Chief Instructor - Derbyshire
Lindley Educational Trust
Location: Castleton, Derbyshire
Salary: £36,000 - £42,000
Closes: 30/9/25
Chief Instructor at Lindley Educational Trust
A fantastic opportunity to join our delivery team
Permanent Full Time - Chief Instructor
We are looking for an enthusiastic and experienced Chief instructor. If you are a focused and creative Outdoor Practitioner who enjoys a challenge, we’d love to hear from you and help you explore and develop your career. Successful applicants will be joining a friendly and exceptionally skilled team with a national reputation for innovative practice.
About Us
Lindley Educational Trust (LET) is based at the Hollowford Centre, Castleton in Derbyshire. LET is a successful and well-established charity which has been helping young people for nearly 60 years. In addition to Hollowford, LET runs two urban youth projects, which provide exciting opportunities to be involved in longer term outdoor projects. Much of LET’s work takes place at the Hollowford Centre, but we also work at several other venues across Derbyshire and further afield.
LET works with a wide variety of groups including schools, youth groups, colleges, universities, and businesses. Each programme is tailored to meet the desired outcomes of the group and involves a range of stimulating / adventurous activities that can include; caving, climbing, hill walking, canoeing, high ropes, bushcraft, problem solving, and mountain biking plus a whole host of other activities.
Full-Time permanent post: 37.5 hours per week, 33 days holiday (incl. bank holidays) per year.
Working hours are irregular and can involve longer hours, including some weekends and evenings, for which lieu is accrued.
Salary & Benefits: £36,000 - £42,000 depending on experience and qualifications, contributory pension scheme.
Key responsibilities:
Delivery and course co-ordination of High-Quality Outdoor Learning Programmes for schools, youth groups, colleges, young employees, and corporate programmes
Be a key person in maintaining and and monitoring of Health and Safety policies, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements and national standards e.g., AHOEC Gold, AALA.
Contribution to the long-term outdoor activity projects for Ashton and Pitsmoor Youth projects
Be on-call, shared with other senior staff which will include weekends and evenings.
Support the Safeguarding Lead. Ensuring incidents are managed appropriately.
Lead the instructional team and being a supportive role model for our instructors and freelance associates, enabling them to increase the impact of their delivery
Essential experience and qualifications:
Typically, 5 + years of instructional experience, with a variety of groups, ideally including work with young employees on Personal and Social Development programmes.
A range of qualifications that must include as a minimum three of the following NGB awards or equivalents: Rock Climbing Instructor; BCU coach level 2; Local Cave and Mine Leader; MIAS Level 2; ML (Summer)
Being able to drive a minibus is essential - D1 + E entitlement
IT Literate, experience of the MS 365 suite.
Highly Desirable experience and qualifications:
Higher NGB qualifications such as – WMCI, BCU Coach Level 4, CIC, MIAS Level 3.
Previous experience at a senior level in an Outdoor Centre.
Experience of delivery of early careers development events.
Experience of managing people/teams.
Use of social media to promote current work and future events.
How to apply In the first instance please send your CV and a covering letter to [email protected], quoting Job Reference: Chief Instructor- closing date for applications is Tuesday 30th September 2025. (Interviews likely to take place week commencing 13th October 2025).
The successful candidate will be required to complete an enhanced DBS check, safeguarding training, and provide references.
Should you want to discuss things further please contact: Paul Booker - Operations Manager on tel. 01433 620377
www.lindleyeducationaltrust.org