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+.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Are you an experienced health writer and editor?
Do you want to use your skills to help British Heart Foundation (BHF) fund even more scientific breakthroughs and help us save and improve the lives of families and loved ones?
If so, this Health Editor role could be for you!
About the role
We want to reach and support more people with heart and circulatory conditions, helping them feel informed, empowered, and understood.
As a Health Editor, you’ll play a key role in doing this, through creating and commissioning high-quality written, audio and video content to support people with heart conditions.
You will generate ideas and produce high-quality, engaging and accurate content in a variety of formats (e.g. video, quizzes, infographics, interactive tools) across a range of channels (including web, email, print).
Collaborating with colleagues and other teams, you’ll use data and insight to inform the creation and optimisation of content; ensuring the people who need our support are at the heart of everything we do.
About you
As our ideal candidate, you bring experience of writing, editing and proof-reading content (ideally health content) and interviewing people for first-person stories and journalistic features.
With the ability to work quickly under pressure, prioritise effectively and meet tight deadlines, you have experience of creating and/or managing the creation of multimedia content (e.g., video, animation, interactive tools), working on a print or magazine product, and generating and gathering ideas for content (including by audience insight and SEO techniques).
Flexible and open to challenges, you will be great at producing high-quality, engaging and accurate content, collaborating with you team and colleagues across the business.
Able to understand complex medical or scientific materials, you will ideally have a background in health, and/or a good level of science literacy.
Working arrangements
This role is 12 month Fixed Term Contract covering family leave. It is a part time role working 21 hours per week as part of a job share. Ideally working days would include Mondays as a cross-over day between the job share partners but we are very open and flexibility around this can be discussed.
The salary range shown is the full time equivalent and will be pro rata for part time hours.
This is a hybrid role, where your work will be split between your home and at least one day per week, on average, in our London Office. This may vary from time to time, so you will need to work in a flexible way to unlock your best work for our cause.
About Us
Our people are at the heart of everything we do. By funding research across six decades, we’ve helped keep millions of hearts beating and millions of families together. We’re investing in ground-breaking research that will get us closer than ever to a world where everyone has a healthier heart for longer.
We value and respect every individual’s unique contribution, celebrate diversity, and make inclusion part of what we do every day.
Our vision is a world free from the fear of heart and circulatory diseases.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.