Get Set UK
Contract Manager - Youth Mentor Programme
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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.
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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.
- Share buy scheme.
- 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.
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Recruitment process
Apply through our recruitment platform and complete the short initial questionnaire. If you start your application through Indeed or LinkedIn, you will still need to complete this step before we can review your application.
We assess your CV and application against the minimum essential criteria for the role and the evidence you provide. Keep your CV clear and concise and focus on what you personally did, owned, improved or delivered. One to two pages will suit many applicants, although up to three may be appropriate where your relevant experience requires it.
If shortlisted, the process may include a recruitment call or Teams conversation, role-related questionnaire, assessment or testing, and a hiring-manager interview with a task, presentation or practical exercise where relevant.
Preparation, responsiveness and attention to detail matter throughout the process.
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, apply today.
Additional Information
We reserve the right to close applications early, so we encourage early applications. Get Set UK is a Disability Confident and Equal Opportunity Employer. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals and are committed to supporting physical and mental wellbeing at work. Reasonable adjustments are available throughout the recruitment process. This role is subject to satisfactory recruitment checks and a commitment to safeguarding learners and clients. Get Set UK does not accept unsolicited CVs from agencies.
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