Early Careers Manager

Early Careers Manager

Remote – With regular travel to branches across the UK!

Full Time – Permanent role

Paying a salary of £42,000, plus £4,500 car allowance
 

Are you an experienced Early Careers professional passionate about developing future talent and leading impactful, high-volume programmes? We are looking for a forward-thinking Early Careers Manager to shape and deliver our Group-wide early talent strategy—aligning workforce needs with high-quality, innovative career pathways.

This is an exciting time, with this BRAND-NEW role and the opportunity to make a positive impact from day on!

Mears Group is one of the UK’s largest providers of housing solutions for both public and private sectors, delivering services across repairs, maintenance, regeneration, building with care, planned works, and facilities management. With over 5,400 employees, Mears maintains more than 700,000 homes nationwide and is the leading partner in social housing upkeep, supporting councils, housing associations, and government bodies

About the role:

Working with key internal and external stakeholders to oversee the effective delivery of Early Careers programmes across the Mears Group, including work experience, employability schemes, apprenticeships and Graduate Management programmes.

You will join a purpose-driven organisation at a pivotal time of growth. You will be instrumental in developing and managing early careers initiatives that attract, engage, and retain the next generation of skilled professionals across our business.

Key Responsibilities:

• Workforce Planning:
  Partner with senior leaders across the Group to identify shortfalls within the skills pipeline. Evaluate the effectiveness of in-house schemes and develop resourcing plans to meet workforce demands.

• Talent Attraction & Programme Oversight:
  Lead the development, and oversight of early careers programmes including apprenticeships, T Level, work experience and graduate programmes to meet both contractual and operational needs. Ensuring a positive experience that reflects our organisational values liaising with internal and external stakeholders to ensure high standards and meaningful outcomes.

• Quality Assurance & Compliance:
  Monitor learner and branch satisfaction, programme compliance, and progression outcomes. Use insights to shape policies, procedures, and documentation that uphold internal quality assurance standards.

• Insight & Reporting:
  Provide regular, data-driven reports to stakeholders on performance, impact, risks, and opportunities. Contribute to strategic planning and support Group-wide initiatives and projects.

• Sector Research & Innovation:
  Stay abreast of industry trends and best practice. Translate findings into creative, value-adding initiatives tailored to business needs.

• Funding Strategy & Partnership Management:
  Identify training gaps and work with internal experts regarding maximising government funded schemes and supply chain partners to secure funding and deliver effective, scalable solutions.

• Work Experience & Inclusion Programmes:
  Oversee the coordination of early engagement opportunities; including work experience, T Levels, internships, and employability schemes, ensuring accessibility for all, particularly under-represented groups.

Key Criteria:

• Experience managing large-scale apprenticeship and early careers programmes

• Proven track record of designing, implementing, and evaluating talent pipelines

• Skilled in mentoring and supporting early talent

• Strong project management skills; being able to balance multiple workstreams and deadlines

• Familiarity with H&S, GDPR, and safeguarding requirements

• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills

• Strong IT proficiency (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook)

• Flexibility with work schedule and overnight stays

All our roles require candidates to have the entitlement to work within the UK, Mears does not currently offer visa sponsorship.

To drive a Mears vehicle, you must be aged over 21 have held your licence over 3 months and have less than 9 points.

Candidates should be aware that all our roles are subject to relevant DBS/Security checks before commencement of employment. 

You will thrive in this role if you are:

• A confident stakeholder manager, comfortable influencing at all levels

• Highly resilient, proactive, and self-motivated

• Naturally inquisitive, creative, and solutions-oriented

• Diplomatic, approachable, and organised

• Trusted to deliver with integrity and accountability

Benefits:

• Staff perks with Mears Rewards - discounts of up to 10% on coffee, weekly groceries holidays, the list is endless 

• Excellent training and development opportunities

• 25 days holiday entitlement along with bank holidays.  

• Access to employee support and wellbeing services

• Mears offer a company pension, life insurance and share scheme

• Annual Mears Fun Day - Our annual Fun Day is organised as a massive thank you from the Executive team for all the hard work!

• Volunteering Leave - Mears supports employees to undertake volunteering in the community, in support of our social value commitment 

• Family friendly policies

You will play a key role in shaping the future of our workforce while driving inclusion, innovation, and excellence in early talent development. If you’re ready to lead programmes that make a real impact, click on the link below to apply now.

Apply below or to discuss your application further; contact:

If you need any help with your application process, we are here to support you. We will be accessible every step of the way.

At Mears Group, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive, we are a Disability Confident employer, valuing individuality and ensuring equal opportunities for all.

We proudly support the Armed Forces Covenant and are honoured to have achieved the Gold Award in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) to coincide with this, we hold an Endorser Award for the Career Transition Partnership, recognising our commitment to veterans transitioning into civilian careers.

In our continued effort to promote social mobility, we invite applicants to voluntarily share their background information during the application stages to help us better understand the diverse experiences of our candidates. This is to ensure we are committed to improving social mobility. We use the Social Mobility Index to assess and enhance opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds. These questions are optional and will not impact your ability to apply.