Team Leader

Team Leader

Location: Midlands (Covering Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, South Midlands, Leicester and Rutland)

Salary: £40,000 per annum

Contract: Permanent

The Role
Are you an experienced team leader, supervisor or coach with a background in employability, youth employment, welfare-to-work, customer service or another performance-led environment?

We’re looking for a Team Leader to lead, motivate and support a team of Mentors and Activity Co-ordinators, helping young people aged 18–24 overcome barriers, move into employment and sustain their careers.

This is a hands-on leadership role where you’ll be responsible for day-to-day team performance, quality of delivery and participant progression, while working closely with employers, Jobcentre Plus, local partners and internal teams.

You’ll support and manage a team of Mentors and Activity Co-ordinators, ensuring they deliver a consistent, high-quality participant journey from engagement through to job start and sustained employment.

You’ll monitor performance, coach your team, identify risks and address underperformance, while creating a positive and accountable team culture focused on achieving excellent participant outcomes.

Key responsibilities

• Leading, motivating and supporting Mentors and Activity Co-ordinators to deliver high-quality employment support.
• Monitoring individual and team performance against contractual targets, including engagement, job outcomes and sustainment.
• Reviewing caseloads to ensure participants are progressing effectively towards employment.
• Ensuring Mentors deliver effective action planning, regular participant contact, barrier removal, employer engagement and in-work support.
• Using management information and performance data to identify risks, improve delivery and address underperformance.
• Conducting regular one-to-ones, staff reviews, observations and coaching sessions.
• Providing constructive feedback and supporting colleagues to improve performance and quality.
• Supporting the recruitment, onboarding and induction of new team members.
• Building effective relationships with Jobcentre Plus, employers, training providers, local stakeholders and support agencies.
• Supporting the development of referral routes and employment opportunities for young people.
• Ensuring accurate case management, record keeping and compliance with contractual and audit requirements.
• Maintaining knowledge of local labour markets, youth employment opportunities, benefits and wider support services.
• Promoting a positive, inclusive and performance-focused team culture.
• Ensuring delivery meets safeguarding, data protection, health and safety, equality, quality and compliance requirements.

Skills and Experience

• Experience leading, supervising or coaching colleagues within **employability, youth employment, welfare-to-work, customer service or another target-driven environment**.
• Experience managing performance against targets and holding colleagues accountable for results.
• An understanding of caseload management, participant engagement, action planning, job outcomes and sustainable employment.
• Experience providing coaching, feedback, observations, one-to-ones or structured performance reviews.
• The ability to use management information and performance data to identify priorities and improve delivery.
• Strong relationship-building skills, with the confidence to work with employers, Jobcentre Plus, training providers and local stakeholders.
• Knowledge of local labour markets, youth employment challenges, employment support and barriers faced by young people would be advantageous.
• Excellent communication, influencing and interpersonal skills.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage competing priorities.
• Good IT and administration skills, including Microsoft Office, case management systems and digital communication tools.
• A genuine passion for helping young people move into sustainable employment.
• A positive, supportive and accountable approach to team leadership.
• Ability and willingness to work from an assigned office location, working flexibly across sites, with willingness to travel locally to support delivery, stakeholders, employers and team activity.