Job: Partnership and Quality Lead Careers Education, Learning and Development

Salary: £44,075 - £48,226
Hours: Full time - 36.25 hours

Contract: Fixed Term Contract until 31/07/2027

Location: Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Tootal Building, 54 Oxford Road, Manchester (with a hybrid approach to working location).

Advert closing date: Tuesday 31th March

Your role:

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Youth, Employment and Opportunities Team, in the Education Work and Skills Directorate at a pivotal time in our devolution journey.

Our team of Partnership and Quality Leads (PQLs) play a central role in shaping the future of careers education across Greater Manchester through dynamic collaboration, building strong effective relationships between education, employers, providers, local authorities and other system partners. Together, creating the conditions for all our children and young people to have the opportunity to thrive, with a clear line of sight towards progression pathways and good jobs in our growing economy.

We are recruiting a PQL to bring a specialist focus to the team, taking a leading role in developing a system-wide Learning and Development Framework (L&D), supporting the progression and impact of the Greater Manchester Careers Hub’s Community of Practice (CoP). A bespoke GM system model designed to elevate highquality, inclusive careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) for all.

In this role, you’ll lead the design, cocreation and implementation of a highquality L&D Framework that strengthens practice across the GM careers education system whilst having the ability to work in an agile way with clusters of education providers and employers, responding to emerging strategic priorities and operational needs.

A key part of the role is championing organisational development: enhancing communication, supporting collaboration and ensuring our careers education community works seamlessly together to help young people thrive. You will accelerate innovation, deliver progress at pace and ensure the framework strengthens practice, drives consistency and captures and embeds excellence across the system.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone with strong L&D expertise, a passion for organisational development and a commitment to improving outcomes for young people to join the team!

This role directly supports the Greater Manchester Strategy, supporting the Mayor’s ambitions to transform technical education through the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate ensuring young people leave education with a clear line of sight to future pathways and jobs, equipped to succeed in the labour market.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and implementation of a structured framework that captures and shares learning, delivers impactful professional development activity, strengthens knowledge exchange, and drive system-wide innovation.
• Embed robust evaluation processes to inform continuous improvement across the careers education system, through the L&D framework
• Support the advancement of the strategic Community of Practice forums to drive consistent, high-quality and impactful CEIAG across Greater Manchester
• Use data and insight to inform place-based prioritisation and continuous improvement
• Build and quality assure partnerships between education, employers, and wider system partners
• Embed youth voice and influence
• Align CEIAG provision with Greater Manchester’s priority gateway sectors, translating labour market information (LMI) into clear, accessible insights that support informed decisionmaking
• Champion equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) embedding inclusive practices across the Community of Practice
• Monitor and analyse performance and impact, using tools such as the Gatsby Benchmarks and the Careers Impact System, identifying trends and opportunities for improvement.

About you:

We are looking for an enthusiastic, tenacious and motivated Partnership and Quality Lead who can work at pace to develop a cohesive learning and development framework, and who can operate flexibly and agilely in the PQL role to meet the emerging strategic priorities and operational needs of the GM Community of Practice.

• Bring a dynamic approach to partnership development, stakeholder engagement, and system learning
• Are passionate about improving outcomes for young people
• Understand impactful, accessible learning and development, with the ability to design, deliver or influence professional development that strengthens practice across the system
• Have exceptional organisational and project management skills, with the ability to support innovation and improvement across complex systems, balancing diverse stakeholder priorities and perspectives
• Can analyse data to contribute to strategic planning, target priorities and drive equity
• Are confident in facilitating collaboration and communicating with senior stakeholder
• Are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion, embedding inclusive practices and amplifying underrepresented voices and youth centred design
• Understand the challenges and opportunities in careers education across education phases and can translate system learning into consistently high-quality and embedded practice

Additional Information:

This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974) and will require an Enhanced DBS check. You will be expected to uphold GMCA’s values and behaviours, maintain confidentiality, and contribute to inclusive and sustainable service delivery.