Work with us
One Small Thing is growing! Join our ground-breaking team committed to redesigning the justice system for women and their children. As vacancies come up they will be posted below.
Head of Quality and Practice
Salary: £50,000 - £55,000 FTE per annum
Hours: 37 hours per week
Location: Southampton
Closing Date: 5pm on Monday 2nd November 2026
Purpose of the Role
The Head of Quality and Practice is a senior operational leadership role responsible for strengthening the quality, consistency and effectiveness of practice across Hope Street’s trauma-informed residential community for justice-involved women and their children.
Working closely with the Community Director, you will lead the development and consistent delivery of high-quality practice across the Hope Street Hub and supported housing. You will contribute to strategic planning and service development, and lead quality assurance and improvement processes so that the operational model remains safe, effective and responsive to the needs of the women and children we support.
You will provide reflective leadership to key members of the team, modelling trauma informed and responsive practice. In so doing, you will foster a team culture rooted in relational practice, curiosity and accountability and help ensure that day-to-day delivery is consistent with our values and overall aims.
Given Hope Street’s distinctive role as a community-based residential service and alternative to custody, we are seeking someone with extensive safeguarding expertise and experience of leadership in services for justice involved individuals or women-only spaces. This insight will enable you to support team members navigating complex systems, contribute to casework with confidence, and help ensure that Hope Street continues to challenge traditional responses to justice-involved women through a trauma-informed, community-led model. Your professional credibility and operational expertise will support meaningful change and reinforce strong partnerships across the wider justice landscape.
This post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.
This role requires a valid driving licence, access to a vehicle and business-use motor insurance.
Please send your CV, Personal Statement and Equity and Diversity Form to recruitment@onesmallthing.org.uk.
Night Support Partner
Salary: £27,000 to £29,000 FTE per annum, pro rata for 36 hours per week
Hours: 36 (0.9FTE) Covering 10–12-hour shifts between 20:00 and 08:00 across seven days, on a rolling shift pattern including weekends and bank holidays.
Location: Southampton
Closing Date: 5.00pm on Monday 9 November 2026
Purpose of the role
As a Night Support Partner, you will help maintain a calm, safe and supportive environment for women and children at Hope Street overnight. You will respond to residents’ needs, follow safeguarding and risk-management arrangements, maintain accurate records, complete agreed facilities and housekeeping duties, and ensure effective handovers between the day and night teams.
This post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.
Please send your CV, Personal Statement and Equity and Diversity Form to recruitment@onesmallthing.org.uk.
Community Partner
Salary: £27,225 to £29,000 FTE per annum, pro rata for 36 hours per week
Hours: 37 hours per week - Covering shifts between the times of 07:30 and 20:00, across 7 days, to include every other weekend and bank holidays
Location: Southampton
Closing Date: 5.00pm on Wednesday 25th November 2026
Purpose of the role
As a Community Partner, you will be part of the team delivering this innovative and exciting residential service for women and their children from Hampshire. You will support our residents, working with the women on a personal programme that addresses all their needs in terms of their skills development, health and wellbeing, and in relation to their Community Order.
You will also provide support to the women to manage any potential risks that they are exposed to and provide the one-to-one support they need in relation to any other aspect of their lives that they need help with. You will collaborate with the wider team to ensure that you are always up-to-date on the women’s needs and progress, to ensure a consistent approach and network of support for each woman and child at Hope Street and our houses.
Keeping women and children safe sits at the heart of this role. You will be expected to recognise and act on safeguarding concerns promptly, in line with our safeguarding policy and procedures, and to model safe, boundaried and trauma-informed practice in everything you do.
This post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.
Please send your CV, Personal Statement and Equity and Diversity Form to recruitment@onesmallthing.org.uk.
Family Support Manager
Salary: £37,000 to £42,000 FTE per annum
Hours: 37 hours per week - (would consider part time requests)
Location: Southampton
Closing Date: 5.00pm on Thursday 19th November 2026
Purpose of the role
As Family Support Manager, you will have responsibility for supporting and empowering women who have children at Hope Street, or in the community, to effectively engage in our programme of activities, whilst ensuring that they have the skills, resources and confidence to look after their children. You will be responsible for assessing the needs of both mothers and their children, and working with the wider team at Hope Street to put in place any safety measures or interventions that may be needed.
You will be responsible for developing and maintaining strong working relationships with key stakeholders across the county, including Social Care teams, the Police, and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). You will become a local advocate for mothers and children, and the young people impacted by their mother’s involvement with the justice system and strive to enhance the reputation of Hope Street.
You must hold a Level 3 or Level 4 Childcare qualification or have demonstrable and relevant experience working in a childcare context and supporting children and families
This post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.
