Are you an experienced strategic leader passionate about improving post 16 education and employment outcomes and enabling every 16–25 year‑old in the city to achieve their full potential?
In this pivotal new role of NEET Prevention and Provision Manager, you will lead a citywide approach to reducing the number of young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). You will manage professionally qualified Employability Advisers, oversee delivery of the council’s statutory participation responsibilities, and ensure targeted support for vulnerable young people. You will also manage our award-winning Youth Employment Hub, delivered in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions.
Maintaining a strategic overview of the 16–19 learning landscape, you will ensure the sufficiency of high‑quality post‑16 provision, ensuring adequacy of provision across all levels and pathways and progression routes—particularly for young people with SEND, low attainment, and where expected educational outcomes have not been achieved due to health or other circumstances. Working collaboratively with schools, colleges, training providers, DWP partners and multi‑agency networks, you will champion inclusion, raise aspirations, and ensure early identification and support for young people at risk of becoming NEET.
Interviews to be held: TBC
There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact Carla Butler (Head of Skills and Employment)
[email protected] 07795 365434
About the role
We are looking for someone who:
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Brings strong leadership experience in employability, post‑16 education, skills, or youth provision
- Thrives in partnership environments and can influence citywide strategy
- Understands the complex challenges faced by young people and is committed to inclusive service design
- Can manage statutory duties, performance frameworks, and quality assurance systems
This is an exciting opportunity to make a real impact at a time of policy change, at a time where the challenges faced by young people are significant and high‑quality support has never been more needed.
If you're committed to ensuring every young person has the support and opportunities they need to progress, we’d love to hear from you.
Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.
Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).
Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
- be connected
- be confident
- be innovative and creative
- be diverse and inclusive
- be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.
How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.
As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.
AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.
We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.
All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.
Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.
Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.
We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.
Recruitment scam alert
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