership is embedded across the organisation.

Fundraising and Financial Sustainability

• Lead income generation, drive growth and proactively secure new funds and partnerships.
• Work closely with the Board and Director of Finance & Operations to ensure long-term financial health and operational resilience.
• Build authentic, mission-aligned relationships with funders and donors that grow our reach and impact.

External Affairs and Public Profile

• Work alongside young people to be a lead ambassador for Bite Back, amplifying our voice in media, government, and the public domain.
• With young people, represent the organisation externally, forging new strategic partnerships and strengthening existing alliances.
• Work closely with young people and the wider staff team to lead major moments of external engagement and advocacy.

Governance, Compliance and Organisational Oversight

• Act as the lead executive to the Board of Trustees, supporting and delivering effective governance and providing timely, transparent reporting.
• Ensure the organisation meets all regulatory and legal obligations, including compliance with the Charity Commission and employment law.
• Oversee risk management, safeguarding, financial stewardship, and long-term planning.

Person Specification

Experience, Knowledge and Expertise

• Proven strategic senior leadership experience within an organisation that has grown its income, reach and impact.
• Demonstrable experience influencing across a broad range of stakeholders to affect systemic change across education, government, business, and wider society.
• Demonstrable experience of influencing government, media or food industry at the highest level.
• Proven track record of successful fundraising to deliver significant organisational growth.
• Knowledge and understanding of youth-led campaigning.

Skills and Attributes

• Skilled at driving change with the ability to lead through complexity and scale.
• Exceptional communicator—credible, compelling and empathetic across audiences.
• An ability to be humble, putting young people at the forefront of change.
• Emotionally intelligent and people-first—someone who leads with care, humility, and trust.
• Skilled in building and empowering high-performing teams with a strong collaborative culture.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and taking bold, values-led decisions.
• Excellent financial acumen, with a proven ability to manage budgets, analyse financial information and drive fundraising efforts.
• Willingness to be hands-on and operational, when necessary, while also being able to delegate and empower others to lead key areas of work.

Values and Commitments

• Deep alignment with Bite Back’s mission.
• Able to be a role model for our values.
• Passion for youth-led change and the ability to hold space for intergenerational leadership.
• Fierce commitment to inclusion in both culture and practice.
• Courageous, curious and humble leader who’s ready to listen, learn and grow.

Our Approach to Work

• A bold and open mind – you will be prepared to think differently about issues. Narrative shift is a key component of our work, and the successful candidate will be open and prepared to challenge their own mindsets and adopt a new way of thinking about our issue.
• A level head – you will be comfortable working both reactively and proactively.
• A sense of humour – we believe work should be fun and that we all perform at our very best when we enjoy what we do.
• Creativity – you will be able to come at issues from new and surprising angles when required.
• Agile – the ability to adapt to an ever-changing policy environment.

How To Apply

We recommend visiting this website to find out more about Bite Back and the CEO role before applying.

When you are ready to apply for the Chief Executive Officer role at Bite Back, please upload the following documents to the Prospectus website:

• Your CV, drawing out relevant experience for the role.
• A supporting statement of up to 1,000 words that addresses the criteria set out in the person specification as well as your interest in the organisation’s work.

For guidance on formulating your supporting statement, please review our guide here.

Please ensure that you have included a telephone number, as well as any dates when you will not be available or might have difficulty with the recruitment timetable.

If you wish to apply using an alternative format please contact Prospectus on 020 7691 1920 or email executive.admin@prospect-us.co.uk. Please also notify us if you require a postal application. 

Applications via the Prospectus website should be made here.

Timeline

• Applications close on Wednesday 28th May 2025.
• An interview with Prospectus will take place week commencing 2nd June.
• First round interviews with Bite Back are expected to take place week commencing 9th June.
• Second interviews with Bite Back will take place week commencing 16th June.

Queries 

If you have any queries or wish to have an informal discussion about the opportunity, please contact our retained advisor Hartjit Bola at Prospectus with a copy of your CV: harjit.bola@prospect-us.co.uk