Strategic lead – youth, play and participation

Job Summary

Sandwell is committed to ensuring that children and young people live happy, safe, healthy and successful lives. We are ambitious about strengthening our youth offer, amplifying young people’s voices, and working with partners to deliver meaningful opportunities across our communities.

This is a senior leadership role with responsibility for shaping and delivering Sandwell’s strategic approach to Youth, Play and Participation. You will work across the Council and with partners to ensure children and young people can access high-quality informal education and leisure opportunities and actively influence the services that affect them.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for Youth, Play and Participation, ensuring sufficient, high-quality provision across Sandwell
• Design and deliver borough-wide strategies that increase participation, youth voice and influence (e.g. Youth Council, Area Forums)
• Lead commissioning and performance management of youth provision, including targeted programmes such as Holiday Activities and Food
• Build and maintain strong partnerships across statutory, voluntary and community sectors
• Ensure compliance with statutory duties, safeguarding requirements and health and safety standards

Essential Requirements

• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience, including leadership of youth service provision
• Proven experience of leading large-scale services or programmes, including managing budgets and teams
• Strong track record of partnership working across multi-agency environments
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence across political and organisational boundaries
• Comprehensive knowledge of the Youth, Play and Participation sector and relevant policy and legislative context

About You

We are looking for an ambitious and values-driven leader who can drive change and deliver improved outcomes for children and young people. You will bring strategic insight, strong leadership capability and a commitment to partnership working.

You will be confident operating in a complex political environment, able to build trust with elected Members, partners and communities, and passionate about ensuring young people’s voices shape the services they receive.

Our Offer

At Sandwell, we are proud of our One Team approach, working collaboratively to deliver the best outcomes for our residents. We are committed to being inclusive, ambitious, accountable and customer-focused in everything we do.

This is an exciting opportunity to shape and influence provision at a strategic level and make a lasting impact on the lives of children and young people across Sandwell.

Closing date: 6 July 2026

Interviews: w/c 20 July 2026