Children services director jobs in Glasgow

We’re recruiting an experienced, creative and hands-on communications specialist to work with Platform Places and Footwork over the next 10 months – to develop our bold narratives and inspiring content that help drive locally-led neighbourhood transformation.

• Target start date: 11th May 2026 
• Time input: 3 days per week (0.6 full-time equivalent), with flexibility for up to 4 days per week in certain busy periods, by mutual agreement
• Remuneration: £55,000-£61,500 per year (pro rata) depending on experience
• Flexible working: Work hours can be flexible as long as role objectives are met
• Location: Hybrid, remote or in-person (option to work from our London office). Monthly in-person team days in London, plus occasional trips to partners in Newcastle, Sheffield, Liverpool, Bristol and London and learning gatherings (expenses covered). 
• Contract type: PAYE employment contract. 10 months fixed term.
• Eligibility: Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK.

About us

In 2025, Platform Places integrated with Footwork Trust, becoming what we call ‘civic partners’. Together we facilitate locally-led neighbourhood transformation – so people have the power to live affordably, sustainably and together. 

About Platform Places

Platform Places is a national cross-sector collaboration and not-for-profit social enterprise with a mission to unlock town centre buildings for amazing ideas that help us live affordably, sustainably and together. We convene councils, community leaders and asset owners around the country to build powerful partnerships, to unlock buildings for local benefit. We support these Partnerships with access to funding, technical expertise and networks.

Our deeper intention is to localise and democratise who owns, controls and transforms town centre and neighbourhood buildings, so that communities can:

• design spaces to meet local needs – whether affordable space for arts, music, healthcare, local food, housing, nature connection, reuse & repair, childcare etc
• retain and reinvest the wealth generated by these buildings.

We’re inspired by pioneers like Hastings Commons, Stour Trust, SAFE Regen, Civic Square, Nudge Community Builders, Makespace Oxford and other members of the Mycelial Network.

About Footwork Trust 

Footwork (UK charity Footwork Trust) supports local people to transform their neighbourhoods for the better and builds alliances to make this possible.

Since 2022, Footwork’s ‘People and Place’ programme has supported over 50 community innovators to turn their bold ideas into lasting positive change, in response to a local social or environmental challenge. Often reviving land and buildings for community use, they are part of a growing force for fairer, locally-led regeneration, making the places they call home more resilient and equitable. 

Through national and local events, Footwork creates spaces for peer support and shared learning, showcases inspiring examples, and convenes built environment practitioners to enable true collaboration with community partners. 

Together, Footwork and Platform Places co-facilitate the Mycelial Network for Community Asset Developers.

About the Local Property Partnerships pilot, 2024-2027

Thanks to National Lottery players, Platform Places and partners have received almost £2.5 million over three years from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK. The funding is being used to enable communities to come together and secure long-term spaces for the activities and services that they need the most.

This fund and programme resources local leaders in neighbourhoods in Newcastle, Sheffield, Liverpool City Region, Bristol and London – working towards shifting multiple buildings into long-term local ownership. We’re also supported by our national partner organisations Architectural Heritage Fund, Power to Change and Social Investment Business. Our intention is that this work will lay the groundwork for a larger follow-on funding programme, which catalyses England-wide adoption of this approach.

The role

We’re looking for an experienced, creative and hands-on communications specialist to join our small team and network of local and national partners.

The Communications Lead will focus on our key programmes, with the below time distribution. The challenge and opportunity is to hit the ground running and drive communications across our key channels – to help attract allies, funding and support, and inspire replication of these approaches in neighbourhoods around England.

2 days per week, ‘Local Property Partnerships’: 

• You’ll lead on promoting, and sharing learnings from, Platform Places’ exciting pilot programme (funded by National Lottery Community Fund) – which is localising and democratising who owns, controls and transforms town centre buildings in five neighbourhoods across England. 

0.75 days per week, ‘People and Place’: 

• You’ll promote, and share learnings from, Footwork Trust’s ‘People and Place’ programme – which supports community innovators to turn their bold ideas into lasting positive change for their place. 

0.25 days per week, Wider movement building: 

• You’ll work on ad hoc broader communications opportunities that support our mission and the programmes – for example, creating a content piece with local or national partners from our wider network, or pitching a media story that cuts across all our programmes.

This involves the following areas of responsibility: 

1. Build on our working communications strategy
2. Work with co-directors to develop our bold, inspiring core messaging, and update our boilerplate narratives
3. Manage digital channels for Platform Places and Footwork: a) plan and create regular social media content; b) write newsletters (approx. quarterly); c) upload and edit website content, on Squarespace (drag-and-drop editor) and occasionally Wix (guidance available).
4. Strategic media relations: build journalist relationships and pitch stories (local or national), op-eds and comments
5. Work with local and national partners to share inspiring and compelling stories
6. Develop practical how-tos and templates, together with partners (you'll have support initiating partner relationships)
7. Provide comms guidance to local programme partners
8. Support co-directors and partners with speaking engagements and event opportunities

You’ll start from a strong foundation of communications activities, along with our established tone, visual identity and branded templates – with lots of freedom for new ideas. 

