There has never been a more challenging time to find a new job or get on the career ladder.

Whether you are looking for a new role, an apprenticeship or a first job, Punchline is here to help.

We will add vacancies for jobs and apprenticeships daily here.

If you've got vacancies to promote, please get in touch with the Punchline team at news@moosemarketingandpr.co.uk  

Friday, July 30

Vacancy #316 - Planning officer

Company: Stroud District Council

Location: Stroud

Salary: £32,234

Ends: 22nd August

Stroud District Council is looking for a full-time, permanent planning officer.

Acting as Local Planning Authority, the council deals with around 2,600 planning applications per year.

This role will be based in one of the area planning teams, which determine all non-major planning (and related) applications within their geographical area.

The candidate will manage their own caseload of planning applications, pre-application enquiries, planning appeals and other related activities.

Working in a diverse environment, they will have a varied caseload covering rural areas, towns and villages, making recommendations to ensure development meets the requirements of the Local Plan.

A portion of their working time will be spent on site, meeting customers and undertaking site inspections. On occasion they may also have to attend planning committee.

The candidate will liaise with colleagues within the service - such as specialist arboricultural, biodiversity, enforcement and heritage officers - to ensure the council makes reliable, high quality decisions in line with local and national planning policy and guidance. They will provide support to technical, business support and customer services teams and help nurture junior staff in their professional development.

The candidate should be a highly-motivated planning professional, able to effectively manage their time and caseload to meet both performance and quality targets.

The candidate must have a degree in Town and Country Planning (or a related subject) and be eligible for and working towards membership of the Royal Town Planning Institute. They must also have a minimum of five GCSEs grade 9 to 4 (or equivalent) - including mathematics and English - and 2 A-levels (or equivalent).

Apply for the job here. 

Thursday, July 29

Vacancy #315- Potwash 

Company: The New Dawn Inn

Location: Norton

Hours: 25-30 hours a week, including some evenings and weekends

Salary: well above industry minimum

To apply, call 01452 730001 and ask for Hannah or Clare.

Wednesday, July 28

Vacancy #314- Head of Culture

Company: Cheltenham Trust

Location: Cheltenham

The Cheltenham Trust is an independent charity that manages Cheltenham's most iconic venues and is a lead provider of culture and leisure in the town.

As a member of the team you will actively contribute to improving the wellbeing of the local community and boosting the local economy through the experiences they offer at their heritage and contemporary visitor destinations. You will have a can-do approach, be results driven and, as an ambassador for the trust, you will help promote their vision and goals.

They are looking for an experienced and creative individual to lead a step change in their public programming offer; someone who can inspire, engage, stimulate and motivate people to visit the trust's venues and participate in its cultural programme.

To discuss the role, you can contact communications@cheltenhamtrust.org.uk and to apply for this and other roles you can click here. 

Tuesday, July 27

Vacancy #313- Recruitment and staff development manager

Company: Caring for Communities and People

Location: Cheltenham

Salary: £25-28,000 per annum

Hours: 37.5 hours a week

Caring for Communities and People, a Cheltenham based homelessness charity are looking for a recruitment and staff development manager at their head office. The deadline for applications is August 4th and interviews will be held on August 10th and 12th.

The position involves:

-Leading on CCP's recruitment strategy, reviewing current practice and innovating new ways of working to access and attract high-calibre applicants

- Working closely with CCP Service Leads to identify recruitment needs proactively

- Monitoring the impact of recruitment channels, utilising cost-per-hire and time-to-hire to evaluate the

return on investment of investments in recruitment

- Reviewing recruitment software and suggest the best option for CCP's needs

- Reviewing and evaluate CCP's assessment tools to ensure we are hiring well

- Supporting and training CCP staff in interview/assessment techniques

- Leading on Safer Recruitment, ensuring that stay up-to-date on changes in legislation and practice and that you inform and train others on the changes

- Ensuring that CCP recruitment practices are in-line with our Safeguarding Policy

- Managing external relationship with others, e.g. recruitment agencies, advertisers.

- Leading on the strategy, review and implementation of effective training and professional development processes in line with CCP training pathways and changing organisational needs, with support from the Training Coordinator

- Implementing and evaluating effective onboarding processes, creating effective induction strategies and resources

- Evaluating and reforming CCP's Core Training modules at regular intervals, with support from the Training Coordinator, ensuring it is fit for purpose and current to CCP's needs and objectives 

You can apply here.

Monday, July 26

Vacancy #312- Phone operator 

Company: Andy Cars

Location: Gloucester

Hours: Weekday evenings and weekend nights

Andy Cars taxis are looking for a phone operator to work unsociable hours. Experience is preferred.

