Community & Youth Engagement Manager

Community & Youth Engagement Manager

Job Title:	Community & Youth Engagement Manager
Position:	Temporary; Maternity Leave (9 – 12 Months)
Hours:	Full time, 35 hours per week (including regular evenings andweekend working)
Salary:	£29,000
Holidays:	33 days including 8 public holidays, per annum
Responsible to:	Head of Learning & Public Engagement
Location based at:	Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Road, London, SW34HS. Flexible working possible.

1. Equal Opportunities

Chelsea Physic Garden is a place for everyone. As an equal opportunities’ employer, Chelsea Physic Garden is committed to championing equality, diversity, and inclusion in our workplace. If you are a suitably qualified applicant, we encourage your application whatever your age, disability, gender, gender identity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or socio-economic background.

2. About Chelsea Physic Garden

Chelsea Physic Garden (CPG) is an independent charity set up in 1983 to promote and preserve the four-acre garden of the same name. The charity’s mission is to demonstrate the medicinal, economic, cultural and environmental importance of plants to the survival and wellbeing of humankind. We are open to visitors six-days a week, eleven months of the year. There has been a teaching Garden on our site since 1673, and today we hope that all our visitors leave inspired, having learnt something new.

3. Our Values

We have a set of five inter linked reinforcing values that support each other

4. About the Role

At Chelsea Physic Garden, we engage with over 12,000 participants annually through a diverse range of learning and engagement activities, including school students, family learning participants, and attendees of our public programmes. In 2024, we reached more than 1,300 individuals through community engagement initiatives and youth-focused programmes, such as our Youth Producers Group.

The Community and Youth Engagement Manager (CYEM) plays a vital role in delivering predominantly grant funded programmes, increasing access to underrepresented audiences, and supporting our dedicated learning and engagement volunteers.

The Community & Youth Engagement Manager is responsible for delivering a variety of agreed engagement programmes throughout the year, with a strong focus on partnership working with our partner organisations.

Key programmes currently delivered by the CYEM include:

• Horticulture therapy courses: Help Us Grow and Pottering Shed

The Community Access Scheme, which provides local community groups with access to the garden through a programme of self-led visits, tours (led by the CYEM or volunteers), workshops, and a monthly programme called Tea, Talk and Walk

• A dementia-friendly programme, Forget-me-nots

• The Community Gardening programme and Community Youth Gardening programme.

Key duties and responsibilities

i. Community & Youth Engagement: Delivery and Operational Management

The postholder is responsible for delivery of (either directly or through others) the operational management of all community engagement and youth engagement projects. These take place onsite, offsite and online. Where freelancers are supporting activities, it is the responsibility of the postholder to manage allocated budget and them and ensure they have all the resources they require. The postholder must tailor and adapt sessions to meet the needs of participants and understand and deliver different engagement styles.

The postholder must ensure effective methods of evaluation and reporting on the outcome of all programmes undertaken. They will also ensure the website it up to date and support the creation of online content, as appropriate.

The postholder will be asked on occasion to support the wider team for example, a school’s session or family activity, and therefore need to have an understanding of all activities delivered by the department.

ii. Community & Youth Engagement: Strategic Development

The postholder will manage the Garden’s network of external community partner organisations. They will champion the programme at CPG to support the development of future partnerships.

The postholder will be responsible for the development of the community and youth engagement strategy and new programmes. They will collaborate on its content and ensure that it is approved and that it meets the Garden’s overall mission and learning strategy.

iii. Volunteer & Project Role Management

The Learning & Public Engagement department is supported by a dedicated team of volunteers who contribute across various aspects of our operations. They assist with the delivery of school sessions, family and adult activities, the Community Garden, and administrative tasks. Additionally, the Garden delivers projects through contracted posts, grant-funded interns, and work experience placements, providing valuable opportunities for skill development and supporting the delivery of key initiatives.

The postholder will be responsible for managing the Learning & Engagement department's team of volunteers, using the Better Impact system to schedule their hours, and supporting their training and development as part of our internal community. Several of our community and youth programmes also offer participants the opportunity to become volunteers either during or after their involvement in a programme.

