- Salary: £26,654 (£33,318 FTE)
- Hours per week: 28 hours
- Contract type: Fixed term - 18 months
- Location: Hybrid with regular working days and meetings in central London
- Closing date: Sunday 29 July 2026, 11:59pm
- Interviews: 3-5th August 2026
Change lives in a life-changing career
When a child or young person is diagnosed with cancer, their whole world can feel like it’s falling apart. Independence is taken and confidence is stolen. Stability no longer exists. The future suddenly feels uncertain.
The impact of cancer on young lives is more than medical. And that impact can be felt by entire family. That’s why we exist. Our specialist social workers help children and young people with cancer and their families navigate the emotional and practical impact of cancer.
We remove barriers, solve problems and prioritise wellbeing. And we stop at nothing to make their voices heard and their unique needs understood, so they can get the right care and support at the right time
We’re looking for a Community Engagement Practitioner to join our Research, Learning and Systems Change team.
At Young Lives vs Cancer, we are ambitious for children and young people with cancer. We believe everyone affected by cancer should feel seen, heard and able to have a voice in the support and services that impact their lives.
Through the North Star Cancer Collective, we are working alongside young people, communities and partners to tackle inequities in cancer care and improve mental health and wellbeing outcomes. The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey and our own Dartington research shows us that Global Majority* cancer patients are more likely to have a poorer experience of cancer care – something that has also been highlighted to us by members of the Lived Experience Action and Advisory Group who use their lived experience of being affected by cancer to shape the work of the collective.
Because of this, we are starting a new project that looks at improving the psychosocial support available to young adults from the Global Majority who are going through cancer, and their loved ones. To deliver this, we need to create new ways of listening, learning and working together. This is where this role comes in.
We're looking for someone special to join us as our Community Engagement Practitioner. Someone who is passionate about equity and community-led change, and who enjoys building relationships, bringing people together and turning insights into action. You'll be a confident communicator, passionate about building trust with people from diverse backgrounds, and comfortable working across communities, charities and healthcare settings. We are particularly interested in hearing from candidates with lived experience of cancer and individuals from the Global Majority.
With your skills, energy and insight, you will play a central role in ensuring that young cancer patients, loved ones and communities are genuine partners in shaping more equitable and culturally responsive cancer care. In return, you'll have the opportunity to develop your skills in community engagement, co-production, service design and systems change, while working as part of the North Star Cancer Collective, an ambitious national collective seeking to improve outcomes for young people affected by cancer.
Most importantly, you'll help ensure that the voices of those most affected by inequity are not only heard but have the power to influence lasting change.
- We are using this Global Majority as a collective term that refers to people who are Black, Asian, Brown, Mixed Heritage, Indigenous to the Global South and/or are not racialised as White. 1
This role is subject to a criminal record check. In the event of a successful application an enhanced criminal record check will be completed. A previous conviction is not necessarily a barrier to employment. We encourage qualified applicants to apply, and we will consider each case individually.
No two days are the same at Young Lives vs Cancer. So, summarising your ‘day to day’ isn’t easy. Here are some of the main things you’ll be doing, but you’ll find more details in the job description.
- Build and maintain trusted relationships with Global Majority communities, community organisations and partners.
- Help recruit, support and facilitate participation of young cancer patients and their loved ones.
- Design and deliver community engagement activities, including in person and virtual workshops, listening events and one-to-one conversations.
- Facilitate co-design processes that enable communities to shape services and influence decision-making.
- Work with Young Lives vs Cancer’s social worker teams, NHS, charity and community partners to test and improve culturally responsive approaches to care.
- Capture learning, feedback and insights from communities and contribute to project evaluation.
- Support the sharing of learning through reports, events, presentations and community-led communications.
- Champion equity, inclusion and meaningful participation.
Diverse perspectives and unique skillsets are at the heart of Young Lives vs Cancer. If you're passionate about making a positive impact and eager to learn, we encourage you to apply, even if you don't meet the criteria and person specification fully. Your potential is what matters most to us, and we’re committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive work environment to help you develop.
The key skills we’re looking for in this role are:
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to communicate with empathy and cultural sensitivity.
- Good organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities within a developing project
- The ability to build trusting relationships with people from a range of backgrounds and lived experiences.
- The ability to test out ideas or approaches and learning and adapting to drive impact
- The ability to engage with communities, especially for participation or co-production based work
- Confidence in gathering, interpreting and sharing insights and feedback from community engagement activities.
For people to reach their full potential, they need the right environment. As a member of Team Young Lives, you’ll be made to feel supported, valued and appreciated. Here’s how we do it:
- Flexible working: we’re open to working hours outside of 9 - 5 and we can talk through your flexibility requirements at interview stage
- Wellbeing, Thinking & Growth Days: four days a year to to step back from the day-to-day and focus on your own learning and development
- Generous annual leave allowance
- Great family/caring leave entitlements
- Enhanced pension
- Access to our employee savings scheme
To find out more about our benefits package, have a look on our website: https://www.younglivesvscancer.org.uk/careers/our-benefits/
At Young Lives vs Cancer, we recognise that opportunities for too many people remain a condition of their sex, ethnicity, class, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation – or a combination. This has never been acceptable to us as an organisation. We don’t just accept difference, we value it, celebrate it, nurture it and we thrive because of it.
We’re on a journey to be reflective of the diverse children, young people and families we support. We know we aren’t there yet, and we’re passionately committed to taking actions and making changes to be a truly diverse, inclusive and equitable organisation. This includes taking anti-oppressive action and removing barriers in our recruitment practices. We particularly welcome applications from members of minoritised communities. Our Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging strategy will tell you more.
To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value AI adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to tell us about your skills and experiences in your own voice.
We’re committed to providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process and we’ll always aim to be as accommodating as possible. Please let us know in your application form of any adjustments or access requirements we could make to help you with the application process and interview.
We are holding two informal info sessions, on the 16th July at 1pm and 21st July at 6pm, of as a way to find out more about the role and ask any questions. You can sign up for them here.
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