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.

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.
• 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.

Please visit our website for the full Job advert with the 'About You' information. 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 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. 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

• 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)
• 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)
• 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

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.