Top job! National Policy Lead – Children and Young People
- Full time or Part time
- £34,877 – £40,023
- Hybrid: Edinburgh
- Closing 8th January 2026
- Advertised from 18th December 2025
- 21-35 hours, to be worked flexibly.
Role
The role
Scottish Women’s Aid has an opportunity to join their Policy team. This is an exciting position where the role holder will be responsible for working on policy relating to children and young people and domestic abuse, violence against women and girls, and gender related topics. They will work closely with the Membership, Training and Communications teams.
Background
Scottish Women’s Aid is Scotland’s leading voluntary sector organisation working to end domestic abuse and promoting effective policy and practice responses for women, children and young people who experience domestic abuse. We are the umbrella organisation for 32 autonomous Women’s Aid groups delivering direct services to women, children and young people across Scotland.
What you’ll do
Working across third sector organisations you will build and maintain relationships to input to policy and influencing, as SWA as well as jointly with others. You will maintain good working relationships with civil servants, challenging ideas and find solutions where necessary.
The role includes inputting to and submitting consultation responses, researching and writing briefings, preparing for SWA to providence evidence in parliament, keep our communications team up to date with policy inputs and changes, and input to good practice stemming from policy changes. All of these roles, requiring great working relationships across the organisation, but especially with Membership, Training and Communications.
What We Need
We’re looking for someone with experience in a similar role, with specific knowledge of the Scottish policy landscape and the potential that offers. We’re looking for someone who can work across domestic abuse as it relates to children and young people – examples include the Children’s Hearing system, child contact, the welfare system. We ask that you’re a self-starter, ready to apply these skills creatively to meet our strategic priorities. Excellent written and verbal communications skills go without saying: you’ll be skilled in the ability to engage confidently with a range of different audiences, and be adept at writing to suit them, working alongside colleagues across SWA and our members across the country.
We’re looking for someone who has:
- Knowledge of the Scottish policy landscape
- Awareness and understanding of the feminist analysis of domestic abuse and the impact on women, children and young people
- Demonstrable track record of developing and writing successfully in a policy context
- Highly organised approach to effective planning, delivery and the development of applicable tasks
- Drive to make a difference in a fast moving time of policy
Location
Blend of home working and office, based in Rose Street, Edinburgh or can be entirely home based anywhere in the UK. Please talk to us about your flexible working requirements!
What we offer
There are many reasons to work for Scottish Women’s Aid. We have a great working culture and our mission and vision attracts a brilliant staff team. Your hard work is rewarded with a package of support and benefits including:
- Flexible working - We offer flexible hybrid working options for the majority of our employees. Some posts are eligible for full-time homeworking. We also offer flexibility for staff and work/life balance through a number of flexible working options such as flexi time, condensed hours, job sharing.
- Pay - SWA are a Living wage employer, our pay and grading system offers a competitive starting salary and yearly progression.
- Annual Leave - We offer a full-time annual leave entitlement of 30 days (210 hours) per year plus 10 Public Holiday days (70 hours) per year. Leave is accrued at the rate of 3.33 days (23.3 hours) per month.
- Pension - SWA believes it's important that we help you save for your retirement so access to Nest pension scheme is given to all eligible employees. SWA contributes 10% of gross contractual earnings on the provision that the employee contributes a minimum of 3% towards their pension contributions.
- Learning and Development - SWA supports and develops staff to ensure they have the necessary skills, knowledge and abilities. There is an internal schedule of training on key skills and knowledge relevant to all staff. There is also scope to attend ad hoc training for employees who are working to develop specific skills.
- Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay - SWA offers staff who meet the criteria for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) an enhanced maternity pay of 20 weeks on full pay and 20 weeks on half pay.
- Wellbeing - As part of SWA’s commitment to staff wellbeing, staff are offered access to a confidential 24/7 health and Wellbeing service with AIG which provides confidential advice, counselling and legal support to all staff, and where applicable, immediate family members.
- Bike 2 Work - An interest-free loan to purchase a bike, can be arranged up to the value of £1,000.
- Edinburgh Leisure Gym Subsidies - Edinburgh based staff are able to access Edinburgh Leisure facilities for the reduced price of £1 per session.
POSITIVE ACTION
Applications will be accepted from women only under Schedule 9, part 1 of the Equality Act 2010.
