Youth programme leader jobs in belfast

Suicide is preventable. That’s why we are working to create a safer online world and to connect young people with the help and support they need to stay safe and well.

We’re Molly Rose Foundation, founded following the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell. At Molly’s inquest, a coroner ruled harmful online content contributed to her death. In her name, we’ve now got big plans to create change and save young lives.

We’re looking for a Head of Education and Support that can help us grow and deliver our vital mission. This is a rare chance to design and deliver an education and support programme from the bottom-up, and to build a compelling strategy that offers children, parents and professionals high-quality online safety, mental health and suicide prevention programmes.

You’ll be a proven leader, with the strategic nous to identify and deliver new education programmes from scratch, the deep sectoral knowledge to design and deliver a suite of new education resources, and the commercial insight to scale and build demand from scratch. 

As a member of our Leadership Team, your play a central role to help us grow and build our impact. You’ll help shape our outcome-focused strategy, with the standing and skills to communicate and build support for our message and purpose. You’ll thrive on the challenge of building our expanded education and support programme and be driven by the opportunity to deliver change that really counts.

We offer a competitive package that includes:

- 27 days annual leave plus 1 volunteering day, rising to 30 days holiday after three years’ service;

- annual leave buyback scheme, with the option to purchase up to 5 additional days;

- employee pension scheme;

- £500 employee wellbeing budget;

- we welcome applications from diverse range of applicants in circumstances, and actively welcome flexible working requests.

Applications close: Monday, 28th July 2025.

The National Youth Agency is looking for a new Campaigns and Media Manager to join our Policy, Insights & External Affairs team.
 
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

At Young Sounds UK our mission is to help musically talented young people from low-income families fulfil their potential. We're seeking our first Evaluation Director to join a small, thriving organisation and lead our evaluation strategy. Working collaboratively with colleagues, you will generate insights that strengthen programme delivery, and how we understand and share our impact.

For full information on this role, including key responsibilities and person specification, please view the job pack.

The closing date for applications is Monday 14 July 2025 at 12 noon.

About Young Sounds UK 

Young Sounds UK exists because musical talent is everywhere but opportunity isn’t: family finances and other obstacles too often get in the way. We’re here to change this in two key ways:

• We support young musicians from low-income families with funding and other help 
• We support music education through training, advocacy and research.

Established in 1998 we work across genres and across the UK. Our four programme areas are: 

• Discover: training teachers in how to spot young people’s musical potential 
• Connect: targeting and sustaining young people’s emerging talent through strategic support
• Thrive: funding young talent UK wide through annual grants and tailor-made help for individual musicians
• Innovate: leading new thinking and action on talent development

Role overview 

Young Sounds is a reflective organisation. We’ve always invested time and effort in seeking out, understanding and demonstrating the difference our programmes are making. We believe in learning from experience. This is what we mean by evaluation.

We have recently secured funding to build on our evaluation work to date, and it is a priority for us to more fully embed evaluation throughout our work – the Evaluation Director will be critical to us achieving this. The Evaluation Director is a new role and will lead the development and implementation of Young Sounds’ evaluation strategy, ensuring that our work is evidence-based and impactful.

Key areas of responsibility 

• Evaluation strategy and organisational learning 
• Programme evaluation 
• Organisational capacity and culture 
• Research and policy engagement 
• Quality assurance and reporting 

Today, 12 children and young people will be diagnosed with cancer. We’ll stop at nothing to make sure they get the right care and support at the right time.

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. 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 sure they get the right care and support at the right time.

We challenge the systems and policies that surround children and young people, we highlight gaps and campaign for change. Because we know what a better future could look like. And we know what we need to do to make that future a reality. We need to push harder, reach further and work smarter. And we need the right people on our team to help us get there. People like you.

About the role

At Young Lives vs Cancer, we play a unique and vital role in supporting children and young people with cancer. Guided by our strategy, The Time is Now, we are committed to delivering high-quality, impactful services that make a real difference. As a leading provider of psychosocial support and accommodation throughout treatment, end-of-life, and bereavement, we are proud to ensure our services remain relevant, responsive, and tailored to the needs of those we support.

