Early Years Scotland has an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and motivated Project Manager to lead and support the delivery of Rise & Shine, an innovative whole-family wellbeing programme delivered through a collaborative, multi-agency approach.

Early Years Scotland is a registered charity and Scotland’s leading national specialist organisation dedicated to supporting our youngest children, from pre-birth to age five. With nearly sixty years of experience as an expert Third Sector organisation, we take immense pride in our long-standing commitment to those who work for and on behalf of Scotland’s youngest children.

The Project Manager will provide strategic and operational leadership for Rise & Shine, ensuring the effective delivery, quality, sustainability and ongoing development of the service.

The postholder will oversee a relationship-based Stay, Play and Learn model supporting children from birth to five and their families through early learning, family engagement, attachment-focused practice and community-based support. Working closely with local authority, health and third sector partners, the Project Manager will drive positive outcomes for children and families, strengthen partnerships, evidence impact and support future growth and innovation.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic development and day-to-day management of Rise & Shine.
• Ensure delivery aligns with key national policies and frameworks, including GIRFEC, The Promise, Realising the Ambition, the Infant Pledge and Whole Family Wellbeing.
• Drive continuous improvement through evaluation, family feedback and emerging best practice.
• Manage programme budgets, resources, performance targets and reporting requirements.
• Ensure compliance with safeguarding, health and safety, GDPR and organisational policies.
• Line management and support of Family Engagement Practitioners, Parent Connectors and project staff.
• Promote a culture of reflective practice, professional development and staff wellbeing.
• Champion high-quality early years practice, attachment-informed approaches and children’s rights.
• Support inclusive pathways for children and families, including those with additional support needs.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with local authorities, health services, community organisations and funders.
• Develop effective referral pathways and integrated approaches to family support.
• Represent Rise & Shine at strategic meetings, partnership forums and stakeholder events.
• Lead monitoring, evaluation and impact reporting, including the use of outcome measurement tools such as Family Star Plus.
• Produce high-quality reports and evidence of impact for funders, partners and senior leaders.
• Support the development of the Parent Connector model and promote pathways into volunteering, training and employment.
• Ensure the voices and lived experiences of children, parents and communities inform service delivery and development.
• Identify opportunities for service growth, sustainability and expansion.

This role offers an exciting opportunity to lead a highly impactful early years and family support programme that is improving outcomes for children, strengthening families and building resilient communities.

What We’re Looking For

• Experience of leading and managing early years, family support, community development or wellbeing services.
• Experience of managing staff, volunteers or multidisciplinary teams, with a commitment to coaching, support and professional development.
• A strong understanding of child development, attachment theory, parental engagement and relationship-based practice.
• Knowledge of current Scottish policy and legislation impacting children and families, including GIRFEC, The Promise, UNCRC, Realising the Ambition and Whole Family Wellbeing approaches.
• Experience of developing and maintaining effective partnerships with local authorities, health services, third sector organisations and community groups.
• Demonstrable experience of project management, including budget management, performance monitoring and reporting against outcomes.
• Experience of monitoring, evaluation and impact measurement, using data and evidence to inform service improvement and demonstrate outcomes.
• Strong leadership and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, services and stakeholders effectively.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence, build relationships and represent the service at a strategic level.
• Confidence in producing high-quality reports, presentations and funding updates for a range of audiences.
• Understanding of safeguarding, child protection and risk management within services for children and families.
• A commitment to children’s rights, participation and ensuring the voices of children, families and communities shape service delivery.
• Experience of supporting families facing poverty, inequality, trauma, social isolation or additional barriers to engagement.
• A collaborative and solution-focused approach, with the ability to work closely with colleagues, partners, funders and local communities.
• A passion for improving outcomes for children and families and a commitment to Early Years Scotland’s values

What Early Years Scotland will offer

• Competitive salary and generous annual leave
• Family-friendly policies that support work-life balance
• 5% employer pension contribution after 3 months
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Ongoing professional learning and development opportunities
• A supportive, collaborative team culture where your contribution is valued
• The opportunity to build a genuinely new function for the organisation, with lasting impact for children and families across Scotland beyond the funded period

Qualifications

Applicants’ qualifications should be consistent with those required to register as a Manager with SSSC (e.g., BA Childhood Practice, PDA Level 9). Membership of the PVG Scheme will also be required.

