Head of Digital Communications
- Youth Endowment Fund
- Mar 17, 2026
Full time
I.T. & Communications
Job Description
The Youth Endowment Fund
Head of Digital Communications
Reports to:Director of External Affairs and Youth Understanding
Salary: £67,800
Location: Central London or Hybrid (see below)
Contract: 2-year fixed term contract
Closing date for applications: 12pm, Tuesday 7th April 2026
Interview dates: Week commencing 20th April 2026
About the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF)
All of us will experience violence at some point in our lives. For many children, it is a daily reality. Each year, tens of children are killed, hundreds are hospitalised, 1 in 5 teenage children are victims and the majority admit to feeling afraid of violence. It scares them when they travel home from school, prevents them from going out and makes the most vulnerable feel like they don t matter. It is taking lives, traumatising families and dividing communities. It robs potential, progress and hope.
But it doesn t have to be this way.
The Youth Endowment Fund believes that no child should be affected by violence. We research violence to understand it; we find, fund and test what works to prevent it; and we are building a movement to end it.
Communications at YEF
The Communications team, within the External Affairs and Youth Understanding directorate, is a critical arm of the organisation. We can only reduce violence if people hear about what works and put it into practice. Change is hard and it only happens if people trust where it comes from and want to engage with what we are communicating. We can only make change at scale if we re smart about using digital tools to reach a growing, diverse audience across society.
We need professionals working across our sectors youth-workers, police officers, social workers, policymakers, headteachers, and more to find out about and be part of our movement. To do this, we must communicate with humility, authenticity and clarity.
We need politicians, commissioners and funders to follow our guidance and use our products. To do this, we must secure a seat at the table, communicate with intellectual rigour and persuade using the evidence.
We also need to connect with wider society, helping anyone who cares about making Britain safer for the next generation to understand what we do, what works and how they can support our cause. To do this, our brand must be accessible and inspiring, leveraging robust research alongside human storytelling.
As the Head of Digital Communications, you will be essential to achieving our mission. You will join the YEF at an exciting time. We are entering a crucial phase of increasing our policy influence at the top of government, changing things for the better across our sectors education, youth justice, youth sector, children s services, policing, health and mobilising a movement to keep children and young people safe.
Your job is to make sure that the right people are drawn to our website and our digital communications, that they discover and engage with our content from quoting our data, to using our Toolkit and evidence, to following practical recommendations in our guidance, to watching videos about the latest trends and conversations in violence prevention and trust what we have to say.
You will support the Director of External Affairs and Youth Understanding to plan, build and execute a digital campaign to make all of this happen. You will help to lead the Communications team to hold the attention of our priority audiences and making them act.
Key Responsibilities
You are this sort of person:
You have:
You may have the following, but they are not necessary:
It s important to us that the people we hire do not discriminate. We believe in being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation, transgender status or social economic background.
All appointments will be made on merit, following a fair and transparent process. In line with the Equality Act 2010, however . click apply for full job details
Head of Digital Communications
Reports to:Director of External Affairs and Youth Understanding
Salary: £67,800
Location: Central London or Hybrid (see below)
Contract: 2-year fixed term contract
Closing date for applications: 12pm, Tuesday 7th April 2026
Interview dates: Week commencing 20th April 2026
About the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF)
All of us will experience violence at some point in our lives. For many children, it is a daily reality. Each year, tens of children are killed, hundreds are hospitalised, 1 in 5 teenage children are victims and the majority admit to feeling afraid of violence. It scares them when they travel home from school, prevents them from going out and makes the most vulnerable feel like they don t matter. It is taking lives, traumatising families and dividing communities. It robs potential, progress and hope.
But it doesn t have to be this way.
The Youth Endowment Fund believes that no child should be affected by violence. We research violence to understand it; we find, fund and test what works to prevent it; and we are building a movement to end it.
Communications at YEF
The Communications team, within the External Affairs and Youth Understanding directorate, is a critical arm of the organisation. We can only reduce violence if people hear about what works and put it into practice. Change is hard and it only happens if people trust where it comes from and want to engage with what we are communicating. We can only make change at scale if we re smart about using digital tools to reach a growing, diverse audience across society.
We need professionals working across our sectors youth-workers, police officers, social workers, policymakers, headteachers, and more to find out about and be part of our movement. To do this, we must communicate with humility, authenticity and clarity.
We need politicians, commissioners and funders to follow our guidance and use our products. To do this, we must secure a seat at the table, communicate with intellectual rigour and persuade using the evidence.
We also need to connect with wider society, helping anyone who cares about making Britain safer for the next generation to understand what we do, what works and how they can support our cause. To do this, our brand must be accessible and inspiring, leveraging robust research alongside human storytelling.
