Assistant Director

Beighton; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Sheffield City Council is seeking an experienced leader to shape the future of adult social care, guiding services that support adults with learning disabilities, autism and other long‑term needs to live independent, fulfilling lives in their communities.

You will balance immediate operational pressures with long‑term transformation, delivering statutory duties, driving performance, and managing significant budgets with strong governance.

Qualifications

• A proven ability to lead large, complex services.
• Experience delivering statutory duties in social care or related sectors.
• Strong governance and performance improvement capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead and shape services for adults with learning disabilities, autism and other long‑term needs.
• Balance operational pressures with transformation and reform.
• Ensure safety, effectiveness, financial sustainability and legal compliance.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Change management

Governance

Budget management

Stakeholder engagement

Job description

The job requirements are detailed below. Where applicable the skills, qualifications and memberships required for this job have also been included.

We are looking for an experienced and ambitious leader to help shape the future of adult social care, leading services that support adults with learning disabilities, autism and other long-term support needs to live independent, fulfilling lives in their communities. The role offers a unique opportunity to influence strategy, transform services and improve outcomes at scale, while leading large operational services that deliver vital statutory functions every day.

You will need to balance immediate operational pressures with longer-term transformation, ensuring services remain safe, effective, financially sustainable and legally compliant. You will be accountable for delivering statutory social care duties, driving performance improvement, managing significant budgets and ensuring robust governance across your area of responsibility.

Alongside this sits a real opportunity. You will play a leading role in redesigning services, strengthening community-based support, developing new models of care and support, and working with health, housing, voluntary sector and provider partners to build a more sustainable future for adult social care in Sheffield. You will lead both in-house and commissioned services and have responsibility for provider oversight, quality assurance to ensure people receive high-quality support that delivers the right outcomes.

We are looking for a leader who can combine strategic vision with operational grip, who is comfortable making difficult decisions, building strong partnerships and leading change while keeping people at the centre of everything they do. If you are passionate about delivering excellent adult social care and want the opportunity to shape services for the future, we would like to hear from you.

We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.

Under the Guaranteed Interview scheme, applicants who are disabled, care leavers, or armed forces veterans will be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria and indicate their eligibility on the application form. Sometimes, if lots of people apply, we might not be able to interview everyone who qualifies for the Guarantee. In these cases, we’ll interview the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job.

Full‑time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share.

If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade.

Equality of pay is extremely important to us. All roles at Sheffield City Council are going through an evaluation process which may result in changes to some pay arrangements from 2026. Find out more on our Sheff news page.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all individuals, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for everyoneand where appropriate to the role the successful applicant will be required to undertake relevant safeguarding checks.