Children First
Children First

Charity registered in Scotland SC016092

Children First is Scotland's National Children's Charity. We help Scotland's families to put children first, with practical advice and with support in difficult times. And when the worst happens, we support survivors of abuse, neglect, and other traumatic events in childhood, to recover.

Current vacancies

Family Wellbeing Service Manager

  • Full time
  • £44,087 – £50,726
  • On site: Aberdeen
  • Closing 21st September 2026

Do you want to create a safer, brighter future for all children in Scotland?

Children First, Scotland’s national children’s charity, has an exciting opportunity for a confident, enthusiastic and committed leader to truly make a difference to children and their families. We are seeking to appoint a Service Manager within our Aberdeen Family Wellbeing Service, Fit Like Family Wellbeing.

By joining our team, you will help us stand up for children, keep them safe and support them to recover from trauma and abuse through our national and local services.

The role

This is more that a service management role.

If you are looking for a new challenge, ready to bring fresh thinking, creativity and passion to your work and want the opportunity to really shape the future of whole family wellbeing supports in Aberdeen, we would love to hear from you.

Based in Aberdeen, with flexible and hybrid working an option, the role involves leading on the day-to-day implementation, management, development and growth of our whole family wellbeing service aligned to the Fit Like Family Wellbeing collaborative.

Fit Like is a multi-agency partnership approach to supporting children and their families throughout Aberdeen City when they present with emerging needs around emotional wellbeing, mental health, family relationships, safety and safeguarding needs and supporting children and young people when they have had a trauma experience to promote their ability to recover.

Taking a child-centred approach, you will work to ensure the safety of children and young people by protecting and promoting their rights.

You will join an ambitious values driven team at an exciting stage of development and growth, with the freedom to innovate, build strong partnerships and influence how services are designed and delivered for children and families. This is an exciting opportunity to lead change, develop new approaches that will create lasting impact for children, young people and communities across Aberdeen.

Working within the Fit Like Family Wellbeing collaborative, you'll play a key role in driving service growth, embedding trauma-informed practice and ensuring families receive the right support at the right time. You'll be empowered to bring your ideas, expertise and leadership to a service that is committed to continuous improvement and meaningful outcomes.

Whether you're an experienced manager seeking a fresh opportunity, or a practitioner leader ready to take the next step, this role offers the chance to be part of something progressive, purposeful and transformational. Most importantly, you'll help create opportunities for children and families to thrive, recover and build brighter futures. We are keen to attract the right person to help drive the next stage of our development and are therefore open to discussing flexibility around working hours, with the role available for up to 35 hours per week.

What we are looking for

You will be an inspiring leader and will possess a degree or diploma in social work, or equivalent professional qualification at SCQF level 9, in addition to recent significant experience in a relevant practice area relating to young people.

You will always put Children First. You will be relational in your approach ands have experience of working collaboratively with partners to ensure the right support at the right time.

What you can expect from us

As well as a rewarding career and development opportunities, we offer 40 days annual leave per year pro rata, a contributory pension scheme, generous maternity/adoption and paternity leave, flexible working opportunities and wellbeing support.

With a supportive and inclusive working environment, the salary for this role is £44,087 - £50,726 per annum

Our values

Living our values, you will make a direct impact to the lives of children across Scotland. With love, we put children first. With purpose, we transform children’s lives together. With strength, we do whatever it takes to protect Scotland’s children.

Shortlist

Marketing and Events Officer (Kinship Care)

  • Part time
  • £30,602 – £35,778 pro-rata
  • Hybrid: Edinburgh
  • Closing 21st September 2026

In this role, you’ll:

  • Deliver marketing campaigns across digital channels and events to raise awareness of Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland (KCASS)
  • Organise events and webinars, including Kinship Care Week, to engage and support kinship care families and professionals
  • Lead website development and content to help kinship carers access information, advice and support
  • Use insights, learning and feedback, alongside engagement and website conversion data, to inform the ongoing development of the KCASS website.

We’d love to hear from you if you have:

  • Experience in a events/marketing officer role
  • Experience of using CMS, email marketing, social media and design platforms such as Canva
  • Experience in planning, delivering and hosting a variety of small- and large-scale events
  • Strong organisational skills and attention to detail
  • Confidence in building relationships with a range of stakeholders and the ability to manage competing priorities.

