Please note: this role carries a genuine occupational requirement that the postholder is Black or Minoritised Ethnic (African, Asian or Caribbean heritage). Please confirm this in writing in your application, and we will re-confirm this prior to finalising our shortlist for interview
This is a rare and exciting opportunity to join our sector-leading UK Voice and Influence Team, and work very closely with our brilliant SEEN Programme, as well as our Children's Services across the UK.
What this role will do
This role will have an important role in helping the charity deliver its strategic commitment to listening and responding to the voices and experiences of young people across the UK – and in particular the voices and experiences of Black or Minoritised Ethnic young people, who are often less-heard.
The role will promote a culture of inclusion and belonging by playing a leading role on delivering our ambition to:
build and support an engaged, diverse network of young people from across the UK who represent a broad range of identities and lived experiences, and who can speak out and work alongside Barnardo's.
Key tasks for this role
The role will:
- Lead on the recruitment, coordination and support of young people signed up to our B-Amplified Youth Network.
- Support our SEEN Young Ambassadors, and coordinate their engagement in the wider B-Amplified Network offer
- Act as a subject matter expert in voice and influence practice and anti-racism, working alongside our Children's Services as a critical friend to support the delivery of excellent and inclusive services.
More information is in the Additional Information Sheet attached to this advert.
Who we're looking for
We're looking for someone who has:
- At least five years' experience in a role working directly with children and/or young people in a health, social care, education or youth work setting – a youth and community work (or similar) qualification is desirable but not essential.
- Demonstrable knowledge experience of designing, delivering and evaluating strategic voice and influence activities with young people – particularly in online or virtual contexts.
- Knowledge and understanding of the practical application of anti-racist principles and practice.
- Experience of working across complex structures, hierarchies and partnerships, with experience of working with a range of stakeholders at different levels.
- Ability to plan, deliver and evaluate projects, collaboratively and effectively.
- Excellent collaboration, networking and partnership-working skills.
The successful candidate must also:
- Be of African, Asian, Caribbean heritage – this is a genuine occupational requirement, and an essential requirement, as noted above.
- Be able to travel across the UK on a regular basis, including overnight stays – living close to a national rail station and/or airport will be a significant benefit.
- Be able to work flexibly to accommodate direct work with young people outside of 'normal' hour (i.e. evenings and weekends) – for which TOIL can be claimed, or overtime hours in extraordinary circumstances.
Important to note:
We recognise the inherent power dynamics at play, and that the occupational requirement does not imply that the responsibility to ‘solve' the issue of diversity rests solely with a minoritised individual (or team). Instead, this role forms part of a wider, intentional commitment across the organisation to embed anti-racist and inclusive practice at every level and is why we have proposed a matrix management approach - to ensure the role is not siloed, but meaningfully supported and connected across teams.
A key focus will be to understand and address the structural and cultural barriers that children's services and internal teams may face when engaging with Black or Minoritised Ethnic young people.
When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document (if applicable). This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
AMR Action UK is the United Kingdom patient organisation for people impacted by antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Our legitimacy comes through our small-scale research projects, our engagement with patients and their families, and from our direct support of patients through our information service and peer-support activities.
AMR Action UK seeks to empower patient, families, and carers to have their voices heard on matters that affect their lives and to be able to influence research priorities, policy and implementation changes at government level, and changes in NHS practices across the four nations of the UK.
The Policy and Advocacy lead will ensure that AMR Action UK is both well-informed across the broad-spectrum of topics relating to AMR and is impactful in its influencing work.
To be successful in the role you will need energy and enthusiasm to hit the ground running in order to make an immediate impact on appointment.
Closing date 12th January 2026, with a view to holding interviews week beginning 19th January 2026.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Circa £66,000 per annum
Permanent
Part home/Part office (London) based
UNICEF ensures more of the world’s children are vaccinated, educated and protected than any other organisation. We have done more to influence laws and policies to help protect children than anyone else. We get things done. And we’re not going to stop until the world is a safe place for all our children.
This is a great opportunity to join the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) as Head of UK Policy and Advocacy and shape and lead the direction of our child rights work in the UK.
In this role you will oversee our domestic/UK-facing child rights policy work with an overarching focus on improving early childhood outcomes and reducing disparities between children across the UK. You’ll be joining at an exciting time for the team as it develops the next phase of our cross-organisational Early Moments Matter campaign and deepens its policy influencing work through the production of new evidence, briefings and engagement across the sector and government departments. You will play an active role in the Advocacy Leadership Team, ensuring our work is underpinned by robust strategies and analysis, and is undertaken in a way that reflects our organisational values.
To succeed in this role, you will have an in-depth understanding and experience of policy-making processes and influencing strategies in the UK. You will have an excellent understanding of the policy context of child rights in the UK, and be able to translate that knowledge and expertise into support for team members to deliver ambitious change for children. You will be passionate about centering lived experience, and be able to lead the team in strengthening engagement of rightsholders in the development and delivery of our policy work.
Act now and visit the website via the apply button to apply online.
Closing date: 9am, Monday 19 January 2026.
Interview date: Week beginning 02 February 2026 via video conferencing (MS Teams).
In return, we offer:
· excellent pay and benefits (including flexible working, generous annual leave and pension, big brand discounts and wellbeing tools)
· outstanding training and learning opportunities and the support to flourish in your role
· impressive open plan office space and facilities on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
· an open culture and workplace with colleagues who share our values, enjoy their work and are motivated to do their utmost for children.
· the opportunity to work in a leading children’s organisation making a difference to children around the world
Our application process: We use a system called "Applied" that anonymises your responses and focuses on your actual skills that are relevant to this role. This benefits you by giving you a greater chance of expressing your skills in this objective selection process.
We are gradually moving back to our offices on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, East London and we anticipate most colleagues will work one or two days a week in the office and the rest of the time from home. We will happily discuss other flexible options to suit your circumstances.
We particularly welcome applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates, disabled candidates, and from men, because we would like to increase the representation of these groups at this level at UNICEF UK. We want to do this because we know greater diversity will lead to even greater results for children.
UNICEF UK promotes equality, diversity and inclusion in our workplace. We make employment decisions by matching business needs with skills and experience of candidates, irrespective of age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation.
We welcome a conversation about your flexible working requirements, personal growth, and promoting a workplace where you can be yourself and achieve success based only on your merit.
The successful candidate will be required to apply for a criminal records check. A criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working with us. This will depend on the nature of the role and the circumstances of your offences.
We only accept online applications as this saves us money, making more funds available for us to help ensure children’s rights.
If you require support in completing the online form or an application form in an alternative format, please contact the Supporter Care line during office hours.
If you do not hear from us within 14 days of the closing date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. Please note that we only provide feedback to shortlisted candidates.
Registered Charity Nos. 1072612 (England and Wales) SC043677 (Scotland)
Registered Charity
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The UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), a charity funded by supporters, raising funds for UNICEF’s work for children.
