Youth Engagement Officer - Autistic and OK

Job Description

At Ambitious about Autism, we're currently looking for a Youth Engagement Officer – Autistic and OK to join our team on a 2 year fixed term contract.

The Youth Engagement Officer will play a central role in ensuring autistic young people are meaningfully involved in shaping and delivering the next phase of the Autistic and OK programme. You will support the co-design and development of new peer-led workshops for the schools toolkit and developing resources for a whole school approach, collaborating with colleagues in the Participation team and a diverse group of autistic young people.

You will coordinate the recruitment, induction and ongoing support of our autistic programme ambassadors ensuring that their contributions are valued, inclusive and impactful. The role will involve facilitating engagement sessions and workshops with autistic young people, enabling them to co-produce programme content and participate in media, advocacy and public engagement opportunities.

We are looking for someone who has :

• Considerable experience in youth work, participation, community engagement, or a related field.
• Experience of working directly with young people, particularly neurodivergent young people, and facilitating their meaningful involvement in projects, workshops or campaigns, including both in-person and online formats.
• Proven experience of co-design or co-production with young people, with a strong understanding of inclusive and accessible facilitation practices.
• Understanding of autism and the barriers that autistic young people may face in education and participation settings.

In return, we offer great benefits including a generous holiday allowance and commitment to continued professional development (CPD), flexible, hybrid working and more!

This is a fantastic opportunity for an ambitious individual who would like to work for a forward-thinking, open and honest organisation and make a real impact to the young people we work with. Please find our full recruitment pack on the link below.

If you have any questions about the role or would like to have a confidential chat, please contact James Axford, Recruitment Officer.

Ambitious about Autism is committed to fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion at every level of our organisation. We warmly welcome applications from all qualified candidates, valuing the diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives they bring. We encourage applications from individuals regardless of race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or parental status, disability, or age.

Our recruitment process promotes equal opportunities, and we are committed to providing reasonable adjustments for candidates with disabilities or additional needs throughout the recruitment process. Please contact our Recruitment Team for accommodations. We recognise disability as a physical or mental impairment that significantly and long-term affects a person's ability to perform day-to-day activities, as defined by the UK Equality Act 2010. All applications will be considered solely on merit, aligned with our mission to support autistic children and young people.

Ambitious about Autism is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and successful candidates will be subject to an Enhanced DBS check. As part of our Safer Recruitment checks, an online search maybe carried out in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education.

The Safeguarding responsibilities of the post as per the job description and personal specification.

Whether the post is exempt from the rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendment to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2021. This means that when applying for certain jobs and activities certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected', so they do not need to be disclosed to employers, and if they are disclosed, employers cannot take them into account. Further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS Filter Guidance.