Change lives in a life-changing career
When a child or young person is diagnosed with cancer, their whole world can feel like it’s falling apart. Independence is taken and confidence is stolen. Stability no longer exists. The future suddenly feels uncertain.
The impact of cancer on young lives is more than medical. And that impact can be felt by entire family. That’s why we exist. Our specialist social workers help children and young people with cancer and their families navigate the emotional and practical impact of cancer.
We remove barriers, solve problems and prioritise wellbeing. And we stop at nothing to make their voices heard and their unique needs understood, so they can get the right care and support at the right time
About the role
We’re looking for a Policy and Public Affairs Manager with experience in delivering high-impact, voice-led policy, public affairs and campaigning work to join our Policy and Influencing team.
We have a growing and ambitious commitment to creating positive change in the health and care system to achieve the change children and young people with cancer, and their families, need across the UK. This means amplifying the voices of young cancer patients and delivering evidence-based campaigns that make change happen.
The Policy and Public Affairs Manager is responsible for ensuring our policy and influencing work has maximum impact through our public affairs and campaigning across the UK. This work will be co-created with children and young people at every appropriate opportunity. Building relationships is a crucial part of your role and you will support the Head of Policy and Influencing to deliver Young Lives vs Cancer’s policy, influencing and voice work to be sector leading and develop a range of external relationships to inform our work in this area.
Our Policy, Influencing and Voice Team build the evidence base we need to develop sound policy positions, works to influence the system for children and young people with cancer and their families, so we can change experiences of having cancer and ensure children and young people’s voices are heard. The team is a part of the Innovation, Policy and Systems Change Directorate, which synthesises our policy, research, campaigning, voice, innovation and systems change work.
This role is subject to a criminal record check. In the event of a successful application a basic criminal record check will be completed. A previous conviction is not necessarily a barrier to employment. We encourage qualified applicants to apply, and we will consider each case individually.
What will I be doing?
No two days are the same at Young Lives vs Cancer. So, summarising your ‘day to day’ isn’t easy. Here are some of the main things you’ll be doing, but you’ll find more details in the job description.
- Monitoring and analysing developments and trends in policy affecting children and young people with cancer, to identify relevant policy issues across the UK at an early stage and to advise on and help shape the charity’s response and public position.
- Working with colleagues across the team to develop policy positions that are relevant, up to date and can be used to support wider campaigning and influencing activities to engage our supporters, across health, social care, benefits and welfare reform, education issues and other relevant issues.
- Planning, managing and implementing public affairs plans and engagement based on policy priorities and effectiveness, liaising with external partners and coalitions, including designing and delivering our proactive engagement with elected representatives, monitoring the public affairs environment and co-ordinating reactive and proactive activities across the UK.
- Delivering a campaigns programme which builds on are previous successes, ensuring our campaigns and public affairs programmes work alongside with and alongside children, young people and families.
- Working with the Head of Policy and Influencing to support Young Lives vs Cancer’s engagement, communications and influence with policymakers, elected representatives and other key stakeholders.
- Developing external partnerships and networks to strengthen policy and public affairs activity
What do I need?
The key skills we’re looking for in this role are:
- Ability to deliver strategic policy and public affairs activity based on robust evidence, from development to evaluation.
- Successfully influence politicians and key decision-makers to achieve strategic goals at different levels of government, through managing the delivery of successful public affairs campaigns
- Overseeing work that involves beneficiaries in policy and influencing work, demonstrate effective influencing skills
- Awareness and understanding of and/or experience of working in the policy issues facing young people with cancer across all four UK nations, and the wider policy and influencing and/or campaigning landscape
- Demonstrate excellent verbal and written communication skills at a variety of levels to a wide range of audiences, in particular a political audience
- Be an organised, systematic and a confident worker - managing a fast paced and reactive workload alongside longer-term strategic work whilst demonstrating attention to detail and accuracy
What will I gain?
