We are seeking a dynamic and experienced strategic lead to drive the next phase of our Right to Health campaign. This new role will work with our experienced and well respected team and our extensive network, to make the political case for the better legal recognition and real-world protection for the right to health.
An ideal candidate
You will be a passionate and experienced advocate for health, human, social or environmental rights, committed to driving meaningful change in the UK. You will bring proven expertise in leading policy, advocacy, or parliamentary engagement work - ideally within health, human rights, social or environmental justice sectors - and thrive in building strong, strategic relationships with government, civil society, and community stakeholders.
You have a good understanding of the structural causes of health inequality and the power of human rights frameworks to address them. You will know how the UK political and parliamentary systems work, and you are skilled at influencing these processes through clear, compelling narratives backed by evidence.
You are able to communicate with clarity and impact, tailoring your message to diverse audiences - from policymakers to grassroots activists. You are confident working independently and collaboratively within a small, flexible team, balancing strategic vision with practical delivery. Your approach is solutions-focused, inclusive, and grounded in the lived realities of people affected by health inequalities.
Most importantly, you are motivated by the opportunity to join a dynamic and well respected organisation and lead a strategic campaign that challenges the status quo and contributes to a fairer, more just UK.
You have the right to work in the UK and be able to work from home in London or within easy reach of London. A minimum of weekly attendance in London will be required.
This opportunity is open to applicants wishing to deliver the work on a self-employed freelance or employed basis.
For application, please complete:
- the Application Form
- a CV outlining your career (including paid and unpaid work), with any academic and professional qualifications, to date.
Applications that do not include both documents will not be considered.
Thank you!
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full-time - 37 hours per week
Salary: £36,000 - £40,000 per annum (dependent on experience and qualifications)
Remote: This role is homebased (within the UK) with occasional travel for staff residentials and other events. Ideally the post-holder will live in commutable distance to our office in Leicester.
What we do
As the national body for youth work, the NYA has a dual function. We are the professional statutory and regulatory body (PSRB) responsible for qualifications, quality standards, and safeguarding for youth work and services in England. In line with our charity mission and aims, we also champion youth work through research, advocacy, campaigns, and programmes.
We work in partnership and believe in collaborative leadership, listening to youth workers and the youth work sector so that we can understand their needs and respond to the challenges they face. We are ambitious for youth work and for young people and integrate youth voice and influence across our work
About the Role
Responsibilities of the role comprise:
Campaign planning
- Lead the delivery of an ambitious and creative media and campaign strategy to bring about an improved recognition of the value and impact of youth work.
- Lead on other campaign strategy and planning, utilising a range of campaign tactics integrating media, digital media and other campaign tactics, working closely with other members of the Comms team and across Directorates.
- Oversee campaign activity for the annual Youth Work Week, to ensure the campaign engages key opinion formers and provides an opportunity for those within the sector to celebrate the impactful work they do.
- Analyse campaign effectiveness, including setting and tracking metrics across digital and traditional media.
- Ensure campaign plans are fully scoped and uploaded to the online project management system.
- Leading on strategic approaches to celebrity supporters / ambassadors and ongoing relationship management.
Press Office function
- Lead proactive media monitoring, enabling timely responses to significant developments and tracking positions on issues relating to NYA’s work.
- Develop key messages and positioning statements on issues in the youth sector and NYA’s activities, role and stance and promote consistency of messaging across NYA’s channels.
- Managing and responding to reactive media enquiries, providing statement and reactive ‘lines to take’, with the support of the Head of Communications
- Producing engaging content for various channels and audiences including press releases, blogs, opinion pieces and media briefings to elevate NYA’s profile and demonstrate our expertise and thought leadership.
- Managing the media monitoring and media database, nurturing relationships with target journalists, as well as online news outlets and thought leaders on key strategic issues.
- Confidently working with charity and corporate partners to maximise opportunities to demonstrate the impact of their support.
- Provide line management and development support to two Communication Officers.
About You
Essential competencies of the Campaigns and Media Manager:
- A self-starter brimming with creative ideas and proven experience of designing and executing high-impact campaigns that bring about a measurable change in knowledge, behaviour and / or policy.
- Strong interpersonal skills for building effective relationships with colleagues and external stakeholders, including political audiences, and confident in growing new relationships and leading meetings.
- An ability to grasp complex information and distil key messages for different audiences and crucially, which tactics and channels to use to engage them
- Have proven experience and a strong understanding of the UK media landscape, with demonstrable experience of having nurtured relationships with national and sector journalists to garner high-quality coverage.
- An understanding of how to use research and intelligence gained from listening exercises and other stakeholder insights to inform campaign messaging and metrics.
- Be skilled in developing media strategics and developing case studies and using data to create compelling new hooks
- Be proficient in evaluating campaigns and media outputs, with the ability to derive insights that inform future strategies.
- Be proficient in drafting statements and media responses at speed and in line with key messages.
- Have outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce and edit content to a journalistic standard across diverse audiences and channels.
- Have an understanding of how to use social media platforms to engage audiences effectively, understanding their role in broader campaign strategies.
- Be experienced in line management and fostering the NYA culture of personal growth
- Excellent project management skills - able to keep track of all the moving parts to keep tasks on track and mitigate risks. Experience of using project management platform (or similar) would be an advantage.
- An understanding of data protection and safeguarding young people.
- A passion for using effective communications to promote youth work and celebrate the achievements of young people and youth workers.
- Highly competent in all Microsoft suite and ideally have experience of Google Drive and Sharepoint.
Please refer to our Candidate Pack for more information on the role and the requirements.
Why Work for NYA?
NYA operates as a people-first organisation, prioritising the well-being and needs of its employees.
