Deadline: 9:00 AM, 2nd November

Senior Programmes Manager

The Sutton Trust is the UK's leading social mobility charity. Our programmes empower young people to access life-changing opportunities, and our research influences national change to deliver a fairer future.

Over the next year, the Trust will celebrate its 30th anniversary, and as part of our strategy, we have ambitious plans to grow our access to the workplace programmes in new and innovative ways. This is a hugely exciting time to join us, and we are looking for a passionate and experienced Senior Employability Programmes Manager to lead our in-house delivery through this period of growth.

The Trust's Employability programmes support talented young people from lower-income backgrounds to successfully access highly competitive universities, degree apprenticeships and professional careers. They are delivered in partnership with the UK's top universities and major employers.

Reporting to the Head of Employability Programmes and Sector Engagement, the successful candidate will oversee the full portfolio of the Trust's in-house delivered employability programmes, including Pathways Online, Access Apprenticeships and Careers Plus. They will also provide strategic oversight of the development of our brand-new Tech and Digital Pathways to the Professions programme, due to launch in September 2027.

They will lead and develop a talented, passionate team, ensuring the continued high-quality delivery and impact of our existing programmes while driving the design and launch of new programmes that will extend our reach to even more young people. Working closely with colleagues across employer engagement, evaluation, development and marketing, they will play a central role in shaping the future of our employability work and our wider industry engagement strategy.

Main duties

This role is designed to lead the development, growth and quality of the Sutton Trust's in-house employability programmes, ensuring young people build the skills, experience and connections they need to progress successfully into higher education and the workplace. The postholder will be part of the employability leadership team and play a key role in delivering our 2030 ambitions.

Programme strategy and impact. Continue to develop and evolve programmes to stay relevant in a changing university and employer landscape and to meet the needs of the young people we support.

Take a leadership role in the ongoing development of our in-house employability programmes, using sector insight, evaluation data and participant experience to shape design, delivery models and entry points, so each young person is on the programme that best supports their individual journey.

Work with the Employer Engagement and alumni team, as well as sector partners, to ensure young people are in the best position to progress successfully into the workplace by connecting participants to employer talent pipelines and tangible routes to employment.

Contribute to the 2030 programmes strategy and grow our suite of in-house programmes and strands including piloting programmes in new sectors and scaling existing programmes

Represent the Trust externally, including at sector events and speaking engagements.

Programme design and delivery: Oversee the design and delivery of the Trust's in-house employability programmes.

Support Programme Managers to design and deliver new and innovative employability programmes, engaging a range of relevant stakeholders.

Oversee delivery of in-house programmes to a high standard and in line with our theory of change, with robust systems, processes and risk management.

Work with senior colleagues to ensure that Sutton Trust centrally provided provision (e.g., Sutton Trust Online) compliments employability programme delivery, enabling a cohesive and impactful journey for the students we support

Identify and implement improvements to quality, consistency and ways of working across programme delivery.

Oversee programme budgets across the team, ensuring resources are used effectively in ways that best serve beneficiaries.

Skills development. Ensure that through the support we provide, our young people develop the skills they need to succeed in the workplace.

Work with senior colleagues in the programmes team to develop the Trust's approach to skills development across programming, with a particular focus on supporting beneficiaries’ successful progression into professional jobs and qualifications

Lead on identifying the skills that matter most in an evolving employer landscape and oversee the development and delivery of skills support across student and alumni groups, initially focused on AI literacy.

Engage beneficiaries, employers and external stakeholders in shaping this support.

Review engagement, impact and feedback from students and employers to continually improve the skills offer for all beneficiaries.

Recruitment and marketing. Ensure our programmes reach the young people who will benefit most, with a consistent experience from application to onboarding

Work with Communications colleagues on marketing plans that reach our target beneficiaries, with a particular focus on regional and hard-to-reach students for our online programmes.

Work with programmes colleagues to ensure application systems and processes are in place and work effectively, taking the lead on this area ahead of and during each employability recruitment cycle.

Quality-assure cohort selection across in-house programmes.

