Every conversation can change a childhood. Every volunteer can change a life.

Help us build Scotland's biggest team of volunteers standing alongside children and families

At Children First, we believe every child should be safe, loved and able to enjoy a happy childhood.

We're transforming how families across Scotland access support through our growing national Support Line. Backed by Scottish Government investment, we're expanding our reach so that thousands more families can access practical, emotional and financial support when they need it most.

To help us achieve this, we're looking for an exceptional Support Line Volunteer Coordinator to recruit, inspire and lead a team of volunteers who will help children and families across Scotland thrive.

Why this role matters

This is not simply a volunteer management role.

You will build and lead a volunteer programme that directly contributes to tackling child poverty, reducing isolation and improving outcomes for children and families across Scotland.

Working across our Support Line and Whole Family Support Programme, you'll ensure volunteers are recruited safely, trained effectively and supported to make a real difference. You'll create opportunities for people to use their skills, compassion and lived experience to strengthen communities and improve lives.

Your leadership will help ensure more families have somewhere to turn before challenges become crises.

What you'll do

• Recruit, train and develop volunteers across Scotland
• Create a positive, inclusive and rewarding volunteer experience
• Provide supervision, coaching and wellbeing support
• Ensure the highest standards of safeguarding and safe practice
• Build partnerships with communities, colleges, employers and third sector organisations
• Use data, feedback and insight to improve volunteer impact
• Help shape a national volunteer programme that supports Children First's ambitious growth plans

We're looking for someone who

You might be the right person if you:

• Have experience recruiting, managing and developing volunteers
• Enjoy helping people grow their confidence and skills
• Can build trusted relationships with a wide range of people
• Are organised, adaptable and able to balance competing priorities
• Understand safeguarding, professional boundaries and quality assurance
• Believe in the power of volunteering to create social change
• Share our commitment to tackling child poverty and supporting families
• Are passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people

Experience in volunteer management, family support, advice services, community services or the third sector would be particularly valuable.

What you'll get from us

With Love. With Purpose. With Strength.

Alongside a role where you can make a genuine difference, you'll receive:

• 40 days annual leave including public holidays
• Flexible and hybrid working
• Generous pension scheme
• Westfield Health and wellbeing support
• Blue Light Card discounts
• A Fair Work accredited workplace
• Learning, development and career opportunities
• The chance to help shape a growing national service supporting families across Scotland

Who we are

Children First is Scotland's national children's charity.

We protect children from harm, support recovery from trauma and abuse and provide practical, emotional and financial support to families. We stand alongside children, families and communities because we believe every child deserves a safe childhood.

Our values guide everything we do:

With Love - We put children first with compassion and kindness, always.

With Purpose - We collaborate to transform children's lives together.

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

Join us and help build a volunteer movement that gives every family in Scotland a place to turn.

Passion4Fusion is looking for a compassionate and culturally aware Social Worker to join our team. In this role, you will support Black, Brown, and multi-ethnic parents /carers and families within Scotland’s social care system. You will play a critical role in promoting equitable care and fostering understanding of cultural differences while advocating for systemic change.

This position is ideal for someone committed to social justice, cultural competence, and improving outcomes for ethnically diverse communities.

Key Responsibilities

Family-Centered Support

• Build trusting relationships with parents/carers and families from diverse backgrounds, ensuring their voices are central to decision-making.
• Provide culturally safe parenting support, tailored to a families’ needs; e.g. early intervention to prevent crisis escalation; cultural expectations & children’s rights in Scotland; parenting an adolescent in a new culture; alternatives to physical punishment.
• Collaborate with families to develop care plans that respect and integrate their cultural values and traditions.

Cultural Competence and Advocacy

• Support parents/carers through advocacy in meetings with social care, helping them to articulate their views and challenging bias & discrimination where necessary.
• Identify and address cultural barriers in social care interventions, ensuring all children and families receive equitable treatment.
• Provide insights and advice on cultural best practices to colleagues and other professionals within the care system.

Community Engagement

• Partner with external stakeholders to bridge gaps between communities and the social care system.
• Actively participate in training sessions, workshops, and community programs designed to improve cultural awareness within social work.

Training and Development

• Attend and lead cultural competence training programs to improve understanding of unconscious bias, anti-racism, and systemic inequities.
• Act as a champion for anti-discriminatory practices within your team, organization & across the social care system.