NYA offers an exceptional flexible working approach which encourages our team to balance professional responsibilities with their personal life.
A remote based team, spread across England, fostering inclusivity and diverse talent. Despite geographical distances between team members, NYA maintains a highly motivated and connected team through the optimisation of digital tools.
NYA is committed to supporting the continual personal and professional development of our team and helping them achieve their ambitions.
We provide 25 days leave plus 8 days, life assurance scheme, 5% employer pension contribution and a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme via Spectrum.life with unlimited specialist support available to all NYA employees.
How to Apply:
Please download our applicant pack to find out more about the role and requirements
To apply, please submit the following via our online application platform by 11:59pm on Friday 13th July 2025:
A detailed CV setting out your career history, with responsibilities and achievements in line with the person specification in the About You section.
A covering letter (maximum two sides) highlighting your suitability for the role and how you meet the requirements in the About You section.
We will request data for our EEDI monitoring purposes, providing this is optional.
Please note: the covering letter is an essential part of the application process and will be assessed as part of your full application. We use AI detector software, so cover letters or CV’s with over 30% AI generated content with be disregarded. We understand that AI tools can offer support to candidates who have learning differences, which is why we will accept applications with some AI assistance. CV’s will not be accepted without a cover letter.
The National Youth Agency is an equal opportunities employer.
At NYA our inclusive culture means that we embrace individual differences and understand that we need a diverse team to achieve our organisations mission.
We wish to recruit candidates from all backgrounds to ensure our team reflects the rich diversity of the communities we serve. We encourage applications from anyone regardless of disability, ethnicity, heritage, gender, sexuality, religion, socio-economic background and political beliefs but we particularly welcome applications from global majority candidates and those from other minoritised ethnic groups in the UK as they are currently underrepresented in our team.
REF-222155
Thank you!
We are looking for an experienced and passionate Senior Programme Officer to work as part of our National Programmes Team.
This is a 25 hour a week fixed term position until July 2026
Imagine being part of an organisation whose common purpose is to help those who are severely impacted by mental illness. We believe that everyone should be treated with respect and dignity – and that’s why equity is one of our core values. We draw on the expertise, unique perspectives and lived experience of our people – regardless of who they are or their background – to help us become inclusive and anti-racist employer, campaigning organisation and service provider that reflect the diverse communities we support as a mental health charity.
Mental Health UK brings together the heritage and experience of four charities from across the country who’ve been supporting people with their mental health for nearly 50 years.
With our local service delivery and national expertise in supporting people whose lives are affected by mental health problems, we have been able to mark a significant footprint in the areas that deeply challenge our mental health and stability.
We provide support and services for some of the biggest societal challenges that pose a threat to people’s mental health, including money problems, navigating through the system to get the right support, understanding mental health, loneliness and isolation, and resilience in young people.
The Mental Health UK programmes team is responsible for the delivery of high-quality programmes and projects that: meet the aims and objectives of Mental Health UK’s 2025-2030 Strategy, strategically align with the needs and expectations of our four founding charities, deliver for all stakeholders including funding partners and beneficiaries.
We design, deliver and measure the impact of our projects and services, ensuring that they meet the needs of people living with mental health problems and have a positive impact on the lives of individuals and communities across the UK.
One in four people in the UK have experienced a mental health problem. At Mental Health UK, we won’t stop until everyone has the tools they need to live their best possible life.
How you will make a difference
As Senior Programme Officer, I will support the Head of Commercial Insight & Development to ensure Mental Health UK delivers high quality projects and programmes that:
- Meet the aims and objectives of our 2025-30 strategy.
- Are strategically aligned with the needs and expectations of our four founding charities.
- Deliver for all stakeholders, including funding partners and beneficiaries.
In this role, I will support the Head of Commercial Insight & Development to identify opportunities to grow and expand our existing programmes. I will work with the Communications and Marketing Team to identify opportunities throughout our programmes to demonstrate our impact as an organisation.
I will oversee the day-to-day delivery of projects within Mental Health UK’s portfolio, supporting colleagues across Mental Health UK and the four founding charities to ensure outputs are delivered on time and to budget, and outcomes are achieved as planned.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
Diversity is important to us and we appreciate difference through difference, inclusiveness and belonging. It gives us a deeper understanding of the world, our society and the diverse communities we’re working with. By including everyone, we are able to draw on the unique experiences and expertise of our people to help shape and enrich our workplace and improve our services. One way we are doing is through our valued staff networks which play a critical and highly valued role in keeping us focused on creating a diverse, inclusive and engaged employer. We recognise and support staff networks and support groups for our ethnically diverse and LGBTQIA+ colleagues. We are also proud to have been awarded Disability Confident Employer status and are a signatory to the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter.
We aim for our workforce to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve; for those who work for us to feel heard, valued and feel they belong; and for our work to help tackle wider mental health inequalities. We therefore actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including applicants with lived experience of mental illness, those who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual and any other gender identity not expressed here (LGBTQIA+); people who are neurodiverse, have a health condition, or a disability or hidden disability and people from an ethnically diverse background - regardless of your age, religious or spiritual belief, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, political view or socio-economic status.
Becoming a truly anti-racist organisation
We have an ambition of become a truly anti-racist employer, campaigning organisation and service provider - and in our efforts to influence policy and wider societal factors impacting on mental health set out in our anti-racist statement . We have designed a multi-year anti-racist programme of work contained in our Race Equality Action Plan which demonstrates our intention to hold ourselves accountable and be judged on our progress on becoming a truly anti-racist organisation. You can read more about our progress here.
Registered Charity
501 - 1000
We’re Rethink Mental Illness and no matter how bad things are, we can help people severely affected by mental illness to improve their lives.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.