Change Lead for Children's Services

We have solid plans to build the evidence of what works within and aroundchildren's services to reduce violence, with work to develop new Practice and, Systems Guidance due to begin imminently. During this time, you will have threemain areas of focus:1. Maximising the potential impact of new Guidance. You will do this through:

• Using your deep understanding of the sector to ensure the Practice
Guidance is credible, useful and actionable to support senior leaders to better keep children safe from violence.
• Supporting the Head of Change to build and manage the Strategic
Advisory Group which brings together experienced senior leaders across children's services to identify the best system reform opportunities to better keep children safe from violence. You can read about our first Strategic Advisory Group here .2. Leading the effort to build demand and interest in evidence across the Children's Services sector, including running events, speaking at conferences and curating webinars to bring evidence to life for practitioners.3. Overseeing our partnerships with Foundations and the Durham University Contextual Safeguarding Team, ensuring we achieve our shared aims to promote and increase evidence-base practice across the sector.Following the publication of the Practice and Systems Guidance, you will work outthe best way to get system leaders and delivery organisations to adopt therecommendations and support us in making the changes happen. This willinvolve:
• Developing, managing and tracking the change plan to get more senior
leaders to be aware of and use our Guidance, tools and resources, continuously looking for data-driven improvements.
• Creating practical tools and resources that help leaders put evidence into
action.
• Supporting the scoping and commissioning of behavioural insights research
to support effective evidence mobilisation plans and strategies.As a senior member of staff in the organisation you also:
• Build a culture where it is natural to perform well and support colleagues
brilliantly.

You are this sort of person:
• You are fascinated about change and are experienced in making it happen.
You have outstanding analytical judgment alongside the emotional intelligence and experience needed to identify the right opportunities for change, then make them happen. You understand why people find change difficult. You come alive talking about how people make decisions and why they do the things they do.
• You understand the Children Services sector. You really understand how
children's services work, from Directors of Social care to frontline social workers. You have experience working in/with children's services , ideally in a role that worked with young people who are vulnerable to or involved in violence. You might have previous experience of supporting a local authority to reflect on and adopt evidence-based practice.
• You write in a way that people easily understand. You have that rare skill of
writing in plain English. You have experience of translating complex information into plain writing that everyone can understand.
• You have excellent project and time management skills and the ability to
deliver high-quality work in a fast-paced environment. You can work independently and to a high standard.
• You win people over. People tend to warm to you and respect you. You have
built good relationships with very senior people and with very junior people. You are good at chairing meetings, connecting people and having good introductory meetings. You are comfortable talking to a government minister, a youth worker, a company CEO, a teacher and a 15-year-old student. Listening to people from all backgrounds matters to you.
• You are an excellent strategic thinker. People say that you are good at
seeing the big picture. You have experience of wrestling into place a strategy for a project or organisation. You are good at thinking logically but you are 3 also creative. You have ideas but are happy rejecting a lot of them. You like seeing things from different points of view.
• You learn fast but remain humble. You are very quick at getting your head
around things. You like learning. You are very good at synthesising information. You know how much you don't know. You know that you can learn more. You know that it's easy to assume you know when you don't. You care more that good things happen than who gets the credit. You are a great and supportive team player.
• You don't want your days to pass without making a difference. You want to
play a significant part in reducing violence.
• You understand young people. You understand what the lives of vulnerable
young people can be like and you understand some of the organisations that work with them, ideally through first-hand experience.
• You are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion.
You must have this sort of experience - Changing frontline practice and systems: You have significant experience in leading behaviour, practice or policy changes within a children's services setting. You can show how these have been effective in delivering tangible change. - Working in or around the children's services sector , preferably in a role/setting specifically working with young people who are vulnerable to or involved in violence.You might have this sort of experience: - Crafting and delivering a strategy to get a new piece of evidence or guidance adopted within a children's services setting. - Behaviour change research experience.While it is not a criteria, we are especially interested to hear from applicants whohave lived experience of violence.

Reports to: Head of Change for Children's Services and NeighbourhoodsSalary: £53,000 - £65,000 per annum, depending on experienceLocation: Central London or Hybrid
• (see below)
Contract: (2-year fixed term - potential to extend)Closing date for applications: 9:00am Monday 20th January 2025Interview dates: week commencing 27th January and 3rd FebruaryThe wide salary range reflects our flexibility to tailor the role to the rightcandidate's experience, with the exact responsibilities and leadership leveldecided during the interview process.About the Youth Endowment FundWe're here to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence.We do this by finding out what works and building a movement to put thisknowledge into practice.In recent years violent crime has risen significantly. Homicides, assaults, robberiesand offences involving weapons have all seen sustained growth. We have alsoseen large increases in violent crime involving children and young people. This isa tragedy. Every child captured in these numbers is an important member of ourcommunity and society has a duty to protect them.The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) is a charity with a £200m endowment and amission that matters. We exist to prevent children becoming involved in violence.Our mission is to find what works and build a movement to put it into practice. Abig part of the movement that we need to build is in the world of Children'sServices. We need to inspire and connect with social workers across England andWales to spread what works and make our country safer for some of our mostvulnerable children. We are looking for someone to lead on making this happen., As part of our commitment to flexible working we will consider a range of optionsfor the successful applicant. All options can be discussed at the interview stage.Interview processInterviews will take place the week of 27th January and 3rd February.All appointments will be made on merit, following a fair and transparent process.In line with the Equality Act 2010, however, the organisation may employ positiveaction where candidates from underrepresented groups can demonstrate theirability to perform the role equally well.Benefits include
• £1,000 professional development budget annually
• 28 days holiday plus Bank Holidays
• Four half days for volunteering activities
• Employee Assistance Programme - 24hr phone line for free confidential
support
• Volunteering days - 4 half days per year
• Death in service - 4 times annual salary
• Flexible hours. Core office hours 10am - 4pm
• Financial support including travel and hardship loans
Your dataYour personal data will be shared for the purposes of the recruitment exercise.This includes our HR team, interviewers (who may include other partners in the 5