Community engagement executive jobs in Leicester

This newly created role will coordinate persuasive proposals and bids with colleagues across the organisation– working to increase the reach of Phoenix Futures. You will support with the development of fundraising initiatives and produce high quality written materials demonstrating the measurable impact of our services on people’s lives.

The Role

As Strategic Development Officer, you will play a key supporting role in advancing our growth strategy across health and social care settings. Working closely with colleagues and partners, you will help to expand our reach across the UK, ensuring our services are available to those that need them.

You will be responsible for preparing and submitting high quality bids and funding proposals, coordinating input from cross functional teams and producing compelling communications materials. Your work will involve gathering evidence, best practice and case studies to showcase our impact as well as supporting fundraising initiatives and marketing analysis.

About You

Reporting directly to the Head of Strategy and Partnerships, you will:

• Be a experienced in bid writing, proposal development and supporting strategic initiatives.
• Be skilled at interpreting reports and data to communicate impact and value in compelling ways.
• Have strong organisation and project management skills with the ability to manage multiple deadlines and coordinate contributions from diverse teams.
• Be comfortable working collaboratively and independently, adapting to changing priorities and supporting colleagues across the organisation.

A detailed job description (role profile) and person specification can be found attached. 

Benefits

• A starting salary of £35,500 with the opportunity to access potential yearly salary increments subject to appraisal, meaning potential salary increase up to £41,000
• Committed to providing a Real Living Wage for you, through accreditation with the Living Wage Foundation 
• 25 days’ annual leave plus Bank Holidays (increasing each year to a maximum of 30 days) 
• Benefits including season ticket loan, pension scheme and life assurance 
• Support through occupational sick pay, eye-care vouchers and regular wellbeing talks and activities 
• Continuous training and career development via PXL our dedicated learning management system  
• Access to a 24/7 Employee Assistance programme including telephone and online access 
• A rewarding role with the opportunity to help us support people on their journey to recovery and change their lives for the better. 
• We’ll ensure you get all the support you need to thrive and succeed in your role and find your place amongst our incredible and collaborative team. 

About Phoenix Futures

The Phoenix Futures Group has 60 years’ experience delivering pioneering psychosocial treatment services. We believe in being the best, which means constantly learning, innovating, and collaborating with partners who share our vision.

Our managers and leaders are guided by a shared set of qualities that shape how we work with colleagues, partners and the people we support. These are: BRAVE, HONEST, VISIBLE, VISIONARY, NURTURING and COLLABORATIVE. These qualities underpin our approach to inclusive leadership, accountability and compassionate practice across Phoenix Futures and support the development of a value aligned culture. 

We encourage and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and believe it is important to include people with lived experience to ensure the needs of the people we support are represented. We are committed to creating an inclusive working environment where everyone is free to be themselves and we ensure equity of opportunity. 

The Interview

Interviews will be held during February/March, if applications are sufficient a first stage process will be held via teams. As the role requires travel to in person events across the country, we do require an in-person interview as the final stage, this will be in London. Full details will be provided to shortlisted candidates.

Please note, we will be assessing applications as they are submitted and may close this role should we find sufficient applicants with which to make our shortlist. As such, we would advise applying as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Inclusive & Blind Recruitment Statement:

In line with Caudwell Youth’s recruitment policy, we operate a blind recruitment process to help ensure a fair and unbiased selection. At the initial application stage, we ask all candidates to submit only a CV and a covering letter (maximum 1 side of A4) 

Please use your covering letter to explain why you are interested in this position and to explain how your experience, skills, or achievements enable you to meet the person specification and support your application.

Your anonymised cover letter to this question will be the only information shared with the interview panel for the blind shortlisting process, so we encourage you to make it clear and impactful.

Should you be shortlisted for an interview, you will then be invited to fill in our full application form.

We value equity, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences, and identities.

ABOUT US

Not all young people have the same opportunities in life. Caudwell Youth exists to level the playing field for young people at risk. We support young people up to 25 years, who face real challenges in their lives. They may experience mental health challenges, be leaving care or be at risk of exploitation or offending.

We provide person centred support through volunteer-led mentoring for up to 18-months, alongside a targeted intervention programme called Shaping Futures for high-risk young people. Founded by the philanthropist John Caudwell in 2022, we now support young people across Milton Keynes, Hertfordshire, Slough, Buckinghamshire, and Luton.

Over our first 3 years as a charity, our work has consistently achieved exceptional outcomes for at-risk young people. 95% reduced offending behaviour, 64% reduced their exploitation risk, 83% reported improvements in their mental health and 45% had moved into education, employment or training. When a young person makes progress, families and communities benefit too. In fact, economic analysis shows that for every £1 invested in our programme, we save the public purse £6.05.

Unfortunately, demand for our service far outstrips supply, meaning we have often had to close our waiting lists. Whilst the risks and challenges young people face continue to grow. We currently support around 400 young people. The driving ambition behind our forthcoming strategy is to reach more.

To achieve this we are setting out to develop and expand our programmes. To become a national charity. We will do this working with at-risk young people, empowering them in everything we do. Our ambition to support more at-risk young people is shared with them.

OUR VISION: A brighter future for at-risk young people.

OUR MISSION: Empowering at-risk young people to shape their own future through mentoring and youth-led support.

