Head On - Project Lead

YoungMinds and its coalition partners are delivering a Wellcome Trust-funded program designed to support young people aged 18–25 to take part in a meaningful, skills-based journey into mental health advocacy and influencing.

Part of the Head On campaign, the program responds to the urgent need to build stronger public and political pressure for improved mental health provision, by supporting young people most affected by current narratives to engage confidently with decision-makers and wider audiences.

The program will bring young people together to co ‑ produce and shape a youth advocacy pathway, followed by a structured training offer and opportunities to apply their learning in practice.

Participants will explore and use a range of public engagement approaches—including media, creative campaigning and direct engagement with MPs—to design and deliver advocacy activity at constituency and national level. Through a blend of co ‑ production sessions, training workshops and real-world activity, young people will develop the skills, confidence and connections needed to influence change.

Key information

Position Project Lead

Contract Part time - 17.5 hours per week (0.5 FTE)

We are currently working with a hybrid working model, where there is the option of working from home combined with 4-12 days a month of working in the office.

About this role

Key responsibilities and duties:

Programme leadership and delivery

• Lead the end-to-end coordination, planning and delivery of the programme, ensuring all phases are delivered to a high standard and aligned to agreed timelines and outcomes.
• Develop and maintain robust programme plans, including milestones, delivery frameworks, risk management and progress tracking.
• Ensure effective integration across programme phases, supporting a coherent and inclusive participant journey from co‑production through to real-world advocacy.
• Monitor delivery against agreed outputs and outcomes, identifying risks and taking proactive action to ensure the programme remains on track.
• Ensure delivery is responsive to feedback, learning and emerging opportunities, supporting continuous improvement across the programme lifecycle.

Partner and stakeholder coordination

• Lead the coordination of workstream partners, ensuring clarity of roles, responsibilities, timelines and deliverables.
• Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with internal teams (including Policy and Public Affairs, Campaigns, Media/Comms and Safeguarding), ensuring alignment with organisational priorities and influencing opportunities.
• Provide clear and consistent internal communications, ensuring visibility of progress, risks and opportunities across the organisation.
• Work collaboratively with delivery staff (including the Senior Youth Participation Officer), providing direction, oversight and support to enable high-quality activity delivery.

Funder management and accountability

• Hold overall responsibility for ensuring the programme meets funder deliverables and reporting requirements, maintaining a high standard of quality and accuracy.
• Act as the primary point of contact for the funder, representing YoungMinds at workstream meetings and other external forums.
• Lead the development of funder reports, updates and insight outputs, working closely with relevant internal teams.
• Support financial oversight of the programme in partnership with the Head of team, ensuring delivery aligns with budget parameters and agreed spend.

Influencing and advocacy delivery

• Provide strategic oversight of a suite of youth-led influencing activities, ensuring they are impactful, coordinated and aligned with programme and organisational objectives.
• Support the design and delivery of campaigns, public affairs activity, events and creative advocacy approaches, working closely with specialist teams.
• Ensure strong alignment between young people’s priorities and external influencing opportunities, including engagement with MPs and national-level advocacy.
• Maximise opportunities for reach, engagement and impact, working collaboratively with Campaigns, PPA and Media/Communications colleagues.

Programme development and quality

• Maintain oversight of programme design and content, ensuring it reflects best practice in programme development and youth participation.
• Ensure the programme equips young people with the skills, knowledge and confidence to engage in meaningful advocacy and influencing.
• Embed learning from co‑production, delivery and evaluation into ongoing programme development.
• Support the development of tools, resources and approaches that enable sustainable and scalable delivery.

Leadership and project management

• Operate effectively within a matrix management structure, providing leadership and coordination across teams without direct line management authority where required.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability and continuous learning, supporting teams and partners to work effectively together.
• Use data, insight and feedback to inform decision‑making, prioritisation and delivery approaches.
• Support effective cross‑organisational working, helping to connect programme delivery to wider organisational strategy and impact.

About you

Candidates will be shortlisted on the basis of meeting the following criteria to a satisfactory level:

• Relevant professional experience in project management, programme delivery, public affairs, campaigns or related field
• Experience of leading complex projects or programmes from design through to delivery, including planning, prioritising, managing competing demands, and delivering to deadlines
• Experience of coordinating work across multiple stakeholders, including internal teams, senior colleagues, partners and/or external organisations
• Experience of delivering influencing, campaigning, advocacy, public engagement, policy or media-related activity.
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to organise work, manage competing priorities and maintain momentum across multiple workstreams.
• Ability to manage complexity and adapt delivery in response to changing priorities, risks, opportunities or stakeholder needs

We welcome applications from Black and Minoritised, LGBTQ+ groups and those with disabilities, as they are currently under‑represented.

YoungMinds is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and we therefore expect all staff and volunteers to do the same. We ask all staff to undertake safeguarding training when they join us.

One of our values is: “We celebrate what makes you you – whoever you are, we welcome you and encourage you to be true to yourself”.

If you are excited about helping us to achieve our mission, passionate about working at an organisation that puts the lived experience of young people at the heart of everything we do and want to be part of our drive to become a truly anti‑racist organisation we want to hear from you.

Deadline for applications is 8 November 2026.

Interviews will be held via Teams week commencing 23 November 2026.

You’ll be part of a passionate, hardworking team that cares about the work they do and you’ll be part of making a real difference to the lives of children and young people. In addition to becoming part of the YoungMinds team, you’ll get:

• three days additional leave over Christmas and New Year
• auto-enrolment onto pension scheme where YoungMinds will match your contribution up to five per cent
• statutory benefits such as parental leave and sick pay
• a wide range of other health, wellbeing and lifestyle benefits
• a dedication to continued professional development, training and shared best practice

Our vision

We want to see a world where every young person who is struggling feels able to reach out, and has people and services around them who can really help.

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