Young Change Agents is a social enterprise that helps youth see problems as opportunities through the lens of social enterprise. We use design thinking and lean start-up methodologies to build the mindset, skillset and toolset of youth and their supporters.

We’re looking for an outstanding facilitator, community builder, and program manager to join our team and manage our work across New South Wales. Your focus will be delivering incredible youth social entrepreneurship projects using your strengths in program management, business development and advocacy. You’ll be joining an inspiring team made up of entrepreneurs, educators and startup experts who are both passionate and experienced in preparing young people for the future.

This role is:

• Sydney-based with travel in regional NSW and other States as required
• Full time (a 12-month fixed term contract starting February 2022)
• 70% program management and delivery, 20% business development and ecosystem strengthening, 10% youth championing and advocacy.

Job Maker-eligible candidates are welcome to apply.

You’ll know you’re the right person for this role if:

• You love all things start-up (innovation, design thinking, lean start-up, ecosystems)
• You are confident managing relationships and persistent in building new connections
• You can’t think of anything more exciting then supporting the next generation to solve real problems through social entrepreneurship, with experience to back this up
• You are amazing at managing projects, in how to make them happen from start to finish
• You are comfortable with mucking in and thinking on your feet - facilitating or training community members one day, helping with a marketing campaign the next day and meeting with partners to build the ecosystem for learning in that region the next
• You are culturally sensitive, an expert communicator and engaging in your facilitation style. You are confident enough to facilitate in all situations and empathetic enough to change your style to suit the context (e.g. working with Indigenous communities)
• You are tech savvy and have experience with Canva and video editing tools as well as digital learning tools and communications platforms such as Zoom, Salesforce and Trello.

Design thinking and/or lean start-up experience will also be highly regarded as well as experience in education or youth empowerment.

OUR TEAM COMES FROM A DIVERSE RANGE OF BACKGROUNDS, BUT WE SHARE THE FOLLOWING TRAITS:

• We love social enterprise as a model for creating social impact.
• We are super-passionate about working with youth. We are natural facilitators and mentors and we quickly build rapport with youth.
• We are experienced in design-thinking including familiarity with tools like the social lean canvas. We love nothing more than helping teams think critically and creatively and to communicate their ideas well. That is a source of energy and motivation!
• We all share in Young Change Agent’s mission as a champion for teachers and youth workers. We value training and building capacity to deliver quality education.
• We thrive on variation. We like facilitating youth programs one day and liaising with corporate and government partners the next.
• We have logistics and administration covered. We can keep on top of reporting requirements and care about details.
• We are always thinking, “how can we make this happen”. We think outside of the box to make the most social impact
• We are brand ambassadors for Young Change Agents – happy to represent Young Change Agents in business development opportunities and as a speaker from time-to-time.

THE KEY PARTS OF THE ROLE ARE:

Program management and delivery (70%)

Manage and deliver the rollout of entrepreneurial education and community youth programs across VIC as required including program set-up, facilitation and follow up. Use your best-practice design thinking and lean start-up knowledge to equip local educators with professional development and support to embed entrepreneurial pathways into their schools. Deliver and manage Young Change Agents’ specialist programs: Youth Incubator (YINC), retail social enterprise-in-a-box and partner programs such as the Academy for Enterprising Girls. This will include face to face delivery of programs in schools.

Business development and partnerships (ecosystem development) (20%)

Strengthen/ further develop key partnerships with relevant stakeholders including State and Local Government, local entrepreneurs, startup hubs and industry partners, community organisations, universities, schools and youth groups. In these conversations you’re ensuring our work is closely aligned with strategic plans, including YCA as an advocate for entrepreneurial learning. This will include running stakeholder workshops, taster sessions and briefings as well as business development and booking in fee for service programs. You will also identify additional options for funding initiatives in the region into the future including for our second stage incubator program, YINC.

Youth championing and advocacy (10%)

Advocate for and amplify the voice of youth to ensure their ideas are heard more widely than the classroom. This will involve the use of YCA tools including the website platform, social media, face-to-face mentoring and introductions.