Are you passionate about children’s rights, evidence and storytelling? Early Years Scotland is seeking an Evaluation and Storytelling Officer to help us understand, capture and share the difference our work makes to children and families across Scotland, and to give our teams and our funders the evidence and stories that show what that difference really looks like.

This is an exciting new role for Early Years Scotland. You will design a children’s rights-aligned impact framework, produce evaluation reports across our services, and develop age-appropriate ways to capture the voices of the children and families we support. You will also lead a transformation of how we tell our story across our website and social media and work closely with our Head of Grants and Strategic Fundraising to capture and turn family stories, quotes and evidence into material that strengthens funding applications and corporate partnership pitches.

Early Years Scotland is a registered charity and Scotland’s leading national specialist organisation dedicated to supporting our youngest children, from pre-birth to age five. With nearly sixty years of experience as an expert Third Sector organisation, we take immense pride in our long-standing commitment to those who work for and on behalf of Scotland’s youngest children.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and embed a children’s rights-aligned impact measurement framework across EYS services, mapping our outcomes to articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Develop simple, consistent tools for recording outcomes, participant feedback and service stories that work alongside frontline teams rather than creating extra burden for them.
• Produce evaluation reports for EYS services across our early years, family support, prison-based, and membership services.
• Develop and apply age-appropriate, participatory methods to capture the voices of children and families, so that even our youngest participants have a meaningful role in how EYS understands and communicates its impact.
• Audit and transform EYS’s approach to storytelling across our website and social media, moving from ad hoc communication to a strategic, evidence-led approach.
• Build a bank of compelling family stories, quotes and case studies, working directly with families and children to shape and voice that narrative with dignity, sensitivity and accuracy.
• Work closely with the Head of Grants and Strategic Fundraising, providing case studies, quotes and evaluation evidence to strengthen funding applications and support corporate partnership pitches.
• Develop family stories specifically designed to support fundraising, helping EYS build new relationships with donors.

What We’re Looking For

• Experience of monitoring, evaluation or impact measurement, ideally within a charity, early years or family support setting.
• A confident, sensitive storyteller, able to gather and write compelling family stories and case studies with care and accuracy.
• An understanding of the UNCRC and Scottish Government child and family-based policy, or a willingness to learn and apply a children’s rights-based approach.
• Skill in developing simple, practical tools that frontline teams will actually use.
• Excellent written communication skills, comfortable adapting tone and content for funders, social media and web audiences.
• Confidence engaging directly with children and families, including in sensitive settings such as our prison-based family services.
• Strong organisational skills, able to manage multiple services and deadlines.
• A collaborative approach, able to work closely with the Head of Grants and Strategic Fundraising, extended management team and across frontline teams.

What Early Years Scotland will offer

• Competitive salary and generous annual leave
• Family-friendly policies that support work-life balance
• 5% employer pension contribution after 3 months
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Ongoing professional learning and development opportunities
• A supportive, collaborative team culture where your contribution is valued
• The opportunity to build a genuinely new function for the organisation, with lasting impact for children and families across Scotland beyond the funded period

Qualifications

• Relevant qualifications and equivalent professional experience will be considered for this role.

Are you passionate about using your skills to support a cause that makes a real difference? Early Years Scotland is seeking an experienced Family Engagement Practitioners to join our amazing staff team delivering our family wellbeing services across West Central Scotland.

Early Years Scotland is a registered charity and Scotland’s leading national specialist organisation dedicated to supporting our youngest children, from pre-birth to age five. With nearly sixty years of experience as an expert Third Sector organisation, we take immense pride in our long-standing commitment to those who work for and on behalf of Scotland’s youngest children.