For people to reach their full potential, they need the right environment. As a member of Team Young Lives, you’ll be made to feel supported, valued and appreciated. Here’s how we do it:
- Flexible working: we’re open to working hours outside of 9 - 5 and we can talk through your flexibility requirements at interview stage
- Wellbeing, Thinking & Growth Days: four days a year to to step back from the day-to-day and focus on your own learning and development
- Generous annual leave allowance
- Great family/caring leave entitlements
- Enhanced pension
- Access to our employee savings scheme
To find out more about our benefits package, have a look on our website.
Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging
At Young Lives vs Cancer, we recognise that opportunities for too many people remain a condition of their sex, ethnicity, class, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation – or a combination. This has never been acceptable to us as an organisation. We don’t just accept difference, we value it, celebrate it, nurture it and we thrive because of it.
We’re on a journey to be reflective of the diverse children, young people and families we support. We know we aren’t there yet, and we’re passionately committed to taking actions and making changes to be a truly diverse, inclusive and equitable organisation. This includes taking anti-oppressive action and removing barriers in our recruitment practices. We particularly welcome applications from members of minoritised communities. Our Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging strategy will tell you more.
To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value AI adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to tell us about your skills and experiences in your own voice.
Accessibility
We’re committed to providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process and we’ll always aim to be as accommodating as possible.Please let us know in your application form of any adjustments or access requirements we could make to help you with the application process and interview.
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Thank you!
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust (the Trust) is looking for a part-time (0.7 FTE) Head of Outreach.
Our vision is for a world where bumblebees are thriving and valued by everyone.
This role will:
- Lead on the development and implementation of an Outreach Strategy that inspires people and organisations, including policy makers, to take action for bumblebees. (Aim 2 of the Trust’s strategy)
- Lead on behaviour change impact reporting, ensuring data collection methods and tools are fit for purpose, and staff and volunteers have the necessary training and support to confidently report on the impact of face-to-face outreach activities.
- Lead on project development activities and work with the fundraising team to generate income to fund the sustainable growth of the Trust’s outreach activities across the UK.
You will be an excellent communicator and problem solver with experience in managing change and leading and motivating staff and volunteers. You will have a proven track record in securing grant funding and building strong partnerships with third party organisations, as well as experience in monitoring and evaluating the impact of public engagement and volunteering activities, including social and wellbeing impacts and behaviour change.
Please refer to the job description and person specification for more details of the role.
This is a part-time post for 24 hours per week. Some overtime work may be required and a flexitime system is in place.
This post will be employed on a permanent basis and can be based at the Trust’s office in Stirling, home-based, or hybrid between the Trust’s office in Stirling and home-working.
The Trust is an Equal Opportunities employer. This means that whilst seeking employment or during such employment with the Trust, we will seek to ensure equality of treatment for all persons regardless of sex, race, age, marital or civil partnership status, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity status.
At the Trust, we have a clear goal: to be the place where a diverse mix of talented people want to come, to stay and do their best work. We pride ourselves on reaching for our vision, through the hard work and dedication of our passionate and creative employees.
The closing date is 5 p.m. 13 April 2026. Applications may close before the deadline, so please apply early to avoid disappointment.
The interview date is 28th April 2026. Interviews will be held online.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
The Youth Endowment Fund
Head of Digital Communications
Reports to: Director of External Affairs and Youth Understanding
Salary: £67,800
Location: Central London or Hybrid*(see below)
Contract: 2-year fixed term contract
Closing date for applications: 12pm, Tuesday 7th April 2026
Interview dates: Week commencing 20th April 2026
About the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF)
All of us will experience violence at some point in our lives. For many children, it is a daily reality. Each year, tens of children are killed, hundreds are hospitalised, 1 in 5 teenage children are victims and the majority admit to feeling afraid of violence. It scares them when they travel home from school, prevents them from going out and makes the most vulnerable feel like they don’t matter. It is taking lives, traumatising families and dividing communities. It robs potential, progress and hope.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
The Youth Endowment Fund believes that no child should be affected by violence. We research violence to understand it; we find, fund and test what works to prevent it; and we are building a movement to end it.
