Employment & Skills Lead - 12 month FTC

Orbit Group; Binley Woods CP; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading housing group in the UK is seeking an Employment & Skills Lead to drive their employability and skills programmes. The role entails developing and managing initiatives to improve the skills of local communities, managing budgets, and producing performance reports. Candidates should have strong project management skills and the ability to build partnerships. This position is a fixed-term contract and includes regular travel across the Midlands, South, and East of England.

Benefits

Flexible working opportunities

Professional training and development

Inclusive benefits and wellbeing programmes

Qualifications

• Ability to build partnerships leading to revenue generation.
• Demonstrable knowledge of relevant government employability policies.
• Excellent project and contract management skills.
• Proven experience in managing employability projects.
• Excellent IT skills including report writing.
• Willingness to continually develop professional skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage employability and skills programmes.
• Manage budgets for Better Days programmes.
• Produce reports on performance and impact.
• Drive promotion of best practices in advice delivery.
• Lead the development of training and support initiatives.
• Broker partnerships with external providers and employers.

Skills

Building effective networks

Knowledge of government strategy around employability and skills

Project and contract management

Managing employability and skills projects

Excellent IT skills

Willingness to develop knowledge and skills

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

We’re building thriving communities as one of the UK’s largest housing groups and a leading developer of affordable housing.

We believe everyone is entitled to a good home they can afford, in a place they are proud to live. More than 100,000 people live in our homes.

If you want to experience work that’s truly rewarding, join us. Because when we achieve together, customers and communities thrive.

Work for Orbit. Believe in people.

The role

In the role of Employment & Skills Lead at Orbit Group, you will lead and develop the strategic delivery of our Better Days Employability and Skills Programmes across our communities. Your role is key to providing our customers with essential support to deal with life’s challenges, improving their skills and employment opportunities to fulfil their potential.

This is an FTC covering an internal secondment (end date 23rd November 2026) covering Orbit's regions in full - the Midlands, the South and the East, with regular travel required.

This role is part of our Customer directorate where you'll help us to lead the way in keeping our promise to more than 100,000 customers.

What you'll achieve

Programme management

• Responsible for developing and managing Orbit’s existing portfolio of Better Days employability and skills programmes.
• Responsibility for the management of budgets across the portfolio of Better Days employability and skills programmes.
• Produce reports and data on the performance and impact of Better Days employability and skills programmes.
• Drive the promotion of good practice in advice delivery including service models, quality assurance processes, governance, monitoring, evaluation and referral pathways.

Service development

• Lead on developing our employability and skills offer by providing training, advice, and support to develop new initiatives and partnerships, optimise existing ones and / or develop referral relationships with advice sector partners.
• Lead on the development and implementation of an employability and skills offer in line with customer need across a network of community hubs across Orbit’s geography. Work with regional and local level partnerships, to help tackle localised social issues with the aim of reducing any disparity in equality in our more disadvantaged communities.
• Broker partnerships with external providers, and employers to commissioning activity to help deliver employability and skills services that meet the changing needs of our communities.
• Provide strategic direction and support as a subject matter expert for Employability and Skills to the Community Investment and Successful Tenancies Team and colleagues across Orbit.

What you'll bring

Essential skills

• Ability to build effective networks and partnerships that lead to revenue generation / funding and increased outcomes for customers.
• Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of relevant government strategy around employability and skills, policies and trends and their implications for the service and our customers.
• Excellent project and contract management skills.
• Proven experience in managing employability and skills projects and programmes with track record of delivering results and continuous improvement in service delivery.
• Excellent IT skills including use of Microsoft Office packages, ability to write and present reports including performance and impact reports and communicate effectively to a range internal and external audiences, both verbally and in writing.
• Willingness to continually develop employability and skills knowledge and professional skills with external training.

Why Orbit?

Choosing us means being rewarded in every sense.

Here’s what you can expect to enjoy with us.

A rewarding experience that works for you

We strive to create an inclusive experience with benefits and wellbeing programmes designed to help you, and your loved ones, to thrive. For a better work life balance, we offer flexible working opportunities for many roles.

A place to progress

From training programmes to professional qualifications, we provide opportunities to learn and develop at every stage of your career. Whether you’re a student, graduate or experienced professional we’ll support you to grow.

For leaders, our tailored development journeys are designed to stretch and strengthen your leadership skills. As well as practical training, we give you access to renowned business schools and experiential programmes for greater breadth and depth of learning.

A purpose to feel proud of

We’re proud to make a difference to people together. We’re values-driven with a commercial focus on performance - because the more profit we make, the more we can achieve for people.

What brings us together is a passionate belief in progress and people.

Read more about the values and purpose that drive us on our careers website.

How we hire

Online application

We aim to make our hiring process simple and fair :

Interview(s)

Decision and offer

We put the safeguarding of our customers, colleagues and contractors at the heart of everything we do and as such, certain roles will be subject to a DBS check.