What we offer:

  • A workplace with values of with love, with purpose and with strength
  • 40 days annual leave, inclusive of bank holidays
  • Pension scheme and wellbeing support
  • Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
  • Access to Westfield Health, giving colleagues and their families confidential counselling support, wellbeing resources, and access to health and lifestyle benefits to support physical and mental wellbeing.
  • Blue Light card discount
  • A Fair Work accredited workplace.

Our Values

Living our values, you will help create a workplace where our people can thrive, ensuring we deliver the best possible support to children and families.

With love, we put children first.

With purpose, we transform lives together.

With strength, we do whatever it takes to protect Scotland’s children.

Shortlist

Information and Content Officer (Support line)

  • Part time
  • £30,602 – £35,778 pro-rata
  • Hybrid: Edinburgh
  • Closing 21st September 2026

In this role, you’ll:

  • Create helpful, clear and accessible resources and information for parents and carers for the support line section of the Children First website.
  • Translate complex information about support and services into clear, accessible and engaging communications for families.
  • Update and manage website content using the CMS, ensuring information is accurate, accessible and up to date.
  • Drive forward organic social media activity promoting the support line, share new resources created for families and develop engaging multimedia content, including video.
  • Support children and families to safely and appropriately share their stories, following Children First’s story‑gathering, consent and safeguarding processes at all times.
  • Use insight, learning and feedback to inform continuous improvement in communications activity.

We’d love to hear from you if you have:

  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Strong organisational skills and attention to detail.
  • A proactive, collaborative approach and commitment to our values.
  • Previous experience in a similar communications role.
  • Strong social media skills.
  • Excellent ICT skills and strong experience of Canva and creating video content.
  • Strong analytical skills with the ability to concisely summarise key information.

What we offer:

  • A workplace with values of with love, with purpose and with strength
  • 40 days annual leave, inclusive of bank holidays
  • Pension scheme and wellbeing support
  • Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
  • Access to Westfield Health, giving colleagues and their families confidential counselling support, wellbeing resources, and access to health and lifestyle benefits to support physical and mental wellbeing.
  • Blue Light card discount
  • A Fair Work accredited workplace

Our Values

Living our values, you will help create a workplace where our people can thrive, ensuring we deliver the best possible support to children and families.

With love, we put children first.

With purpose, we transform lives together.

With strength, we do whatever it takes to protect Scotland’s children.

Shortlist

FGDM Coordinator

  • Full time
  • £30,602 – £35,778
  • Hybrid: East Ayrshire
  • Closing 25th September 2026

A fantastic opportunity to join Children First

Children First’s ambition is for every child in Scotland to be safe, loved and well with their family. As a charity we offer emotional, practical, and financial support to help families put children first and campaign to uphold the rights of every child.

We are looking for a full time Family Group Decision Making coordinator to join our team in East Ayrshire. As an FGDM coordinator you will work with children and families of all ages and at different stages of risk and need.

Family Group Decision Making is working with family groups in a strengths-based way to support them to create Family Plans, keeping children safe and at home within their family networks.

This is an exciting opportunity for anyone interested in Family Group Decision Making, restorative and strengths-based approaches to working with families, and would like to extend their skill set.

Children First are determined that the full incorporation of the UNCRC means that children will have their rights respected in all areas of their lives and will have a real say in the way they are supported. If you share this determination, we would love to hear from you.

What kind of people are we looking for?

  • have experience of keeping children safe in their own families
  • are fiercely passionate about children’s rights
  • thinks it’s a privilege to work with and on behalf of children and families and,
  • are kind and will bring their whole selves to the job: heart and mind

What kind of team member will you be?

Knowing our ambition for children, you will be someone who is:

  • resilient, skilled and knowledgeable who wants to transform children’s lives
  • determined to support children to stay safely with their own family
  • big hearted and courageous
  • able to build strong relationships and to manage the tricky conversations
  • is compassionate and understanding of trauma
  • a cool head and clear minded at times of pressure
  • inspiring colleagues and teams to be even better
  • an amazing ambassador for children and Children First

Above all else, the most important thing to us is that you are someone who will do the right thing for children and their families at every turn.

