Youth Manager

Help shape the future for young people in Herts, Beds, Bucks and Oxon!

Are you an experienced youth work professional who is passionate about creating opportunities for young people to thrive?

At One YMCA, we work alongside young people to help them develop confidence, skills, resilience, and positive futures. We are looking for an inspiring, experienced and motivated Youth Work Manager to lead and develop our local youth work provision, ensuring that high-quality, impactful services reach young people across our communities.

This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in delivering our Youth Work Strategy, managing a dedicated team, driving quality and developing services that make a real difference in the lives of young people.

About the role:

Reporting to the Head of Youth Work, you will take operational responsibility for the delivery, development, monitoring, and quality assurance of our youth work services. You will lead and support Youth Work Coordinators and wider youth work staff, ensuring services are safe, effective, youth-centred, and aligned with One YMCA's strategic priorities.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading the development and delivery of youth work programmes, specialist support services, mentoring initiatives, life skills courses, and large-scale youth events.
• Managing and supporting staff through recruitment, induction, supervision, training, and performance development.
• Monitoring contract performance, outcomes, impact data, and key performance indicators to demonstrate the difference our services make.
• Building strong relationships with schools, local authorities, partner agencies, and community stakeholders.
• Leading quality assurance, compliance, safeguarding, and continuous improvement across the service.
• Acting as Designated Safeguarding Lead and participating in the safeguarding on-call rota.
• Working with young people and teams to ensure youth voice is at the heart of everything we do.

We're looking for someone who combines strong operational leadership, experience in managing contractual compliance, with a genuine commitment to young people.

You will bring:

• Significant experience delivering and managing youth work programmes, projects, or contracts.
• A strong understanding of issues affecting young people's lives and a passion for helping them achieve positive outcomes.
• Experience leading, motivating, and developing staff teams.
• Excellent communication, relationship-building, and partnership-working skills.
• The ability to analyse data, monitor impact, and use insight to improve services.
• A youth work or related community-focused qualification at degree level, or significant equivalent experience.
• A full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle for work purposes.

Location: Home-based role but with regular travel to YMCA youth work delivery sites across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, as well as to support the broader youth work within One YMCA. 

Driving licence and access to a car is essential for this role.

If you are an experienced youth work leader ready for your next challenge, we would love to hear from you! 

Important: Please include a supporting statement with your application/CV.

We do not provide visa sponsorship; you must be eligible to work in the UK. You must reside in the UK for the duration of your employment and provide Right to Work evidence.

As some of our roles involve working with vulnerable members of society, this position may require a Basic or Enhanced Criminal Disclosure, which will be conducted once a conditional offer is made

Previous Applications: We welcome applications from all qualified candidates. However, if you have applied for a similar role within the last 6 months and were not successful, please consider whether your experience has developed further before reapplying

Accessibility & Adjustments: We are committed to making reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process and will strive to be as accommodating as possible. Please inform us in advance of any arrangements you may need to fully participate in the process.

At One YMCA we are an inclusive organisation and actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We do not discriminate on the basis of Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage/Civil Partnership, Pregnancy/Maternity, Race, Religion/Belief, Sex and/or Sexual Orientation. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities, and industries, and are committed to having a team that is made up of diverse skills, experiences, and abilities.

Working hours: 37.5 hours per week, generally Monday to Friday but with flexibility of working pattern to support both the ideal candidate and business need. Some evening work expected, and occasional weekend, overnight stays or residential work.

If you have any questions or would like to request an informal conversation about the role, please email heidi.bentley@oneymca.org