Communications at YEF
The Communications team, within the External Affairs and Youth Understanding directorate, is a critical arm of the organisation. We can only reduce violence if people hear about what works and put it into practice. Change is hard and it only happens if people trust where it comes from and want to engage with what we are communicating. We can only make change at scale if we’re smart about using digital tools to reach a growing, diverse audience across society.
We need professionals working across our sectors — youth-workers, police officers, social workers, policymakers, headteachers, and more — to find out about and be part of our movement. To do this, we must communicate with humility, authenticity and clarity.
We need politicians, commissioners and funders to follow our guidance and use our products. To do this, we must secure a seat at the table, communicate with intellectual rigour and persuade using the evidence.
We also need to connect with wider society, helping anyone who cares about making Britain safer for the next generation to understand what we do, what works and how they can support our cause. To do this, our brand must be accessible and inspiring, leveraging robust research alongside human storytelling.
As the Head of Digital Communications, you will be essential to achieving our mission. You will join the YEF at an exciting time. We are entering a crucial phase of increasing our policy influence at the top of government, changing things for the better across our sectors — education, youth justice, youth sector, children’s services, policing, health — and mobilising a movement to keep children and young people safe.
Your job is to make sure that the right people are drawn to our website and our digital communications, that they discover and engage with our content — from quoting our data, to using our Toolkit and evidence, to following practical recommendations in our guidance, to watching videos about the latest trends and conversations in violence prevention — and trust what we have to say.
You will support the Director of External Affairs and Youth Understanding to plan, build and execute a digital campaign to make all of this happen. You will help to lead the Communications team to hold the attention of our priority audiences and making them act.
Key Responsibilities
- The core of your job is to ensure that YEF's audience grows rapidly and strategically in size, that people working in our sectors gain awareness and confidence in our brand and that decision-makers engage with our work via our digital channels: our website, social media, newsletters, search, long- and short-form videos and the Safe podcast.
- You will further develop YEF’s existing digital marketing strategy into a national campaign across 2026-2029 for mobilising the evidence to prevent violence affecting children and young people.
- You will provide leadership to YEF generally and the Communications team specifically - managing the Senior Digital Marketing Manager and Digital Marketing and Communications Officer – to develop internal collaboration for boosting organisation-wide digital activity, such as call-to-actions via social media and video content.
- You will execute a strategy for moving to a more segmented, sector-specific communication strategy that engages each audience (whether teachers, youth workers, police officers etc.) to use of YEF’s products whether our Toolkit, our Guidance on what works and self-assessment tools for each sector.
- To commission and develop compelling, eye-catching video content that authentically showcases case studies of our work, drives our audiences towards our channels and products and significantly boosts widespread engagement — views, likes, comments and shares — online.
- To help secure and convert high-profile digital communications opportunities for the team in representing YEF’s work, including podcast and video placements.
- To develop and leverage relevant agency relationships, and use data analytics, to optimise our SEO positioning for online searches related to youth violence, advise on investment in paid advertising to drive traffic to our website and products, and generally boost our digital engagement.
About You
You are this sort of person:
- You communicate complex ideas clearly. Whether speaking or writing, you break down complicated concepts in ways that make sense to different audiences – without oversimplifying. You bring clarity where others bring jargon.
- You get things done. You’re organised, delivery-focused, and produce high-quality work, even under pressure. You work independently and to a high standard.
- You are skilled at designing and delivering digital comms and audience journeys for different segments of an organisation’s audience. You know how to build up a clear picture of audience members, develop their customer journey and turn them from unaware to aware, to a user and then an advocate.
- You think big and adapt fast. You’re a strategic thinker who can see the big picture without losing sight of the detail. You’re logical, creative, and open to challenge – always testing and refining your ideas.
