Summer play worker jobs

We’re an award-winning charity running local learning centres in the heart of the communities where the young people we support live. Our centres provide a high-impact education programme which includes practical learning support, pastoral care, and motivational and confidence-building activities for young people aged 7-18. Our aim is to enable students from the least advantaged neighbourhoods to realise their ambitions and achieve their wonderful potential.

As the UK’s leading university access organisation, our staff team is helping 56,000 young people each year at its 44 learning centres and extension projects across England and Scotland, and we plan to scale-up our provision to 50 centres over the coming years.

We are looking for a high-calibre candidate who will enjoy working each day with young people and who will thrive in a frontline, community-based, fast-paced and rewarding role. You will be taking up a permanent role as Centre Leader at our IntoUniversity centre in Kennington. You will have responsibility for running your IntoUniversity centre, including managing your team, planning and delivering the programme, liaising with external stakeholders and meeting  IntoUniversity’s targets for delivery.

A substantial element of this role is delivering our education programme to children and young people aged 7-18, so you will need to have a genuine passion and enthusiasm for working with young people, including leading a class of 30 from the front, working with small teams of children and providing one-to-one support.

The role at a glance

Contract: Full-time, permanent

Application deadline - 9am Monday 8th June 2026

Interview day (in-person) - Monday 15th June 2026

Start date: As soon as possible, to be agreed with the successful candidate

Working hours
Mon and Thurs: 09:30-18:00
Tues, Weds, Fri: 09:00-17:30

(Some additional weekend & unsocial hours will be required)

Centre Leaders are based at one of our IntoUniversity learning centres and work directly with young people, schools and families on a daily basis. It is therefore not a hybrid role and is based full-time in our centres

Location

IntoUniversity Kennington

The role requires intermittent travel in your region (usually within the day). Periodic travel out of the area is also required e.g. to London, this may include occasional overnight stays. 

Salary

£39,100 per annum (inclusive of £2,700 London contribution)

Annual leave

33 days (inc bank & public holidays) (pro rata for part-time staff) + 3 closure days (two in December and one in July) + additional length of service entitlement (one day per year of service, up to 5 days)

Staff benefits

• Employer pension contributions of 6% (and up to 8% after two years)

• Year round ‘early finish’ Fridays at 4.30pm

• Summer working hours (finish at 1pm on Fridays for six weeks in the summer), pro-rated for staff joining after January in the same year 

• Employee Assistance Programme including access to wellbeing and legal support 

• Life Assurance scheme with Aviva including SmartHealth service with access to 24/7 online GP appointments

• Interest-free new starter loans of up to £1,000

• Cycle to Work Scheme and Travelcard Loan Scheme

• Enhanced maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption pay and sick pay allowances

• Staff in FOCUS – rewards, competitions and prizes across the year

• Location: London 

• Permanent contract  

• Full Time 

• 28,000-30,000 (+£2,000 London Weighting) 

• Start Date: 1st August 

A fantastic opportunity for an experienced facilitator ready to take on a leadership role. As a Lead Programme Coordinator, you will combine frontline delivery with team leadership and quality assurance, supporting a cluster of schools and a small team of PCs to deliver outstanding outcomes for young people. 

As a Lead Programme Coordinator (LPC), you will be at the frontline of our work-facilitating weekly sessions with young people, managing school and business relationships, and ensuring high-quality programme delivery across your cluster. Alongside this, you will line manage 2–3 Programme Coordinators, act as deputy to your Delivery Manager, and play a key role in driving quality and consistency across your regional team. 

Key Responsibilities:  

• Programme delivery and facilitating work with young people  

• Programme management and logistics  

• Stakeholder management   

• Impact management and quality assurance 

• People management – line managing 2–3 Programme Coordinators 

• Deputy Delivery Manager responsibilities 

Essential Experience, Knowledge and Competencies:  

• Experience of facilitating activities with young people – including preparing engaging sessions in advance by utilising resources available to them  

• Experience of project management – highly organised, with the ability to manage your own time to meet deadlines  

• Experience of working on projects which have multiple stakeholders – communicating effectively through written and verbal communication  

• Experience of line managing or supervising others – including setting clear targets, conducting 1:1s and supporting professional development

• Experience of quality assurance – reviewing data, identifying risk and taking action to improve delivery outcomes across a team

• Commitment to Envision’s vision, mission and values and ability to work well in, and contribute to, our organisational culture  

Envision seeks to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce and that all applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or nationality. We encourage applications with lived experience to apply as they are currently under- represented in our organisation. Envision graduates will be guaranteed a first round interview.   