To apply, email info@andycarsgloucester.co.uk or go into their office.

Friday, July 23

Vacancy #311 - Head of inward investment

Company: GFirst LEP

Location: Gloucester

Salary: circa £40,000

Ends: 4th August

GFirst LEP is looking for a head of inward investment.

The candidate will deliver the inward investment strategy for the GFirst LEP area, brokering and facilitating the collaboration of key partners in this.

The key aim will be to attract new foreign direct investment into Gloucestershire, capitalising upon its unique opportunities. The candidate will work closely with the GFirst LEP executive team and partners in the county council, district councils, DIT and the Growth Hub.

Responsibilities:

• To achieve the contracted outputs of the ERDF funded Inward Investment Project

• To facilitate and bring added value to relationships and best practice approaches to supporting growth of existing local foreign owned businesses located in Gloucestershire.

• To demonstrate the benefits of collaborative working across a complex inward investment landscape to encourage joint investment and working.

• To direct planned marketing and lead generation activities both nationally and internationally (trade fairs, exhibitions etc) to showcase the GFirst LEP area and promote the key sectors of: Advanced Engineering & Manufacturing, Agri-Tech, Cyber-Tech and Renewables. •

• To project manage specific investment opportunities from enquiry to completion.

• To create and agree with partners the marketing of key inward investment opportunities.

• To take line management responsibility for the Inward Investment Team.

• To ensure the project delivery, marketing and expenditures are compliant with ERDF contract and guidelines.

• To be proactive on all issues arising and keep senior management aware of any potential risks impacting on the Strategic Economic Plan or Local Industrial Strategy. Provide advice and proposed solutions to mitigate any risks.

• On behalf of Gloucestershire, drive the development and delivery of a Western Gateway Partnership trade and investment strategy.

• To work with the marketing team to help to deliver communications highlighting successes alongside outreach activity to the business community.

• To promote the delivery of business support in Gloucestershire, through Government, EU or otherwise funded programmes.

Skills and experience:

• Educated to degree level or equivalent and/ or be able to demonstrate relevant business experience.

• Demonstrate good knowledge relevant to businesses across a variety of sectors.

• Knowledge of Local Enterprise Partnerships and the business support landscape to support business and economic growth. Awareness of political and policy developments affecting businesses.

• Inward investment experience.

• Track record of delivering business engagement activities.

• Successful delivery of activities and initiatives working with a broad range of stakeholders and businesses.

• Experience of managing a small team.

• Able to work on own initiative as well as part of a wider team.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

• Able to manage engagement with stakeholders and partners from the public and private sectors.

• Ability to use IT proficiently using Microsoft packages (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint; MS Outlook, Teams etc).

To apply for the job, email a CV along and brief introductory email to GFirst LEP's Deputy Chief Executive, Dev Chakraborty Dev.Chakraborty@gfirstlep.com.

Thursday, July 22

Vacancy #310 - Head of charity retail

Company: National Star

Location: Ullenwood

Ends: 9th August

National Star is looking for a full-time charity retail operations manager/ head of charity retail.

National Star has opened its first charity shop in Gloucester, is just about to open its second in Cheltenham and plans to expand across Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and South Wales.

The role will be based in one of the charity shops, with an office base at Ullenwood, just outside Cheltenham.

Responsibilities:

• Assist in identifying appropriate shop locations

• Project manage with the team the design, layout and fit out process of the new shops

• Develop and implement the appropriate control, support systems, processes and procedures in place for the retailing operations

• Recruit shop manager and volunteers. Train in National Star retail systems

• Lead and support managers in their day-to-day operations

• Support the sourcing, sorting, preparing for sale and pricing of donated stock

• Manage the rotation of stock on site and in offsite locations, ensuring that stock is in the right place at the right time

• Set and monitor appropriate targets and KPIs for each store, including sales targets and Gift Aid conversion rates

• Ensure that shops reflect the spirit and ethos of National Star in terms of messaging, accessibility, equality and non-discrimination

• Supporting shop managers in maintaining a safe environment for staff, volunteers and customers

• Supporting shop managers in organising appropriate volunteer levels and rotas

• Supporting shop managers in optimising window displays with frequent changes as a showcase to attract customers reflecting seasons and events

Skills and experience:

• Strong charity retail experience

• Previous experience demonstrating good management and effective co-ordination of charity shop teams

• A good standard of education

• Passion for retail and creative flair for merchandising

• Good interpersonal skills with staff, volunteers and customer

• Strong attention to detail and customer service

• Management of budgets

• Experience of staff appraisals and supporting staff development

Apply for the job here.   