About you

• You’re as comfortable with creative storytelling as you are with practical resources
• You’re a campaigner for systems change – experienced in attracting allies and creating communications for diverse audiences
• You make it sing – you turn dense or complicated materials into clear and effective narratives to shift opinion and action
• You’re a collaborator – you can effectively hold relationships with local and national partners to plan and deliver coordinated communications 
• You can ‘wear all the hats’: you get stuck in on strategy and roll up your sleeves on delivery; you know when to pitch to media and when the tactic is digital; you can knock up great copy or quick Canva graphics without aiming for perfection
• You’re efficient and resourceful, comfortable leading on comms in a small (and collaborative) team, and know how to make things happen on a small budget (and when to seek external specialists)
• You’re passionate about community-led places and social and environmental justice – and you’re knowledgeable about at least one of: high streets, property, retrofit, community business, heritage buildings, cultural venues, town planning, neighbourhood governance

We know you likely have a particular comms specialism, with more strengths and experience in some areas than others. We’d love to hear about this, and about your approach to getting stuck into the rest. 

Our team & culture 

You’ll be joining our small, agile team of six people across Platform Places and Footwork. We meet in-person on a monthly basis to have lunch together and plan ahead, and have weekly online huddles to check-in and discuss priorities.

We work flexibly around our needs, whether a caring responsibility or otherwise.

Our culture is driven by our values: generous sharing, diverse perspectives, active listening and curiosity, staying networked and joy.

Unifrog’s mission

We’re on a mission to level the playing field when it comes to young people finding and applying for their next step after school. We're achieving this by bringing all the available information into one single, impartial, user-friendly platform that helps students to make the best choices, and submit the strongest applications. We also empower teachers and counselors to manage the progression process effectively.

Our outlook is global - we work with schools and universities all over the world, from the US to New Zealand, and from Italy to Hong Kong. We want to make it so that young people can compare every opportunity taught in English, wherever it is in the world, and have all the support they need to make successful applications.

We have a clear social purpose, and we’re hugely ambitious. We already work with over half of UK secondary schools, and over a thousand international schools. We are growing rapidly in terms of the number of our customers, in terms of how much they use our platform, and in terms of the breadth of products we offer.

We recently expanded our impact with Unifrog for primary schools. By bringing our platform to younger learners, we’re supporting schools in delivering a comprehensive careers and PSHE curriculum from Reception through to Year 6. Our mission is to start early; breaking down barriers, challenging stereotypes, and ensuring every child, regardless of background, believes that every future pathway is within their reach.

Our team is at the heart of our business and is integral to our success. We work hard to foster a culture of openness, happiness and innovation, and we commit to helping every individual learn and grow so that they can reach their full potential. We want to hire talented people, whatever their background. If you are excited by our mission and are ready to work hard, please don’t hesitate to apply. We look forward to hearing from you!

We believe in the power of diversity. If you are from an ethnic minority background, we would like to strongly encourage you to apply. In advance of applying, if you have any questions about working at Unifrog, please contact our Recruitment Lead (details on our jobs page). 

 

What you’ll do

Joining our small, high-energy team, you’ll play a key role growing our newest partner base and supporting primary school partners to make the most of the Unifrog platform and resources. Excellent customer service is at the heart of what we do, and you’ll make sure that all interactions with Unifrog are positive and successful. 

Your key responsibilities:

Sell Unifrog subscriptions to primary schools

• Design and deliver impactful prospecting campaigns and marketing collateral aimed at engaging potential new partners, tracking campaign performance and continually improving your approach to secure demonstrations and drive partnership growth.

• Meet with potential partners on video calls (and sometimes in-person). Understand their priorities, demonstrate the Unifrog platform and resources, and secure their subscription.

• Identify and attend conferences and events to promote Unifrog to primary school audiences, while networking and cultivating relationships for future partnership opportunities.

• Develop a sound awareness of Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) and the PSHE Association Framework within the UK. You’ll need this to confidently navigate conversations with relevant contacts at primary schools.

 

Support primary school partners to make the most of Unifrog

• Set up new partner schools for success. Help them to embed Unifrog across their staff, student and parent community. You’ll deliver an initial staff training session then provide ad-hoc support.

• Proactively work to foster a sense of community amongst our primary school partners and think of ways to promote the sharing and embedding of Unifrog best practice between partners.

• Achieve sky-high resubscription rates by securing partner renewals when their subscriptions come to an end.

 

What we’re looking for

• Resilient, and motivated to exceed targets

Our sales and resubscription targets are achievable but ambitious. You’ll need to be determined to meet and exceed them.

• Sales experience

You’ll be responsible for meeting sales targets so sales experience is desirable but not essential.
 

