Head of Impact, Learning & Policy - Spark!

Salary: £41,250 to £44,500 per annum

Location: Hybrid – London, UK

Contract: Full Time, Permanent

Applications close: 9am, Monday 17th February 2025

Spark! are a growing and ambitious organisation, with a motivated and passionate team who are more determined than ever to reach our target young people and to have a deeper impact on their employment prospects and life chances. A key element of our success will be in our ability to:

understand and articulate the needs that we are seeking to meet
effectively demonstrate and communicate our impact
ensure we are evidence and data-led in our approach
influence change at every level across all stakeholders

The Head of Impact, Learning and Policy role will lead and steer the organisation towards these objectives, in order to significantly reduce youth unemployment in west London and beyond. If you have experience of designing and carrying out both formative and summative evaluation and are highly research literate, with experience of working at the interface of policy and research, then we would like to hear from you.

About the role

We are growing and are seeking to significantly strengthen our organisation and our work, through effective impact data collection and management, and the embedding of an evidence-led approach to inform and enhance our services and influence.

We know that to enable real change for young people we need to take a systemic approach, engaging and influencing cross-sector stakeholders, local Government, employers, schools and voluntary sector partners.

The holder of this position will need to confidently take charge of these priorities, building internal and external relationships, and developing the systems we need to excel and effect long-term change.

You will lead on 4 core areas of work:

1. Understand and articulate the needs and service gaps that we are seeking to meet

You will become extremely well-informed on the challenges and opportunities related to youth employment and all elements of the youth employment and youth careers eco-system at a local and national level.
You will build and cultivate the relationships needed to ensure Spark! is central to the conversation and solutions, at a local and national level, to reduce youth unemployment and effect systemic change.

2. Effectively demonstrate and communicate our impact

You will develop and enhance our existing systems to ensure we are collecting and analysing the qualitative and quantitative data we need to better understand our impact and value.
You will work with colleagues to ensure we are effectively reporting and communicating on our impact and learning to funders, partners and our wider community of stakeholders.

3. Ensure we are evidence and data-led in our approach

You will work with the delivery team to ensure our services are informed by an evidence base, enhancing provisions to increase our impact.
You will utilise the growing evidence base for our work to generate and cultivate new relationships and opportunities, in order to grow our reach and our impact.

4. Influence change

You will work closely with colleagues to influence change across all stakeholders, including Central Government, Local Councils, employers, schools/colleges and voluntary sector partners.
You will represent the organisation, our work and evidence, at a range of external meeting and events.
You will work with our partners to establish and garner support for a ‘Youth Employment Roadmap’, developing cross-sector and collective approaches to address the youth employment challenges in west London and beyond.

In addition to the above, you will:

Be a member of the ‘Strategic Oversight Team’, meeting quarterly to review our delivery against our strategic priorities and to establish and implement priorities for the next quarter.
Support the development of your own practice and expertise by taking part in personal and professional development opportunities as required and provided by Spark!.
Adhere to Spark!’s code of conduct and safeguarding policies, and all other policies which relate to our practice.

Please download the full Recruitment Pack here or below for full details, including the Person Specification.

We particularly welcome applicants with backgrounds that reflect the diversity of the communities we serve and from candidates with links to our priority areas of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow.

Our CEO, Matt Lent, would be happy to respond to any questions you might have about Spark! and the role, please feel free to e-mail mattlent@sparkcharity.org.uk.