London Youth Gateway Programme Manager

Role overview

Every year we support thousands of young people who are facing homelessness or are unsafe in London at our centre, through our outreach work and remotely. We also have a proud history of championing the most vulnerable young people in the capital. We know that no organisation can tackle this alone, so we make sure we are a trusted partner with a strong track record of collaborating across the public, private and beyond profit sectors, known for putting young people first but also not being afraid to ‘put grit in the system’. With collaboration as one of our core values, partnership is a key objective in our strategy. This role plays an essential part in this by supporting our work with statutory and voluntary sector partners, local authorities, and pan-London stakeholders.

You will lead and coordinate our historic pan-London partnership, the London Youth Gateway (LYG) alongside Depaul UK, Centrepoint, Praxis, Akt, Stonewall Housing, Settle, Coram Voice and Greater Change. Our mission is to make sure young Londoners bounce back quickly and safely in times of crisis and to prevent or solve their homelessness for good. You will be playing the pivotal role in helping to shape the partnership in its current grant cycle and beyond, its collaborative processes as well as its connections with each of the London local authorities. This is a brilliant development opportunity and the chance to deliver innovative practice across London and demonstrate your project management skills.

This is a key role in our organisation, and we are looking for someone with demonstrable experience in partnership and stakeholder engagement who knows how to get and keep people on board to meet mutual or differing needs. The ideal candidate will be an effective communicator and influencer, with a strong eye for detail and an absolute commitment to our mission. Other traits that would make you successful in this role include pragmatism, diplomacy, negotiation skills, and skill with managing competing needs of partner organisations to align with overall strategic objective - to prevent and respond to growing youth homelessness in London.

You will be able to facilitate multi-agency meetings and collaboration, hold responsibility for regular reporting to the grant maker to demonstrate the achievements of the programme each quarter, and contribute to our broader policy and influencing work. We have big ambitions for an organisation our size, so we are on the look-out for someone who can work at their own initiative, support our different teams, and is not afraid to get hand-on with administrative tasks, while tuning into partner priorities and sniffing out great opportunities to connect. This role has a lot of ownership and independence and is a brilliant development opportunity for someone who wants to build their skills and profile across the youth and homelessness sectors.

Key details

• Contract type and hours: The role is full-time (35 hours per week), Monday-Friday. Some work over the Christmas period will also be required.

• Starting salary: £39,634. Salary scale AP32 (£39,634) to AP36 (£44,348).

• Location: New Horizon Youth Centre, 68 Chalton Street, London, NW1 1JR

• Application deadline: 9am, Monday 21 September

• How to apply: complete our application form below, submit your CV and write a 2 page cover letter/supporting statement. Please don't include your name or address in your CV or cover letter.

Key objectives:

• Manage and coordinate our London Youth Gateway partnership, enabling strong cross agency collaboration and external profiling.

• Support our engagement work with delivery, local authority and strategic partners across London and nationally.

• Support our wider policy and influencing work through your collaboration with our partners.

Reporting to: Head of Policy, Impact and Partnerships

Main tasks and responsibilities

Partnership management & programme delivery

1. Lead the end-to-end coordination of the London Youth Gateway (LYG) partnership, including planning, design, delivery, and evaluation, ensuring alignment with contractual obligations and high-quality service standards.

2. Develop and oversee the annual partnership delivery plan, using SMART objectives to track progress and achieve targets.

3. Maintain robust referral and triage processes for young people experiencing homelessness, ensuring scalability and efficiency across the partnership.

4. Lead on ongoing mapping and design of LYG 2026-2030 programme; including service improvement, staff training and Central Point of Access referral flows to ensure equitable access.

Stakeholder engagement & collaboration

1. Host quarterly Steering Group meetings (Senior Leadership) and Service Leads meetings (Operational Managers) to drive cohesive planning, risk management, and strategic decision-making.

2. Strengthen cross-organisational communication, fostering a culture of best practice sharing and continuous learning.

3. Deliver continual pan-London borough engagement activities to enhance LYG’s reputation with statutory, voluntary, and community partners.

4. Support New Horizon teams in cultivating relationships with key stakeholders to enhance service promotion, collaboration, and best practice sharing.

5. Continuously review and improve the effectiveness and reach of stakeholder engagement initiatives, ensuring maximum impact.

