Lead counsellor jobs in Edinburgh

About Help 

Help Counselling is well-established mental health charity. We believe everyone deserves access to quality mental health support, and have been providing affordable, short- and long-term talking therapies for over 50 years.

Whether clients are seeking relief from anxiety, stress, depression or other challenges, we are here to help. We offer counselling services to those over 18, both face-to-face in central and west London and online. Our approach is client-led and holistic with no reliance on algorithms for client allocation. Instead, we take care to achieve the best match possible between client and counsellor. 

We are a placement provider: providing training placements for clinical supervisors, counsellors and psychotherapists who need to gain clinical experience to qualify (or further qualify) and be registered with one of the industry professional bodies such as, BACP or UKCP.

The work undertaken by trainee counsellors and psychotherapists is unpaid - they volunteer their time. This volunteer-driven model enables Help Counselling to fulfil its mission of offering affordable counselling services to those in need. 

We also cater for clients who prefer to engage with a qualified counsellor through our Help Counselling Plus service for quality therapy at a fraction of the cost of private practice fees. This service is typically delivered by newly qualified counsellors and provides a supported transition into private practice. 

We have a small, friendly staff team of 5, a diverse team of circa 100 trainee and qualified counsellors and a team of supervisors and assessors. We support around 200 clients at any time with weekly sessions. 

About the role 

The Clinical Assistant will support the Clinical Manager in the running of our counselling service. The role will primarily involve managing our trainee counsellor placements but extends to all aspects of the clinical service as required.  The role is advertised as 2-3 days per week, to be discussed. The role is primarily remote with requirement to attend occasional meetings and events in west and central London.

Role Responsibilities: 

• Manage the recruitment, onboarding and offboarding of suitable trainee counsellors for volunteer placements in accordance with agreed standards and controls and Help policies and procedures. To include candidate selection, interview, onboarding, induction and training. 

• Manage forecasting to ensure counsellor numbers satisfy client demand and consulting room availability.

• With support from the Administrator, ensure all records and reports are managed appropriately throughout the counsellor placement.

• Keep the Counsellors Online Hub up to date, liaising with Administrator and Clinical Manager as necessary. 

• In conjunction with Clinical Manager, provide clinical support and expertise to the Help CEO and team as required. 

• In conjunction with Clinical Manager, provide support to trainee counsellors throughout their placement as required. 

• Support Clinical Manager with client/counsellor allocations and reallocations as necessary. 

• Support Clinical Manager in managing consulting room bookings and sourcing alternative consulting rooms when required. 

• Support Clinical Manager in relation to client queries arising from assessments or generally. 

• Be the main point of contact for training organisations. Proactively develop and maintain relationships in conjunction with CEO. 

• Support CEO in developing and maintaining relationships with community networks and partners to include attendance at networking events and presentations as required. 

The above is not an exhaustive and you will be expected to perform different tasks in line with the overall business objectives and your skills/experience. 

Candidate profile: 

Essential:

• Counselling or Psychotherapy Qualification. 

• BACP or UKCP professional membership. 

• 3-5 years' post-qualification experience. 

• Excellent facilitation skills. 

• Strong task and time management.

• High standard of verbal and written communication skills. 

• Highly organised.

• Ability to provide challenging feedback to others, managing and responding professionally and appropriately to conflict and risk.  

• Interpersonal and influencing skills, especially the ability to engage with counsellors.

• Stakeholder management. 

• Adaptability. 

• Analytical and problem-solving skills 

• Good IT skills including knowledge of MS Office suite, CRM systems and common IT platforms. Ability to learn new systems quickly.  

Desirable: 

• Experience of working within a training environment within the same industry. 

• Prior experience of working in the charity sector. 

• Working understanding of HR-related policies and procedures including EDI and working with competency frameworks. 

• Location in or around West or Central London would be highly advantageous. 

Company Description

Marie Curie is the UK’s leading end-of-life charity. We are the largest non-NHS provider of end-of-life care in the UK, the only provider across all 4 nations, delivering community nursing and hospice care across the country, while providing information and support on all aspects of dying, death, and bereavement. Our leading research pushes the boundaries of what we know about good end-of-life, and our campaigns fight for a world where everyone gets to have the best possible quality of life while living with an illness, they’re likely to die from. 

The care and support we provide is highly valued by the people we care for and their loved ones, but at present we are only reaching around 10% of dying people at the end of life. Right now, one in four people in the UK with a terminal illness, do not get the care or support they deserve at the end of their lives.  

We want a different society than the one we live in now. Our mission for the next five years is to close the gap in the number of people missing out on what they need at the end-of-life, through 3 ways:  

• Growing and transforming our direct care and support  
• Delivering more practical information and support  
• Leading in shaping the end-of-life experience   

Job Description

Joining our Information & Support Team, you’ll provide crucial assistance to those in need during challenging times on an as and when basis. You’ll provide personalised support by offering a compassionate ear, sharing relevant information, and directing individuals to the resources they need.   

