Department Manager – Creative Arts

Proud to Care Surrey; Little Bookham; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

The Grange Centre is seeking a proactive Department Manager to lead the Creative Arts team, supporting 8 Art Tutors in delivering engaging sessions for adults with mild to moderate learning disabilities. You will inspire the team, manage resources and budgets, and help ensure sessions are safe, high quality and impactful.

The role emphasizes staff development, collaborative working with other departments, and driving enterprise opportunities and events that showcase participant talents and

Qualifications

• Experience leading, motivating, and developing teams.
• Strong organisational, project management, and commercial awareness skills.
• Ability to manage resources, budgets, risk assessments and day-to-day operations.
• Passion for supporting personal development and wellbeing.
• Excellent communication and cross-department collaboration.
• Empathy and a person-centred approach.
• Interest in or involvement with creative arts.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of Art Tutors.
• Organise and manage a varied programme and resources.
• Oversee budgets, procurement, and risk assessments.
• Ensure safe, high-quality and purposeful creative sessions.
• Support enterprise opportunities, events and activities.
• Collaborate with other departments to deliver outcomes.

Skills

Team leadership

Project management

Budget management

Communication skills

Empathy and people focus

Job description

Salary: £33,338pa

Hours: 35.25 (8.45am – 5pm Monday – Thursday, 8.45am – 4pm Fridays)

About The Role

We are seeking a confident and organised Department Manager to lead our Creative Arts team (known internally as Team Leader). This is a people-focused role, supporting a team of 8 talented Art Tutors who use a range of creative arts activities to help people achieve their personal goals. The team deliver creative skills sessions that promote the wellbeing, confidence, independence and personal development of adults with mild to moderate learning disabilities.

You do not need to be an artist yourself. What matters most is that you can inspire a team and are a strong manager of resources and projects, with the confidence to organise a varied programme, support staff, manage budgets and help the department run smoothly and sustainably.

You will help ensure that creative sessions are safe, purposeful and high quality, while supporting enterprise opportunities, events and activities that encourage self-expression, personal growth and showcase the talents of the people we support.

About You

We’re looking for someone who:

• Has experience leading, motivating, and developing teams


• Demonstrates strong organisational, project management, and commercial awareness skills


• Can manage resources, budgets, risk assessments and day-to-day operational requirements


• Is passionate about supporting and enabling the personal development and wellbeing of others


• Has excellent communication and relationship-building skills with the ability to work collaboratively with other departments


• Brings empathy, positivity, and a person-centred approach


• Has an interest in, understanding of, or involvement with creative arts

There’s a huge emphasis on teamwork and you’ll play an important part in a committed and welcoming team. We welcome applications who share our values of: Friendly, Open, Respectful, Caring and Enabling

You can download the full job description and person specification from our advert on the careers page.

What Colleagues Say

Don’t just take our word for it, here’s a snippet of what our team had to say in our October 2025 staff survey:

95.2% of the team say they understand how the purpose and values of The Grange Centre relate to their job.

92.9% say that The Grange Centre provides them with the training they need.

We have an open, no blame culture as emphasised by 96.4% of the team saying that The Grange Centre provides an environment where they feel able to admit when they make a mistake.

89.2% feel they are a valued member of The Grange Centre team.

95.2% find their colleagues to be helpful and supportive.

About The Grange Centre

At The Grange Centre for People with Disabilities, we’re more than a workplace – we’re a community. You’ll be part of a team that’s passionate about making a difference and supporting people to lead independent and fulfilling lives. We offer a supportive environment, opportunities for development, and the chance to be part of something truly meaningful.

We are unique in Surrey as we offer accommodation, care support and a wide range of skills training and activities all on one beautiful 8 acre site in Bookham. Our services are most suited for people with mild to moderate disabilities.

We are a regulated care provider, a charity and a housing association and we provide three services – residential care for those with higher care needs, supported living for people working towards independence and skills and activities – a wide range of training, work experience and mini businesses.