• Strong communication skills

You’ll be in frequent communication with lots of different people, both within Unifrog and externally – this will be in person, written, over the phone and via video call. You’ll need to be an outstanding communicator.

• Strategic and innovative 

You’ll be strategic in your approach to driving growth within the newest team at Unifrog and be innovative and creative in your solutions to any barriers along the way.

• Personable, with a track record of excellent relationship management

At Unifrog we’re known for our excellent customer service. You’ll need to provide fantastic support for your partner schools.

• Sector insight

You will be working with schools that have different contexts and priorities; you’ll need to be quick to understand how we can support them.
 

• Attention to detail

It’s important you have the skills and discipline to carefully check your communications to schools, your prospects and contacts in your network.

• Proactive attitude and willingness to get stuck in

You need to be excited about going beyond the core responsibilities detailed above to improve what we do and make it a success.

You will be one of two members of our newest team at Unifrog, with the opportunity to be at the forefront of building an exciting and impactful offering for primary schools across the UK. If this excites you and you’re an energetic person who is willing to learn, we’d love to hear from you.

 

Working together

You’ll work alongside one other Primary Schools Partnership Manager and be line managed by our Partnerships Director (UK schools and Employers). You will also have daily contact with the wider Unifrog team, including our Marketing, Content and Finance teams.

 

Key benefits

Head to our jobs page for a full list of the excellent benefits we offer our team.

• Join one of Escape the City’s top 1% employers and help transform careers and destinations in schools.

• Become part of a committed, dynamic, and growing company. We want to build our team for the long term: if you do well, we will do our best to make sure you want to stay at the company for a long time.

• Professional development is important at Unifrog. You will define your own 6-month objectives and will be supported by your line manager and the rest of the team to achieve them. You will have an annual training allowance to spend on what you need to grow and progress.

• Influence the company’s direction: we love to promote great ideas, wherever they come from.

 

Key details

• £39,047 per annum (Grade B), plus:

  • Unlimited commission, OTE of £50,000.

  • Bonuses linked to strong performance against KPIs.

• Full-time

• 28 days paid holiday per year (plus bank holidays). 

• Working hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Thursday, and 9am to 4:30pm on Friday – some days you may need to start earlier but you can finish earlier as a result.

• The role is remote (or hybrid for candidates in London or Edinburgh).

• Start date: as soon as possible (but not later than w/c 22nd June).

• We can only consider candidates who have the right to work in the UK.

• To discuss reasonable adjustments or any details about the role before applying, please contact our Recruitment Lead (details on our jobs page). 

 

Application process

• Deadline: 10:00am (BST) on Wednesday 1st April 2026.

• Stage 1: Application form (~1 hour)

• Visit our website to upload your CV and complete the questions and tasks below. Please note that we do not review CVs at this stage of the application process so please be as specific as possible about your experience.

i) With reference to examples of your recent experience, what would make you an excellent candidate for this role? (250 words)

ii) A school we are hoping to partner with have concerns about the budget available for Unifrog. What would be your approach to securing a partnership with them for this academic year? (250 words)

iii) Tell us about a time when you had to manage conflicting priorities whilst meeting targets. What was your approach? (250 words)

• Stage 2: Phone task (15 minutes) 

• A short role play task over the phone. We will schedule these tasks throughout the application window so we encourage you to apply early.

• Stage 3: Video call interview (1 hour) 

• Short pre-prepared presentation (15 mins) 

• Standard Q&A from a panel of three, including questions about your experiences and how these relate to the role, and scenario questions based on common situations you might face (plus time for your questions) (45 mins).

• Video call interviews will be held w/c 13th April 2026.

• Your answers are an opportunity to let us know more about your motivations and experience. While we understand that candidates might want to use AI to improve parts of their application, we strongly encourage you to write your answers independently. 

Please note, we compare all answers to an AI generated answer. Where we suspect AI has been used to write the majority of the answer, this will be taken into consideration when scoring

Find more detail and our full policy on AI in applications here.

 

Inclusion and diversity at Unifrog

• Within the company we try to foster a culture of innovation, and a happy working environment, both because this is the right thing to do, and because we think this results in the most effective team. To this end we believe in open communication, celebrating successes, supporting each other, not being afraid to be wrong or to fail, and promoting good ideas wherever they come from.

• As a platform that supports teachers and students from a huge variety of backgrounds it’s important that our team and leadership reflects this diversity. This is something we are actively working towards and prioritising. We want to embed diversity, equity and inclusion across everything we do, continually evaluating policies and practices to make sure they are inclusive and equitable.

• To make sure everyone’s voice is heard and people have the opportunities to learn to be better allies in the workplace, we encourage the team to share what they’re celebrating, facilitate training and group discussions, and seek regular feedback about what more the company could do to help people feel included.

• To ensure that our recruitment process is consistent and fair, we anonymise your application and therefore do not see your name, personal, educational or professional background. We also randomise the order of responses so that it’s less likely that a candidate is advantaged or disadvantaged by where their answers appear compared to other candidates.