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The National Youth Agency is looking for a new Chief Operating Officer to join our Executive Leadership Team.

Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full-time - 37 hours per week
Salary: £85,000 per annum
Remote: This role is homebased (within the UK) with occasional to meetings, events and conferences.

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 will include:

• The COO leads the day-to-day functioning of the organisation to ensure smooth, efficient, and effective delivery of services. This is vital for maintaining operational stability and achieving strategic outcomes.
• They design and execute strategies that align with the organisation’s mission and long-term goals ensuring resources are used effectively and priorities are clear.
• They promote a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement through supporting employee engagement, productivity, and organisational success.
• The COO collaborates closely with the CEO/CFO and other senior leaders to drive strategic initiatives and business growth, ensuring unified leadership and coherent decision-making.
• They partner with the CFO to manage budgets, forecasts, and resource allocation. Financial oversight ensures sustainability and supports informed investment in strategic priorities.
• Strengthen governance and risk management frameworks, aligned to regulatory expectations and best practice while proactively managing reputational and operational risks.
• The COO cultivates strong relationships with partners, clients, and stakeholders to enhance service delivery and reputation. These relationships are key to influence, collaboration, and impact.
• They lead efforts to improve processes and adopt best practices across the charity to enhance efficiency and keeps the organisation competitive and responsive.
• They ensure that daily activities support the charities long-term objectives.
• The COO mentors other directors and departmental heads and fosters leadership capabilities across teams.
• They establish and track KPIs to identify inefficiencies and guide improvements through data-driven decision-making to enhance accountability and results.
• They evaluate and refine workflows to boost productivity developing efficient processes to reduce waste and improve service quality.
• They act as a bridge between departments and the CEO to ensure cohesive execution of strategic plans preventing silos and promoting organisational synergy.
• The COO serves as a senior figure in national and cross-sector forums, conferences, and strategic partnerships to strengthens the organisation’s voice and influence.
• They demonstrate commitment to Equality, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging in both internal culture and external programmes to foster a fair and inclusive organisation.
• They work with the CEO, CFO and Director of Growth to identify and pursue new revenue streams and strategic partnerships. This expands the organisation’s reach and sustainability.
• They engage in public speaking, media interactions, and external representation demonstrating clear communication, credibility, and stakeholder engagement.
• They develop and embed evaluation frameworks to assess progress against strategic goals. The measuring of our impact ensures accountability and informs future planning.
• They promote the organisation’s brand at events and through networking.

The COO takes on other responsibilities as needed to support the organisation’s mission.

About You

Essential competencies of the Chief Operating Officer:

• Extensive experience in senior leadership with a proven track record in operations, financial and risk management, and delivering high-performing teams, ideally in the charity sector.
• Strong understanding of business functions such as HR, Finance, Marketing, etc.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to think strategically and execute effectively.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities. Commercially astute, process-driven, and highly pragmatic in approach.
• Experience in driving performance and fostering a collaborative culture.
• Bachelor’s degree in business administration or related field; MBA preferred

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:

To apply, please submit the following via our online application platform by 11:59pm on Monday 29th September 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 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 80% AI generated content will 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.

Youth Work changes lives

Which is why we’re committed to ensuring that as many young people as possible get to benefit from it.As the national body for youth work in England, the National Youth Agency (NYA) exists to champion its transformative power. We believe all young people should have the opportunity to benefit from the life-changing impact of extraordinary youth workers and trained volunteers.

We help to grow youth work provision in ways that keep it effective, relevant, safe and engaging, to help millions of young people reach their potential and thrive. We do this by providing guidance, support, advice, training and staff development opportunities for youth workers and youth work organisations. At the heart of everything we do are young people themselves. We work hard to ensure their voices are integrated into all our work, to develop provision that truly meets their needs.