Vacancy #309 - Trainee project manager

Company: Bromford

Location: Tewkesbury

Salary: £19,953.36 - £26,281.44

Ends: 1st August

Bromford is looking for a trainee project manager (new homes).

The candidate will help the team deliver a range of new affordable housing projects across the Midlands region.

Bromford will provide full support and training to enable the candidate to develop skills and experience across the whole development process, including project and financial management of schemes from initial inception, contract through to on-site construction and post completion customer aftercare.

The candidate will look after delivery in the Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and South Midlands areas. There will be extensive travel involved, so they must have a driving licence and be prepared for remote working and remote management.

The candidate should have a positive can-do attitude with the ability to organise a busy and varied workload of tasks. They should also have a passion for affordable housing and excellent customer care.

Apply for the job here.  

Wednesday, July 21

Vacancy #308 - Assets support officer

Company: Publica

Location: Cirencester or Coleford

Salary: £18,473 - £21,323 pro rota

Ends: 1st August

Publica is looking for a part-time (15 hours per week) assets support officer.

The candidate will be required to manage their own workload and be the first point of contact for enquiries. They will be responsible for assets and cemetery records, ownership enquiries, monitoring and chasing of debts, and maintaining and updating records on the land terrier system. They will use the accounting system (ABW) for invoicing, orders and monitoring of income.

This post will involve liaison with tenants, landlords, council members, the general public and other services. The post will carry out work for Cotswold, West Oxfordshire and Forest of Dean District Councils.

Skills and experience:

• Educated to A Level or equivalent standard

• Minimum three years' experience of working in a multi-disciplined environment in a supporting role

• A high level of IT skills to undertake the inputting of complex data accurately onto different systems

• Good written and oral communication skills

• Ability to prioritise and meet tight deadlines and manage own caseload of work

• Ability to travel

Apply for the job here.  

Monday, July 19

Vacancy #306 - Customer experience manager

Company: Gloucester Quays

Location: Gloucester

Gloucester Quays is looking for a customer experience manager to design, implement and manage the customer experience journey through the customer service desk staff and contract staff, implementing and improving this to benefit the customer journey at Gloucester Quays Outlet.

Responsibilities:

• Manage the customer experience operation, including the day-to-day management of a team of CS and administrative staff

• Identify clear objectives for the customer service advisors and administrative assistants and monitor the service provided to ensure consistent delivery at the highest levels

• Receive and resolve all customer complaints and ensure robust processes are in place to prevent recurrence of issues

• Work with relevant centre contractors to ensure high customer services operating standards

• Analyse statistical information to determine the level of customer experience Gloucester Quays is providing, ensuring learning and opportunities are identified and improvements are made where appropriate

• Generation and delivery of both cost and revenue budgets to ensure delivery of the business plan

• Generate reports and papers for the monthly board meeting and all other reporting as required

• Contribute to the planning and delivery of centre events to ensure a first-class customer experience

• Have a complete understanding of all health & safety elements within the centre

• Work effectively as part of a duty management team, fulfilling the duty manager role as required

Skills and experience:

• Educated to at least A Level or equivalent (degree preferred)

• Proven customer service management experience

• Coaching skills

• Influencing skills

• Analytical skills

• IT skills: Intermediate Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint

Apply for the job with a CV and covering letter here.  

Friday, July 16

Vacancy #305 - Assistant collection strategy manager

Company: Superdry

Location: Cheltenham

Ends: 28th July

Superdry is looking for a full-time, permanent assistant collection strategy manager.

The Collection Strategy function owns the commercial product strategy for the Superdry brand. The candidate will report into the Collection Strategy function and play a key role in building and driving the commercial product strategy for all sales channels and territories.

Responsibilities:

• Support the Collection Strategy team with the sourcing of category, consumer and territory data and insights; interpreting data and insights to deliver a thorough view of the market and brand position

• Take ownership for ensuring the PLM system is updated and used efficiently

• Work in collaboration with the merchandising and wholesale teams to ensure latest performance in all channels is reflected in the forward range planning strategy, whilst reacting to new opportunities at speed

• Source insight for the pricing strategy through a Good, Better, Best delivery model. Work in collaboration with the global pricing manager to realise territory-specific requirements

• Support the delivery of a Go to Market plan which aligns with the brand's ambitions. Work in conjunction with marketing, VM and the creative brand team to provide a plan for all sales channels

• Accountable for sample management for any meetings within the Collection Strategy function

Skills and experience:

• Experienced in either a buying or brand marketing role with a fashion brand

• Familiar with critical path management

• Ideally experienced in using a PLM system

• Enthusiastic self-starter with a can-do attitude

• Detail focused, taking pride in the delivery of work

• Always ready for a challenge, with the ability to work to tight deadlines whilst remaining resilient

• A quick thinker, with good planning and organisational skills

• A proficient user of Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, with an analytical mind

Apply for the job here.  

