132 Education and youth programmes officer jobs

We’re looking for a Programme Coordinator to bring our impactful programmes to life and make a real difference in schools across the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East. If you love working with young people, building relationships and co-ordinating events, this is the role for you.

The Elephant Group is a schools-led charity founded by headteachers in 2018. We help state-educated students access opportunities and succeed beyond school, working alongside 100 partner schools and 15 leading universities. Last academic year our Programmes Team delivered 134 school visits, and Summer Academy 2026 was our biggest yet, with over 700 students on our partner universities’ campuses.

The role

Working closely with the Programmes Team and our Head of Programmes, you’ll play a central role in delivering our  Elephant Access programme and the Meta Method, our metacognition programme. Much of the job is in-person delivery and event coordination. You’ll:

• be the main contact for your own portfolio of partner schools, building strong relationships with link teachers and adapting your approach to each school’s needs
• plan and deliver school visits, from small interactive workshops to assemblies and lecture-style talks for up to 100 students
• support the planning, communications and logistics of our Launch Events, Spring Conferences, Summer Academies, specialist stream events and webinars, working with university partners
• collect participant and destination data from schools, and support student surveys and impact reporting
• create teacher and student bulletins and newsletters, and run our student-facing social media
• manage the programmes team’s shared inbox, responding to schools, students and partners

You’ll have a full handover and training, with opportunities to shadow before taking on your own schools.

About you
We’re looking for someone who:

• is committed to our mission and understands the barriers state-educated students face in reaching competitive destinations
• is confident delivering sessions to groups of young people and adapting content to the audience
• builds positive working relationships with a range of people
• is highly organised, able to juggle projects with many moving parts and keep track of detail
• communicates clearly and professionally, uses their initiative and adapts well when plans change
• has a driving licence and access to a car

It would be great if you also have experience of social media or Canva, event planning, the education sector or widening participation, or knowledge of the university applications cycle or safeguarding. We’ll provide training in all of these. If you don’t tick every box but are passionate about our work and aligned with our values, please still apply.

Key details:

• £26,000–£29,000 depending on experience, permanent, full-time
• Fully home-based with frequent travel to schools. You’ll need a driving licence and a car, and you’ll need to live in or near Sheffield or the Midlands, or be willing to relocate.
• Start date ideally December 2026 (but flexible for the right candidate)

What we offer

• 28 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays and extra days off at Christmas
• Up to 3 volunteering and development days a year once you’ve passed probation
• A supportive, flexible team culture, with gifted early finishes and time to recharge after busy periods
• Up to 5% employer pension contribution
• All home-working equipment provided, including furniture if needed
• Real development opportunities in a small charity, with a CEO who’s passionate about staff development

How to apply

Send a CV (max two pages) and a cover letter (max 500 words) addressed to Jayne Taylor, CEO via CharityJob. Include where you live (town/county) and answer question 1 plus one of 2, 3 or 4:

1. Why do you want to work for The Elephant Group, and what excites you about our mission?
    
2. Describe a time you led a session or activity for a group, ideally of young people. How did you prepare and adapt it to your audience?
3. Tell us about an event or project with lots of moving parts that you organised. How did you keep track of the detail, and what did you do when something went wrong?
4. Tell us about a time you built a good working relationship with someone outside your immediate team. What did you do, and what difference did it make?

Applications close at 23:59 on Sunday 25 October. First interviews will be online w/c 26 October, and final interviews will be in person on 5–6 November.

Please note: We welcome practices that are inclusive and accessible and recognise that candidates may choose to use AI tools to support their application. However, please be mindful that applications that clearly reflect your own motivations, experiences and alignment to our mission in your own unique voice will always stand out most to us.

This role is subject to an enhanced DBS check and references. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, particularly those with experience of the barriers our students face.