Job Title: Online Engagement and Inclusion Lead (Young People’s Services)
Organisation: Kids
Location: Remote work with occasional travel to London for in-person meeting
Hours: 36 hours per week
Contract: Fixed term for 2 years
Salary- £31,000 - £33,000
Purpose
This role leads the coordination of Kids’ online engagement and digital inclusion work for young people with SEND, including information provision, participation, and wellbeing support. You will deliver a two-year Online Wellbeing and Resilience Support Programme, including identifying and engaging digitally excluded young people to help them access vital digital tools and services. The role also drives collaboration across the Digital Services Consortium (a collaboration of 12 children’s charities), embedding shared learning, outcome measurement, and inclusive digital practices across Kids, and will create new capacity to work with young people to scope and deploy online campaigning activity.
Responsibilities
- To lead and coordinate Kids’ online engagement and inclusion work for young people with SEND. This includes Kids’ online information provision; voice/ participation and wellbeing work.
- To develop and deliver Kids’ two-year digital inclusion programme, Online Wellbeing and Resilience Support Programme* to ensure reach and impact is maximised.
- To work with the Digital Services Consortium Driving Digital Inclusion members on shared digital project outcome measures and community of practice, ensuring learnings and online engagement and digital inclusion principles are captured, shared and built into the organisation.
- To identify and recruit (working closely with colleagues from services across Kids) digitally excluded young people to the digital inclusion programme so they can become digitally included and access much needed support and guidance.
- To establish a holistic and joined up approach to Young People’s online engagement and digital inclusion with Kids.
- To create new capacity to work across all services and teams, and with a range of young people, to scope and deploy online campaigning capabilities in line with Kids’ Speak Up and wider national and local influencing work.
Key to your success in the role will be:
- Ensuring an audience-led approach, leading and championing an important collaborative way of working across Kids existing young people's services.
- Confidently working within the Kids digital infrastructure and context – understanding where we are at on our digital journey, building excellent problem-solving relationships with marketing, IT, change team and young people’s services colleagues.
- Helping to embed digital inclusion practices across the organisation.
- Applying strong digital, data and analytical skills to enable you to baseline, track and measure progress.
- Demonstrating excellent attention to detail whilst being flexible to adapt to the needs of a new programme.
- Influencing the broader Kids service teams to identify and engage digitally excluded young people.
- Centering the voices and needs of young people with SEND.
Person Specification
Experience
- Proven experience working in digital engagement initiatives, ideally with young people or vulnerable groups.
- Involvement in programmes that promote digital inclusion and wellbeing.
- Experience in outcome measurement, impact reporting, and using data to inform practice.
Desirable
- Experience in co-producing content or services with young people, including those with SEND.
Skills
- Strong project management skills, with the ability to coordinate multiple workstreams and meet deadlines.
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, tailored to diverse audiences including young people, professionals, and stakeholders.
- Skilled in using digital tools and platforms to deliver services and measure engagement.
- Ability to work collaboratively across teams and build strong internal and external relationships.
Knowledge
- Knowledge of safeguarding principles and practices in online environments.
- Awareness of current trends in digital engagement and youth participation.
- Knowledge of inclusive digital design and accessibility standards.
- Understanding of digital inclusion principles and the barriers faced by digitally excluded young people.
Personal Attributes
- Passionate about inclusion, equity, and empowering young people.
- Committed to co-production and user-led design.
- Growth mindset and proactive approach to problem-solving.
- Committed to continuous learning and sharing best practices.
- Flexible and adaptable, with a collaborative mindset.
- About the funded programme
Kids Online Wellbeing and Resilience Support Programme will help young people with SEND (aged 13 – 25 years) build resilience, positive self-regard and meaningful connections.
Our goal is to reduce isolation and protect mental health through a supportive, inclusive digital environment. We’ll begin by consulting directly with young people to understand what they need most. Together, we’ll co-create new online content and resources that truly reflect their voices and experiences.
What the Programme Offers:
- Online information with resources codesigned with young people with SEND.
- A series of interactive webinars and guided online activities.
- Free devices and data to improve access to those who need it most, plus the support to ensure everyone can participate.
We will reach over 1,800 young people over the two year funded period.
Partner Acknowledgements
Thanks to National Lottery players, the Digital Services Consortium (DSC) has received over £1.5 million over two years from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK. The DSC has also received a grant of £400,000 from BBC Children in Need for two years to provide digital support for disabled or seriously ill children and young people and their family members across the UK. Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone have generously donated devices and data through the Good Things Foundation National Databank and Device Bank which will help address affordability barriers.
