Programme Manager

The Youth Endowment Fund
Programme Manager

Reports to: Programme and Impact Lead

Salary: £44,200

Contract: 12-month fixed term (Full-Time), dependent on co-funding being

secured.
Location:  Central London or Hybrid*(see below)
Closing date for applications: 12pm Friday 13th March 2026
Interview dates: Week commencing 23rd March 2026

About the Youth Endowment Fund

We’re here to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence.

We do this by finding out what works and building a movement to put this

knowledge into practice.

Every child should grow up safe from harm. Yet far too many are drawn into

violence or live with the fear of it. This robs them of opportunity and damages

whole communities. Even when violence doesn’t strike directly, we know that the

fear of violence has a terrible effect on children’s lives.

The Youth Endowment Fund exists to try and permanently change things. To

succeed, we must build an exceptional body of knowledge about violence

affecting young people and how we reduce it. This knowledge has to be both

rigorous and highly relevant to those making decisions about how to support

vulnerable young people. We need to find out what works and what doesn’t

through evidence synthesis, data analysis and qualitative research into children’s

lives. We need to convert this into highly accessible content on what works, how

delivery organisations need to change their practice and how the systems they

operate in need to be reformed. We then need to work with the right people that

can make change happen, across systems, policies and practice, to have a real

impact on reducing violence affecting children’s lives.

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Key Responsibilities

Deciding which projects, we should fund and evaluate is key, as is making sure we

deliver our funding and evaluations to the highest standards. Our Programme

Managers are responsible for identifying, assessing, funding and supporting

programmes designed to prevent youth violence.

Programme Managers at YEF come from all walks of life. We look for individuals

who may have experience in the youth sector, children’s social care, policing,
criminal justice, education or how to involve local residents in making decisions

about their own neighbourhoods.

As a Programme Manager at YEF, you will work very closely with our evaluation

team to make sure we learn from what’s being implemented and that the

organisations we fund are prepared and excited to work with us to find what

works.

To achieve this, you will:

•  Make sure we choose the best organisations to work with by assessing

funding applications, critically appraising delivery plans and budgets and

getting to know potential grantees. These assessments will help you form

recommendations to our senior leadership team about which

opportunities to pursue.

•  Work closely with grantees, external evaluators and our own evaluation
team to ensure that the activity we are funding will be evaluable to the
highest standards. This requires you to support and advise grantees on

how to work in the context of an evaluation – usually, a randomised
controlled trial (you don’t have to have experience working on a

randomised controlled trial in the past, but it helps!).

•  Build strong relationships with our grantees and provide them with ongoing
management and support through the life of their funding. You will also be

responsible for monitoring the performance of grantees and ensuring

targets are met and any project risks are effectively mitigated.

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•  Think carefully about how we find the best projects to fund and evaluate,

ensuring we can best find what works to keep children safe. To do this you

might need to work with colleagues to spot where there has previously

been a lack of evidence about what works (we will help you with this!). You

would project manage these projects so they are excellently delivered – on

time, within budget, and to a high standard. You will help to determine what

our commissioning and management processes aim to achieve and

design grant application and management processes to achieve it.

•  You’ll manage our engagement with potential grantees to make sure we

are attracting a diverse and promising portfolio of organisations to apply.

•  Report to our team and external stakeholders regularly on how well the

projects we are funding are going, spotting where grantees need support
and coming up with how we can best provide that support.

•  Represent the Youth Endowment Fund at external events, including

reporting and presenting to our Grants and Evaluation Committee, who

approve all our funding decisions.

About You

You are this sort of person:

•  You don't want your days to pass without making a difference. You want

to play a significant part in a charity that is making a difference.

•  You want to work in a job that makes young people safer. This issue

matters to you. You don’t need extensive experience in grant making, you

just have to be committed to learning it. You should be keen to learn about

the sectors we work with, the challenges facing young people and what
organisations face when implementing programmes.

•  You have experience in one or more of the following areas: policing,

education, criminal justice, social care or the youth sector.

•  You have a strong understanding of challenges that organisations face
in delivering projects. You must also be a really good project manager,

great at managing and developing people and external stakeholders,

energised by tackling complex problems and really care about the YEF’s
mission to build evidence of what works.