We are looking for a dedicated professional to provide business support across the directorate, working closely with senior operational leaders to drive the implementation and development of our services. This role will be instrumental in supporting new service initiatives and collaborating with other directorates and external partners, such as the NHS and charity organisations, to help us achieve our strategic goals.

This role is subject to a criminal record check. In the event of a successful application an enhanced criminal record check will be completed. 

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.

• Providing business support across service development, planning, evaluations, and improvement projects
• Collaborating with other directorates and external partners to deliver joint initiatives aligned with strategic goals
• Supporting the implementation of new systems and processes to drive continuous improvement
• Designing and managing operational programmes, embedding learning from previous work
• Coordinating cross-functional teams, managing risks, and ensuring robust monitoring and reporting
• Building strong relationships with stakeholders and managing governance and service agreements with NHS trusts

What do I need? 

Diverse perspectives and unique skillsets are at the heart of Young Lives vs Cancer. If you're passionate about making a positive impact and eager to learn, we encourage you to apply, even if you don't meet the criteria and person specification fully. Your potential is what matters most to us, and we’re committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive work environment to help you develop.

The key experience, skills and attributes we’re looking for in this role are:

• Experience in service delivery and development within health or social care, with a strong track record of managing programmes that drive improvement and innovation
• Skilled at working collaboratively across multi-disciplinary teams and with external partners to achieve shared goals
• Confident in preparing reports, managing corporate documentation, and using monitoring and evaluation to inform decision-making
• Strong understanding of project management, with the ability to identify risks and embed learning
• A commitment to anti-oppressive practice, equity, and amplifying the voices of children, young people, and families affected by cancer
• Passionate about Young Lives vs Cancer’s mission, values, and strategic priorities, with a proactive approach to safeguarding, inclusion, and continuous improvement

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
• Thinking and Growth days: four days a year to support your wellbeing through reflection, learning and development - in whatever way works for you
• 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.

We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. CVs can be uploaded, but we won't be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to fully complete the work history sections of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly and objectively.

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.

To arrange an informal chat, please contact Cassie Davis, Service Manager Operations & Development. 

#ShowTheSalary #NonGraduatesWelcome

Closing date: Thursday 24 July, 5pm

Interview date: Tuesday 29 July, via Teams 

Interview note: We will let you know whether you’ve been shortlisted for interview on the afternoon of Friday 25 July. If you're shortlisted, you'll be invited to book an interview slot. Once confirmed, we'll email you the interview questions in advance.

We are seeking a compassionate, visionary, and strategic Chief Executive Officer to lead Mermaids through the next stage of its evolution, dedicated to improving the lives of gender-diverse children and young people, and those who are important to them. As CEO, you will be responsible for driving the charity’s mission, shaping its strategic direction, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality, affirming support services. You will act as a visible and credible advocate for trans and 
gender-diverse youth, build strong relationships with stakeholders, and influence public policy and sector practice. Working closely with the Board of Trustees, you will oversee a small committed team, ensure robust financial management with the Chief Operating Officer, and lead fundraising efforts to secure a sustainable future. This is a unique opportunity for a values-driven leader who brings both strategic acumen and a deep commitment to equity, inclusion, and lived 
experience. 
Service Delivery:
• Provide strategic and operational leadership across all service delivery areas, including support line services, group work,  advocacy, external communications, and policy.
• Ensure services are high quality, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of trans and gender-diverse children, young people and the special people in their lives.
• Lead the continuous improvement and development of service delivery models, ensuring impact, effectiveness, and alignment with the charity’s mission.
• Champion a culture of safeguarding, accountability, and young person-centred practice throughout all service delivery. 
• Act as the organisation’s Safeguarding Lead, with oversight of on-call, safeguarding training, and ensuring appropriate escalation mechanisms are in place.
• Oversee the design and implementation of advocacy and policy activities, ensuring the charity’s voice is informed by lived 
experience and is impactful at local and national levels.
• Act as a visible and hands-on leader for frontline teams, providing support, supervision, and inspiration to staff and 
volunteers.
• Monitor performance, outcomes, and feedback to ensure services are meeting objectives and delivering positive change 
for beneficiaries.