At Children First, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team that reflects communities across Scotland. Guided by our values, With Love, With Purpose, With Strength, we strive to create a culture where everyone feels valued, respected, and supported to thrive. We actively work to remove barriers to inclusion and promote equity in all aspects of our work. We warmly welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, especially those from marginalised communities, and are dedicated to ensuring a fair and supportive recruitment process.

Base

You will be based with our East Ayrshire FGDM team, co located in the HSCP, Kilmarnock/Cumnock.

What we offer:

  • A workplace with values of with love, with purpose and with strength
  • 40 days annual leave, inclusive of bank holidays
  • Pension scheme and wellbeing support
  • Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
  • Access to Westfield Health, giving colleagues and their families confidential counselling support, wellbeing resources, and access to health and lifestyle benefits to support physical and mental wellbeing.
  • Blue Light card discount
  • A Fair Work accredited workplace

Our Values:

Living our values, you will help create a workplace where our people can thrive, ensuring we deliver the best possible support to children and families.

With love, we put children first.

With purpose, we transform lives together.

With strength, we do whatever it takes to protect Scotland’s children.

Shortlist

Marketing Manager (Maternity Cover)

  • Full time
  • £44,087 – £50,726
  • Hybrid: Edinburgh
  • Closing 27th September 2026

In this role, you’ll:

  • Develop and implement Children First’s marketing strategy to position us as the national children’s charity, protecting Scotland’s children.
  • Oversee marketing campaigns with a focus on brand management, website development and marketing to cover the full marketing mix across multiple media channels.
  • Manage and support the marketing team and work closely with other managers to achieve Children First’s strategic objectives.

We’d love to hear from you if you have:

  • Excellent strategic and creative marketing experience.
  • Experience delivering successful multi-channel marketing campaigns.
  • Experience managing and developing people.
  • Strong brand, communications and stakeholder engagement skills.
  • A high level of expertise in digital marketing, web content, social media marketing and paid advertising.
  • A data-driven approach, using insight and evaluation to improve performance.
  • Experience managing budgets, projects and external suppliers.
  • A strong drive for excellence, the ability to manage competing priorities and a track record in delivering to tight deadlines.

What we offer:

  • A workplace with values of with love, with purpose and with strength
  • 40 days annual leave, inclusive of bank holidays
  • Pension scheme and wellbeing support
  • Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
  • Access to Westfield Health, giving colleagues and their families confidential counselling support, wellbeing resources, and access to health and lifestyle benefits to support physical and mental wellbeing.
  • Blue Light card discount
  • A Fair Work accredited workplace

Our Values

Living our values, you will help create a workplace where our people can thrive, ensuring we deliver the best possible support to children and families.

With love, we put children first.

With purpose, we transform lives together.

With strength, we do whatever it takes to protect Scotland’s children.

Shortlist

Energy Lead/Advisor (Support line)

  • Full time
  • £30,602 – £35,778
  • Hybrid: Central Belt
  • Closing 28th September 2026

This is an exciting opportunity to work within our Support line Advice Service as well as support our Wider aims as a charity.

Our Advice service works alongside support colleagues to help families to address the challenges and risks which may have led to vulnerability, promote connection to their local communities, and improve financial stability and resilience. Our aim is to support communities to become more resilient and a place where children feel safe, valued, understood and supported.

The Energy Advisor will work within an integrated model of family support, community connection, and expert Energy advice and exploring money and debt advice. This will enable families to stay connected, keep homes warm and resolve debt and money problems, become more financially resilient and break the cycle of fuel poverty.

A priority for the Energy Advisor will be to increase the Energy advice and support we offer our families and with the capacity of our current services to provide Type I and II money advice in one of the most deprived areas in Scotland.

You will work as part of our National Money Advice team. You will support families within their homes, by telephone and other digital methods deliver workshops within the community and in schools and offer drop-in sessions within the community.

If you have experience of energy advice welfare rights, income maximization, money and debt advice, understand the impact trauma and adversity can have on children and families, and believe that you can apply this to your practice, we want to hear from you.

This is a full time, 35 hours post. Hours to be worked flexibly to suit the needs of families, including evenings and weekends as required.