Monitoring and Reporting

• Track and analyse care outcomes to ensure they are equitable and free from bias.
• Provide feedback to management on systemic barriers affecting families from Black, Brown, and ethnically diverse backgrounds, contributing to organizational change initiatives.
• Collect and share data on your project for example case studies and testimonials

Partnerships and Networking

• Collaborate with community leaders, advocacy groups, and other organisations to create holistic support networks for children and families.
• Represent the organization in community forums, fostering relationships to improve trust between communities and social care services.

Essential Qualifications

• A degree in Social Work and registration with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) OR significant experience providing community/parenting/therapeutic support to children & families in a professional context.
• Proven experience working with diverse and multi-ethnic communities.
• Understanding of Scotland’s safeguarding & child protection legislation.
• Strong understanding of cultural competence, anti-racism practices, and systemic inequities in social care.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build trust and understanding with diverse families.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Experience delivering or participating in training.
• Experience (lived or professional) of Scotland’s care system.
• Multilingual skills are a plus.

What We Offer

• Ongoing professional development, including cultural awareness and anti-racism training.
• Opportunities to work closely with advocacy groups on a regional and national level
• A supportive and inclusive work environment that values diversity and innovation.
• Flexible working arrangements to promote work-life balance.

As our Student Engagement Coordinator you’ll be the key player in making sure students’ voices are heard, valued, and acted upon. Your role is about empowering students to shape their student experience through structured feedback, effective representation, and collaboration with university staff.

You’ll develop the student voice in all aspects of representation (e.g. academic, liberation and governance). Most importantly, as part of the wider student engagement team, you’ll work for students to equip them with training, insight and confidence to lead change in their student experience.

What You’ll Do

• Empower Student Reps (30%) – Recruit, train, and support our Department Officers, Class Reps, Executive and Accountability Panel - giving them skills and confidence to be the voice of their peers. You will be there to guide, inform and empower students to represent their peers effectively across all aspects of their student experience.
• Deliver Training & Resources (30%) – Develop and run training sessions, toolkits, and resources to equip student reps with everything they need to influence academic decisions. This will include supporting students running for elections through guided sessions on manifesto development and support before, during and after elections.
• Help deliver on Student Priorities (30%) – working with the Full-Time Officers, Head of Student Engagement and a range of internal and external stakeholders you will be providing high-level research and influencing skills. Work with our 5 Schools and 28 Departments to make sure student voices shape learning and teaching. You will also be a key part of a Global Network working with counterparts in Dubai and Malaysia to enhance the student experience across Heriot-Watt.
• Work across HWUnion – from working with the Full-Time Officers to the Advice Hub, you will be working on a range of student-led and staff-directed projects and tasks which will be varied and deeply rewarding. This is often dependent on peak times of the Union (e.g. Elections, Welcome Events, Inductions)

Key Responsibilities

• Develop & Support all Representatives – Recruit, train, and empower our student reps, giving them the confidence, skills, and knowledge to advocate for their peers.
• Nurture Communities – You will be in dialogue with reps every day. We want someone who will be able to make connections, drive change for students and look for new ways of enhancing the student experience across the Heriot-Watt community.
• Shape our Union’s Democracy – work on a democracy review. Put simply, we want to engage and better-represent all of our members. You will be working with the Head of Student Engagement and others to design, implement and maintain our representation structures.
• Project Delivery – you will be working on Projects and in cross-disciplinary teams. You will be working within a Project Management framework to ensure we deliver for students and with students.

Your Superpowers

• Insightful & Student-Focused – You connect student feedback with real academic change, making sure reps feel heard and empowered.
• Skilled Communicator – Whether you’re chatting with students, University staff, or external partners, you adapt your approach to build strong, effective relationships.
• Proactive & Organised – You’re a multitasker who thrives on juggling projects, planning big events, and keeping things running smoothly.
• Curious & Impact-Driven – You love turning data and insights into action, using evidence to influence decision-making and improve the academic experience.

VALUES YOU’LL Champion

• Inclusivity: Make sure all our activities and communications are welcoming and make every student feel valued.
• Student Focused: Keep student needs at the heart of everything you do, building a vibrant and supportive community.
• Team Spirit: Collaborate effectively with staff, officers and students, creating a positive and engaging environment.