Scottish Women’s Aid is an equal opportunities employer, all women, including women with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, may apply for women-only roles.
SWA are committed to recruiting a diverse workforce that is representative of the people we serve.
We are taking positive action to address an under-representation of minoritised and marginalised women within our workforce. We offer Disabled and racially minoritised women the option of requesting that their application is considered under the terms of our Guaranteed Interview Schemes. You will be asked if you wish to be considered when you complete our application form.
If you would like to discuss the job or any adjustments, whether due to disability or any other reason, please contact us on recruitment@womensaid.scot or on the phone on 0131 226 6606.
Application notes
Please visit our website for more information including a job description and application guidance.
If you would prefer not to exclusively write your application, you can send us an existing CV and a video or a voice note which answers question 11 on the application form in no more than 5 minutes to recruitment@womensaid.scot
Please see the attached documents for more information about the role and the next steps in the recruitment process.
Vacancies | Scottish Women's Aid (womensaid.scot)
For any questions relating to the vacancy please contact recruitment@womensaid.scot
Scottish Women’s Aid is a company limited by guarantee, company no. SC128433,
and a charity registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, charity no. SC001099.
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Policy and Practice Officer, Children and Young People
- Part time
- £33,537 pro-rata
- Hybrid: Edinburgh
- Closing 5th January 2026
About Us
Zero Tolerance is a Scottish charity working to end men’s violence against women by promoting gender equality and challenging attitudes which normalise violence and abuse. We are a values-led organisation and seek to improve the way we integrate feminism, equality, and diversity into our work. We ensure our HR policies and practices reflect our values (including enhanced parental leave, miscarriage and menopause policies and flexible working) and our salary framework is fair and competitive. We are committed to staff learning and development and have a paid reading week for all staff.
Zero Tolerance has a commitment to diversity and challenging all forms of inequality alongside gender inequality. We are open to as many different voices as there are experiences, and to all genders, and particularly welcome applications from Minority Ethnic, LGBT+, disabled, migrant, and other backgrounds currently underrepresented within the women’s sector.
We achieve change in the following ways:
- Raise public and political awareness of the root cause of VAWG (gender inequality) and call for action.
- Challenge and support key institutions to embed primary prevention of VAWG in their work.
- Advance and share the evidence base on preventing VAWG.
What you’ll do
Children and young people deserve to grow up in environments that are safe and equal, and that equip them with the skills, knowledge and attitudes to have healthy, respectful relationships. This role works to influence both the policy that sets the standards for safety and equality in young people’s environments (from schools to youth work and the home) and the practice that delivers it.
This is a wide field but is given focus by our organisational strategy, which currently focuses on the behaviour of men and boys, the need to be inclusive of marginalised voices, and feminist leadership.
The role interacts closely with the Under Pressure Support Officer, which co-ordinates our training for professionals who work with young people, and our Policy Officer, as well as the wider Zero Tolerance team.
What we need
The successful candidate will have previous experience in a similar role, in a paid or voluntary capacity, with knowledge and understanding of violence against women and gender equality. You’ll be a skilled communicator with the ability to present complex ideas to a variety of audiences including senior politicians, stakeholders and partners.
You will also have:
- A shared understanding of our vision, values, aims and positions
- Understanding of the Scottish political landscape
- The ability to understand complex policy issues, articulate clear and focused responses, and make judgements based on evidence
- Organisational skills, managing both reactive and planned work
- Proven experience of building networks
What do we offer?
- Competitive salary with annual pay progression. We operate a grading structure based on five salary grades. New employees start on point 1 of each salary grade and receive annual increments until the top of the grade is reached. This role is Grade 3, pro rata of £33,537.08 - £ 37,018.66.
- Staff pension scheme (6% employers’ contribution).
- 28 days annual leave plus 10 public holidays (pro-rata) and a flexible working hours policy.
- We actively encourage continuous professional development for all our employees and have implemented a paid reading week and continuous training opportunities for individual learning and whole team development.
About Us
Zero Tolerance is a Scottish charity working to end men’s violence against women by promoting gender equality and challenging attitudes which normalise violence and abuse. We are a values-led organisation and seek to improve the way we integrate feminism, equality, and diversity into our work. We ensure our HR policies and practices reflect our values (including enhanced parental leave, miscarriage and menopause policies and flexible working) and our salary framework is fair and competitive. We are committed to staff learning and development and have a paid reading week for all staff.