REF-223747

Job Title: Online Engagement and Inclusion Lead (Young People’s Services)

Organisation: Kids

Location: Remote work with occasional travel to London for in-person meeting

Hours: 36 hours per week

Contract: Fixed term for 2 years

Salary- £31,000 - £33,000

Purpose

This role leads the coordination of Kids’ online engagement and digital inclusion work for young people with SEND, including information provision, participation, and wellbeing support. You will deliver a two-year Online Wellbeing and Resilience Support Programme, including identifying and engaging digitally excluded young people to help them access vital digital tools and services. The role also drives collaboration across the Digital Services Consortium (a collaboration of 12 children’s charities), embedding shared learning, outcome measurement, and inclusive digital practices across Kids, and will create new capacity to work with young people to scope and deploy online campaigning activity.  

Responsibilities

• To lead and coordinate Kids’ online engagement and inclusion work for young people with SEND. This includes Kids’ online information provision; voice/ participation and wellbeing work.
• To develop and deliver Kids’ two-year digital inclusion programme, Online Wellbeing and Resilience Support Programme* to ensure reach and impact is maximised.
• To work with the Digital Services Consortium Driving Digital Inclusion members on shared digital project outcome measures and community of practice, ensuring learnings and online engagement and digital inclusion principles are captured, shared and built into the organisation.
• To identify and recruit (working closely with colleagues from services across Kids) digitally excluded young people to the digital inclusion programme so they can become digitally included and access much needed support and guidance.
• To establish a holistic and joined up approach to Young People’s online engagement and digital inclusion with Kids.
• To create new capacity to work across all services and teams, and with a range of young people, to scope and deploy online campaigning capabilities in line with Kids’ Speak Up and wider national and local influencing work.

Key to your success in the role will be:

• Ensuring an audience-led approach, leading and championing an important collaborative way of working across Kids existing young people's services.
• Confidently working within the Kids digital infrastructure and context – understanding where we are at on our digital journey, building excellent problem-solving relationships with marketing, IT, change team and young people’s services colleagues.
• Helping to embed digital inclusion practices across the organisation.
• Applying strong digital, data and analytical skills to enable you to baseline, track and measure progress.
• Demonstrating excellent attention to detail whilst being flexible to adapt to the needs of a new programme.
• Influencing the broader Kids service teams to identify and engage digitally excluded young people.
• Centering the voices and needs of young people with SEND.

Person Specification

Experience

• Proven experience working in digital engagement initiatives, ideally with young people or vulnerable groups.
• Involvement in programmes that promote digital inclusion and wellbeing.
• Experience in outcome measurement, impact reporting, and using data to inform practice.

Desirable

• Experience in co-producing content or services with young people, including those with SEND.

Skills

• Strong project management skills, with the ability to coordinate multiple workstreams and meet deadlines.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, tailored to diverse audiences including young people, professionals, and stakeholders.
• Skilled in using digital tools and platforms to deliver services and measure engagement.
• Ability to work collaboratively across teams and build strong internal and external relationships.

Knowledge

• Knowledge of safeguarding principles and practices in online environments.
• Awareness of current trends in digital engagement and youth participation.
• Knowledge of inclusive digital design and accessibility standards.
• Understanding of digital inclusion principles and the barriers faced by digitally excluded young people.

Personal Attributes

• Passionate about inclusion, equity, and empowering young people.
• Committed to co-production and user-led design.
• Growth mindset and proactive approach to problem-solving.
• Committed to continuous learning and sharing best practices.
• Flexible and adaptable, with a collaborative mindset.

*About the funded programme

Kids Online Wellbeing and Resilience Support Programme will help young people with SEND (aged 13 – 25 years) build resilience, positive self-regard and meaningful connections.

Our goal is to reduce isolation and protect mental health through a supportive, inclusive digital environment. We’ll begin by consulting directly with young people to understand what they need most. Together, we’ll co-create new online content and resources that truly reflect their voices and experiences. 

 What the Programme Offers: 

• Online information with resources codesigned with young people with SEND. 

• A series of interactive webinars and guided online activities. 

• Free devices and data to improve access to those who need it most, plus the support to ensure everyone can participate.

We will reach over 1,800 young people over the two year funded period.

Partner Acknowledgements

Thanks to National Lottery players, the Digital Services Consortium (DSC) has received over £1.5 million over two years from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK. The DSC has also received a grant of £400,000 from BBC Children in Need for two years to provide digital support for disabled or seriously ill children and young people and their family members across the UK. Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone have generously donated devices and data through the Good Things Foundation National Databank and Device Bank which will help address affordability barriers.

