Apply by
Wednesday 16 September 2026 at 12 noon
If you care about equity in the arts, believe Bradford's creative talent deserves a strong future, and want to help shape what that future looks like at a pivotal moment, we'd love to hear from you.
Bradford Producing Hub is entering an important new phase. Like much of the cultural sector, we’ve faced real financial and organisational challenges over the past year, and our Board has responded by restructuring, strengthening governance and securing resources to take stock, listen carefully, and plan for what comes next. We’re now looking for a freelance Strategic Development Lead to help us do exactly that.
This is a seven-month role at the heart of that work. Working closely with our Trustees, you’ll lead a focused period of strategic review, sector mapping and stakeholder engagement – building a clear-eyed picture of where support for Bradford’s creative talent is most needed, and setting out realistic, ambitious options for the future. This is a real chance to help define what BPH and talent development across the district become next.
Terms
Contract: Freelance, 7 months fixed-term (October 2026 – April 2027)
Days: 8 days per month
Location: Bradford, with flexible and hybrid working
Fee: £350 per day (total fee £19,600)
Application documents
Download the recruitment pack:
If you need this information in another format, please email us at hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk
Who we’re looking for
We’re looking for a practical strategic thinker with experience leading organisations, projects, or development work through change before, and comfortable holding both the big picture and the practical detail.
You know Bradford and understand its creative community, its challenges and its ambitions. You’ll bring existing relationships, or the confidence to build them quickly, and you’ll come with enthusiasm to represent BPH thoughtfully across the city and wider sector.
You’re comfortable with both funders and budgets as well as with artists and creative communities. You can write a compelling funding application, manage an expenditure plan, and turn evidence into clear recommendations, while keeping sight of the people all of this is ultimately for.
Above all, you understand that strong cultural organisations are built on relationships, trust and listening as much as on programmes and funding.
What you'll bring
Essential:
- Knowledge of Bradford’s artistic community, and a clear understanding of Bradford Producing Hub
- Experience of organisational leadership or strategic development
- Experience of managing organisational change
- Experience of research, mapping, consultation, evaluation or evidence-based planning
- Successful experience of fundraising, budget planning and developing funding applications
- Experience of developing partnerships across different sectors
- Strong financial planning and budgeting skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to produce clear reports, recommendations and stakeholder updates
- The ability to work independently while supporting and reporting to a Board
- An understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing artists and cultural organisations
Though not essential, it would also help if you had existing relationships across West Yorkshire’s creative sector, experience of community-led or artist-led practice, or knowledge of charity governance.
How to apply
If you are interested in applying, please read the ‘recruitment pack’ linked in the green box above thoroughly beforehand.
Please send the following:
- Your CV
- A covering letter explaining how your experience meets the person specification – this can be in written, audio or video format
- Details of any access requirements you need us to accommodate during the recruitment process
- Information about your availability if you cannot attend the interview on Wednesday 23 September, or if you need to attend online
Applications should be emailed to: hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk
Closing date: Wednesday 16 September at 12 noon
Interview date: Wednesday 23 September in Bradford
If you have any questions about this role and whether it might be a good fit for you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing us at hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk – we’re more than happy to chat.
A note on AI: When reading applications, we value authenticity and the personal touch, and we’re most interested in your experience, knowledge and ideas. We understand AI tools can help with accessibility and drafting, and you’re welcome to use them in a way that supports you. What matters to us is that the application reflects you and what you can bring to the role.
Our shortlisting and interviewing process
To ensure fairness and inclusivity, we do not anonymise applications before shortlisting candidates, and we reference equality data to balance our shortlist.
This means when we shortlist, we always interview the highest-scoring applicants and may also consider including lower-scoring candidates if we feel there is an imbalance in representation from underrepresented groups. We acknowledge that writing a ‘high-scoring’ application can be a barrier for applicants from all backgrounds, especially those from underrepresented groups. We know that application fluency doesn’t directly correlate with workplace competency or the ability to succeed in advertised roles. Sometimes, a chance to interview is all we need to really demonstrate our experience, skills and fit within an organisation.
We also know that not everybody’s strengths lie in interviewing. We therefore provide interview questions in advance to everyone selected to interview, to give them the best opportunity to demonstrate their skills, experience and ideas. We may ask interviewees to prepare something in advance, and if this is the case, we will do what we can to ensure you have enough time to prepare. We’ll also allow you to present in a way which suits you best. At least two people will interview you, and we will aim to tell you who they are in advance.