Contract Manager - Youth Mentor Programme

Get Set UK; Southampton; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Vitality health and wellbeing

Employee Assistance Programme

Workplace pension

IncentFit benefits

Job summary

Get Set UK is seeking an experienced operations leader to drive the Youth Mentor Programme across Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, ensuring high-quality delivery and employment outcomes for young people aged 18 to 24.

You will oversee Team Leaders, manage performance, and ensure referrals translate into meaningful support, with regular regional travel and a valid driving licence. This mobile role requires strong stakeholder collaboration and rigorous compliance.

Qualifications

• Operational management experience within employability or similar publicly funded services.
• Experience leading managers and front-line teams, with performance coaching.
• Evidence of using management information to identify gaps and action improvements.
• Experience with quality, compliance and audit requirements and stakeholder relationships.
• Willingness to travel across Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire with a valid licence.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery across communities and own programme outcomes.
• Supervise Team Leaders, monitor performance and ensure effective referrals and support.
• Maintain participant records, safeguarding, data security and compliance.
• Collaborate with DWP, Jobcentre Plus, employers and local partners.
• Translate programme requirements into clear team expectations and actions.

Skills

Operational management

Leadership

Management information

Quality & compliance

MS Office

Travel readiness

Education

Leadership/Management qualification

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Southampton, SO15 1GW

Contract Type: Full Time

Working Hours: 35

Job Category: Education/Training/Instruction

Lead delivery across communities. Own the outcomes.

You will lead the operational delivery of our Youth Mentor Programme, helping young people aged 18 to 24 move into suitable, sustainable employment.

This is a mobile, performance-led management role covering Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Your teams will be delivering in communities across these areas, and you need to be visible where delivery is happening. Regular regional driving is an essential part of the job, so you must hold a valid driving licence, have access to an appropriate vehicle and have appropriate business-use insurance.

You will lead Team Leaders, maintain control of programme performance and make sure participant support, employer opportunities, quality and compliance translate into strong employment outcomes.

Before you apply: the essentials

To be considered, your CV and application must clearly demonstrate:

Operational management experience within employability, welfare-to-work, youth employment, skills or a comparable publicly funded service, with responsibility for contractual or outcome-based performance.

Experience leading managers and front-line teams, including setting expectations, coaching performance and addressing underperformance.

Evidence of using management information to identify performance gaps, manage risk and implement measurable improvement actions.

Experience working within quality, compliance and audit requirements and building effective relationships with commissioners, employers, referral partners or other stakeholders.

A valid driving licence, access to an appropriate vehicle and appropriate business-use insurance, enabling you to travel regularly across Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

Evidence of commitment, reliability and consistently delivering high standards of work.

Evidence of delivering outcomes, targets, tasks, projects or agreed objectives.

Ability to present your recent employment history clearly, including explaining gaps or short-term roles during the previous five years.

Confident working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, with the ability to learn and adapt to other software and digital systems.

Useful, but not essential

Knowledge of local labour markets and support services available to young people.

A relevant qualification in leadership, management, employability, operations or contract management.

The real job

Your priority is to establish momentum and maintain it. You will translate programme requirements into clear expectations for Team Leaders and make sure referrals become purposeful participant support, suitable employer opportunities and sustainable employment outcomes.

You will monitor engagement, job matching, employment, sustainment, caseloads, quality and compliance. When performance moves off track, you will identify why, agree corrective action and follow it through.

You will work closely with DWP, Jobcentre Plus, employers and local partners, while ensuring safeguarding, participant records, evidence and data security are embedded in everyday delivery.

What success looks like

Your teams understand what they own and have clear visibility of performance. Young people receive tailored action plans, appropriate job preparation and good-quality employment matches rather than placements driven by volume alone.

Employer opportunities keep pace with participant needs. Risks are identified early. Records are audit-ready, and the Operations Director receives clear information about performance, causes, risks and action.

The working reality

Regular travel is a fundamental part of this role. Your teams will be delivering within communities across Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and you will need to travel between locations to provide visible leadership, support delivery, meet employers and stakeholders and maintain effective operational oversight.

This is not a role that can be managed solely from a desk. You need to be comfortable spending a significant part of your working week travelling across the delivery area and being present where your teams and partners are working.

For that reason, a valid driving licence, access to an appropriate vehicle and appropriate business-use insurance are essential requirements of the role.

We will consider reasonable adjustments that enable you to meet the role's travel requirements. Regular travel across the delivery area remains essential.

You will also balance pace with control. There will be targets, competing priorities, performance issues and difficult conversations, and you will remain accountable for participant experience, safeguarding, quality, compliance and employment outcomes.

What you get

25 days' annual leave, increasing with service.

Vitality health and wellbeing support, including GP services, mental health support and physiotherapy.

24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, including up to six counselling sessions a year and legal, financial and debt guidance.

Workplace pension, with salary sacrifice available subject to eligibility and scheme rules.

Up to £360 a year through IncentFit for eligible activities.

Wellbeing, retail, fitness, travel and mobile discounts, including 20% off eligible EE mobile plans.

About Get Set UK

Get Set UK delivers employment, skills, apprenticeships, health and justice services, helping people overcome barriers and progress towards meaningful, sustainable employment. We are part of Palladium, a global impact organisation with more than 60 years' experience delivering programmes and solutions internationally.

Our values are Be Ambitious, Be Proud, Be Considerate, Be Inspiring and Own It, and they shape how we work with colleagues, participants and partners.

Safer recruitment

Get Set UK is committed to safer recruitment practices to help protect our colleagues and the people we support.

As part of our recruitment process, you will be required to provide a complete and accurate history of your employment and other relevant activity for the previous five years, including explanations for any gaps, together with referee details covering the previous three years.

Please ensure the information you provide is complete and accurate, as we may be unable to progress your application until our safer recruitment requirements have been completed.

Depending on the role, further pre-employment checks may include references, right-to-work checks, DBS checks and/or other appropriate vetting.

Any offer is conditional on satisfactory applicable checks.

Eligibility and checks

You must have the full right to work in the UK. Sponsorship is not available for this role.

Get Set UK is a Disability Confident and Equal Opportunity Employer. Reasonable adjustments are available throughout recruitment.

If you can lead dispersed teams, stay close to community delivery and turn programme expectations into sustainable employment outcomes for young people.

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Job Category
Education/Training/Instruction