Head of People and Culture

Salary:  £48,000 - £51,000 - depending on experience (pro-rata)

Contract Type: Permanent 

Hours: Part Time - 3 days a week (typical example of hours 09.30-17.30 but with flexibility)

Location: Remote with periodic travel to London (to our Elephant & Castle, central London office) and external meetings as required to meet the needs of the role

Responsible To: CEO

Application Deadline: 22nd September 2025

Responsibilities

Strategic HR Leadership

• Develop and execute the overall people and culture strategy aligned with Hatch’s overall vision, values and organisational strategy.

Organisational Culture & Employee Experience

• Work with the CEO to champion a values-driven, inclusive, and purpose-led culture that supports employee engagement and well-being.

• Design and oversee initiatives to enhance employee satisfaction, psychological safety, and workplace trust.

• Lead initiatives that reinforce cultural norms and behaviours aligned with organisational values.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Leadership

• Develop and lead the Hatch’s DE&I strategy

• Set DE&I KPIs; monitor progress and report to leadership in the quarterly board papers.

• Set up and work with an internal DE&I working group to implement DE&I Strategy 

• Organise training and education programmes on unconscious bias, inclusive leadership, and anti-discrimination.

• Oversee equitable hiring, compensation, promotion, and development practices.

Employee Relations & Engagement

• Act as a senior point of contact for complex employee relations matters.

• Build systems for transparent communication, feedback, and conflict resolution.

• Analyse quarterly engagement surveys and eNPS score data and develop action plans for improvement.

Governance, Compliance & Reporting

• Deliver reports on key people and culture metrics to the Senior Leadership Group (SLG) and Board, ensuring data-driven insights support strategic decision-making.

• Ensure all people-related policies, procedures, and contracts are regularly reviewed and updated, aligning with organisational needs, values, and current employment legislation.

• Maintain compliance with employment laws and regulatory requirements, minimising organisational risk and promoting ethical practices.

• Support the organisation in responding to emerging workforce-related risks.

• Develop and manage the people and culture budget annually

Compensation and Benefits

• Ensure our pay, benefits and progression framework support employee well-being and align with DE&I principles.

Learning and Development

• Identify skill gaps and oversee the creation of learning strategies to support upskilling and reskilling.

• Promote a continuous learning culture and leadership development at all levels.

Talent Attraction, Management and Succession Planning

• Lead the design and execution of robust talent acquisition, development, and retention strategies.

• Oversee performance management frameworks to drive growth and accountability.

• Continually develop Hatch’s employee value proposition to build Hatch’s brand as an employer of choice 

• Further develop our performance management framework to encourage high performance, professional development and values alignment

• Support and enhance our approach to leadership development and succession planning and providing support and advice to the team and managers to navigate these

HR Operations

• Act as owner of the Factorial HR system, ensuring data accuracy, functionality, and ongoing optimisation.

• Review and approve staff expenses in line with Hatch’s policy.

• Oversee all onboarding and offboarding processes, ensuring a smooth employee experience across the lifecycle.

• Manage changes to staff working hours, salaries, and contractual terms.

• Lead and coordinate recruitment processes, including job postings, candidate management, interviews, and offers.

Person Specification 

Skills

• An all rounder, able to develop a big picture vision and deliver on the details

• A keen eye for identifying talent and passion for developing people (in both their professional and personal growth)

• A focus on diversity and inclusion as a competitive business advantage

• Ability to build authentic relationships across a diverse group of stakeholders 

• Excellent communicator on all levels with demonstrated empathy and strong interpersonal skills

• Analytical skills and and ability to make, and support others to make, data-informed decisions

• Project management skills

• Problem-solving skills

Experience

• Proven experience in a similar leadership role, preferably within the social enterprise or nonprofit sector

• Demonstrated experience in developing and implementing people and culture strategies, talent management, and performance management programmes

• Leadership of end to end employee life cycle

• Partnering with business stakeholders across a whole organisation, especially senior stakeholders

• Leading people & culture project rollouts

• Developing a positive performance culture

• Experience with recruitment and HR systems advantageous