Help deliver FreePRO, a major new digital project opening up historic probate records for everyone. Use your technical project management skills to support volunteers, guide an MVP, and make a lasting public impact.

What difference will you make?

FreePRO has the potential to unlock a vast and previously hard-to-access body of public records for researchers, families, and communities across the UK and beyond. Delivering it well requires careful coordination so that volunteer effort is focused, sustainable, and rewarding.

By supporting the technical foundations of FreePRO, you will help ensure that

Volunteer time and skills are used effectively and respectfully
Technical progress is steady, transparent, and well documented
Decisions are made with clarity and shared understanding
The project develops in a way that is sustainable for the long term

Your contribution will directly support a volunteer-led team working for public benefit rather than commercial gain. In practical terms, your work will help FreePRO move from early development into a reliable, trusted service that becomes a permanent part of Free UK Genealogy’s offer.

This role also supports the wider charity by strengthening our ability to deliver complex digital projects in a structured but human way, helping us learn, improve, and grow responsibly.

What are we looking for?

You do not need to be a genealogist or probate expert, although curiosity and interest are welcome. We are particularly keen to hear from people who bring the following

Experience managing or coordinating technical or digital projects, in a professional or voluntary setting
Confidence working with developers or technical specialists, even if you are not one yourself
A pragmatic, collaborative approach, with an understanding of the realities of volunteer-led delivery
Strong organisational skills, with an ability to clarify priorities and keep work moving
Clear and thoughtful communication, especially around progress, risks, and decisions
Enough time and flexibility to provide continuity over several months

You will be comfortable working in an environment where targets are aspirational rather than fixed, and where success is measured by steady progress, shared understanding, and positive volunteer experience.

If you enjoy enabling others to do their best work, and want to apply your skills to a project with genuine public value, this role could be a very good fit.

What will you be doing?

Free UK Genealogy is a UK charity providing free online access to hundreds of millions of family history records, supported entirely by volunteers. Our projects include FreeBMD, FreeREG, FreeCEN, and now FreePRO.

FreePRO is a new programme to digitise, transcribe and publish probate records from England and Wales (1854–1943), making them richly accessible for the first time. The project has been approved by trustees and is moving from planning into early delivery, with a technical MVP underway.

We are looking for a volunteer Technical Project Manager to help guide this next phase. This role focuses on coordination rather than coding and is ideal for someone who enjoys bringing structure, clarity, and momentum to complex digital work.

You will work closely with technical volunteers, editorial leads, and organisational leadership to

Translate the agreed FreePRO vision into clear, achievable technical milestones
Coordinate technical workstreams such as digitisation, OCR, data processing, and publication
Support delivery of the FreePRO MVP, keeping scope realistic for a volunteer-led project
Identify risks, dependencies, and practical solutions with technical contributors
Maintain lightweight documentation such as roadmaps, decision logs, and priorities
Act as a bridge between technical, editorial, and organisational perspectives

The role is home-based, with online meetings, and requires around 3 to 5 hours per week. We work flexibly, with an agile approach suited to volunteer availability, and place strong emphasis on collaboration, learning, and shared purpose.

Technical Project Manager Volunteer - Volunteer