Vacancy #304 - Senior test automation engineer

Company: UCAS

Location: Cheltenham

Ends: 28th July

UCAS is looking for a full-time senior test automation engineer.

This is a crucial role within the product engineering team and will be accountable for the implementation of the test automation strategy within UCAS.

The tech stack varies across each of the product development teams, with key technologies including .Net, AWS, Java, Angular, Salesforce and React Native.

Responsibilities:

• Provide technical leadership and innovation using technical skills, whilst accountable for the development of quality, complex and scalable solutions

• Responsible for defining and maintaining a roadmap for the implementation of the automation strategy

• Leading the identification and implementation of improvements in automated testing procedures, driving the test automation agenda forward by contributing to the enhancement and adoption of the test automation strategies to align to the test pyramid model

• Act as a subject matter expert for test automation.

• Lead engineers through all aspects of automation testing, ensuring that quality is embedded as early as possible, with a goal of achieving fast feedback

Skills and experience:

• Good knowledge of various test automation tools and best practices

• Significant experience with test automation assessment, strategy and management

• Broad and extensive experience of creating and developing automation frameworks, owning the research into tooling and identifying opportunities to carry out a proof of concept and following that up by defining standards to be applied

• Ability to identify how to increase efficiency of tests and reduce the cost of quality

• Experience of working within an Agile development environment

• Ability to influence a community of engineers of the importance of investing time into testing and maintaining an automation test suite

• A confident communicator, both verbal and written, comfortable with engaging with customers at all levels, both technical and non-technical

• Ability to mentor and grow capacity

• At least five years' experience in a similar role

Apply for the job here.  

Thursday, July 15

Vacancy #302 - Principal engineer

Company: Gemba Advantage

Location: Cheltenham

Gemba Advantage is looking for a full-time principal engineer to support the company's service delivery.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and support client systems by providing data engineering, development, and operations services
• Carry out DevOps services on these systems
• Provide ad-hoc engineering research as and when required to inform architectural and technology decisions
• Work with other supplier teams who provide infrastructure support services to help maintain suitable service levels. This work includes requirements and delivery planning, post mortems and bug analysis
• Maintain a strong understanding of user needs through close engagement with representative users of the systems the company supports
• Contribute to collaborative efforts with other organisations as and when directed by the client
• Give technical input and estimation into the quarterly planning process

Experience, skills and qualifications:

The company is looking for candidates with a multidisciplinary skill set to possess a range of the following indicative skills: Hadoop ecosystem; Big Data Formats such as Parquet; SQL; Experience of ETL/ data engineering pipelines; Spark; NiFi; Scala; Java;

Python; Accumulo; Jupyter and Jupyter Server; Ansible; Ansible tower/AWX; Openshift/ Kubernetes; Linux/ RHEL system administration; RPM Packaging; Docker; Rabbit MQ; Spring Boot; Jenkins for CI/CD; Git based source control management; AWS; Luigi (python data pipeline management library); Influx DB (tick stack); Grafana; ELK stack (elastic search, kibana etc); Agile project and service management (ie Kanban)

To apply for the job, email your CV to recruitment@gembaadvantage.com.

Wednesday, July 14

Vacancy #301 - Audit and accounts senior

Company: Azets

Location: Gloucester

Azets is looking for an audit and accounts senior to join the team.

The role provides an exciting opportunity for a talented senior to become involved in a diverse and interesting client portfolio. Excellent on-the-job training will be provided, together with the opportunity to advance their career within the business.

The candidate will be working to produce more complex annual statutory accounts for clients, while starting to offer advice on best practice and recommendations for partner review. As well as providing support to clients from an accounting perspective, they will also be working with more junior team members as a mentor to answer day to day queries and guide their journey.

Azets looks for people who can not only collaborate with peers, but can also bring their own voice to the table. They want people who are dynamic in their approach and respectful of other people's opinions. They are looking for someone who wants to join a family of like-minded individuals and be more than just a team member.

The candidate will be supported via mentorship by the senior management team to provide soft skills development, such as more effective client management and also steps towards staff management. Mentorship and coaching will continue to support them as their journey continues beyond formal qualifications.

Apply for the job here.  