- You care about the detail. You like getting a system working well, planning a campaign and getting the detail right, organizing who is doing what and seeing it all happen.
- You pay attention to what is happening in the world. You’re plugged into current affairs, technological trends and media conversations, particularly when it comes to British society.
- You are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. You believe and act in a way that celebrates and encourages a range of experiences, backgrounds and values.
You have:
- A track record of driving digital communications to hundreds of thousands of people at a regional or national scale. You have led, planned and executed campaigns that bring about measurable outcomes online and practical change in the real world.
- Experience working with a mission-driven charity, organisation or business. You care about using your extensive digital skills to drive the work of an organisation striving to achieve social change.
- Experience within a leadership or management position. You have led people to drive bold, transformative communications for an organisation, company or business.
- Expertise in using technical tools and data analytics to target audiences online. You know how to segment and target digital audiences, transform SEO performance, develop high quality websites, increase newsletter engagement and bring new technical tools to solve problems.
- You have experience of commissioning creative partners - like consultants, videographers and designers - to produce compelling digital outputs and developing narrative-led content about urgent social issues that draws people in.
- A track record of producing video – such as case studies, explainers or podcasts - to increase positive regard, brand awareness and audience engagement on LinkedIn, Instagram Reels, YouTube, TikTok and X.
You may have the following, but they are not necessary:
- A qualification in digital marketing.
- Past experience of using Salesforce for marketing campaigns.
- Experience of working in or close to one or more of our priority sectors: education, youth justice, youth sector, children’s services, policing and health.
- Knowledge of using Artificial Intelligence to ethically and effectively boost digital performance at an organisation
While it’s not a criteria, we are especially interested to hear from applicants who have lived experience of youth violence.
It’s important to us that the people we hire do not discriminate. We believe in being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation, transgender status or social economic background.
All appointments will be made on merit, following a fair and transparent process. In line with the Equality Act 2010, however, the organisation may employ positive action where candidates from underrepresented groups can demonstrate their ability to perform the role equally well.
This position will require a DBS check to be performed, but a record is not a block to performing this role.
Hybrid Working Details
The office is based in Central London, but you don’t have to be. Those living in London and within the 32 London Boroughs are expected to be in the office a minimum of 2 days per week. If you live outside of London and work remotely, you’ll be expected to work from the London office 2 days per month. As part of our commitment to flexible working, we will consider a range of options for the successful applicant. All options can be discussed at the interview stage.
To Apply
To apply, please send a CV and a cover letter answering the specific questions below, along with the completed monitoring form, by clicking the "Apply for this" button by 12pm, Tuesday 7th April 2026.
Application Questions
- Why are you drawn to work at the Youth Endowment Fund and why do you care about our mission? (400 words max)
- Tell us about your experience of leading a digital communications team? (400 words max)
- Tell us about your experience of creating and implementing a digital strategy within an organisation to engage a large audience. Please be clear about how you measured your success? (400 words max)
Interview Process
Shortlisted candidates will be sent a technical task to complete before the interview. Interviews will take place from the week commencing 20th April 2026
PLEASE NOTE: We do not sponsor work permits and you will be required to provide proof of your eligibility to work in the UK.
Benefits Include
- £1,000 professional development budget annually
- 28 days holiday plus Bank Holidays
- Employee Assistance Programme – 24hr phone line for free confidential support
- Volunteering days - 4 half days per year
- Death in service - 4 times annual salary
- Flexible hours. Core office hours 10am – 4pm
- Financial support including travel and hardship loans
- Employer contributed pension of 5%.
Personal Data
Your personal data will be shared for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes our HR team, interviewers (who may include other partners in the project and independent advisors), relevant team managers and our IT service provider if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles. We do not share your data with other third parties, unless your application for employment is successful, and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you. We do not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.
Registered Charity
51 - 100
We exist to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.