If you’re fired up about student voice and want to help shape a university experience where everyone feels heard, supported and celebrated – we’d love to hear from you. You don’t need to tick every single box, and we welcome lived experience as well as professional expertise.

About Us

We’re Heriot-Watt University Student Union, an independent charity buzzing with energy, driven by and for our students. We’re all about doing good, that’s why all surplus funds generated through Liberty’s Café, Geordies Bar and the Student Union Shop are channelled straight back into crucial student support services like our Advice Hub. So, yes, we're a charity, but we also mean business.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

At HWUnion, diversity isn’t just celebrated; it’s our strength. We thrive by bringing together voices from all walks of life, and we’re excited for you to help us champion this mission. At HWUnion, you’ll find more than just a job - you’ll find a community eager to welcome your talents. Let’s do something great together.

Do you want to make a real difference to the lives of people affected by kidney disease?

We’re looking for an experienced manager who wants to be part of work that genuinely transforms lives.

About Kidney Care UK

There are 7.2 million people with some form of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the UK, equivalent to 1 in 10 people. There are one million people in the UK who have CKD but are not aware of it.

Since 1975, Kidney Care UK has been at the forefront of supporting people with kidney disease. From our early days when we campaigned to introduce donor cards in the UK, we have worked hard to support and represent the interests of everyone affected by kidney disease.

About the Patient Support Service

The Patient Support Service provides practical, emotional and financial support for anyone affected by chronic kidney disease. Whatever the need presented, we empower people living with CKD and their families and carers to understand their options and make informed choices to positively navigate their experience of CKD. We’ll walk alongside them for as long as they need us to.

About the role

We are looking for a passionate and inspirational individual to lead our Patient Support service across Scotland & Northern Ireland. You and your team will reach kidney patients at their point of need and ensure they are supported or signposted to the services that will improve their wellbeing and maximise outcomes in line with the objectives of the service as directed by the Programme Manager/Head of Service.

Alongside our other Regional Managers, you will be the national face of Kidney Care UK patient support services, raising awareness of the service and the Charity and building strong relationships with the kidney patients, renal units, Kidney Patient Associations (KPAs), health professionals and other kidney stakeholder groups in your regions.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead a team of five Patient Support Officers to deliver an accessible, valued and effective service across your designated region. Responsibility for the training, development and wellbeing of the regional team.
• Lead the delivery of Kidney Care UK service and funder required outcomes into service delivery aligned with the Kidney Care Patient Support service strategy.
• Through in-person attendance at stakeholder events and meetings, build strong relationships with key decision makers and influencers in health and care commissioning and delivery in your region.
• Develop and maintain effective monitoring and measurement to demonstrate the outputs and effectiveness of the service and its impact on patient experience and outcomes.
• Using data and insight, report internally and externally with updates on regional issues, needs and challenges to inform service development.
• Manage the budget designated for your region, keeping accurate records of expenditure and reporting.
• Act as an organisational Designated Safeguarding Person in accordance with policy and procedures.

​About you

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

• Understanding of the workings of NHS patient care pathways.
• Experience of delivering patient support services in a kidney or related health condition environment.
• Understanding of kidney disease and the needs of people with kidney disease, their families and their carers.
• The ability to influence, inspire and effectively manage a team.
• Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to listen, with experience in building credibility with senior external stakeholders and managing relationships with diplomacy.

Experience of working within an NHS charity or large health related fundraising environment is highly desirable, as is understanding of relevant UK benefits legislation and entitlements.

Please note: You must live within one of the regions (Scotland or Northern Ireland) and have the ability to travel within those regions independently and on a regular basis. There may also be some travel across the UK.

What we offer

Working at Kidney Care UK is incredibly rewarding and you will see the life-changing impact that the charity has on kidney patients and their families:

• Flexi-time – we are flexible about start and finish times, and flexible about your location.
• Annual and Christmas leave – we offer 25 days annual leave for full time employees plus bank holidays. We also close for three days between Christmas and New Year, and you don’t need to take this from your annual leave allowance.
• Pension – you’ll be eligible for and auto-enrolled into a pension scheme where your employer will contribute 8% of your salary.
• Health cashback plan – ability to claim back a wide variety of routine medical treatments.
• Employee Assistance Programme – access to a wide variety of support including counselling, health resources and advice.
• Cycle2Work scheme
• Learning and development – you’ll be able to access the full benefits of our membership of Fundraising Everywhere, Charity Comms and NVCO.