Please note, we are considering full time and part time applications for this role. This will be discussed at interview stage in more detail.

UK Youth wants all young people to be equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. Youth work can be life changing (and even life saving). We have developed a strategy to unlock youth work so that every young person in the UK can benefit. We work with a movement that shares this ambition to build cross-sector understanding of youth work’s transformational potential, secure sufficient investment for sustainable provision, and help to embed effective solutions that will increase the quality as well as accessibility of youth work. Come and be part of this change.

This role sits in the newly formed Design and Delivery team, responsible for designing, developing and delivering provision that strengthens and supports youth work and outdoor learning. Taking a human-centred design approach, the department works to translate evidence and insight, into solutions that tackle the sector’s biggest problems. We lead on the co-creation of high quality youth development content, workforce support tools and grant distribution models, to ensure youth work becomes more appealing, accessible and impactful.

Reporting to the Assistant Director of Design, the Head of Design will create a positive impact on young people by managing the end to end design of solutions for the youth sector; working closely with Design Officer to support the creation of youth development content and workforce support tools. You will be part of a team that thinks through problems and builds inclusive, deliverable and effective solutions.

We are looking for candidates with experience in human-centred design, significant expertise in youth work and/or outdoor learning and experience of developing high quality initiatives for young people and/or the workforce that supports them. We are looking for creative thinkers, willing to challenge and disrupt the status quo, and confident with use of digital in development of solutions for the sector.  

Who we are

UK Youth is a leading charity that exists to ensure all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. We work with others to ensure that the youth sector is strengthened, supported and that provision is youth-led, evidence-informed and delivers high-quality outcomes.

UK Youth plays a unique role in addressing; the lack of investment in the youth sector, the lack of cross-sector understanding in how youth work makes a difference and the limited opportunities to embed effective solutions. These factors lead to mass inequality of access to youth services for young people. To find more about us and how we make an impact, please visit UK Youth Website.

Equal opportunities

UK Youth prides itself on being an Equal Opportunity employer. We value the differences that a diverse workforce brings and are committed to inclusivity and to employing and supporting a diverse workforce. Our selection procedures ensure that people are treated on the basis of their relevant merits, experience, skills and abilities and that no individual receives more or less favourable treatment.

We are are seeking applications from different backgrounds, cultures, age, experience and identity to bring a wide range of experience, ideas, views and insights to UK Youth. We welcome applications from groups currently under-represented in our organisation, including: Black, Asian, and other minority ethnic groups; people who identify as LGBTQ+; and disabled people.

What we can offer you

We offer a competitive range of benefits, good work/life balance, excellent learning and development opportunities and vibrant organisational culture.

·         Flexible/Agile Working

·         27 days annual leave plus bank holidays (pro rated for PT and FTC employees)

·         Pension scheme (currently UK Youth match employee contributions up to 5%)

·         Membership of our life insurance scheme which would pay-out up to 4 times your salary

·         Employee Assistance Programme to support employees both professionally and personally

·         20% discount off bookings at Avon Tyrrell, our New Forest Outdoor Centre, including camping, lodges and outdoor activities.

·         CycleScheme and TechScheme

How to apply

If you would like to be considered for this fantastic opportunity, please complete an application via our completely anonymised recruitment system (provided by Applied)

Please note, we are currently accepting application on an ongoing basis for this role. Please submit your application as soon as possible if you would like to be considered.

As this role involves working in a regulated environment with young people, any offer will be conditional to satisfactory background checks, which include criminal record check and employment references.

As part of the recruitment process, UK Youth will be gathering and uses certain information about you. For further information regarding this, please review our Data Protection Privacy Notice which explains what data of yours we process and how we use it.