Ensure onboarding and communications are consistent and effective for all participants.

Leadership and team management. Lead a team and contribute to the leadership of the wider Employability team.

Line manage two Programme Managers and support them in managing and developing their own teams.

Build a high-performing, supportive team culture based on collaboration and shared learning.

Work with the Head of Employability Programmes and senior colleagues to ensure all employability programmes are coherent and well managed.

Act as the central point of contact across internal teams, including University Access, Employer Engagement, Development, STO and Alumni.

Safeguarding. Act as a Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO) for the Programmes team.

Take a leading role in ensuring effective safeguarding systems and processes are in place, and in promoting a positive safeguarding culture.

Work with the wider group of DSOs to manage internal and external safeguarding concerns in line with Sutton Trust policy.

Evaluation, impact and reporting. Ensure we understand, evidence and communicate the difference our programmes make.

Work with the Impact team to strengthen the evaluation framework and long-term tracking for employability programmes, with a particular focus on apprenticeship outcomes.

Ensure timely collection, analysis and sharing of process and impact data across the Trust.

Support reporting to funders and external communications on programme impact

Other duties as necessary from time to time

Person Specification

We welcome applications from individuals who have experience in:

Budget management

Strong programme and event management and/or delivery experience (preferably for an audience of young people)

Line management experience (preferably of managers)

Can produce effective, engaging and concise written and verbal communication

Is proficient in using technology, for example CRM software

Has strong organisational skills including the ability to multi-task and prioritise

Competencies:

Uses data to drive decisions and improvements

Has a high degree of initiative, the ability to solve problems and take advantage of new opportunities

Can convene and facilitate strategic and creative working groups and teams

Is a strong negotiator with the ability to influence and manage expectations

Is consistent, taking responsibility for specific areas of work, with strong attention to detail

Is a proactive and strategic planner

We are also looking for an individual who:

Is personable, supportive and can bring the best out of others

Is sympathetic to the aims of the Trust and its mission to address educational disadvantage;

Has excellent attention to detail;

High degree of initiative and the ability to take responsibility

Personable, flexible and discreet; able to fit into a small team

Is eligible to work in the UK (see here for information about right to work)

Terms of Appointment

Contract: Full-Time, Permanent
Salary: £49,000 - 50,000 per annum
Working location: Minimum of two office days per week. Our home working policy gives staff the option to work from home for up to 60% of the time, with approval from their line manager.
Office location: The Sutton Trust, 9th Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP.
Hours: The standard working hours are 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. This role is likely to also be required to attend events/meetings outside of normal working hours during weekday evenings and occasionally at weekends, in line with organisational policies.
A DBS check may be required

Scroll down to find out about our staff benefits!

Please note that your application should be submitted in one go - you can view the questions by clicking on the link if you would like to prepare in advance.

Please also note our guidance here about using AI when applying to jobs at the Sutton Trust.

Interviews

Applications should reach us by Monday 9th November, with first round interviews held over Zoom on 16th November, and second round interviews held at our London offices on 24th November.

Safeguarding statement

The Sutton Trust believes that a child, young person or vulnerable adult should never experience abuse of any kind. We all have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people and to keep them safe. Therefore, all posts undergo a safer recruitment process, including but not limited to disclosure of criminal records where necessary and eligibility to work in the UK. We have procedures in place to promote safeguarding and a safe culture at the Trust.

Contextual recruitment

The Trust is committed to ensuring equality of opportunity and that all applicants receive equal consideration for employment. We strongly encourage individuals from all backgrounds, including those underrepresented at present at the Trust, to apply for this role. As such we particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ and from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds. We are committed to being an inclusive and welcoming place to work and know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for the young people we support.

We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments for disabled candidates throughout our recruitment process and during employment.

We also operate contextual recruitment at the Sutton Trust. Our application process gives you the option to include information about your background, such as whether you were eligible for free school meals, whether your parents went to university, or whether you attended a state school. For more examples and information on contextual recruitment, please see our website.

Senior Programmes Manager

Deadline: 9:00 AM, 2nd November