Head of Work Experience

Every young person deserves the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their background” - Shereen El-Shennawy, CEO, Inspire.

Are you driven by a passion for enhancing social mobility and supporting the futures of young people?

Do you have a practical understanding of work experience placements with a background leading teams and managing and developing services?

Hire Purpose is proud to lead the search to appoint a Head of Work Experience who will join Inspire in an established position that will positively impact the lives of thousands of young people across London.

And creating ‘impact’ is central to how Inspire deliver their programmes. Between 2024-25 alone, the charity enabled nearly 5,000 in person Work Experience placements, working with over 1,000 employers across their business partner network.

You can take a full look at their 2024-25 Impact Report here.

Salary: £33,438 (£41,797.40 FTE)

Start date: October / November 2026

Reporting to: Head of Programmes & Impact

Contract: Permanent. Part-time (0/8), spread across 4 or 5 days

Hybrid: Minimum2 days pw at E15 2NH

As a key member of Inspire’s Senior Management Team you will be responsible for leading the delivery and continued development of their Work Experience service, ensuring high-quality, financially well-managed and compliant services that respond to the needs of young people, schools, employers and partners.

Crucially, this role requires an experienced people manager with excellent skills across stakeholder engagement, decision making, and attention to detail.

You will be responsible for:

• Overseeing service performance, resources and employer engagement to ensure programmes are well-run, compliant and responsive to young people and partners.

• Leading, developing, and supporting an experienced and capable Work Experience team, ensuring their accountable and high-performing culture continues to thrive.

• Representing Inspire externally, building productive, lasting relationships with key stakeholders including employers, schools, local authorities, funders and community partners, while also managing expectations and resolving issues swiftly.

• Leading the delivery of safe, inclusive and high-quality Work Experience programmes that build young people’s skills, confidence and employability.

• Managing budgets, as well as income and expenditure to ensure programmes are financially sustainable and deliver a return on investment.

• Fulfilling all duties in accordance with Inspire’s policies and procedures, particularly those relating to Safeguarding, Health and Safety, Equality, GDPR and financial controls.

A full list of duties can be found within the Job Description [hyperlink]:

This is a highly rewarding opportunity to shape Inspire’s wider strategic direction, drive continuous improvements across the Work Experience service, and identify opportunities to expand and strengthen the provision of services and how customer relationships are developed.

Therefore, the Head of Work Experience must have:

• Practical understanding of Work Experience programmes and services for young people, alongside a genuine commitment to improving their opportunities and outcomes.

• Proven experience of leading, supporting and developing teams, creating clear expectations while ensuring consistently high standards.

• Excellent stakeholder and relationship management skills, with an ability to build productive partnerships with employers and other external organisations.

• Experience of managing services, programmes or contracts, including budgets, performance information and delivery against agreed standards and deadlines.

• Robust knowledge of safeguarding, health and safety, data protection, as well as the sound judgement and attention to detail needed to deliver safe and compliant services.

We are looking for someone with excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills, underpinned by a sharp focus on process and data-informed decision-making, and who will importantly keep up to date with legislative and policy change.

To apply:

Please submit an up-to-date CV to Louis Eastwell of Hire Purpose as soon as you are interested, as we will be reviewing and considering applications on a rolling basis.

A cover letter will be required at a later stage as part of a formal submission, before two rounds of formal interviews take place.

Interviews dates are currently TBC.

Hire Purpose champions inclusive recruitment.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and lived experiences. We uphold equal opportunity principles and challenge bias at every stage, partnering only with organisations that share our commitment to integrity, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Hire Purpose is also proud to be an active member of The TEAM Network, the UK’s largest recruitment community of independently owned recruitment businesses