Vacancy #300 - Food service assistant

Company: Lilian Faithfull Care

Location: Cheltenham

Salary: £8.91 per hour

Lilian Faithfull Care is looking for full-time and part-time food service assistants to work in its residential care and nursing homes

Food service assistants will be responsible for routine food service tasks in the kitchen and dining room, including distributing food and delivering trays to residents in their rooms when required, helping prepare and serve meals within the guidelines set by the chef and home manager and ensuring all work areas are kept clean and up to a high standard.

They will also help to ensure that legal and company requirements are adhered to in respect of hygiene, health and safety and food safety law for all residents, staff and visitors.

Candidates should be flexible, as shifts will include, days, weekends and evenings.

Skills and experience:

• Good interpersonal and customer skills.

• Previous food service experience

• Team player

• Willing to participate in vocational training programmes

• Basic understanding of the Health and Safety at Work Act (food hygiene and personal hygiene)

• are flexible as shifts will include days, weekends and evenings.

Apply for the job here.  

Monday, July 12

Vacancy #298 - Commissioning officer

Company: Gloucestershire County Council

Location: Gloucester

Salary: £30,451 - £39,880

Ends: 29th July

Gloucestershire County Council is looking for a full-time commissioning officer to work in the Integrated Disabilities Hub.

The postholder will work closely alongside team members and system stakeholders to support and sometimes lead on projects and initiatives relating to health and social care services for adults with disabilities.

Responsibilities:

• To support the lead commissioners and outcome managers in achieving the expected and desired outcomes in given areas through effective commissioning activities.

• Work under the direction of commissioning managers to support lead commissioners and outcome managers to ensure the commissioning of services to meet customer needs.

• Support outcome managers and lead commissioners to ensure quality, customer informed and value for money decisions are made about commissioning and decommissioning of services.

• Provide advice, evidence and research which support commissioning decisions, including analysis of market development trends.

• Support customer engagement processes to help inform commissioning decisions.

• Undertake contract monitoring directly with providers.

• Provide support for procurement and commissioning exercises.

• Keep up to date with relevant policy, best practice and legislative changes to allocated outcome areas.

• Draft and compile specifications which are consistent with commissioning/ procurement guidance and legislation.

• Lead and undertake project work using project planning methods.

Skills and experience:

• Working in a commissioning environment as commissioner or provider.

• Experience of working in a council service area eg highways, children's services, adult social care etc.

• Assisting with commissioning and procurement activity.

• Building and maintaining productive relationships, including those with stakeholders and partners.

• Proven experience of interpreting and presenting research and customer views in light of legislative and policy requirements.

• Development of communication and engagement plans.

• Working in areas where policy and legislation are subject to change.

• Analysing and producing written and verbal summaries of available evidence.

• Working within and between multi agency partners and providers.

• Proven project support skills and experience of working to tight, pressurised deadlines.

• Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders.

• Knowledge of procurement and commissioning legislation, policy and processes.

• Understanding of how the public sector works.

• Commercial skills, including business modelling, programme management, procurement, negotiation and contract management

• Knowledge and understanding of Gloucestershire's multi agency safeguarding vulnerable adults and children policies and their application in a commissioning context.

Apply for the job here. 

Vacancy #297 - Assistant

Company: Hub8

Location: Cheltenham

Hub8 is looking for a full-time or part-time assistant to support the operations manager.

Hub8 is a growing network of innovation spaces in Cheltenham, supporting start-ups, SMEs and global companies in the cyber and tech industries, along with academia, government and the local community.

The assistant will provide a warm welcome to members and guests and take pride in the space, to ensure it's the best it can be at all times.

They will answer calls and emails in a timely and professional manner and pass on issues to the operations manager.

Maintaining the privacy of members and the security of the building will be a top priority.

The candidate should have great communication skills and enjoy dealing with people from all walks of life. Being a confident user of Microsoft Office would be an advantage, as would experience of a customer facing role or managing a reception desk.

Opening hours are 7.30am-7.30pm and the candidate will need to be flexible about working patterns to meet business need.

To apply for the job, contact Claire Garbutt for more information. 

Friday, May 28 

Vacancy #243 - Apprentice vehicle technician

Company: Baylis

Location: Gloucester

Salary: £180 per week

Ends: 31st August

The Baylis Group has apprenticeship vacancies for light vehicle technicians.

The roles would suit a school leaver aged 16 to 18.

The apprentice needs to commit to the apprenticeship programme for three years and have the passion and ambition to grow into a highly skilled car service technician.

Personal qualities:

• Team orientated

• Good communication skills

• Positive outlook

• Willing to learn and follow instructions

• Evident interest and enthusiasm for automotive vehicles and the industry

Candidates should have GCSE grades A-C/ 4-9 or equivalent.

Apply for the job by uploading your CV here.