Governance:
• In partnership with the board of trustees, set and articulate our vision, mission and strategy, and keep this under continual 
review.
• Lead the development and implementation of Mermaid’s strategic plan, ensuring sustainability and growth.
• Liaise with the board of trustees to ensure the charity’s governance, structure, policies and procedures are appropriate 
and effective, taking remedial measures and implementing change as necessary. This includes supporting board 
development.
• Work closely with the Chair and Board of Trustees to support strong governance and informed decision-making.
• Provide accurate and timely reporting on organisational performance, risks, and impact.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory guidance and legislation, including the Charity Commission and the Fundraising 

Finance & Fundraising:
• Working with the Chief Operating Officer and the Board of Trustees, ensure Mermaids has robust, deliverable fundraising 
and finance strategies in place, and subsequent action plans are embedded throughout the organisation to support their 
delivery.
• In partnership with the Chief Operating Officer, ensure Mermaids has robust finance, HR, IT, data privacy and governance processes and procedures are embedded.

People and Culture:
• Line manage senior staff including the COO and service delivery managers.
• Foster a positive, collaborative, inclusive internal culture that values lived experience and wellbeing.
• Continue work to embed a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion across the organisation, as well as a focus on accessibility.
• Work to define and drive trans-centred leadership across the organisation, including ensuring that the organisation is a trans-positive, supportive employer.

External Engagement and Advocacy:
• Represent Mermaids publicly, including acting as the key spokesperson and strategic policy stakeholder, ensuring 
organisational awareness of the external landscape and the changing needs of trans children, young people and their 
families, and advocating for these needs to be met.
• Lead communications strategy, and lead press engagement by responding to media inquiries, interviews, press conferences and media events.
• Lead on stakeholder engagement, including with funders, supporters, community partners, and policy influencers.
• Advocate for the rights and needs of trans and gender-diverse children, young people and the significant others in their lives at a national level.
 

• Drive a climate action movement influencing institutional investors
• Support interconnected organisations to create powerful change
• Remote in Europe - United Kingdom, France, Brussels, or Germany preferred

The Sunrise Project

The Sunrise Project is a global network of independent organisations, that has adopted a unique model of combined strategic grant-making and campaigning, with a common mission to scale social movements to drive the energy transition beyond fossil fuels.

The Sunrise Organising Labs (SOL) is Sunrise's movement-building engine, powering all global programs to scale power in service of our goals while also nurturing long-term ecosystem development. SOL equips our teams and partners to map power, recruit influential constituencies, and build organising capability. SOL also informs and strengthens partnerships and grantmaking: analysing ecosystem capacity and designing targeted interventions to strengthen it. By investing in recruitment, leadership, collaboration, and learning, SOL ensures our movement is equipped, connected, and resourced to win systemic reforms.

Benefits & Culture

Sunrise has a dynamic and nimble organizational culture that supports its people to thrive, believing that diversity of experiences and perspectives builds stronger strategies, teams, and movements. The following benefits are in place to help achieve that;

• Generous package in line with experience and with international expectations
• Liberal annual, parental, birthday, solidarity, and cultural leave
• Commitment to professional development planning
• Coaching, performance reviews & management feedback
• Intermittent travel with advance notice may be required

Indicative salary ranges: £79,230 - £82,277 (UK); €92,376 - €97,850 (France); €120,000 - €124,062 (Germany)

The Role

This role serves as the strategic lead of the European ecosystem, including the UK, overseeing strategies to ensure this powerful movement is growing, is supported, and is being nurtured across communities, countries, leveraging and building power with key actors.
This role understands the nuance of targeted campaigns, how to win them, the context of the big picture, and then designs strategies to intersect the short and long term to build actionable plans for maximum impact.

Working collaboratively across Europe and globally, you will lead the development and implementation of Europe's movement strategy – understanding our campaigns, leading power mapping, understanding constituency and context needs, running experiments, and distributing grants. You will create and recruit new partnerships and groups from new and diverse constituencies, growing their skills and capacities.