6. Maintain LYG website and social media channels to promote the partnership.

Performance monitoring & reporting

1. Work closely with frontline teams to effectively record and demonstrate impact using CRM/Salesforce systems for accurate data collection.

2. Work closely with the Data & Impact Manager to ensure young people’s self-reported outcomes are accurately collected across the partnership.

3. Produce detailed quarterly and annual reports for funders, highlighting progress against targets, key trends, and insights to inform strategic decision-making.

4. Understand how funded outputs and outcomes are achieved, and how to use data to continuously improve quality of service delivery.

5. Present partnership findings and quarterly performance scores to NHYC senior leadership and Trustees, as and when required.

6. Conduct audit and evaluation of CRM databases as/when required.

7. Monitor and report on budget management and performance, ensuring effective financial oversight of the programme.

Continuous improvement & risk management

1. Identify and escalate risks, challenges, and opportunities to senior leadership.

Supporting our wider policy and influencing work

1. In collaboration with the wider Campaigns, Impact & Partnership team, identify key policy asks from your work with our partners.

2. Promote and represent our work externally in various settings across a complex network, including senior stakeholders from local authorities, statutory agencies, pan-London organisations, homelessness forums, and the voluntary sector.

3. Directly and indirectly work with the young people we support to help to amplify their voices, and make sure they feel safe and are being represented fairly and ethically in all our partnership engagement activities.

Other responsibilities

1. Be proactive in reviewing your own performance and identifying and act upon areas for improvement.

2. Identify and undertake development opportunities and be responsible for obtaining maximum benefit through review, reflection and practice.

3. Contribute constructively to the development of the team, the service and the organisation.

4. Following NHYC’s policies, procedures and performance expectations in all functions of the post.

5. Undertaking as required any other duties compatible with the level and nature of the post and/or that are reasonably required by the Head of Services or Leadership Team.

Person specification

We are looking for an individual who can demonstrate the following competencies to a high level and want to use these to the full in their work.

E: Essential D: Desirable

Qualifications, experience and track record

1. Understanding of front-line service delivery in youth specific services [D]

2. Demonstrable stakeholder engagement expertise and experience in the voluntary, statutory and/or local government sectors to reach organisational goals. [E]

3. Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to the needs of key stakeholders and partners, and experience in managing relationships to incorporate these. [E]

4. Understanding of the priorities and workings of local government, statutory services, and the voluntary sector, and how these can complement each other through effective partnership and best practice sharing. [D]

5. Powerful communicator who is comfortable interacting openly and inclusively with different kinds of people in varying settings, including senior stakeholders, policy makers, frontline delivery teams, colleagues, and young people. [E]

6. Very strong writing presentation and facilitation skills, with an ability to adapt to different audiences, deliver training and generate conversations between partners. [E]

7. Experience of using databases to monitor projects and performance and produce reports for a variety of stakeholders.

8. Experience of working with young people and/or knowledge of youth homelessness. [D]

9. A genuine interest in our mission and the issues affecting young people. [E]

General

1. Alignment with New Horizon’s values, and knowledge of and commitment to improving standards of equity, diversity and inclusion. [E]

2. Able to work at own initiative and as part of a team, be hands-on in administrative tasks, and to work closely and proactively with colleagues to support the work of other teams. [E]

3. Strongly developed professional, organised and flexible approaches to the work, time management and organisational requirements, and a willingness to work outside of normal hours on occasion. [E]

Timescales and how to apply

Dates

• Closing date for applications: 9am, Monday 21 September

• Shortlisted candidates will be informed: 24th September

• Interviews: 29th September or 1st October

Application process

1. Complete the application form below

2. Upload your CV  setting out your career history, education or qualifications, and other key responsibilities or achievements. DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME OR INITIALS IN THE DOCUMENT FILE NAME

3. Write a cover letter / supporting statement (no more than 1500 words) highlighting your suitability for the role and how you meet the ESSENTIAL criteria listed on the Person Specification, and any additional relevant desirable points you wish to share. Do not include your name, address or any personal details.  This is an important part of your application so must be completed. We recommend you work on this in another text file (such as Word) and copy and paste it into the box below when you are ready to submit.

We do not consider incomplete applications.

You will be notified if you have not been shortlisted. However, we are unfortunately unable to provide each individual application with feedback.

If you have any questions or would like to arrange a call to discuss the role, please feel free to email us at [email protected] or call 0207 388 5560.

Click here to see the job pack in PDF format or the job pack in Word format .