What we offer:

  • A workplace with values of with love, with purpose and with strength
  • 40 days annual leave, inclusive of bank holidays
  • Pension scheme and wellbeing support
  • Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
  • Access to Westfield Health, giving colleagues and their families confidential counselling support, wellbeing resources, and access to health and lifestyle benefits to support physical and mental wellbeing.
  • Blue Light card discount
  • A Fair Work accredited workplace

Our Values

Living our values, you will help create a workplace where our people can thrive, ensuring we deliver the best possible support to children and families.

With love, we put children first.

With purpose, we transform lives together.

With strength, we do whatever it takes to protect Scotland’s children.

Shortlist

Senior Money Advisor

  • Full time
  • £37,189 – £42,687
  • Hybrid: Edinburgh or Central Belt with Travel to Edinburgh
  • Closing 30th September 2026

Could you play a vital role within our national Support Line, helping deliver Scotland's mission to eradicate child poverty?

Join Children First and be part of a once in a generation transformation in how families access help to alleviate crisis, prevent harm and build long term stability to break the cycle of child poverty.

Funded by the Scottish Government, we are doubling the size of our Support Line with the aim of supporting 7,500 more families across Scotland in the first year. Through this investment, we are creating an accessible national front door to family support, ensuring families can access practical, emotional and financial help when they need it most.

As Scotland's national children's charity, we've been preventing harm, supporting recovery and driving change since 1884. Our ambitious plans build on decades of experience delivering cash-first, short, medium and long-term holistic support to families living in, or at risk of, poverty.

We're looking for passionate, talented and ambitious professionals to join our growing team and help shape the future of family support in Scotland.

About the Role

This is an exciting opportunity to lead the direction, development and quality assurance of Children First's Welfare Benefits and Debt Advice Service.

As Senior Money Advisor, you will provide leadership, supervision and support to a team of advisers, ensuring families receive high-quality welfare benefits, debt and financial wellbeing advice that improves outcomes for children and reduces the impact of poverty.

Alongside leading a team, you will maintain a small caseload of complex cases, providing specialist welfare benefits and debt advice, supporting Social Security appeals and working directly with families experiencing financial hardship. You will help families maximise income, manage debt, access entitlements and build greater financial resilience.

Working across Children First and alongside external partners, you will contribute to service development, quality assurance, partnership working and continuous improvement, ensuring our financial wellbeing services remain accessible, effective and impactful for families across Scotland.

Why This Role Matters

Poverty remains one of the greatest threats to childhood in Scotland.

At Children First, we know that financial hardship affects every aspect of family life. By providing timely, expert advice and support, we can help alleviate crisis, strengthen family wellbeing and create better outcomes for children.

As Senior Money Advisor, your expertise will directly contribute to our ambition to reduce child poverty and ensure families have access to the support they need to thrive

What We're Looking For

We're looking for an experienced and values-driven leader with a strong background in welfare benefits and debt advice who is passionate about reducing child poverty and improving outcomes for children and families.

You will bring:

  • Significant experience providing welfare benefits and debt advice.
  • Experience leading, supervising or developing staff and advisers.
  • Strong knowledge of social security systems, welfare benefits and debt management.
  • The ability to manage complex casework and provide specialist advice.
  • Excellent coaching, communication and relationship-building skills.
  • Experience working collaboratively with a range of partners and stakeholders.
  • A commitment to high-quality advice practice, continuous improvement and relational working.
  • The ability to lead through change while maintaining service quality and compliance standards.

Above all, you will share our commitment to putting children at the heart of everything we do.

Our Values

Everything we do is guided by our values:

With Love

We put children first with compassion and kindness.

With Purpose

We work alongside families and partners to transform children's lives together.

With Strength

We do whatever it takes to protect Scotland's children.

What You'll Get From Us

At Children First, you'll be part of a values-led organisation committed to supporting and developing our people.

We offer:

  • 40 days annual leave, inclusive of public holidays.
  • Contributory pension scheme.
  • Flexible and hybrid working arrangements.
  • Access to Westfield Health and wellbeing support.
  • Blue Light Card discounts.
  • A Fair Work accredited workplace.
  • Ongoing learning and professional development opportunities.
  • The opportunity to help shape a national service that is transforming how families access support across Scotland.

Join Us

If you share our belief that every child in Scotland can grow up free from poverty and are committed to making it happen, we want to hear from you.

Together, we can alleviate crisis, prevent harm, strengthen families and create brighter futures for children across Scotland.

Shortlist