Programme Lead - EY Foundation - UK in London

Role Profile: Programme Lead

Date:  January 2023
Role template: Technical Lead

Introduction to EY Foundation

The EY Foundation is a charity and a company, limited by guarantee, established in 2014. We were founded by EY, the professional services firm, which continues to provide funding and donations to the charity under a multi-annual funding agreement.  We are governed by a board of trustees, who are supported by a number of committees and leadership and management teams. 

The EY Foundation helps young people, disadvantaged in the labour market, to fulfil their work potential. We are unique in our position as the link between employers and young people, having strong relationships with both. 
Our work involves designing, developing and running our own services: Smart Futures, Our Future, Your Future, Beyond Your Limits and Accelerate, as well as raising independent funds to support new initiatives and reach more young people across the UK. We work with organisations from across all sectors, including commercial, not-for-profit, education and government.

As an independent charity we have to diversify and raise our own income through traditional fundraising, grants and, increasingly, through the development of our work with corporate partners.
 

Our roles

Within the Foundation we adopt flexible roles that reflect the dynamic nature of our charity and enable our people to learn, develop and grow their skills and open up career opportunities. This is part of our investment in you.

This role profile provides an outline of what will be involved in your role rather than an exhaustive list of duties. Both you and this role will naturally evolve.
 

Our values

In your role you will be expected to demonstrate or develop leadership competences based on the Foundation’s four key values. They are:

• Growth mindset – increase our impact on more young people through dedication, innovation and hard work 
• Empower people – everyone is given the opportunity to develop and to succeed
• Courage – use new learning and diversity of thought to challenge the status quo, embracing lessons learned even if a project misses its targets
• Collaboration – build relationships – internally and externally – to share ideas, embed an inclusive approach, and achieve bigger outcomes.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion

The scale of the challenge to tackle racial inequality is huge but we are passionate in our determination to secure change – both for our organisation and the young people we serve. 

With over 80% of the young people we work with from Black, Asian or ethnic minority communities, our team and Board need to reflect the young people we support. 

In 2019, we made diversity and inclusion a strategic priority, with a focus on race and in 2020 we published eleven race commitments. This included 50% of our team and leadership team coming from the Black, Asian or ethnic minority communities by 2025. Specifically, it is our objective that 30% of our team and leadership team will come from the Black community. You can find out more here.
 

Your role as Technical Lead

Whatever your specific responsibilities and specialisms, as a Technical Lead you will be customer and delivery-focused, structured and organised in your approach to your work. You will be adept and creative in resource management and an expert in your specialist field. You will be a clear, proactive communicator and highly engaged and mutually collaborative in your work and that of your colleagues. You will take personal ownership of your work and will be proactive in your own development.

Your role as Programme Lead

Programme planning and delivery 

• Deliver exceptional programmes for young people across our delivery hubs (be willing to travel to Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham or London as required) in line with EY Foundation business plan and strategic targets 
• Collaborate with the business development team to identify potential employers, locally and nationally, to target for EY Foundation’s programmes
• Lead on all aspects of programme management including:
  • recruiting, on-boarding and training young people, employers and volunteers involved in the programme
  • developing and consistently delivering programme content and curriculum in line with accreditation requirements
  • create digital content required for the website and any other marketing and communications relating to the programme / hub
  • co-ordinating programme logistics including room bookings and catering requirements
  • reviewing, producing and updating programme materials
  • maintaining risk and issues log to ensure programmes are delivered to consistently high standards in line with EY Foundation policy and procedures, and Theory of Change
  • adhere to and promote EY Foundation Child Protection Policy 
  • provide regular progress reports to the Hub Leader, UK Programmes Operations Manager and Head of Programmes and Regions where necessary
• Potentially be a designated Safeguarding Officer for the EY Foundation
• Identify ways to improve working methods and encourage best practice and knowledge sharing across the team
• Represent the Foundation at events (internal/external and includes evening/breakfast events)

Stakeholder management

• Initiate, develop and maintain positive relationships with key young people providers, local schools and colleges, employers, corporate partners and key EY stakeholders 
• Ensure exceptional client service throughout the lifecycle of the programme
• Lead strong working relationships with programme sponsors, office managing partners and other key stakeholders within the hub
• Work closely with the Programme Leads and Hub Leaders across the country to ensure consistently high standards across all operating locations in the UK
• Lead day to day accounts with employers engaged on programmes/activities funded by grant makers/business partners
• Build strong collaborative relationships with members of the EY Foundation team to ensure programmes develops appropriately within the wider EY Foundation programme portfolio
• Coordinate with the communications team to ensure timely and consistent flow of information across internal and external communications 

Curriculum and content 

• Support the development of programme content and curriculum across the UK against programme accreditation requirements
• Support the EYF Employment Coach(es) through supporting young people on a 1 to 1 basis as part of our Beyond Your Limits and Your Future programme

Alumni management

• Maintain ongoing engagement of local alumni through regular communications and management/coordination of events

Monitoring and evaluation

• Evaluate the impact of programmes in line with the Theory of Change and make recommendations for continuous improvement
• Collect and analyse data and feedback from the young people, volunteers and employers partaking in the programmes

Staff management

• The postholder may manage secondees or other members of the team where relevant. 
• The individual may also be required to lead multiple small teams of c.10 volunteers (from EY and other employers) to deliver programmes and employability workshops
• Work collaboratively to support EY Foundation’s leadership team in all work areas as required
• The role holder must also support EY Foundation Hub Leaders in their respective locations across the UK

Your experience and knowledge

What you will bring to the Foundation is your demonstrable experience and knowledge in the following areas:

• Working in a delivery-focused organisation
• Demonstrable knowledge of issues and opportunities facing young people from disadvantaged backgrounds getting into work
• Strong commitment to diversity and improving the working lives and prospects of disadvantaged young people in the UK
• Experience of working with corporate clients and delivering professional services
• Experience in running complex projects with diverse stakeholder involvement
• Demonstrable ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment with competing priorities 
• Excellent project management experience, including managing people and resources
• Experience of managing diverse teams, including third party relationships and staff volunteers
• Delivering against a portfolio of projects/tasks effectively
• Ability to foster positive relationships with a range of people 
• Delivering excellent customer service, to internal or external customers or service users
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English
• An ability to absorb a wide range of information and communicate succinctly and effectively
• Collaboration and flexibility in your team working, whilst also being able to work with minimum supervision
• Team player with a confident manner. Professional, flexible, positive, calm and resilient approach 
• Strong influencing skills and ability to establish effective relationships and local networks
• Highly organised individual, who plays close attention to detail, accuracy and quality

Desirable

• Experience of working with or in third sector organisations that support enterprise and/or young people
• Experience of some of the challenges facing UK employers to find young talent for their business, to help them achieve their business goals and wider interest employers have to support youth employment initiatives

Your competence

You will be able to demonstrate the competences expected of the EY Foundation management job family. Where you need more time to fully develop those competences we will support you in so doing. 

For details of the required competences see our annexed competency framework.

EY Foundation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Offers will be subject to an Enhanced DBS check via the Disclosure and Barring Service.