Job Brief The Autism Job Coach will play a crucial role in the delivery of the Assembling Futures employability programme. This role will primarily focus on supporting autistic and neurodivergent adults into work by running and delivering internal placements and preparing and supporting them with external work opportunities. The Job Coach will ensure the effective running of the internal placements and direct support individuals to develop transferable skills in retail, warehousing, and production line environments. The position is responsible for the management, delivery, and evaluation of the programme, ensuring that each individual has the tools and support needed to move closer to employment, further training, or independent volunteering. - Hours: 25 hours per week permanent contract - Salary: £30,000 per annum pro rata Daisy Chain is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of everyone in our care and therefore this post is subject to an enhanced DBS check. We will review applications and interview for this role on a rolling basis and may close the vacancy early if we receive a high number of applications. Early applications are encouraged. Key Responsibilities Project Management - Placement Development: Work with the Retail Business Development Manager to adapt and develop our existing 12-week internal placement opportunities at Daisy Chain’s charity megastores, focusing on retail and warehousing roles. - Partnership Development: Establish partnership links with a variety of relevant statutory bodies and organisations to generate effective beneficiary referral streams into the service. - External Placement Recruitment: Actively seek and recruit external businesses in the retail, warehousing, and manufacturing sectors to offer structured external placements for programme beneficiaries. - Placement Coordination: Organise and coordinate placement opportunities both internally at Daisy Chain Stores and with external employers. Programme Delivery - Candidate Enrolment and Triage: Lead the enrolment process, conducting triage for each potential candidate to ensure suitability for the programme. - Autism Passport Development: Conduct assessments with each participant to develop personalised autism passports utilising Daisy Chain’s existing format. - Internal Placement Delivery: Work directly with autistic adults on the 12-week i nternal placement program, providing hands-on support and mentoring to participants as they work through real-life tasks in retail and warehousing environments. - Workplan Development: Develop detailed, personalised work plans for each participant, setting clear goals and expectations. - Case Load Management: Provide ongoing support to a caseload of autistic young adults to meet project targets of transitioning programme participants into paid employment, independent volunteering, further training/education. Skills Development - Transferable Skills Support: Work directly with programme participants to enhance their transferable skills, focusing on retail and warehousing-related tasks, such as till operation, customer service, merchandising, stock management and production line duties. - Training Delivery: Deliver practical skills workshops and on-the-job training, focusing on teamwork, communication, time management, and other core - employability skills. - Employer Training and Support: Provide guidance to external employers to ensure that the placements are successful and that employers can confidently support neurodivergent employees in the workplace. - Progress Evaluation: Support evaluations of participant progress, including collecting feedback and making necessary adjustments to work plans. Support and Advocacy - Reasonable Adjustments: promote and embed reasonable adjustments both internally and externally with placement organisations to ensure they create an inclusive and empowering workplace. - Ongoing Support: Provide consistent, ongoing support to participants throughout their placements, offering guidance, feedback, and encouragement to ensure successful completion and a smooth transition to external work placements, future employment, independent volunteering and further training. - Employer Engagement: Act as the primary point of contact for external employers, maintaining strong relationships to ensure continued opportunities for participants and feedback loops for improvement. Additional Tasks - Maintain an up to date knowledge of developments in employability and autism and neurodevelopmental disorders, including effective strategies, resources and techniques. - Comply with Daisy Chain’s Health and Safety policies in all employment practices. - Work in ways that promote equality, opportunity, participation, and responsibility. - Maintain the integrity of the Daisy Chain brand in all internal and external communications. - Contribute proactively to the role and responsibilities, maintaining a positive ethos within the organisation. - Attend staff meetings and contribute to continuous service improvement and quality initiatives. - Ensure attendance and engagement with all required training and development activities. - Any other reasonable tasks as required, in line with