Purpose of Role:

Provide strategic leadership on all Caudwell Youth’s external communications, ensuring they are effective in driving engagement and delivering our strategic goals.

Responsible as part of the Senior Leadership Team for the overall leadership of Caudwell Youth. Promoting the mission, vision and values of the charity, and the development and implementation of our strategic plan.

Key Duties:

Corporate leadership

• As part of the Senior Leadership Team work with the Board of Trustees to: develop and progress the organisation’s strategy, set and manage the organisation’s budget and ensure risks are managed effectively
• Lead by example, instilling a values-led and inclusive culture, with strong youth involvement

Commnications

• Lead on brand strategy, developing the brand to become more youth-led, reviewing our visual identity, core messaging, content and channels.
• Be responsible for digital strategy, leading development of our website and social media channels.
• Be responsible for our CRM, maintaining good data practices and delivering timely, integrated communications to our key audiences.
• Lead the development of communication plans, storytelling, assets and content; increasing the proportion of content created and delivered by young people.
• Provide the framework and support for youth participation in communications activities, working effectively with the Operations teams.
• Work with young people to identify influencers and celebrity/ambassador support to raise awareness and support our brand values.
• Lead proactive and reactive media engagement; including crisis communications with support from the CEO and John Caudwell’s PR team.
• Ensure our brand and communications convey a powerful case for support; working with the Fundraising team to create compelling donor communications to recruit and engage challenge participants and donors.
• Develop and deliver marketing strategies for volunteer recruitment to enable our mentoring programmes to grow.
• Gather and share the views and experiences of young people to influence change, building policy and campaigns activity as resources allow.
• Oversee the production of digital, printed and physical assets as required.
• Lead and manage the Communications team effectively, supporting development to maximise performance.
• Ensure effective processes and analytics are in place, reporting to SLT and the Board of Trustees on KPIs

​Administration

• Manage the Communications budget
• Be responsible for our marketing software, including CRM, and adhere to data retention schedules.
• Act as Data Protection Officer for Caudwell Youth
• Undertake and identify training as required and take a positive approach to personal development.
• Undertake any other reasonable tasks deemed necessary.

Experience:

Essential

• Proven experience in senior communications roles.
• Sound leadership and team management experience, with the ability to manage and motivate teams to achieve targets.
• A minimum of five years’ experience in communications, media relations/PR, advocacy and/or marketing.
• Experience of involving beneficiaries in communications activities, preferably young people
• An good understanding of GDPR.

Desirable

• Experience of working on charity communications
• Knowledge or experience of fundraising practices
• Experience of policy and campaigns
• Experience of working with young people
• Lived experience that aligns with the young people we support

Skills:

• Ability to work strategically and collaboratively as part of a senior leadership team.
• Strong strategic thinking and ability to translate vision into actionable plans.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a talent for storytelling.
• An understanding of developing support journeys to promote engagement
• Proficiency in digital marketing and social media management.

We are an experienced team that are dedicated to improving the lives of the young people we support.

Benefits:

• Flexible working
• Hybrid – working from home with travel as required
• WPA Healthcare (including Employee Assistance Programme and extended counselling sessions)
• Group Personal Pension with a 5% employer contribution and Salary Sacrifice Scheme
• 25 days annual leave (FTE) plus bank holidays, plus charity closure between Christmas and New Year
• Extra paid day off on your birthday
• Paid day off for volunteering in your community
• Training opportunities to support your personal development
• Employee discounts on everyday goods and services
• Being part of a passionate and dedicated team

Caudwell Youth is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. As part of this commitment, we undertake disclosure checks in accordance with the Codes of Practice for all. Having a criminal record will not automatically exclude applicants.

As an organisation supporting young people with care experience, with mental health and those at risk of criminal exploitation and offending, we are keen to receive applications from those with lived experience. For those who are care experienced, we will guarantee an interview.

We actively seek to bring diverse perspectives and experience, and especially welcome applications from disabled people and those from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic backgrounds and LGBTQ+.

Do you have what it takes to be part of the Walking With The Wounded team? We have a fantastic opportunity for a Financial Controller with experience of running the day-to-day financial operations of a dynamic charity. We are an ambitious charity with ambitious goals that needs a Financial Controller to support the charity in achieving these goals. If your attitude matches this, you will find a perfect home within our Finance team.

This is a broad role that will include a wide range of responsibilities. The Financial Controller is responsible for managing the daily and weekly tasks of the Finance team, as well as periodic tasks that are less frequent.  These tasks include (but are not restricted to) all aspects of bank and cash, raising of invoices, generating BACS payments, all Finance input into payroll, VAT returns, Gift Aid claims and response to ad hoc queries from our front-line staff.  The Financial Controller managers one Finance Assistant and reports into the Head of Finance. The Head of Finance leads on budget setting, forecasting and monthly / quarterly / annual reporting, and the Financial Controller will support where needed.  The Financial Controller will also be the lead contact with external auditors following year end.

 The tasks outlined here and in the job description will not remain static and can be tailored to the experience of the successful applicant, therefore this role is ideal for someone who is looking for a challenge and to develop their skills in a supportive and dynamic environment.

For an informal discussion please contact Marc Brady, Head of Finance.