Our Support Line Officers may not be counsellors or medically trained, but they are dedicated to delivering a professional service and providing reassurance during difficult times.  Whilst this role can at times, be challenging due to the nature of the calls, the fulfilment that comes from making a positive impact on someone's life makes this role incredibly rewarding.  

Please see the full job description  

What's in it for me?

Salary: Marie Curie Pay Scale Grade C £24,350 pro rata per annum 

Contract: Part Time – 21 hours/week 

Operating Hours: 8-6 Monday to Friday and 10-4 Saturday and Sunday 

Based: UK Home Based   

Benefits You’ll Love 

• Annual leave allowance 25 days plus & public holidays (pro rata)  
• Competitive Policy for parental/sick Leave    
• Continuous Professional development    
• Industry leading training programmes    
• Season ticket loan for travelling to and from work    
• Defined contribution schemes for Pension     
• Marie Curie Group Personal Pension Scheme    
• Loan schemes for bikes; computers and satellite navigation systems      
• Introduce a friend scheme    
• Help with eyecare cost  
• Entitled to Marie Curie Blue Light Card     
• Entitled to Benefit-Hub Discount Scheme     
• Life assurance – for all employees 

Qualifications

What we’re looking for:   

• Experience of working in a call centre/customer facing environment 
• Genuinely empathetic with the ability to demonstrate sensitivity, show compassion when handling complex situations and difficult conversations 
• Ability to work autonomously, provide flexibility, and commitment to developing expertise in end-of-life and palliative care 
• Work collaboratively with a range of team members across shifts, maintaining strong communication and a supportive approach throughout 
• Ability to show resilience in challenging and sometimes distressing situations

Additional Information

Application Process 

• Close date for applications: 14th June 2026
• Interview Dates: To Be confirmed   

As part of your online application, you will be asked for a CV.  Please review both the advert and job description and outline your most relevant skills, experience and knowledge for the role.   

We reserve the right to close this advert early should we receive a sufficient number of applications.

At Marie Curie, our values are central to everything we do. They guide how we care for people, how we work together, and how we make decisions every day. We are committed to creating a workplace that is safe for everyone — staff and volunteers alike — supportive, inclusive and rewarding.  We take stringent steps to ensure that anyone who joins our organisation are suitable for their roles and are committed to safeguarding all our people from harm. We actively consider our impact on the planet, embedding sustainability into everyday decisions to create a lasting, positive difference for the individuals we care for and the world we share.

We believe everyone should have the opportunity to thrive and fulfil their potential. Marie Curie is deeply committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, recognising both the social justice imperative and the strength a diverse workforce brings.  We actively encourage applications from people of all cultures, perspectives and lived experiences.

We are happy to make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process. If you require any support, please contact us at .

Every application we receive is personally reviewed by a member of our Talent Acquisition team, and in return, we ask that your application authentically reflects you — your experience, perspective and voice.

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 counsellors 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 more than 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.
 

Our team is at the heart of our business and it 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 (contact details on our Jobs page).

The Unifrog platform

Over the last 12 years, the Unifrog platform has grown enormously from its starting point as a simple tool to help students pick their UK university courses and apprenticeships. It now helps young people from 4 years old up to explore their interests, record the great things they’ve done, compare every post-16 and post-18 course in the UK and every undergraduate programme taught in English in the world, find and organise work experience, and draft their application materials. The platform also helps teachers and career advisers to guide students every step of the way, makes it easy for parents to explore the platform via their own accounts, and helps employer and university recruitment teams to interact directly with students. 

We have a long list of exciting projects for the platform, always aiming to get us closer to achieving our mission. We are looking for someone to join Unifrog’s team to help us continually improve the platform’s existing tools, and to also develop new ones. 

What you’ll do

You’ll work on improving the platform itself, mainly how data feeds into our platform and makes it work behind the scenes, as well as maintaining and improving the processes that drive our development cycles. 

Your responsibilities will include:

• Dev cycle administration

  • Owning our dev cycle administration from beginning to end, across Productlane and Linear. This includes:

    • Managing inbound product requests that have been logged on our Productlane account;

    • Updating Linear with developments that we aim to work on, are working on, or have launched;

    • Communicating updates to the team, including writing and sharing changelog posts, and creating clear documentation for changes that have gone live.

  • Testing functionality for upcoming or newly released changes to the platform.

  • Liaising with the team members for whom new developments are most relevant, to ensure that they have fed into plans for upcoming changes, and are happy with changes that have gone live.

• Troubleshooting platform functionality issues
  
  Investigating then answering questions about platform functionality that are raised by our partner-facing teams.