the level of the post. - To ensure that confidential/sensitive information is handled in an appropriate manner and in line with GDPR Person Specification We’re looking for someone who shares our values: Passionate, Inclusive, Empowering, Ambitious, Open and Innovative. Essential (E) / Desirable (D) AND Assessed by Application (A) / I nterview (I) / Task (T) Experience - Experience of working within and/or managing employability focussed services. (E) (A,I, T) - Experience of working with autistic young people or adults and/or people with learning difficulties, neurodiversity or complex needs. (E) (A, I, T) - Experience of working towards and achieving outcome targets within projects, including target monitoring, recording and reporting. (E) (I) - Proven track record of supporting disabled people into work (E) (A, I) - Experience supporting autistic or neurodivergent adults in a work-related environment, ideally within retail, warehousing, or similar fields. (E) (I, A) - Strong project management skills, with the ability to organise, recruit, and manage placement opportunities effectively. (E) (I, A, T) - Ability to manage a caseload of participants and provide ongoing, hands-on support. (E) (I, A, T) - Experience in retail management or warehousing. (D) (I, A) - Experience with external employer engagement and creating partnerships for work placements. (D) (I, A) - Experience of implementing appropriate safeguarding procedures relating to young people and/or adults. (D) Qualifications - Relevant qualification in education, support work, or related fields (or equivalent experience). (E) (A) - Safeguarding training (or willing to undertake) (E) (A, I) - Autism training (or willing to undertake) (E) (A,I) Knowledge - Knowledge of autism, neurodiversity, and barriers to employment including best practices in supporting neurodivergent adults in the workplace. (E) (I, A) - Knowledge of autism employment best practices, including the use of autism passports and tailored job readiness strategies. (E) (I, A) - Awareness and understanding of effective strategies and reasonable adjustments for supporting autistic adults with recruitment and employment. (E) (A,I) - Excellent networking skills and an ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships with referral and business aprtners (E) (A, I, T) - Knowledge of retail, sales, and customer service principles. (A, I) E - Understanding of stock management, pricing strategies, and merchandising principles. (A, I) D Other - A proactive and solutions-focused approach to problem-solving and overcoming barriers to employment. (E) (I, A, T) - Ability to work independently and take initiative, with a proactive approach to solving problems. (A, I) E - Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to motivate and lead a team. (A, I) E - Ability to work flexibly, including weekends. (A, I) E - Strong organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise and manage multiple tasks simultaneously. (A, I) E - Full clean driving license (D) D - Resilient and adaptable, able to thrive in a fast-paced and dynamic environment. (A,I) E Ethos & Culture I am passionate about improving the lives of autistic children and adults and committed to Daisy Chain’s values, culture, and ethos. I will represent Daisy Chain in a positive manner and will always behave professionally. I will demonstrate empathy and support towards families and collaborate with staff and volunteers in the Daisy Chain team. Vision: “Our shared vision is for every person we support to live a life they enjoy and is meaningful to them at every stage” Mission: “To support and empower autistic and neurodivergent individuals through the provision of holistic person-centred services, whilst promoting training, wellbeing, inclusion and acceptance regionally and nationwide” Values: Passionate; Inclusive; Empowering; Ambitious; Open; Innovative Daisy Chain’s Six Core Values Passionate - caring deeply about what you do and where you work. Having a personal investment and motivation to see Daisy Chain succeed. Open - welcoming discussion, inquiry, and criticism. Having a mind open to new ideas and thoughts. Inclusive - including many different types of people whom we treat all fairly and equally. Empowering - to give power to someone to enable them to be stronger and more confident within their role. Ambitious - having or showing a strong desire and determination to achieve. Innovative - bringing new ideas and creating improved products and services. To be considered for the role click on the apply button above and submit your CV and required details. If you have any gaps within your employment history, please explain the reasons for these gaps within your CV. If you have any questions or require further information, please contact us on 01642 531248. We are committed to equality of opportunity for all and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation or marital status. If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, to enable you to perform to the best of your ability, please let us know when submitting your CV. If you would like to discuss the role informally prior to applying, please email [email protected]