To apply you must please read the application pack and apply through CharityJobs.  

Deadline - Midnight 10st June 2026 

Please note: Applicants for this role will first go through out standard PC recruitment rounds, as outlined in the document.

-Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. Unfortunately we are unable to sponsor visas at this time.   

- We will only be contacting candidates who have been shortlisted for interview. Therefore, if we do not contact you, please assume you have been unsuccessful.   

- We also regret to inform you that, due to the high volume of applications we receive, we will be unable to provide you with feedback regarding your application.   

Salary: £39,000–£42,000 per annum (£65,000–£70,000 FTE equivalent) 

Contract: Permanent – Part time, 3 days a week 

Location: London or Birmingham 

Working pattern: Hybrid. Cross-region travel up to twice a month for in-person SMT meetings. 

Envision is at an exciting moment. Our programmes are working, our partnerships are growing, and our team cares deeply about getting it right. What we need now is someone to help us build the infrastructure to match our ambition – reaching and impacting more young people from less-advantaged backgrounds across London, Birmingham and Bristol. 

As our Chief Operating Officer, you will join our Senior Management Team and take clear ownership of Envision's finance, compliance, HR governance, and operational efficiency. This is a newly defined role – created to give the function the senior leadership it needs and to free the CEO to focus on external leadership, fundraising, and strategy. 

You will join an SMT of four, working alongside the Director of Programmes and Impact and the Director of Philanthropy and Partnerships, led by the CEO. It is a collegiate team that operates with a high degree of mutual trust and collective ownership – and we are looking for someone who is as comfortable in a strategic conversation about Envision's future as they are reviewing a set of management accounts. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Play an active role in SMT – contributing operational and financial insight to organisational planning, strategy development, and decision-making alongside the CEO and senior leadership team. 

• Lead finance oversight and board reporting: overseeing monthly and quarterly management accounts, leading the annual budget-setting process, owning the audit cycle, and preparing papers for the Finance, Audit and Risk Governance (FARG) Committee. 

• Own HR policy and governance: maintaining Envision's HR framework, handling complex employee relations matters, and overseeing the full employee lifecycle with execution led by the Business Admin and Finance Officer. 

• Line manage the Finance Manager and Business Admin and Finance Officer, providing clear direction and developing a high-performing team. 

• Lead operational improvement: conducting a review of processes and systems, building a live improvement register, and implementing agreed changes through to completion – not just to proposal. 

• Explore and pilot AI and automation tools for high-friction tasks. Genuine curiosity and willingness to experiment matters more than technical expertise. 

• Hold compliance and risk governance oversight – GDPR, Health and Safety, regulatory filings – ensuring a clear calendar of requirements is owned and met. 

Essential Experience, Knowledge and Competencies 

• Qualified or part-qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent), or demonstrable equivalent finance expertise. 

• Proven experience in a senior operational leadership role with finance oversight responsibility. 

• Experience of audit management and board-level financial reporting. 

• Track record of leading and developing small teams. 

• Working knowledge of GDPR and charity compliance obligations. 

• Demonstrable ability to operate at a strategic and governance level 

• Experience leading operational process or systems improvement, from diagnosis through to implementation. 

• Active interest in AI and automation tools, with a practical approach to exploring and applying them. 

• Commitment to Envision's vision, mission and values and ability to work well in, and contribute to, our organisational culture. 

Envision actively encourages applications from those from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, as they are currently under-represented in our organisation. We seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce and that all applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or nationality. Envision graduates will be guaranteed a first-round interview. 

Please note: we are unable to support visa applications and therefore applicants must have the right to work in the UK. 

To apply, please apply through CharityJob.

Closing date for applications- Wednesday 10 June (midnight) 

Round 1 interviews (online) : Thursday 18 June 

Round 2 interviews (in person- London): Thursday 25 June 

We will only be contacting candidates who have been shortlisted for interview. The safety and wellbeing of the young people we work with is paramount at Envision. Successful candidates will be subject to a full Enhanced DBS check and reference checks. All new staff must attend safeguarding training during their induction period.