Employability & Skills Team Leader

Job Category: Education/Training/Instruction

You will lead a team of Employment Advisors helping people overcome barriers and move into sustainable employment.

This is hands-on operational management with clear accountability for people, performance, quality and compliance. You will coach your team, use data to understand what is working, address underperformance and keep delivery focused on employment outcomes. You will work within a secure custodial environment, where prison regimes, security procedures and operational changes are part of the working reality.

Before you apply: the essentials

• Experience leading or managing a team in a target-driven environment, with evidence of measurable team results.
• Evidence of managing individual and team performance, including coaching, setting expectations and addressing underperformance.
• Confidence interpreting performance data, KPIs or management information and turning it into practical action.
• Experience working within employability, skills or another regulated, or public funded service.
• Evidence of balancing participant needs with performance, quality and commercial priorities.
• Evidence of commitment, reliability and consistently delivering high standards of work.
• Evidence of delivering outcomes, targets, tasks, projects or agreed objectives.
• Ability to explain recent employment history clearly, including gaps or short-term roles during the previous five years.
• Confident working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, CRM or similar systems, with ability to learn other digital systems.

Your CV should show your management impact, not simply list management duties. Tell us about the team you led, targets or KPIs you owned, performance issues you addressed and the measurable results you achieved.

Useful, but not essential

• Previous leadership experience within employability or skills.
• An Information, Advice and Guidance Level 3 qualification or equivalent.
• Experience working within a custodial or similarly secure environment.

The real job

Your Employment Advisors support people who may face significant barriers to work through vocational profiling, action planning, CV and application support, job searching and interview preparation.

Your job is to make sure that work produces results.

You will set expectations, monitor individual and team performance, hold regular coaching and performance conversations and intervene when delivery moves off track. When somebody is struggling, you will understand why, support improvement and hold them accountable for agreed actions.

You will use performance data to identify trends, risks and opportunities rather than waiting for problems to become established.

You will also oversee the quality of participant support, accurate records, data integrity, safeguarding and contractual compliance. You will work with employers, partners, training providers and other stakeholders and contribute to continuous improvement across the service.

What success looks like

Your team understands its targets and takes ownership of achieving them. Advisors receive useful coaching, strong performance is recognised and underperformance is addressed.

Participant support is purposeful and leads towards employment outcomes. Records are accurate, compliance standards are maintained and performance information leads to action.

You create a culture where people can ask for support while understanding that accountability and high standards remain part of the job.

The working reality

This is not a passive management role. You will balance people leadership with contractual KPIs, employment outcomes, quality, compliance, safeguarding and day-to-day operational pressures.

The role is delivered within a secure custodial environment. You will comply fully with prison security procedures and adapt when the prison regime affects planned activity or access.

There will be difficult conversations. Targets can be missed, priorities can compete and people can underperform. You need the judgement to know when to coach, when to challenge and when firmer performance management is required.

What you get

• 25 days' annual leave, increasing with service.
• Vitality health and wellbeing support, including GP services, mental health support and physiotherapy.
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, including up to six counselling sessions a year and legal, financial and debt guidance.
• Workplace pension, with salary sacrifice available subject to eligibility and scheme rules.
• Up to £360 a year through IncentFit for eligible activities.
• Wellbeing, retail, fitness, travel and mobile discounts, including 20% off eligible EE mobile plans.

About Get Set UK

Get Set UK delivers employment, skills, apprenticeships, health and justice services, helping people overcome barriers and progress towards meaningful, sustainable employment. We are part of Palladium, a global impact organisation with more than 60 years' experience delivering programmes and solutions internationally.

Our values are Be Ambitious, Be Proud, Be Considerate, Be Inspiring and Own It, and they shape how we work with colleagues, participants and partners.

Eligibility and checks

You must have the full right to work in the UK. Sponsorship is not available for this role.

Employment is subject to satisfactory references, right-to-work and safeguarding checks, a DBS check at the appropriate level where required for the role.

Get Set UK is a Disability Confident and Equal Opportunity Employer. Reasonable adjustments are available throughout recruitment.

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