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•  You have incredible judgement. You are able to reach sound and

considered judgements about the viability and suitability of applicants

based upon our given criteria, often using detailed written and financial

information, and are able to deliver constructive feedback to organisations.

You can also identify when things aren’t going to plan and be proactive

with sharing observations and recommendations.

•  You are an optimiser. You look for solutions and think creatively to

overcome challenges. You are curious, hungry to learn and always looking

for ways to improve processes and increase efficiency and impact.

•  You love well-designed systems. You are committed to designing and

maintaining the best systems to make sure we manage our

commissioning processes well. You know this is critical to effectively

managing multiple, large-scale funding programmes and competing

priorities.

•  You are an excellent communicator. You have the ability to convey
information clearly and effectively—both in writing and verbally. You

understand the importance of strong communication in fast-paced

decision-making and thrive in a busy, collaborative team environment.

•  You win people over. People tend to warm to you and respect you. You

have built good relationships with people at every level inside and outside

the organisation and have managed large networks of stakeholders with

different interests and priorities. You are excellent at customer service and

can professionally handle issues that come up within your grant portfolio.

•  You work very well in a team. You are not motivated by being the

individual winner. You want the team as a whole to succeed. You don’t care
who gets the credit as long as things get done.

•  You are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. You believe and
act in a way that celebrates and encourages a range of experiences,

backgrounds and values.

While it’s not a criteria, we are especially interested to hear from applicants who

have lived experience of youth violence.

We’re also keen to hear from applicants with a strong understanding of

evaluation methodologies—particularly Randomised Control Trials (RCTs)—and

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experience either directly supporting or overseeing programme delivery within an

evaluation context.

It’s important to us that the people we hire do not discriminate. We believe in

being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications

are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage

or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual

orientation, transgender status or social economic background.

All appointments will be made on merit, following a fair and transparent process.

In line with the Equality Act 2010, however, the organisation may employ positive

action where candidates from underrepresented groups can demonstrate their

ability to perform the role equally well.

This position will require a DBS check to be performed, but a record is not a

block to performing this role.

Funding and Start Date

This role is subject to funding. We are currently in the process of securing the

necessary funding for this work, which is expected to commence in April 2026. The

successful candidate will need to be available to start within four weeks of

receiving an offer.

Hybrid Working Details

The office is based in Central London, but you don’t have to be. Those living in

London and within the 32 London Boroughs are expected to be in the office a

minimum of 2 days per week. If you live outside of London and work remotely,

you’ll be expected to work from the London office 2 days per month. As part of our

commitment to flexible working we will consider a range of options for the

successful applicant. All options can be discussed at the interview stage.

To Apply

To apply, please send a CV and a cover letter answering the specific questions

below, along with the completed monitoring form, by clicking the "Apply for this"
button by 12pm Friday 13th  March 2026.

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If you have specific expertise in any of our sectors, we want to hear about it in

your examples, when answering the following questions as part of your cover

letter to be considered.

Application Questions

1.  Tell us about your experience and understanding of the challenges

organisations face in delivering projects and any experience you’ve had of

this in the context of evaluations? (max 400 words)

2.  The Programme Manager role involves overseeing several projects at once

and juggling many different tasks simultaneously. Tell us about when

you’ve had several competing priorities and how you managed those?

(max 400 words)

3.  Tell us about your experience of managing multiple partners and resolving

conflicting positions? (max 400 words)

Interview Process

This is likely to be a one stage process, with interviews taking place on the
week commencing 23rd March 2026

PLEASE NOTE: We do not sponsor work permits and you will be required to provide

proof of your eligibility to work in the UK.

Benefits Include

•  £1,000 professional development budget annually
•  28 days holiday plus Bank Holidays
•  Employee Assistance Programme – 24hr phone line for free confidential

support

•  Volunteering days - 4 half days per year
•  Death in service - 4 times annual salary
•  Flexible hours. Core office hours 10am – 4pm
•  Financial support including travel and hardship loans
•  Employer contributed pension of 5%.

Personal Data

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Your personal data will be shared for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This

includes our HR team, interviewers (who may include other partners in the project

and independent advisors), relevant team managers and our IT service provider if

access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles. We do not share your

data with other third parties, unless your application for employment is successful,

and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former

employers to obtain references for you. We do not transfer your data outside the

European Economic Area.

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