Project Worker in Newtownabbey

Contract type: Permanent (Fixed term funded post) - End date: 30/06/2028

Hours: 37

Closing Date: 16 February 2026 / Interview Date: 26/2/2026

Do you have experience undertaking youth work provision or participation work with young people and young adults? Are you looking for a healthier balance, with more daytime hours and only occasional evening/weekend work? Are you looking for a new challenge and want to be a part of developing an exciting new service?

Barnardo's is seeking to recruit two Project Workers who will support the delivery of the Ubuntu Project across NI. The post holder will support work across all 3 strands of Ubuntu; however, a particular focus will be on leading The Youth Voice Network focusing on youth and participation work.

Some Practicalities:

• This role involves delivering direct work across Northern Ireland, and we are flexible about where you are based.
• While there are occasional evening and weekend commitments, these are scheduled in advance and balanced with opportunities for occasional home working.
• At its busiest, the role may involve around one Saturday and up to three evenings per month, along with no more than two short residentials a year.

More about The Ubuntu Project:

Ubuntu, roughly translating to 'I am because we are', is an exciting new project funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and delivered by Barnardo's. The Ubuntu Project is focused on supporting communities and connecting voluntary and statutory organisations working directly with children, young people and families who have arrived into NI seeking sanctuary. This includes those who have arrived as refugees and those who make a claim for asylum after they arrive.

The project has 3 strands: Ubuntu Youth Voice Network, Ubuntu Practitioners Network, and the Community Development Strand. We offer a Youth Voice Network for young people aged 12+ who have arrived seeking sanctuary. The focus of this youth provision is to amplify young people's voices using a rights-based, participatory approach that empowers them to influence policy and lead change.

Our Community Development work can support Community Groups and Statutory Organisations to meet the needs of those seeking sanctuary by providing training, facilitating parenting programmes, programme development, and sharing practical resources that promote integration, wellbeing, and shared learning. Alongside this, the Ubuntu Practitioners Network connects agencies regionally to share intelligence, improve systems, and advocate collectively for better outcomes.

Together, these three strands create a unified model that champions belonging, builds capacity, and drives meaningful, sustainable change to improve the lives and outcomes for children, young people, and their families seeking sanctuary.

Other Information to Note:

We are committed to welcoming people from a diverse background, culture, and experience to Barnardo's. When completing your application form, please refer to the skills, knowledge, and experience required as detailed in the Person Specification and the Essential Criteria included in this Additional Information Sheet; your application will be assessed based on your ability to meet these criteria.

Although this contract has a permanent status, please be aware that this post is subject to funding currently to 30th June 2028 and therefore should this funding not be extended further, you may be subject to a redundancy consultation or a TUPE arrangement.

This contract is due to expire on 30th June 2028. Barnardo's will be holding a waiting list of appointable people, where you may be offered similar jobs of the same grade should they come up within 12 months post-interview.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

Pay & Reward Framework:

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work, and creativity of our people. For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive, and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023.

This is a positive change for the charity and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive, and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band; this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.

Benefits:

Workplace Offer: What it means for you:

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility, and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs, or depending on the role any combination of these.

Barnardo's believes in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.

• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum after 5 years Barnardo's service, and 30 days per annum after 7 years Barnardo's service.
• Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata.
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme.
• A host of family-friendly leave options including company Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options.
• Service related sick pay from day 1.
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's.
• Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution.
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension.
• Cycle2work scheme.
• Interest-free season ticket loans.
• Discounts and cashback from high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays, and much more via our Benefit Portal.
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores.
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc.
• Free access to round-the-clock employee assistance program for advice and support.
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer.

About Barnardo's:

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity, and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do.

We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.