Zero Tolerance has a commitment to diversity and challenging all forms of inequality alongside gender inequality. We are open to as many different voices as there are experiences, and to all genders, and particularly welcome applications from Minority Ethnic, LGBT+, disabled, migrant, and other backgrounds currently underrepresented within the women’s sector.
We achieve change in the following ways:
- Raise public and political awareness of the root cause of VAWG (gender inequality) and call for action.
- Challenge and support key institutions to embed primary prevention of VAWG in their work.
- Advance and share the evidence base on preventing VAWG.
What you’ll do
You will lead work to gather and interpret evidence that informs Scotland’s understanding of primary prevention, ensuring that the voices and experiences of marginalised groups shape national conversations and decision-making. This role strengthens our commitment to intersectional and participatory approaches by developing research that reflects the realities of those most affected by men’s violence against women and girls. You will support colleagues across the organisation to embed this learning into our policy, engagement and influencing work, helping to ensure that every part of Zero Tolerance’s activity is grounded in inclusive, meaningful evidence.
What we need
The successful candidate will have experience in a research role, in a paid or voluntary capacity, with knowledge and understanding of violence against women, gender equality and intersectional approaches. You’ll be confident using a range of research methods and able to communicate complex ideas clearly and accessibly.
You will also have:
- Experience using qualitative and quantitative research methods, including feminist, participatory and intersectional approaches
- Ability to analyse research data, identify gaps and produce clear, accessible outputs for different audiences
- Strong organisational and problem-solving skills, managing both reactive and planned work
- Experience building effective relationships and working collaboratively, including with external contractors
- A diplomatic, self-motivated and values-led approach, with willingness to adapt to the needs of a small charity
What do we offer?
- Competitive salary with annual pay progression. We operate a grading structure based on five salary grades. New employees start on point 1 of each salary grade and receive annual increments until the top of the grade is reached. This role is Grade 3, pro rata of £33,537.08 - £ 37,018.66.
- Staff pension scheme (6% employers’ contribution).
- 28 days annual leave plus 10 public holidays (pro-rata) and a flexible working hours policy.
- We actively encourage continuous professional development for all our employees and have implemented a paid reading week and continuous training opportunities for individual learning and whole team development.
Team Leader
- Full time
- £39,800
- On site: Based in Kilmarnock, providing services throughout East Ayrshire
- Closing 5th January 2026
East Ayrshire Women’s Aid support women, children and young people affected by domestic abuse. We are looking for a compassionate and motivated Team Leader to join our management team. You will lead and support a team of practitioners to deliver high quality, trauma informed services that are safe, effective and responsive to the needs of the women and children we work with.
You will be an experienced supervisor or line manager with a strong knowledge of safeguarding, risk assessment and trauma informed practice. You will have excellent communication and problem-solving skills and the ability to motivate others.
We offer flexible working hours (where appropriate), a 7% employers pension contribution and generous annual leave entitlement and learning and development opportunities.
Women’s Support and Advocacy Worker with MARAC
- Full time
- £26,563 – £29,652
- On site: Fife
- Closing 15th January 2026
Fife Women’s Aid are looking for a full-time member of staff to join our existing MARAC team, working with women experiencing domestic abuse who are at high levels of risk.
If you want to help make a difference in the lives of women, children and young people with experience of domestic abuse, have direct experience of providing one to one person-centred support, an understanding of the causes and impacts of domestic abuse along with good interpersonal skills then you may be the person we are looking for.
Applicants will have at least 2 years’ experience of working in a support or advocacy role. The MARAC team is a small supportive team with a wealth of experience to share with new workers. Training will also be provided for the successful candidates.
The successful applicant(s) will have at least SVQ Level III or equivalent level of qualification in social care or other relevant subject, or equivalent experience and willingness to work towards a qualification.
Please join us for an online session to find out more about FWA MARAC service. This will be at 6.30pm on Monday 5th January 2026. Please confirm your attendance to info@fifewomensaid.org.uk and we will send you details of the zoom meeting. We hope to see you there.
Fife Women’s Aid is a feminist organisation and strives to be a supportive and empowering employer offering competitive terms and conditions.
Membership of Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme is a requirement for this post.
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