Participation Practice Lead
Type of employment: Open contract, 35 hours/week.
Salary: £47,389 - £58,225
Closing Date: 13 November 2025
Change-makers sought!
Do you want to help Scotland to Keep The Promise? At CELCIS, we are driven by a powerful ambition: to create lasting, transformational change in the lives of children, young people, and families.
About you
We’re looking for a values-led leader to join us as our Participation Practice Lead, to lead and manage our involvement and participation function. The successful candidate will build on the strong foundations on participatory practice that have been established at CELCIS and will have an opportunity to shape the role and develop CELCIS’s work into new areas. In this role, you’ll support the workforce and leaders to create readiness and build the confidence, skills, and culture needed to involve people with lived experience in safe, ethical, and meaningful ways. You’ll design and facilitate reflective learning spaces, co-production activities, and inclusive activities that are trauma-informed and rights-based.
About the role
Central to this role is a commitment to trauma-informed practice, safeguarding, and emotional wellbeing, ensuring that all involvement is safe, respectful, and supportive for everyone. The postholder will lead and manage CELCIS’s involvement and participation function in line with our Strategy and Business Plan. This includes line management and project/matrix leadership responsibilities. Externally, the successful applicant will build strong partnerships, influence national conversations, and support the workforce to reflect, learn, and improve. Internally, the postholder will shape CELCIS’s culture and practice, ensuring lived experience is a visible, valued and embedded throughout our work. They will work closely with CELCIS’s own highly experienced, multidisciplinary team, bringing together expertise in social work, education, health, research, and implementation. The Participation Practice Lead will be skilled in using creative and innovative methods and approaches to engage people with lived experience, particularly those whose voices are least heard.
About CELCIS
At CELCIS we work to improve the lives of children and young people in need of care and protection, and their families and carers. We do this by supporting people and organisations responsible for their care to make changes in services and in the practices and skills they use, all based on the needs, experiences and rights of children and young people.
CELCIS is part of Strathclyde University and staff are university employees with access to rewards and benefits including annual salary increments and membership of the Universities Superannuation Scheme. We are also committed to promoting a healthy work-life balance and offer a number of benefits including flexible working, paid maternity and paternity leave, an on-campus nursery and access to the Strathclyde Sport leisure centre.
Qualifications and experience
Candidates need to have a relevant degree or relevant professional experience in the appropriate field (e.g. social work, community development, youth work, social sciences). Also, they will have significant experience in leading and overseeing approaches to participation/involvement work with people with lived experience of support, care or protection services. Experience of leading project teams and managing complex projects to meet strategic goals across diverse environments is also required for this role, and as is a demonstrable track record of overseeing involvement, engagement and co-production projects or programmes that have influenced policy, practice, or services.
Formal interviews will be held on 4 December 2025.
Informal enquiries about the post can be directed to Kathleen Doyle, Head of Strategy (kathleen.doyle@strath.ac.uk).
This is an open-ended contract that is linked to Grant funding and the continuation of the post is linked to renewal of this funding.
We are working across the country, at local and national level, to help realise The Promise of the Independent Care Review. Change is happening. Be part of it. Together we can make things better for children, young people and their families and carers. Apply now.