Greater Manchester Youth Federation
Youth Centre Manager
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Purpose of Role
The Centre Manager provides strategic and operational leadership for the youth centre and its wider community reach, with responsibility for high-quality youth work delivery and day-to-day centre operations, working within GMYF’s wider operational and estates frameworks. High-quality, inclusive local provision. The postholder is the professional lead for youth work practice and delivery within the centre, with responsibility for shaping, developing, and continuously improving provision in line with GMYF’s values, safeguarding standards, and strategic priorities.
Reporting to the Director of Programmes, the Centre Manager leads people, partnerships, and place-based development, ensuring the centre delivers strong outcomes for children and young people while contributing to the wider aims of GMYF.
Outdoor Education and residential opportunities are an integral and embedded part of the centre’s youth work offer, and the Centre Manager plays a key role in shaping, embedding, and developing these opportunities in partnership with the Outdoor Education Team to ensure they meet the local need and are accessible to young people.
This is a hands-on leadership role, balancing operational oversight with visible presence, relationship-based practice, and continuous improvement.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership and Management of Youth Work Delivery
- Provide strategic leadership for youth work delivery at the centre level, including centre-based provision, outreach, and integrated Outdoor Education and residential opportunities, ensuring provision is planned, resourced, and developed in response to local need, youth voice, and GMYF priorities.
- Provide clear professional leadership for high-quality, inclusive youth work across centre-based provision, outreach, offsite venues, and outdoor education youth work.
- Embed and champion GMYF’s youth work values, including youth voice, equality, diversity, and inclusion.
- Line manage staff including Youth Work Coordinator(s), Youth Workers, cleaners, and volunteers.
- Provide supervision, appraisal, and performance management, promoting reflective practice and professional development.
- Ensure staffing structures, rotas, and skills mix support safe, effective delivery.
- Foster a positive, professional, and supportive team culture.
Safety, Safeguarding and Compliance
- Act as a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.
- Hold overall safeguarding responsibility for the centre and linked activities.
- Ensure safeguarding procedures are embedded, understood, and consistently applied.
- Promote inclusive, restorative, and trauma-informed practice.
- Ensure all safeguarding and behaviour-related incidents are recorded, reviewed, and followed up.
- Maintain compliance with legislation, statutory guidance, and GMYF policies.
Centre Operations, Site Management, and Health & Safety
- The Centre Manager holds responsibility for day-to-day site oversight and compliance, with additional estates support provided through GMYF’s central operations arrangements.
- Ensure the centre meets all Health & Safety and statutory requirements, working with GMYF’s Central Team and systems to maintain compliance.
- Oversee day-to-day site issues, Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM), compliance checks, and inspections, escalating and coordinating works as required through organizational processes.
- Maintain oversight of building safety, security, and use of space.
- Ensure accurate records are maintained for staff, visitors, and young people.
- Ensure all off-site activities, outreach, visits, and residentials are risk-assessed and appropriately staffed.
- Hold overall responsibility for the safe opening and closing of the centre and the planning and oversight of fire, evacuation, and lockdown procedures, delegating operational leadership as appropriate when not on site.
- Maintain good relations with neighbours and the local community.
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Quality, Development, and Partnership Working
- Lead centre-level self-evaluation and contribute to GMYF organizational development and quality frameworks.
- Monitor outcomes for children and young people and use learning to improve provision.
- Contribute to funding bids, monitoring, and reporting.
- Develop and maintain partnerships with stakeholders including schools, community organizations, statutory services, and internal teams to support joined-up opportunities for young people.
- Represent the centre in organizational initiatives and networks.
Outdoor Education and Residential Provision
- Hold responsibility for pastoral leadership of young people accessing Outdoor Education provision linked to the centre, while the Outdoor Education Team is responsible for developing and providing outdoor education opportunities.
- Work collaboratively with the Outdoor Education Team to plan high-quality residentials and Outdoor Activities for the young people from the centre.
- Ensure good pastoral and wellbeing leadership before, during, and after residentials.
- Act as Group Leader and drive the minibus where required and appropriate, in line with compliance regulations.
- Lead reflective reviews following residentials and outdoor education activity.
Professional Conduct and Organisational Responsibilities
- Uphold GMYF’s values, policies, and professional standards.
- Ensure conduct reflects the responsibilities of a leadership and management role.
- Maintain a strong commitment to continuous professional development and reflective leadership practice, using supervision, learning, and organizational feedback to enhance personal effectiveness and support high-quality youth work delivery.
- Contribute positively to the wider culture and strategic development of GMYF.
- Undertake other duties commensurate with the role.
Person Specification
Essential Criteria
Qualifications & Professional Development
- Relevant qualification in Youth Work OR significant experience delivering youth work or related children and young people’s provision.
- Commitment to continuous professional development (CPD) and reflective leadership practice.
- Willingness to undertake further relevant professional or leadership qualifications and development as required.
Experience
- Experience delivering youth work or similar provision in a centre-based, community, or outreach setting.
- Experience supporting, supervising, or coordinating staff and/or volunteers.
- Experience working within safeguarding frameworks, including recording concerns and escalating appropriately.
- Experience working with children and young people facing additional barriers to participation (e.g. SEND, trauma, disadvantage).
- Experience contributing to the planning, delivery, or improvement of provision, balancing operational delivery with quality and learning.
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Knowledge & Skills
- Sound understanding of safeguarding, risk management, and inclusive practice within youth or community settings.
- Ability to promote positive behaviour cultures using restorative and trauma-informed approaches.
- Ability to provide clear professional direction and guidance to team and colleagues.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills, adaptable to young people, families, partners, and professionals.
- Ability to oversee the safe delivery of centre-based, outreach, and off-site activities.
- Ability to maintain accurate records and contribute to reports and organizational learning.
- Competence in using IT systems to support communication, administration, and service delivery.
Leadership & Personal Attributes
- Ability to provide visible, values-led leadership within a busy operational environment.
- Sound judgement and confidence in decision-making, with appropriate use of supervision, escalation, and advice.
- Ability to work collaboratively within a wider organizational structure and across internal teams.
- Strong commitment to equality, diversity, safeguarding, and young person-centred practice.
- Resilience, adaptability, and the ability to manage competing priorities and pressures.
Additional Requirements
- Willingness to work flexibly, including evenings and occasional weekends.
- Willingness to complete required training (e.g. First Aid, safeguarding, fire safety) within agreed timescales.
- Enhanced DBS check.
Desirable Criteria
- Degree level qualification in Youth Work.
- Leadership or management qualification, or experience of leading teams in a youth work setting.
- Experience contributing to funding bids, monitoring, evaluation, or reporting processes.
- Experience leading or contributing to centre self-evaluation or quality assurance frameworks.
- Experience working in partnership with schools, local services, or community organizations.
GMYF is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. An Enhanced DBS is required for this post. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds.
This is a UK-based post, and applicants must be living in and have the right to work in the UK. If applicable, please detail your Visa status in your covering email.
Please let us know if you need us to make any reasonable adjustments during the application or recruitment process, and we’ll be happy to support you.
Please submit your CV, and cover letter outlining your interest, experience, and suitability for the role. The cover letter is an important part of the application and helps us understand your motivation for youth work and your fit with GMYF’s values and approach.
For an informal conversation about this role, please contact: Jo Johnson at jojohnson@gmyouthfed.org
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