We are looking for a candidate with strong budget oversight and organisational skills to join our small team and be our lead for Camden's Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme, a national programme funded by the Department for Education. With the support of YCF's Head of Partnerships & Grants and CEO, you will oversee and manage a significant budget, and all project management aspects of the programme, to ensure excellent, high-quality provision for Camden's Free School Meal eligible children and young people.
In August 2025, the programme was extended nationally by the DfE for an additional three years, and we await confirmation as to the exact allocation for Camden, which would hopefully enable us to extend this role to a three year contract to 2029.
About the HAF programme in Camden and this role
Young Camden Foundation has been Camden Council s delivery partner for the national, Department for Education funded Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme since its inception in 2021. The programme distributes around £800,000 per year to support Free School Meal eligible children and young people in the borough across the main holidays of Spring, Summer and Winter.
You will lead all project management, from budget stewardship to overseeing programme delivery, with the support of the team. You will oversee a complex budget of around £800,000 ensuring its effective use throughout the year. You will ensure that each HAF programme in Camden offers young participants a diverse and enjoyable range of activities provided by respected organisations, operating at the highest levels of safety, quality, and in alignment with the Department for Education s funding requirements. You will lead on all reporting, data processing, overseeing of invoicing, and communications of the programme.
The role and its responsibilities
Please see the Job Description on the next page for a full list of respobsibilties.
To be successful in this role, you will need to have excellent budget management and organisational skills, with the ability to hold multiple competing priorities, and with sharp attention to detail. You will have excellent numeracy and budget oversight and management skills, excellent attention to detail, and a confidence when engaging with stakeholders.
The key areas of responsibility are as follows:
* Accurate stewardship of a significant budget
* Overseeing grants commissioning processes and provider engagement
* Due diligence and quality control
* Reporting impact
* Stakeholder engagement
* Communicating the impact of HAF
What we offer
We believe you ll be working in one of the best teams in the sector, with a collaborative and supportive culture. But you ll also benefit from:
* 25 days of annual leave per year and your birthday off as additional paid leave
* Access to our Employee Assistance Programme 360 Wellbeing, including free in-person counselling sessions and 24/7 on-demand online and phone GP service
* Training and development opportunities throughout the year
* Free gym access and access to free creative and fitness classes across Camden LABS
* Access to unlimited tea, coffee, biscuits and fruit each day, and access to on-site showers
* Discount on food and drink in Camden Stables Market
Person Specification:
Please note, for this role, experience and confidence with managing budgets and being confident with excel is essential.
The rest of the criteria outlines our ideally sought experience. However, if you meet some of the essential criteria but are confident in your ability to learn quickly in post or bring adjacent experience (and can demonstrate at interview), please do apply.
The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the following experience:
Essential:
* Excellent numeracy skills, proven experience and confidence in budget management and stewardship including confidence in use of Excel as a budget management tool
* Project coordination /project management experience with proven time management and organisational skills in busy environment
* A willingness to learn from mistakes
* Experience of effective partnership building and stakeholder collaboration, with good communication skills
* Ability to plan and prioritise own workload, and self manage in a busy environment with competing demands
* Excellent communication skills verbally and in writing
* Collaborative working, with flexible, open and adaptable approach
* Degree-level educated (or equivalent experience)
Desirable experience:
* Experience of report compilation and writing
* Commissioning processes and / or grants distribution
* Funder management experience
* Experience of Camden s voluntary sector and Camden s communities
* Experience with Salesforce/CRM systems
* Strong IT skills, with good experience of using Microsoft Office and design apps like Canva
Please download the full job description for more details