• Point person for two technical integrations
  
  Becoming the point person for questions about the platform’s technical integrations, specifically SSO, and Wonde (MIS integration).

• New data projects
  
  Supporting projects that improve how data feeds into the Unifrog platform, for example, scoping the requirements for changes to our tool that allows teachers to make bulk updates to student information.

You’ll become an expert in:

• How the Unifrog platform works behind the scenes, with a particular focus on how complex datasets feed into the platform and power our tools;

• Technical tools that are vital for school partners (e.g. SSO and Wonde);

• The needs of all our different user types, including students, teachers, school groups, universities, employers, and parents;

• How to navigate the platform as a user of each type;

• Finding opportunities to improve our platform, particularly when data processing is key to success.

• How our development process works, our product tech stack, and what is needed to make sure it runs as efficiently and effectively as possible;

 

You’ll be part of the team that:

• Collates feedback on the platform, deciding which changes to move ahead with, and how;

• Translates user feedback into clear, actionable requirements;

• Investigates potential bugs and comes up with suggested solutions;

• Communicates platform changes to the Unifrog team;

• Answers queries about the platform from colleagues.

 

Working together

You’ll regularly be working with:

• The Platform and Data Manager, who will support you in your development administration and project responsibilities;

• The Data team, of which you will be a part, alongside whom you will work to maximise the impact of your projects;

• Unifrog’s two co-founders, who lead on the development of the Unifrog platform;

• User-facing colleagues, to understand what our users are asking for, as well to let them know what things have changed on the platform.
   

You will be line-managed by the Platform and Data Manager.

 

Skills and characteristics

We are looking for someone who is:

• An independent worker: You enjoy collaborating with others, but you also thrive taking charge of your own work and projects. You are proactive about getting things done, and update people on what you’re working on rather than needing to be asked for your news.

• A systems thinker: You enjoy finding ways to make processes work better and more efficiently. You would be able to quickly get comfortable using specialist tools like Linear and Productlane, and then use them to keep things organised.

• Great attention to detail: You’re the type of person who notices the small things, and takes pride in being accurate and specific. You are assiduous whether you are double-checking a data upload, or writing a full and precise set of requirements for a development request.

• Diligent: Our platform is complex and has many different sorts of users. You’re the type of person who enjoys getting to the bottom of issues, and meticulously testing things from all angles.

• Analytical and proactive: You’re comfortable looking at data to solve problems, whether that’s figuring out why an integration failed or evaluating which areas of the platform receive the most feedback.

• Straightforward communicator: At Unifrog we try to communicate as clearly and straightforwardly as possible, avoiding jargon as much as we can. You can explain technical issues clearly to non-technical colleagues and turn user feedback into clear requirements for our engineers.

 

Preferred Experience

2+ years of experience in any of the following roles (or similar) is preferred, but not required.

• Product Operations

• Technical Project Management

• Technical Support 

Benefits 

On our jobs page you’ll find a full list of the benefits we offer our team, including:

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

• Growing company
  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.

• Growing individually
  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.

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

Key details

• £40,000 - £45,000 per annum (Grade B), depending on experience.

• Full time.

• Work remotely or in our London or Edinburgh offices.

• 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.

• Start date: as soon as possible, though we will be flexible for the right candidate.

• This position is advertised as ‘Junior Product Operations Specialist’, though internally it will be referred to as ‘Product Operations Lead’.

• If you require reasonable adjustments, or want to discuss any details about the role before applying, please contact Mhairi (details on our website).

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

Application process  

• Deadline: 10:00am (BST) on Monday 8th June 2026.

• We may need to close applications early if we receive a lot of interest. As long as you’ve already started applying, we’ll give you 48 hours’ notice of the deadline changing - so if you’re thinking of applying, please start an application so we can keep you updated. 

Stage 1: Application form (~1 hour) ✍️

• Visit our website to upload your CV and complete the questions and tasks below. 

Please note:

We do not review CVs at this stage of the application process so please be as specific as possible about your experience.

Do not use AI to generate your answers – we compare answers to AI generated answers, and through reviewing lots of applications we quickly spot what's been generated by AI.

• Tell us about a time you used data to identify a bottleneck, evaluate performance, or improve a process. (250 words)

• Tell us about a time you had to investigate a complex technical issue. (250 words)

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

Stage 2: Task

• 1 week to do a set of tasks that we’ll give you if you pass the first stage.

• Tasks will be sent out after the application deadline. 

Stage 3: Video call interview (1 hour) ��️
 

• 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)

• Video interviews will take place w/c 22nd June 2026.

Inclusion and diversity at Unifrog

How we communicate:

• 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.

Embedded EDI:

• 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 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.

Recruitment processes:

• 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.