Key Responsibilities

Family Engagement Practitioners (FEPs) with Early Years Scotland (EYS) have a unique, exciting role within the early years sector. An EYS Family Engagement Practitioner has responsibility for providing support and promoting parental engagement and a whole family wellbeing service through the adoption of a multi-agency collaborative approach.

Our EYS staff team work together with children and families on a continual basis, across a variety of settings within communities with a focus on enriching and enhancing parental skills and capacity to improve, strengthen and maximise:

• positive attachments and relationships between parents/carers and children
• early literacy and communication skills
• shared interactions and approaches to learning
• cost-free, enriching and nurturing home learning environments
• healthy living approaches
• support for entitlements
• meaningful transitions

You will be fully involved in shaping, developing, and evaluating our programmes and innovative shared play and learning sessions you deliver.

What Early Years Scotland will offer

EYS will likewise invest in you, providing regular and supported professional learning and experience opportunities that will enhance your career profile, develop your skills and knowledge in creative and unique ways and inspire your practice in new and exciting ways!

• Competitive salary and generous annual leave
• Family-friendly policies that support work-life balance
• 5% employer pension contribution after 3 months
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Ongoing professional learning and development opportunities
• A supportive, collaborative team culture where your contribution is valued
• The opportunity to build a genuinely new function for the organisation, with lasting impact for children and families across Scotland beyond the funded period

Qualifications

Applicants’ qualifications must be consistent with those required to register as a Practitioner with SSSC, e.g.:

• HNC Childhood Practice at SCQF Level 7
• SVQ Social Services (Children and Young People) at SCQF Level 7
• Additional ELC qualifications welcomed

PVG Scheme membership will be required.

Are you passionate about using your skills to support a cause that makes a real difference? Early Years Scotland is seeking a Finance Administrator to help ensure the smooth and effective management of our finances, providing the accurate financial information, administration and support that enables our teams to deliver high-quality services for children and families across Scotland.

Early Years Scotland is a registered charity and Scotland’s leading national specialist organisation dedicated to supporting our youngest children, from pre-birth to age five. With nearly sixty years of experience as an expert Third Sector organisation, we take immense pride in our long-standing commitment to those who work for and on behalf of Scotland’s youngest children.

Key Responsibilities

As a Finance Administrator, you will play a vital role in ensuring the smooth and effective financial operation of Early Years Scotland. Working closely with the Head of Finance and People and as part of a supportive Finance Team, you will:

• Process financial transactions accurately and efficiently, ensuring all income and expenditure is recorded in a timely manner.
• Maintain financial records and process income and expenditure.
• Support the preparation and monitoring of budgets and management accounts, helping to provide meaningful financial information to support decision-making.
• Carry out regular bank reconciliations and assist in maintaining effective financial controls.
• Support payroll and pension administration, helping to ensure staff are paid accurately and on time.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of finance processes and systems, ensuring they remain efficient, reliable and fit for purpose.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the organisation, providing professional and responsive finance support.

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for someone who is organised, reliable and committed to high standards of financial administration. You will have:

• Experience of bookkeeping and financial administration, with a sound understanding of core accounting processes.
• Experience using Sage 50 Accounts or similar accounting software, including the confidence to seek technical support where required.
• A good understanding of payroll administration and associated processes.
• Experience of online banking systems and financial transaction processing.
• Experience carrying out bank reconciliations accurately and efficiently.
• Strong attention to detail and the ability to manage competing priorities effectively.
• Excellent organisational skills and a proactive approach to problem-solving.
• A commitment to the highest standards of accuracy, integrity, confidentiality and professionalism.

What Early Years Scotland will offer

• Competitive salary and generous annual leave
• Family-friendly policies that support work-life balance
• 5% employer pension contribution after 3 months
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Ongoing professional learning and development opportunities
• A supportive, collaborative team culture where your contribution is valued
• The opportunity to build a genuinely new function for the organisation, with lasting impact for children and families across Scotland beyond the funded period

Qualifications

Although there is no requirement for a specific qualification, any relevant, recognised qualifications will be valued.