Assistant Director

Gloucestershire County Council; Down Hatherley; Hybrid; GBP 89,000 - 98,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation package

LGPS

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

30 days annual leave

Flexible and agile working

Cycle to Work scheme

Job summary

Gloucestershire County Council is recruiting an experienced Assistant Director to lead Gloucestershire East (Cotswolds and Stroud). You will drive flexible family help services and work within multiagency child protection teams to deliver ambitious outcomes for children and families.

The role prioritises staff engagement, a new delivery model, and safeguarding excellence, with a focus on systemic social work practice and early intervention.

Qualifications

• Experience leading children’s services and family help teams.
• Ambition for children and ability to lead transformation.
• Strong collaboration with multiagency child protection teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead family help and social work teams across localities.
• Drive delivery model that enables systemic social work practice and early intervention.
• Engage staff and embed new delivery model to achieve outstanding practice.

Skills

Leadership

Children's services

Systemic social work practice

Early intervention

Multiagency collaboration

Job description

Following our 2025 Ofsted judgement of Good, Gloucestershire is continuing to invest in children, families, and our workforce as we continue the drive to excellence for our children and implement the ambitious Families First Partnership Programme.

Our Assistant Directors have the resources and the authority they need to make our ambition a reality for children, young people and families. They lead family help and social work teams in localities throughout Gloucestershire.

We are currently recruiting for a newAssistant Director for Gloucestershire East (Cotswolds and Stroud).

It’s an exciting time to join us, as we embrace the opportunities in creating flexible family help services, alongside multiagency child protection teams.

Our Assistant Directors are central in leading this change, engaging staff throughout, and embedding a new model of delivery that will enable systemic social work practice and encourage early intervention.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced and capable children’s services leader who is ambitious for children, adaptable in their leadership style, and knows the value of supporting staff to create the conditions for outstanding practice.

Reward and Support

For all your hard work, you will receive the following:

• between £88,671 - £97,706 per annum subject to experience
• up to £8,000 relocation package
• flexible and agile working
• 30 days annual leave
• family friendly policies and benefits to help support you and your family
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that provides free, confidential, counselling and advice for employees, available 24 hours a day, online and by telephone
• an in-house Occupational Health service
• employee discount scheme
• Cycle to Work scheme (eligibility criteria and t&cs apply)
• Green Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme (eligibility criteria and t&cs apply)

Interviews to be held in person at Shire Hall, Gloucester on 7th October 2026

If you have any questions about the role please email: [e-mail]

Additional Information

To access the Job Profile for this role, please follow the link below:-

Assistant Director, Children's Safeguarding and Care

This position is subject to a DBS check.

Gloucestershire County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people or vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We want to be an employer of choice, attracting and retaining excellent people to work for us, so that we can best serve all of Gloucestershire’s diverse communities. Our promise to you is that we will provide an inclusive and supportive working environment that enables you to bring your whole self to work and realise your full potential.

It is a legal requirement, under the Immigration Act 2016, that anyone appointed to a ‘customer facing role’ must be able to demonstrate an ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in fluent English.

Hybrid working arrangements are available for the majority of our roles, giving teams the opportunity to work in a way that suits them, balancing service need and individual choice, with a mix of both remote and office working.