Please send your CV, Personal Statement and Equity and Diversity Form to recruitment@onesmallthing.org.uk.
Head of People
Salary: £55,000 to £60,000 FTE per annum
Hours: 35 hours per week
Location: Remote, or based at our head office in London, UK-wide travel required
Closing Date: 5.00pm on Wednesday 25th November 2026
Purpose of the role
This is a senior, hands-on Head of People role with responsibility for leading the day-to-day People function across OST. The post-holder will provide authoritative advice on complex and high-risk employee relations matters, support and challenge managers, ensure governance is followed in policy and practice, and develop the tools, systems and capability OST needs to operate well as it grows.
Working closely with the Chief Financial Officer, the Head of People will translate strategy into clear operational priorities, provide evidence-based advice on workforce risks and emerging issues, and ensure agreed plans are implemented consistently across OST. The role is expected to contribute professional insight and constructive challenge without carrying sole accountability for organisation wide people strategy.
The post-holder is expected to look 6 to 12 months ahead — anticipating what tools, processes and capability OST will need — while remaining a credible, available source of practical HR support for the team today.
Please send your CV, Personal Statement and Equity and Diversity Form to recruitment@onesmallthing.org.uk.
People Advisor
Salary: £35,000 to £38,000 per annum
Hours: 35 hours per week
Location: Remote, or based at our head office in London, UK-wide travel required
Closing Date: 5.00pm on Wednesday 25th November 2026
Purpose of the role
The People Advisor is a hands-on delivery and advisory role within One Small Thing’s People function. The post-holder coordinates recruitment, training and induction activity, maintains accurate HR systems and people data, and provides practical first-line advice to managers on straightforward, low-risk employee relations matters.
This role provides practical coordination that enables the Head of People and line managers to work confidently, consistently and in line with OST’s values. It combines safer recruitment administration, training coordination, onboarding, people reporting and wider HR support, while maintaining excellent attention to detail and a trauma-informed approach.
The post-holder will also manage straightforward, low-risk employee relations matters, providing practical, policy-aligned guidance to managers and supporting cases through to resolution. Complex, sensitive, formal or higher-risk matters will be escalated promptly to the Head of People, in line with agreed casework boundaries.
This role keeps the day-to-day people processes running smoothly and consistently. The post-holder will make sure vacancies move safely and efficiently, training and mandatory learning are coordinated and tracked, and HR systems tell the truth about our people, compliance and workforce activity.
Please send your CV, Personal Statement and Equity and Diversity Form to recruitment@onesmallthing.org.uk.
SAFER RECRUITMENT
Safer recruitment is central to the safeguarding of adults, children, and young people at risk. One Small Thing is committed to the safeguarding of every individual that we come into contact with through our work and expects all team members to share this commitment.
As part of our recruitment process, a DBS check at the appropriate level for those successful at interview, but this does not necessarily exclude applicants with convictions. For some roles, a vetting and barring check will also be carried out.
Team member Benefits
• We are a Real Living Wage Employer
• 28 days holiday plus Bank Holidays – pro rata
• A additional day off on your Birthday
• Long Service Award – extra holiday for 3+ years’ service
• A comprehensive induction and training programme
• An unlimited counselling service through our Employment Assistance Programme “OpenUp”,
which you can also extend to 3 members of your family.
• Enhanced sick pay
• Team member of the month awards
• Refer a Friend Recruitment Bonus
• Employer contribution to your Pension
• Learning & Development opportunities relevant to each role
• Blue Light Discount Scheme
• Team building activities
• Regular collaborative team days
Volunteering at Hope Street
We aren’t currently recruiting volunteers for Hope Street at the moment. However, there are some offers of support that will be of help to us. Please feel free to leave your details and offer of support in the form below and we’ll be back in contact with you when we are ready to start our volunteer programme, or if you have a specific skill set we are currently in need of. Thank you for your interest.
The information you provide in this form will be stored securely, and will only be used in relation to your volunteering enquiry.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
At One Small Thing we are committed to tackling injustice and inequality in the justice system and beyond. Understanding diversity, equity, and inclusion is critical to delivering our mission to redesign the justice system for women and their children. Challenging racial injustice is a crucial element of this, and we strive towards anti-racist practice as an organisation and in the services we deliver.
We have been working with Inclusive recruiting to train our Trustees and team, review our policies and lead the recruitment drive for Hope Street. We encourage applications from those who may have had similar experiences to the women and children we support, including those with previous convictions. We are committed to ensuring the voices of those with lived experience are represented across all our work strands.
We know however we need to do much more and want our work towards diversity, equity and inclusion to be measured by our actions. We are currently drafting new EDI and anti-racism action plans, the key commitments of which will be shared shortly.