We’re seeking a volunteer to help develop an AI assistant to sit alongside our self employment workbook, guiding users to test and develop business ideas. The tool is designed for use across prisons and community settings.
What difference will you make?
This role is a key step in helping us move from a delivery based organisation to a scalable, national resource.
At the moment, our support is built around a self-employment workbook that is already being used in prisons and community settings across the UK. While it has been designed for independent use, there are still points where individuals benefit from guidance, reassurance and challenge. Traditionally, that would require staff time, which limits how far and how quickly we can scale.
The AI assistant is designed to bridge that gap.
By embedding guidance directly into the user journey, we can provide consistent, high quality support without increasing delivery costs or relying on additional staff. This allows us to reach significantly more people, including those who are often considered hard to reach or who do not engage with traditional provision.
The impact of this role is therefore twofold.
Firstly, it strengthens the quality of the experience for the individual. Users will be better supported to develop, test and refine their ideas, leading to more realistic plans and more informed decisions about whether self employment is right for them.
Secondly, it enables us to scale our work in a way that is sustainable. The assistant will sit alongside our existing digital offer on platforms such as Virtual Campus 2 and Coracle, meaning it can be accessed across entire prison populations or community cohorts without additional resource.
In practical terms, this could allow us to move from supporting hundreds of individuals to supporting thousands, while maintaining consistency and quality.
More broadly, it supports our ambition to become a national infrastructure for self‑employment support for people facing barriers to work. Rather than relying solely on funded programmes or delivery contracts, we are building a model that can be adopted by partners and used at scale.
This role directly contributes to that shift, helping us create a tool that has the potential to be used widely across justice, employment and community settings.
What are we looking for?
We are open to a range of technical backgrounds, but we are looking for someone who can combine practical development skills with an understanding of real world users.
Ideally, you will have experience in one or more of the following areas
* Working with AI or large language models such as OpenAI, Claude or similar
* Building chatbots or conversational interfaces
* Web or app development
* Rapid prototyping or product development
You do not need to be an expert in all of these. What matters most is your ability to take an idea and turn it into something simple, usable and effective.
Beyond technical skills, there are a few qualities that are particularly important for this role.
Firstly, the ability to think in a user centred way. The people using this tool may have low confidence, low literacy or limited experience of business. We need someone who can design with that in mind, keeping things clear, accessible and grounded in real life.
Secondly, an appreciation for simplicity. There will be a natural temptation to build something complex or highly featured. We are looking for someone who can resist that, and instead focus on creating something that works well, is easy to use and can be deployed at scale.
Thirdly, strong communication and collaboration. You will be working with a small team who bring deep experience of prisons, probation and employment support, but may not be technical. Being able to explain your thinking and work iteratively with us will be important.
An interest in social impact, justice or supporting disadvantaged groups would be a strong advantage, but is not essential. What matters is a genuine motivation to use your skills in a way that can make a tangible difference.
Experience of working in constrained or secure environments, or building tools for users with additional needs, would also be helpful, but again not essential.
Overall, we are looking for someone who is practical, thoughtful and motivated, and who is excited by the opportunity to build something that could be used by thousands of people across the UK.
What will you be doing?
We are looking for a volunteer to help us design and build a simple, practical AI assistant that supports individuals as they work through a self‑employment workbook.
This is not about creating a complex or highly technical product. The focus is on building something that is accessible, intuitive and genuinely useful for people who may have low confidence, low literacy, or limited experience of business.
The assistant will guide users through key stages of developing a business idea, including
* Clarifying and refining their idea
* Identifying customers and competitors
* Thinking about pricing and demand
* Testing whether their idea is realistic
* Taking practical next steps
Rather than giving generic answers, the assistant will ask questions, prompt thinking and gently challenge assumptions, similar to how an experienced advisor would work one to one.
We are looking for someone who can help us translate this into a working product. This may include
* Designing the conversational flow and logic of the assistant
* Integrating with an AI model such as OpenAI or similar
* Building a simple prototype or interface that can be tested with users
* Advising on the most effective and lightweight way to deploy the tool
* Iterating based on feedback from real users in prison and community settings
We are not expecting a finished product from day one. A simple, well thought through prototype that we can test and improve is the priority.
The assistant will sit alongside an existing, accredited workbook that is already being used in prisons and community settings across the UK, including via secure digital platforms. This means the work you do will be applied in a real world environment from an early stage.
We will work closely with you throughout, providing the content, context and user insight needed to shape the tool. Your role is to bring the technical expertise and help us turn this into something practical, scalable and impactful.
Above all, we are looking for someone who can balance technical capability with an understanding of real world users, and who is motivated by the opportunity to build something that could support thousands of people to move towards self‑employment.
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