Job advert:
Please note: This post is restricted to female applicants only under Schedule 9, part 1, Equalities Act 2010.
We aim to meet all of our obligations under the Equality 2010 Act and welcome applications from women from all sections of society.
We will make reasonable adjustments to the working environment as required.
Applicants will undergo an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check before appointment and a mandatory right to work check.
Please note: We are not able to sponsor job placements.
Applications by email to [email protected] preferred. Applications that do not have a covering letter evidencing how you meet the Person Specification will not be considered. Any applications that do not come via email will not be considered.
Community Engagement Team Leader (Part-Time) (12 month contract)
Salary: £32,896.00 FTE (pro rata)
Hours: 22.5 hours per week (to be agreed, with 1 evening per week expected to support a pilot project running on a thursday evening)
Location: Hybrid (with the expectation that some time will be spent in the Exeter and Torquay office alongside being out in the community)
Reporting to: Head of Service Delivery
Closing date: 26th of June 2026
Interviews: Week commencing 13th of July 2026
About Devon Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Services.
DRCSAS exists to relieve the trauma and distress and help rebuild the lives of survivors living in Devon and Torbay who have experienced any form of sexual violence, at any point in their lives.
DRCSAS also campaigns and raises awareness about rape and sexual violence to change the narrative around sexual violence and to enable survivors’ voices to be heard.
DRCSAS works to feminist principles, which underpin our service, and we maintain a woman only workforce and women only support spaces four days a week. Our work is guided by a trauma-informed approach which understands how traumatic experiences can impact on survivors and keeps an awareness of the effects of trauma at the forefront of our approach.
Role Overview:
The Community Engagement team leader role leads a team of peer support volunteers, lived experience ambassadors, community engagement workers or coordinators in the effective delivery of trauma-informed peer support work which focuses on the delivery of activities identified through the implementation of individual survivor support plans. These support activities with service users are designed to support the onward recovery journey post therapy. Support could include consolidating treatment gains, continuing to integrate experiences, reconnection to self and others, re-integration with community and support networks, reducing isolation, promoting solidarity, building resilience and post traumatic growth. The mechanism for deliver will depend on the needs of service users, the application of grants and the most effective method for the required out. The team leader in this role could be expected to put together learning opportunities, community events, engagement with wider support services, access to self-help resources and creative community partnership and development activities. The community engagement team leader has a pivotal role in developing and Project Managing a community and survivor led - collective response to the challenge of rape and sexual abuse, ensuring that no survivor feels ‘dropped’ or abandoned when trauma processing has ended. This role is about bring life and joy into the organisation, connecting the charity and its service users to essential community resources and spaces for growth. The services delivered must be timely, effective and accessible.
Key Responsibilities
Service Delivery
1. Oversee, coordinate and manage the provision of DRCSAS Community Engagement services.
2. Ensure the support offered within this team is trauma informed, of the highest quality and safe.
3. Spend time in each week in the delivery of community engagement work either on your own or with other volunteers or team members
4. Act as one of the Designated Safeguarding Officers, leading on safeguarding compliance within the community engagement team. This should include making safeguarding decisions and supporting team members with safeguarding situations
5. Support volunteers and paid workers with safeguarding responsibilities – progressing protracted or complicated safeguarding activities only. Enable staff to be confident in how to safeguard all service users through routine practice
6. Support the practice of delivering the needs identified in individual survivor support plans.
7. Be part of an on-call system for out of hours work by staff and volunteers when necessary.
8. Partner with an extensive network of community organisations who may be able to jointly or fully deliver any integration approaches which enable recovery for service users.
9. Manage services of support in line with RCEW service standards, ensuring that practice is ethical, safe, responsive and effective.
10. Promote DRCSAS community engagement offer with relevant funders, commissioners and partners in order to create service connectivity with other providers in relevant systems – this should include health, CJS and education.
11. Ensure that the shared purpose, ethos, values and integrity of DRCSAS are clearly understood and that the team meets targets set and works within the policies and procedures of the organisation.
12. Deliver a team meeting which focuses on staff welfare, communication and delivery of effective practice.
Service / Strategic Development
1. Work with the Head of Service Delivery to plan the expected outcomes of the community engagement work offer.
2. Project manage multiple small grants, gathering data and impact to enable effective reporting back to funders.
3. Provide details of effective models to contribute towards bids and tenders for new service deliver.
4. Write small grants applications in line with charity fundraising partner capacity.
5. Identify and implement new approaches which support the growth and development of our community engagement offer responding to identified need.
6. Trial, innovate and experiment new types of service offer, ensuring staff and volunteers are fully trained, enabled and competent to deliver new approaches.
7. Ensure all new service offers are evaluated to deliver continual improvements
8. Input data into relevant IT database to capture timely and essential data and produce data reports as requested by CEO for funders, commissioners of the BOT.
9. Along with the Head of Service Delivery and other team leaders attend a regular allocation / triage meeting to ensure that no survivor is being left behind in their support plan.
