Programme Manager - Youth Employment and Market Systems.
Apply by 7th August 2026 at 5:00 PM (E.A.T)
About Restless Development:
Restless Development Uganda is an agency for youth-led change; we support the collective power of young leaders to create a better world. We make sure that young people's voices are heard and that they have the power to mobilize action in their communities to respond to long-standing challenges. Across Karamoja, West Nile, Eastern and Central Uganda, we support young people to influence the decisions that affect their lives while strengthening the systems and institutions that enable them to realize their full potential. We also coordinate the Uganda Youth Collective, a national platform of over 600 youth-led organisations working together to amplify youth voices and influence policies through the National Youth Working Group. We are committed to creating an organisation that walks the talk on power shifting, using the power shifting checklist, both internally and externally.
Our approach to safeguarding:
Restless Development considers the welfare and protection of children, young people and vulnerable adults to be an organisational imperative with primacy over the success of programmes or strategic objectives. We recognize that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and we expect all of our staff, young leaders and partners to ensure we protect the communities in which we operate from harm and abide by our Safeguarding Policy.
About our Youth Employment Work:
Restless Development is implementing an inspiring youth employment portfolio designed to improve the economic resilience and livelihoods of young people by expanding their access to dignified and fulfilling work, entrepreneurship opportunities and inclusive financial services. Working across 13 Districts in Karamoja sub region, Eastern, West Nile, Western Uganda, and in central region. Our approach places young people at the center of programme design and delivery while strengthening the local systems that support dignified and fulfilling work. Our work equips young women and men with market relevant technical, entrepreneurial, and financial capabilities while connecting them to employers, markets, business development services and affordable financial products. We work through youth-led organisations to create coordinated pathways that support young people to transition successfully into employment, self-employment and enterprise growth.
Beyond supporting individual young people, we invest in strengthening the capacity of youth-led organisations and youth-led enterprises to deliver high quality employment pathways, promote youth leadership, and influence policies and systems that shape youth economic opportunities. Through this integrated approach, we are building stronger inclusive employment eco-systems that enable young people, particularly young women, refugees and young people with disabilities to access dignified and fulfilling work.
About the Role:
The Programme Manager, Youth Employment and Market systems will provide technical leadership for Restless Development Uganda youth employment portfolio, leading the delivery of integrated interventions that enable young people to transition into dignified and fulfilling work.
The role will drive market responsive employment pathways by building the agency of young people, and strengthening the connections with the private sector, financial institutions, youth led organisations, SMES and other related market actors. The role will champion meaningful youth engagement throughout the programme, ensuring that young people actively shape employment pathways, influence local economic systems and participate in decisions that affect the growth of their enterprises.
Reporting to the Senior Technical Advisor - Livelihoods, the programme manager will support youth-led organisations to deliver market responsive employment pathways, build partnerships with private sector, finance institutions and government to enable young people transition into dignified work. He/She will ensure high quality programme implementation, adaptive management and delivery of employment outcomes for young people.
Job Title: Programme Manager - Youth Employment and Market systems.
Location: Kampala, Uganda
Salary: UGX.117,282,458 Gross Per annum
Preferred start date: 1st October 2026
Length of contract: 2 years
Expected travel: Fairly regular international and domestic travel
Key responsibilities
1. Programme Leadership:
* Provide technical leadership in the implementation of youth employment and market systems interventions.
* Lead the development of annual work plans, budgets, implementation strategies and performance targets to deliver sustainable pathways into dignified and fulfilling work for young people.
* Ensure youth employment interventions are market responsive, evidence based, and aligned with labour market trends, youth aspirations and emerging economic opportunities.
* Drive adaptive programming by using data, rapid market assessments and learning to continuously improve programme approaches and outcomes.
* Work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) team to develop performance frameworks that measure youth employment outcomes and programme effectiveness.
* Strengthen accountability, risk management and safeguarding systems across programme delivery.
* Contribute to organisational strategy delivery by actively participating in the leadership team, providing technical insights, identifying opportunities and risks, and supporting evidence-based decision-making to strengthen organisational performance and impact.
HOW TO APPLY:
Please submit your CV and a cover letter that provides tangible examples of how your skills, knowledge and experience will support your ability to perform the key priorities outlined in the above job description (using no more than 750 words).
https://restlessdevelopment.bamboohr.com/careers