YPMH: The Foundation For Young People's Mental Health
Innovation and Partner Engagement Manager - Food, Brain and Mental Health programme
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Food, Brain and Mental Health Innovation and Partner Engagement Manager
Salary: £50,000–£55,000, depending on experience
Pension: 10% employer contribution
Location: ideaSpace West, Cambridge, with hybrid working
Expected start: October 2026, or as soon as practicable thereafter
Contract: Fixed-term appointment for up to three years, aligned with the funded programme
Working pattern: Ideally full-time; part-time or flexible working considered
Closing date: 5.00 pm, Monday 24 August 2026
The William Templeton Foundation for Young People’s Mental Health (YPMH) is seeking an Innovation and Partner Engagement Manager to lead the day-to-day development and delivery of an ambitious new three-year Food, Brain and Mental Health programme.
The programme will bring together evidence, innovation, implementation, and partnership-building to identify where food and nutrition could make the greatest difference to brain development and mental health. It will focus particularly on opportunities to improve outcomes for children, young people, and communities experiencing disadvantage.
The Role
Working with researchers, innovators, practitioners, policymakers, people with lived experience, and other partners, you will apply YPMH’s Understand : Innovate : Implement methodology to translate complex evidence into practical, equitable, and scalable action.
You will:
- Lead programme planning, delivery, governance, budgeting, risk management, and reporting
- Translate complex research and stakeholder knowledge into clear priorities, decisions, and actionable opportunities
- Design and facilitate workshops, consultations, and structured processes for problem definition, opportunity identification, and prioritisation
- Coordinate contributions from YPMH colleagues, researchers, advisers, delivery partners, and people with lived experience
- Support the design, acceptability testing, piloting, and implementation of selected interventions and approaches
- Build partnerships to develop, test, fund, implement, and, where appropriate, scale promising opportunities
- Capture evidence and learning and contribute to the further development of YPMH’s Understand : Innovate : Implement methodology
- Represent the programme externally and help develop future partnerships and funding opportunities
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About You
We are looking for someone with an unusual combination of analytical thinking, programme delivery, innovation, and relationship-building capability. You will not necessarily have worked in every part of the role, but you should bring substantial experience in several of its core elements and the curiosity and capacity to develop your knowledge and capability in other areas.
You will have experience of:
- Leading complex projects, programmes, or workstreams involving multiple organisations and stakeholders
- Translating evidence, knowledge, or analysis into practical decisions, priorities, innovations, or action
- Building productive relationships across organisations, disciplines, or sectors and influencing without formal authority
- Designing and facilitating workshops, consultations, or other collaborative processes
- Applying structured approaches to problem definition, opportunity identification, prioritisation, innovation, or implementation
You will also be an excellent communicator and highly organised, with sound judgement and the ability to work independently, manage ambiguity, and maintain attention to detail.
A demonstrable interest in the relationships between food, nutrition, brain development, and mental health is essential, together with the capacity to understand and work with relevant scientific and practice-based evidence.
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Experience in food, nutrition, public health, neuroscience, or mental health would be valuable, as would experience of intervention development, implementation, policy engagement, grant-funded programmes, or working with young people and communities.
About YPMH
YPMH is an independent charity working to prevent and reduce mental ill health among children and young people – from early life to early adulthood.
We use our Understand : Innovate : Implement methodology to accelerate the translation of research and evidence into practical, equitable, and scalable action. This is an opportunity to shape a major new programme, collaborate with leading researchers and diverse partners, and help turn emerging knowledge about food, brain, and mental health into meaningful real-world improvements.
Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. Regular attendance at YPMH’s Cambridge base will be expected, with the precise hybrid-working pattern agreed with the successful candidate.
Read the full job description at https://www.ypmh.org/careers
To apply, please send your CV and a covering letter to Charlotte Catignani, Innovation and Partner Engagement Lead, at charlotte.catignani@ypmh.org by 5.00 pm on Monday 24 August 2026.
Your covering letter should explain your interest in the role and provide concise examples of leading a complex programme, translating evidence or analysis into practical action, and building collaboration across organisations, disciplines, or sectors.
YPMH welcomes applications from candidates with diverse professional, disciplinary, and personal backgrounds.
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