Deputy Director (Immigration and Justice)

Mitie; Oxford; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading service provider in Oxford is seeking a senior leader to oversee centre operations, ensuring compliance and high-quality service delivery. The ideal candidate has significant leadership experience in detention or similar environments, along with proven skills in managing large teams and budgets. This role offers a comprehensive benefits package including flexible lifestyle options, training opportunities, and employee recognition programs.

Benefits

Flexible lifestyle benefits

High street discounts

Enhanced pension contributions

Cycle-to-work scheme

Cash prizes through Mitie Stars program

Qualifications

• Significant leadership experience within detention or similar environments.
• Proven ability to lead teams of 50+ staff.
• Experience managing budgets and staffing costs.

Responsibilities

• Oversee daily centre operations as delegated by the Centre Director.
• Lead and coach senior management teams.
• Ensure full contractual compliance and financial targets.

Skills

Leadership

Contract management

Budget management

Education

Nebosh General Certificate or IOSH Managing Safely

Level 6 qualification (BA/BSc, diploma, or NVQ Level 6)

Job description

Supporting the Centre Director, you will help ensure full contractual compliance while adhering to legislation, company policies, and financial targets. Your role involves leading, coaching, and supporting staff to optimise the centre's operations and deliver high-quality services.

Main Responsibilities

• Oversee daily centre operations as delegated by the Centre Director.
• Lead, motivate, and coach senior management teams to meet company values, policies, and contractual standards.
• Manage the centre's resourcing functions, including recruitment, training, rostering, and absence management.
• Collaborate with managers to develop innovative practices and improve services for residents.
• Work closely with internal teams (Training, HR, IT, Finance) to ensure smooth support services.
• Maintain strong partnerships with key stakeholders such as Home Office, Border Force, NHS England, and local health providers to resolve issues and ensure quality service delivery.
• Ensure incident management processes are effective and regularly reviewed.
• Embed HMIP ‘Expectations' into policies and promote awareness among staff.
• Foster a respectful, inclusive, and positive environment where staff are valued, developed, and recognised.
• Drive continuous improvement by integrating audit and compliance activities into daily operations.
• Participate in Mitie initiatives like succession planning and talent development, and support business growth within Immigration and Justice services.
• Be part of a senior on-call rota alongside the Centre Director and other senior leaders.

What We're Looking For

• Significant leadership experience within detention, custodial, policing, or similar environments.
• Proven ability to lead teams of 50+ staff, including middle management.
• Experience managing contracts and ensuring compliance.
• Budget management experience, particularly relating to staffing costs.

Desirable Skills

• Nebosh General Certificate or IOSH Managing Safely.
• Level 6 qualification such as a degree (BA/BSc), professional diploma, or NVQ Level 6 in a relevant discipline.

Eligibility

• Must be a British citizen, EU citizen with settled status, or hold Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) from a Commonwealth country.
• Resided in the UK for the past three years, with limited travel outside the country.
• Clear background checks, with close scrutiny of any criminal record, bankruptcies, or social media activity.

Our benefits package is tailored to support your lifestyle and professional growth.

Join us in creating better places and thriving communities.

Our market-leading offering provides you with benefits that suit your lifestyle.

We have a virtual GP on hand for you and members of your household. So you can get expert advice by video or phone without having to leave your home. We offer financial wellbeing assistance through our Salary Finance scheme. For example, you could access 50% of your earned pay before payday for a small fee. Salary Finance also offers competitive loans.

When you join us, we’ll give you a link to our flexible lifestyle benefits platform, Choices. You might choose to purchase up to five extra days’ holiday each year. You might buy critical illness insurance, seek dental treatment or buy technology products at an affordable cost. There are many choices!

We give you access to high street discounts from thousands of well-known retailers, gyms and more through our MiDeals platform. And we have a cycle-to-work scheme. Life cover of up to four times your salary is available. We also offer enhanced pension contributions, a save-as-you-earn scheme, and a Mitie Matching Share Plan (you could even be awarded free shares in Mitie).

We award our employees with Mitie Stars as recognition for their hard work. There are cash prizes up for grabs each month and at the end of the year there’s a chance to scoop a top prize of £10,000!

Our success is a direct result of the experience and quality of our people. Progressing your career is therefore a top priority for us. We offer a diverse variety of training and development avenues via a wide selection of learning resources to suit you.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long-term condition (for example dyslexia, anxiety, autism, a mobility condition or hearing loss) and need us to make any reasonable adjustments, changes or do anything differently during the recruitment process, please let us know by emailing us.