As the Head of Digital Communications, you will be essential to achieving our mission. You will join the YEF at an exciting time. We are entering a crucial phase of increasing our policy influence at the top of government, changing things for the better across our sectors education, youth justice, youth sector, children s services, policing, health and mobilising a movement to keep children and young people safe.
Your job is to make sure that the right people are drawn to our website and our digital communications, that they discover and engage with our content from quoting our data, to using our Toolkit and evidence, to following practical recommendations in our guidance, to watching videos about the latest trends and conversations in violence prevention and trust what we have to say.
You will support the Director of External Affairs and Youth Understanding to plan, build and execute a digital campaign to make all of this happen. You will help to lead the Communications team to hold the attention of our priority audiences and making them act.
Key Responsibilities
- The core of your job is to ensure that YEF's audience grows rapidly and strategically in size, that people working in our sectors gain awareness and confidence in our brand and that decision-makers engage with our work via our digital channels: our website, social media, newsletters, search, long- and short-form videos and the Safe podcast.
- You will further develop YEF s existing digital marketing strategy into a national campaign across for mobilising the evidence to prevent violence affecting children and young people.
- You will provide leadership to YEF generally and the Communications team specifically - managing the Senior Digital Marketing Manager and Digital Marketing and Communications Officer to develop internal collaboration for boosting organisation-wide digital activity, such as call-to-actions via social media and video content.
- You will execute a strategy for moving to a more segmented, sector-specific communication strategy that engages each audience (whether teachers, youth workers, police officers etc.) to use of YEF s products whether our Toolkit, our Guidance on what works and self-assessment tools for each sector.
- To commission and develop compelling, eye-catching video content that authentically showcases case studies of our work, drives our audiences towards our channels and products and significantly boosts widespread engagement views, likes, comments and shares online.
- To help secure and convert high-profile digital communications opportunities for the team in representing YEF s work, including podcast and video placements.
- To develop and leverage relevant agency relationships, and use data analytics, to optimise our SEO positioning for online searches related to youth violence, advise on investment in paid advertising to drive traffic to our website and products, and generally boost our digital engagement.
You are this sort of person:
- You communicate complex ideas clearly. Whether speaking or writing, you break down complicated concepts in ways that make sense to different audiences without oversimplifying. You bring clarity where others bring jargon.
- You get things done. You re organised, delivery-focused, and produce high-quality work, even under pressure. You work independently and to a high standard.
- You are skilled at designing and delivering digital comms and audience journeys for different segments of an organisation s audience. You know how to build up a clear picture of audience members, develop their customer journey and turn them from unaware to aware, to a user and then an advocate.
- You think big and adapt fast. You re a strategic thinker who can see the big picture without losing sight of the detail. You re logical, creative, and open to challenge always testing and refining your ideas.
- You care about the detail. You like getting a system working well, planning a campaign and getting the detail right, organizing who is doing what and seeing it all happen.
- You pay attention to what is happening in the world. You re plugged into current affairs, technological trends and media conversations, particularly when it comes to British society.
- You are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. You believe and act in a way that celebrates and encourages a range of experiences, backgrounds and values.
You have:
- A track record of driving digital communications to hundreds of thousands of people at a regional or national scale. You have led, planned and executed campaigns that bring about measurable outcomes online and practical change in the real world.
- Experience working with a mission-driven charity, organisation or business. You care about using your extensive digital skills to drive the work of an organisation striving to achieve social change.
- Experience within a leadership or management position. You have led people to drive bold, transformative communications for an organisation, company or business.
- Expertise in using technical tools and data analytics to target audiences online. You know how to segment and target digital audiences, transform SEO performance, develop high quality websites, increase newsletter engagement and bring new technical tools to solve problems.
- You have experience of commissioning creative partners - like consultants, videographers and designers - to produce compelling digital outputs and developing narrative-led content about urgent social issues that draws people in.
- A track record of producing video such as case studies, explainers or podcasts - to increase positive regard, brand awareness and audience engagement on LinkedIn, Instagram Reels, YouTube, TikTok and X.
You may have the following, but they are not necessary:
- A qualification in digital marketing.
- Past experience of using Salesforce for marketing campaigns.
- Experience of working in or close to one or more of our priority sectors:education, youth justice, youth sector, children s services, policing and health.
- Knowledge of using Artificial Intelligence to ethically and effectively boost digital performance at an organisation
It s important to us that the people we hire do not discriminate. We believe in being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation, transgender status or social economic background.
All appointments will be made on merit, following a fair and transparent process. In line with the Equality Act 2010, however . click apply for full job details
About Youth Endowment Fund