Youth Development Lead - Foundations (Southampton & Portsmouth)

Contract Type: Permanent 

Hours: Full Time, 35 hours per week

Closing Date: 23:59 on 27/07/2026

Salary: £25,092.00 to £28,783.00 dependent on your skills, knowledge and experience

Location: Southampton and Portsmouth, with frequent travel required across both areas 

Assessment Centre: 6th August, in-person in Southampton

Could you become the personal champion of a young person facing barriers to achieving their goals? The South Coast team are looking for a new Youth Development Lead to support young people with their foundational employability skills!  

Working across our Get Started and Explore programmes with the other Foundations YDLs, you’ll lead personal development sessions that take our confidence-building programmes to new heights. The sessions will range from outdoor activities in green spaces to world of work experiences, creative projects, life skills and everything in between!  

You won’t be sitting behind a screen every day, this is an active role which will involve frequent, funded travel between Southampton and Portsmouth to deliver these exciting programmes, as well as programme visits and quarterly 2-night residential trips. You will provide pastoral support and 1:1 employability mentoring for young people, helping them to apply their newly acquired skills to their progression into education or employment.Keeping things on point means meticulously recording info and data about our programme participants, volunteers, and partners.

It's all about making sure every step of their journey aligns perfectly with our funding contracts and has maximum impact for everyone involved.Safety always comes first, so keeping a watchful eye on safeguarding, health and safety, and data protection are of central importance. You’ll empower our delivery partners and service providers to make a difference through exciting and impactful partnership work. Together, we will ensure every young person embarks on a remarkable journey, experiencing the extraordinary and achieving their goals for training, education or employment.

At The Trust, we're strong advocates for fostering an inclusive workplace where everybody feels seen, and it would be fantastic if you share that passion too. Your mission? Making a positive impact by implementing a local action plan that harmonises with our big-picture EDI goals and impacts those that need us most. Be prepared for anything and everything. Alongside all these exciting responsibilities, you will collaborate with the wider South Coast team to work for young people across Southampton and Portsmouth and help them to achieve their goals. 

Ready for this exciting opportunity? Let's make every day count and create a brighter future for our young people!

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an Assessment Centre on  Thursday 6th August in Southampton as the first stage of the interview process.  

(This will open in a new window) 

(This will open in a new window)

What happens next?  

For our Youth Development Lead roles, there's no need to upload a CV or cover letter, as we use a strengths-based approach. Simply complete your profile, including the screening questions. If you pass the initial screening, you'll be invited to complete an online assessment (which must be completed to be considered). We'll then be in touch with the next steps shortly after the closing date. 

Why do we need Youth Development Leads? 

Last year, we helped more than 40,000 Young People, with every three in four moving into a positive outcome for either work, education or training. Youth Development Leads play a crucial role in supporting young people, no matter the young person's background or current circumstances, to fulfil their full potential. We want to continue having a positive impact on young people’s lives, and we couldn’t do this without the important work of Youth Development Leads! 

Perks for working at The Trust! 

• Great holiday package! 30 days annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays. Office closure on the days between Christmas and New Year 
• You can volunteer for and/or attend events – The King's Trust Awards, Pride, active events, etc. 
• In-house learning platform! Develop your skills for your career and your role 
• Benefits platform! Everything from health and financial well-being support to discounts on your favourite restaurants, shops and cinemas. 
• Personal development opportunities through our Networks – KT CAN (Cultural Awareness Network), KT GEN (Gender Equality Network), KT DAWN (Disability & Wellbeing Network), and PULSE (LGBTQIA+ Network). 
• Fantastic Family leave! Receive 13 weeks of full pay and 13 weeks of half pay for maternity and adoption leave. Receive 8 weeks of full pay for paternity leave. 
• Interest-free season ticket loans
• Cycle-to-Work Scheme
• The Trust will contribute 5% of your salary to the Trust Pension Scheme 
• Generous life assurance cover (4 x annual salary) 

For more information about our benefits, please click here . 

Equal Opportunities 

Here at The King's Trust, we're committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. We want to be an organisation that's representative of the communities we serve, which is why we strive for diversity of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, race, religion and sex. Our goal is to create an environment where everyone, from any background, can be themselves and do the best work of their lives. 

We are looking for people who can bring different perspectives and experiences, and especially welcome applications from those who are underrepresented in our organisation and sector, such as candidates from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.  

We’re a Stonewall Diversity Champion, and we are an employer that is Disability Confident. Our staff, volunteers and young people are supported by KT CAN (our Cultural Awareness Network), KT GEN (Gender Equality Network), KT DAWN (Disability & Wellbeing Network) and PULSE (LGBTQIA+ Network). For more information, please click here . 

Safeguarding

The King's Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. As part of this commitment, we undertake basic disclosure checks by the Codes of Practice for all roles within the Trust, and for our roles working directly with young people, at an enhanced level. Having a criminal record will not automatically exclude applicants. 

A NOTE FOR RECRUITMENT AGENCIES :

We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a preferred supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We'll be in touch directly if we need you!