Skills Required

You don’t need experience in fossil finance or climate – you can be a leader in your own field of environmental or social justice, such as trade unions, faith or youth groups, community organisations, worker bodies, etc. You’re a strategic, experienced, and collaborative campaign leader and relational organiser, with a passion for winning campaigns and growing regional movements. You have a nuanced understanding of how systemic change happens and can take a long-term view of power and power building in order to deliver short term wins. Your career includes creative corporate and political regional and local campaigns, including winning or iterating on campaigns through diverse stakeholder strategies.

You enjoy working across the political spectrum, or different theories of change, and understand what it takes to build trust, nurture creativity and unleash the potential of individuals and groups. You are adaptive, flexible, and respectful and highly self-driven. You definitely have the following:

• Demonstrated experience building a movement or organisation which has influenced systemic change
• Leadership experience in a similar role and an understanding of the European political landscape
• Project management, training, facilitation, and coaching expertise
• Demonstrated experience in organising and developing leaders in constituency-based organisations
• Strong and evidenced relationships with European power building organisations and other influential groups
• Your own working rights for your European location

 

If you meet all or some of the requirements, or are unsure, please submit an expression of interest as The Sunrise Project values diversity and recognizes lived experience. Your expression of interest should include a cover letter, responding to the skills required above, and a resume. Please quote #1352163. Alternatively, contact Lois Freeke from NGO Recruitment in Melbourne, Australia to request a full information pack at: +61 (0) 3 8080 8978. 

At Children’s University Trust, we believe every child deserves the opportunity to thrive through learning beyond the classroom. We’re a small, passionate team with bold ambitions to expand our impact – and we’re looking for an equally ambitious Business Development and Community Partnership Manager to lead the way.

This is more than just a development role. It's about building sustainable growth strategies, forging powerful partnerships, and shaping a future where opportunity is no longer defined by postcode or circumstance.

As our Business Development and Community Partnership Manager, you will take the lead in shaping and implementing visionary, data-driven growth strategies across three vital areas:

• Place-based memberships with schools, universities, councils’ departments, and third sector organisations.
• Individual “at home” subscriptions for children in areas without direct Children’s University provision or those who do not engage with traditional education.
• Strategic business partnerships with corporates and SMEs, securing vital funding and in-kind support.

You’ll be a key figure in our next phase of growth — identifying new opportunities, building meaningful relationships, and helping us scale our reach across the UK.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive new business activity and revenue growth across all three strategic areas.
• Build a strong, inclusive pipeline of potential members, partners, and funders.
• Manage and nurture relationships from first contact through to long-term collaboration.
• Use data and insight to shape decision-making and report progress to the board.
• Be a passionate ambassador for Children’s University at events, conferences, and online.

We’re Looking for Someone Who:

• Has a proven track record in income generation, partnerships or sales – all sector’s welcome!
• Is passionate about improving the lives of children and young people.
• Is a strategic thinker with the energy of a new business developer.
• Has the confidence to influence senior stakeholders and the empathy to build trust.
• Brings a creative, collaborative, and resilient mindset.
• Thrives in a fast-paced, flexible, remote-first environment.

Why Join Us?

• A unique chance to shape a growing national charity’s development strategy.
• A collaborative, driven team that values innovation and purpose.
• Flexible working, with one day a week in Manchester.
• An opportunity to truly change lives through education and opportunity.

If you’re excited by the chance to lead sustainable growth with purpose, and you want your work to matter, we want to hear from you.

Apply today and be part of a team creating a brighter future for children across the UK.

Do you believe children should feel safe, happy, healthy and have hope for their future? Because we do.

If you're looking for the next step in your fundraising career and want to join us in changing childhoods and changing lives, then read on.

We're recruiting for a Senior Individual Giving Executive to join our team, and manage fundraising campaigns across print, digital, telephone and other channels to raise income to help children and young people in the UK. This role offers a mixture of campaign and project management, problem solving and creative thinking.