The post holder may manage or supervise staff on temporary contracts to support community or youth initiatives or oversee learning and engagement interns and trainees. The CYEM will be responsible for managing these team members, providing support for their development throughout their time at the Garden. This may also include reporting to funding partners on the progress of their employment.

iv. Budget Management

The post holder will deliver funded projects on behalf of Chelsea Physic Garden. They have delegated authority from the Head of Learning & Public Engagement to oversee project expenditure and ensure that any project is delivered within budget.

The post holder will work with the Head of Learning & Public Engagement and the Fundraising Manager to identify opportunities for future funding, in line with wider organisational business planning.

v. Evaluation

All activities must be evaluated to create a culture of ‘continuous improvement’. In some instances, it will be necessary for activities to fulfil participation targets in line with the expectations of an external funder.

vi. Health & Safety, Safeguarding & Sustainability

The Community & Youth Engagement programme must be created with an understanding of internal policies and procedures related to Health & Safety, Safeguarding and Sustainability. To ensure that all participants in events and activities can do so in a safe and secure environment. The postholder will undertake risk assessments to ensure the safety of events, and ensure capacities are correctly managed.

vii. Creating a Welcoming Experience for All: Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging As a charity, Chelsea Physic Garden promotes a culture where equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging are key. To maintain this, activities must be sensitive to the needs of participants, and create a safe, supportive and welcoming environment where all people are treated with dignity and their identity and culture are valued and respected. The post holder will need to lead by example, to support this culture.

5. Person Specification

Knowledge, Skills and Experience	Essential (E) /Desirable (D)
An interest in gardens, garden history, horticulture, natural history,conservation and ecology, to help us share the stories of Chelsea Physic Gardenwith our diverse audience.	E
RHS level 2 or equivalent qualification in horticulture	E
Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing	E
Experience delivering youth and/or community engagement programmes	E
Motivated to deliver excellence in all areas of learning activity throughcollaboration and partnership	E
Practical experience of making subjects relevant to learners with different needs	E
Demonstrable understanding of health and safety and safeguarding bestpractice	E
Ability to adapt to changing priorities, contexts and deadlines.	E
Ability to forward plan and manage relevant risk processes for assets andservices.	E
Interest in working in a sustainable way during the time of climate emergency	E
An interest in horticultural/ art therapy	D
Management of initiatives that incorporated new audience development,including the diversification of audiences.	D
Demonstrable understanding of working in the charitable sector with limitedresources	D

6. Competency Framework:

We have a set of eight competencies that are common to all employees and within the framework each competency has four levels which relate to the level at which individual roles need to operate. The competency assessment for this role is set out below and more information will be provided to support this assessment.

	Competency	Descriptor
1	Leadership	Setting the pace and behaving withintegrity	2
2	People Management	Making clear what you expect and what isto be achieved; enabling and supportingyour staff to deliver	2
3	Analysis and use of Evidence	Collecting, analysing and usinginformation and evidence, assessing riskand taking decisions	3
4	Communication	Communicating with colleagues, visitorsand stakeholders	3
5	Collaborative Working	Working together with people within andoutside of CPG to help us achieve ourgoals	3
6	Delivering Results	Organising and managing the work todeliver results	2
7	Using and ManagingResources	Using resources cost effectively	2
8	Know How	The knowledge, skills and expertise youneed to do your job and help others to dotheirs	3

Terms and Conditions

The post holder will be required to work five days per week, but the nature of the role means that flexibility over the days and hours worked is required to meet the needs of the business. There is a requirement to work regular weekends and bank holidays as part of a roster, for which time off in lieu will be provided. 33 days holiday including statutory holidays.

The Garden operates a salary exchange pension scheme currently with Royal London which means that your gross salary is reduced by the amount of pension contribution made by the employer and employee which is then paid directly into your pension. The equivalent contribution rates are 6% employer and 3% employee at the end of the probationary period.

Details of other employee benefits and rights will be provided to successful candidates and include things like a season ticket loan, a cycle purchase scheme as well as an employee assistance programme.

Application Details:

Please apply using the Application Form available to download on our website: https://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/about/vacancies/

Application deadline: 21 June 2026

Please send the Application and Equal Opportunities forms to jobs@chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk Interviews will be held at Chelsea Physic Garden during the week commencing 29 June 2026.

Proposed start date: 13 July 2026