10. Develop and provide a 12 month community engagement delivery plan as a strand of the wider service delivery plan.
11. Enable, motivate and support the acquisition of new skills and abilities of volunteer and staff members.
12. Respond to partnership offers identified by the Partnerships and Community Manager, or Head of Service operationalising these partnerships and offers in practice.
13. Develop a service offer which is able to respond without need for a waiting list.
14. Alongside the Head of Service, put in place a flexible service offer which could respond to a major incident if necessary. This could include the uncovering of a grooming or exploitation ring, or the exposure of institutional sexual violence or abuse.
15. Make volunteers feel welcome in practice, working to harness volunteer skills and abilities.
16. Bid for small amounts of money or seek donations of resources that enable service development.
17. Communicate and promote services to recruit participant service users for workshops, programmes or courses.
18. Enable equality and inclusion, promoting approaches which prevent discrimination and encourage accessibility.
19. Demonstrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice in all elements of the role.
20. Work with communities who experience social exclusion, adapting approaches to reach survivors from different communities.
21. Develop and trial technology solutions which enable a more efficient service offer.
Line Management
1. To line manage the community engagement team and volunteers, providing regular line management meetings, taking accurate notes and store these securely. To include case management, developmental support, training needs and performance appraisals to ensure that professional standards are maintained and that service users receive support relevant to need.
2. To authorise expenses, TOIL and Annual Leave for team members.
3. To undertake annual appraisals of team members and to support their continuing professional development.
4. To advise the Head of Service Delivery of any issues of concern with nominated workers and to instigate formal procedures as required.
5. Develop and foster a team who support each other in their practice
6. Build confidence, self-esteem and staff autonomy to deliver practice which is ethical and puts the needs of the service user at the centre
7. Model best practice, teaching new techniques and supporting staff innovation in practice
8. Create and implement learning and reflective practice logs
9. Maintain a list of CPD requests, working with senior leaders to respond.
Quality Assurance
1. To ensure that the services provided are within agreed organisational policy and process.
2. Develop a quality assurance framework for practice which could include observed practice, dip sampling, self / peer assessment and in-depth service user feedback.
3. To proactively maintain professional knowledge and practice and attend and contribute to team meetings.
4. To ensure compliance and responsiveness to child and adult safeguarding policies and procedures, being the first point of contact for safeguarding discussions with the specialist support team.
Monitoring and Evaluation
1. To ensure all service activity is properly recorded, inputted and evaluated.
2. To work to all agreed recording, monitoring and evaluation procedures and to contribute to their continual improvement.
3. To provide specific data as required by DRCSAS and to write reports as necessary.
4. To ensure all team members provide a case study once a quarter, to read and file it appropriately.
Communication
1. To ensure effective communication of information within DRCSAS resulting in an accessible, reliable and smooth-running service for all service users.
2. To promote a positive view of DRCSAS when interacting with external partners and stakeholders.
Other
1. Engage with line management, supervision, training, personal development and wellbeing, using opportunities provided by DRCSAS to do so.
2. Work in partnership with Rape Crisis England and Wales and other rape crisis centres as necessary.
3. Any other reasonable task commensurate with this post.
Qualifications, Training and Experience
Essential:
Experience of management and leadership
Significant experience of delivering support to people who have experience trauma and whom might be distressed
Experience of working with people who have experienced sexual violence
Understanding of and significant experience in working with safeguarding (adults and children) issues
Experience of multi-disciplinary working, in particular, working alongside colleagues in mental health, social care and the police
Experience of planning and sourcing training
Experience of managing external relations with a range of statutory and non-statutory agencies
Experience of project managing small grants to ensure timely delivery of required outputs.
Desirable:
Experience of writing programmes and workshops
Experience in delivering training
Experience in presenting to partners
Skills and Abilities
Essential:
A sensitive, empathic and mature approach to working with victims of sexual violence
An ability to work confidently and sensitively with people from a range of diverse backgrounds
Confidence in working with distressed people and the ability to inspire confidence in others
Excellent written and oral communication skills
Excellent interpersonal, relationship building, group facilitation and presentation skills
Skilled in maintaining boundaries and able to support staff in this area
Ability to maintain up to date records and to collate and input monitoring and evaluation data
Competence in using Microsoft Office applications
Knowledge Comprehensive understanding of the impacts of sexual violence
Knowledge of anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice
Knowledge of effective models of leadership and management
Understanding of and commitment to the feminist perspective of sexual violence held by DRCSAS
Comprehensive knowledge of the short- and long-term effects of trauma and strategies for working with this
Good knowledge of safeguarding principles
Personal Traits
Essential:
Creative, flexible and curious
Collaborative
Excellent time management skills with the ability to manage a complex and demanding workload
Ability to work as part of a team
Passionate about supporting people who have experienced sexual violence
Commitment to own wellbeing and able to source support or ask for assistance
Commitment to continuing own professional development
Ability to travel around Devon/Torbay
Pay: From £32,896.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Health & wellbeing programme
- Sick pay
Application question(s):
- Applications by email to [email protected]. Applications that do not have a covering letter evidencing how you meet the Person Spec will not be considered. Any applications that do not come via email will not be considered.
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Exeter