As Senior IG Executive you will

• Run fundraising campaigns for warm and cold audiences including cash appeals and campaigns, raffle and lottery asks, regular giving and engagement pieces including newsletters and welcome journeys. 

• Act as a mentor to junior members of the team, sharing your knowledge and experience. 

• Support IG Managers in managing income and expenditure budgets. 
• Work collaboratively across the department and organisation on integrated campaigns, process improvements and new projects. 

We offer remote or hybrid working (dependent on location) for this role and are willing to discuss flexible working arrangements. 

You will have experience of working in a team environment, and in delivering campaigns using a project management approach.

If this sounds like you, we would love for you to apply. 

Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values.  We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people. 

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay. 

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours.  More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application. 

Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

About Barnardo's

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

Our basis and values

This is a key leadership role within the CSA Centre, central to our ambition to raise awareness of the true scale and nature of sexual abuse and to drive evidence-informed improvements in policy and practice.

About the role:

The CSA Centre aims to reduce the impact of child sexual abuse through improved prevention and better response, and effective internal and external communication is absolutely central to that mission.

Leading our Communications Team, you will play a key role in developing and delivering the CSA Centre's communication plans over the immediate and longer term, helping us to ensure that our evidence, learning and resources have the widest possible reach into policy and practice at both local and national level.

As a member of the CSA Centre's Senior Management Team, you will work closely with the CSA Centre's multi-agency, multi-disciplinary team, enabling you to draw on expertise from a wide range of different professional backgrounds. You will lead our engagement with communications colleagues from across Government departments and key stakeholder groups.

We are looking for a highly motivated leader with strong skills and significant experience in communication roles, and the ability to manage an extensive and varied workload to deliver multiple objectives. Communication activity at the CSA Centre is extremely diverse; in any given week you might find yourself developing a new strategic approach to disseminating CSA Centre resources throughout practice, leading a briefing session on new research findings for prominent national media outlets, advising senior Government leads on plans for a new awareness raising campaign, working with expert stakeholders to develop national media guidelines for the reporting of child sexual abuse… No two days are the same!

As Assistant Director, Communications, you will play a role tackling child sexual abuse alongside the work of our colleagues across practice, research, policy and training. This is important work - the CSA Centre conservatively estimates that one in ten children will experience some form of child sexual abuse before age of 16, and our ambitious programme seeks to improve the knowledge, skills and confidence of professionals (social workers, teachers, social workers, nurses etc.) in identifying and responding to child sexual abuse. We have already made great progress, but there is much more to be done – and we need your leadership to help us do it!

CSA Centre roles are currently funded until 31 March 2026, in line with our current grant funding arrangements. This will be reviewed in late 2025, as future funding for the CSA Centre from 2026/27 onwards is confirmed.

About us

We are the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre). Our aim is to reduce the impact of child sexual abuse through improved prevention and better response. To tackle child sexual abuse we must better understand its causes, scope, scale and impact.

Established since 2017, we are a multi-disciplinary team that is funded by the Home Office, hosted by Barnardo's and we work closely with key partners from academic institutions, local authorities, health, education, police and the voluntary sector. We're proudly independent and our team will challenge any barriers, assumptions, taboos and ways of working that prevent us from increasing our understanding and improving our approach to child sexual abuse.

We bring about change by:

• Collating and analysing existing research, policy, practice and the real experiences of those affected, and filling the gaps we identify with new research, insights and analysis;
• Using that evidence and insight to challenge and improve existing policy and practice, develop new approaches and increase everyone's knowledge and confidence to more effectively tackle the issue.

This role is home based with regular travel required, usually to London.

Salary:

The CSA Centre acknowledges that tackling child sexual abuse can feel challenging but is incredibly rewarding and positive when actively making change. Our open working environment ensures that there is support for all employees, across the team and with access to a therapist, if needed. Please do get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of this further.

We believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore are open to offering flexible working arrangements.

The CSA Centre is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce. We actively encourage applications from disabled candidates and candidates from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, as they are currently under-represented at the CSA Centre.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification and Job Description.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.