Youth Voice

POSITION SUMMARY 

The Youth Voice & Engagement Manager in Jigsaw is a strategic leader ensuring that young people's rights, voice and influence are central to Jigsaw's services and governance structures. Reporting to the Director of Mental Health Promotion, this management role ensures that Jigsaw's established rights-based approach to youth voice is fully embedded across all levels of the organisation, influencing Jigsaw's primary care mental health service design, policy, and practice.

A key focus of the role involves ensuring accountability for meaningful youth voice and engagement, strengthening participatory governance structures, and working with senior leadership to translate youth voice into measurable change.

As a proactive self-starter, the successful candidate will be a creative and persuasive communicator with a strong focus on developing sustainable relationships with a wide range of internal and external audiences to ensure that youth voice is central to Jigsaw's vision - an Ireland where every young person's mental health is valued and supported. They will be skilled in change management, high-level advocacy, and influencing senior decision-makers, ensuring that Jigsaw remains a leader in rights-based youth mental health practice.

This is a unique opportunity for a leader who can bridge the gap between policy and action, promoting and embedding participatory governance structures that ensure young people play a central role in shaping mental health services in Ireland.

Please note:

This is a full time, permanent position located in our National Office in Dublin 2. Hybrid working arrangements are available. This role also requires the ability to travel for work and the willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends, as required.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES: 

Strategic Leadership & Change Management:

• Provide strong leadership and strategic management to ensure full implementation and accountability of Jigsaw's rights-based youth voice & engagement approach.
• Drive the youth voice & engagement policy and framework across all parts of the organisation (Jigsaw services, research, communications, mental health promotion), ensuring the appropriate mechanisms are in place for implementation and good practice.
• Influence and negotiate with senior leaders, service managers, clinical teams, and other staff members to embed youth voice in decision-making and service delivery.

Programme & Service Development:

•  Lead the Youth Advocate Volunteer Programme, ensuring best practice in recruitment, training, support, and impact measurement.
• Lead in the development of new methodologies and evidence-based approaches for youth voice, piloting and rolling out innovative engagement models.
• Provide support to Jigsaw services in service planning and review, ensuring youth voice is embedded in service design.

Equity, Inclusion & Diverse Engagement:

• Ensure that diverse voices are heard by proactively engaging young people who are more easily ignored within communities, including those from marginalised, minority, and underrepresented backgrounds.
• Develop targeted strategies to reduce barriers to participation, ensuring Jigsaw's engagement structures are inclusive, representative, and accessible.

Evidence, Impact & Reporting:

• Ensure the Youth Voice & Engagement reporting framework is fit for purpose, measuring relevant success indicators and providing clear, actionable analytics to inform continuous improvement.
• Work closely with the research and evaluation team to build evidence of the impact of youth participation on mental health service delivery.
• Lead in the development, roll-out, and ongoing monitoring of all policies and procedures relating to Youth Voice & Engagement across Jigsaw.

Capacity-building & Staff Development:

• Build the capacity of staff across Jigsaw (through training and facilitating shared learning) to support active youth engagement and participation.
• Build the capacity of others across the Jigsaw network to develop and implement effective youth participation structures.

Team & Financial Management:

• Directly manage, support and develop a small team of staff.
• Manage the day-to-day youth voice & engagement budget in line with organisational financial policies and procedures.

Innovation & Continuous Learning:

• Stay current with national and international developments in youth participation, adapting innovative programmes and best practices to enhance Jigsaw's youth voice & engagement agenda.
• Contribute to and be a key support in fostering a learning culture that seeks continuous improvement in youth voice & engagement.

Organisational & Cross-team Collaboration:

• Participate as a member of the Jigsaw team in team meetings and other internal and external fora.
• Carry out other duties upon request by the organisation in fulfillment of Jigsaw's vision, mission, and strategic priorities.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: 

Essential Criteria:

• Level 8 qualification in a relevant discipline (e.g. human or children's rights, health (including mental health), community development, youth work, or education).
  • Demonstrated experience in influencing and leading organisational and cultural change, preferably embedding youth participation within governance and decision-making structures.
  • A minimum of 3 years' experience in a leadership role, including line management of staff in a human service delivery context.
  • Demonstrated experience of working effectively within cross-functional teams in a collaborative environment.
    • At least 3 years' experience in planning, implementing, and evaluating participatory structures, preferably with young people in a mental health or healthcare context.
    • Demonstrable experience in the design and delivery of effective collaborative, consultative and participative initiatives with young people and/or lived experience voices.
      • Demonstrable experience in large-scale project or programme management.
      • Significant experience in volunteer management, ensuring effective recruitment, training, and ongoing support.
      • Experience in high-quality training development, delivery, and evaluation, particularly in youth voice and engagement.
        • Access to a car and a full, clean driving license (for national travel as required).

Knowledge and skills:

• Excellent organisational and project management skills, including the ability to prioritise workload and work independently and flexibly to achieve annual work plans.
• Excellent time management skills, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness in a dynamic environment.
  • Strong communication skills with the ability to influence across the organisation to ensure that youth participation remains a priority.
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills, with a demonstrable ability to deliver presentations and produce high-quality written reports.
  • Ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with co-workers in a team-oriented environment.
    • Knowledge of the theory, practice, and policy underpinning youth participation, ensuring alignment with best practice.
    • Demonstrable ability to use innovative, inclusive, and effective facilitation techniques to support young people's participation in decision-making and governance.
      • Strong emotional intelligence, ensuring the ability to engage, motivate, and support young people and colleagues in a meaningful way.

Benefits

Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. Factors taken into account in determining an appropriate scale include the candidate's knowledge, skills, experience and qualifications relevant to the job.

The salary range for this role will be €56,000 to €81,120.

Jigsaw operates the following benefits for its employees:

• Defined contribution pension scheme with 10% Employer and 5% Employee contributions
• 10% Discount on Laya Healthcare
• Annual leave 25 days, exclusive of public holidays and 1.5 company days.
• Comprehensive annual CPD schedule
• Flexible working options
• Financial support for further education

Please note:

• The closing date for applications is 12pm, Thursday, 10th April. In-person interviews are scheduled to take place on Monday 28th April.
• This role also requires the ability to travel for work and the willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends, as required.
  • Application is by online application form only & CVs alone will not be accepted. Please complete all fields of the application form. Incomplete application forms will not be considered.
  • The above Job Description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently, the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post which may be assigned to him/her from time to time and to contribute to the development of the post while in office.
  • All Jigsaw staff members are required to obtain Garda clearance as a condition of their initial and continued employment.
    • Jigsaw is an Equal Opportunities Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, disability, age, gender expression or sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnic or national origin, marital or civil partnership status or culture. Jigsaw is committed, where possible, to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To discuss the requirements of the role, the location of the role or any reasonable accommodation you might require, please contact a member of the HR team via recruitment@jigsaw.ie
    • All documentation received by Jigsaw will be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Acts, 1988 and 2003 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR; 2018). The information will only be used by Jigsaw in the processing of job applications and for ongoing administrative purposes with job candidates.