Deputy Manager

Frontline Social Care; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 38,000 - 40,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Casual dress

Company events

Company pension

Employee mentoring programme

Free on-site parking

Job summary

Frontline Social Care, part of the Aetheria Group, is opening two Ofsted-registered children's homes in Gloucester and seeks a Deputy Manager to shape one from the ground up. You will lead safeguarding, drive stable teams and set the emotional tone to support each child’s safety and progress.

You will oversee staff development, ensure inspection readiness, and contribute to a progressive career path toward Registered Manager, while working within a culture that values reflective practice and

Qualifications

• Level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare or Level 3 Health and Social Care for Children and Young People required
• Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare desirable, or willingness to work towards
• Experience leading shifts and safeguarding in an Ofsted-registered children's home
• Rights to work in the UK; full driving licence preferred

Responsibilities

• Lead safeguarding oversight and care planning governance as senior on-site decision-maker
• Mentor and manage staff, build capability and reflective practice
• Maintain inspection-ready standards across the home including records and risk management
• Be Designated Safeguarding Lead when required and ensure multi-agency communications meet requirements
• Share the on-call rota and provide 24/7 safeguarding escalation support
• Engage with placing authorities and professional networks to support each child’s progress

Skills

Leadership

Safeguarding

Trauma-informed

Ofsted experience

UK driving licence

Education

Level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare

Level 3 Health and Social Care (Children & Young People pathway)

Level 5 Diploma in Leadership & Management (Residential Childcare)

Degree in Social Work or related discipline

Job description

Deputy Manager — Children's Residential Home working with Frontline Social Care | Part of Aetheria Group

Gloucester (two new homes, ten minutes apart) Permanent, full-time | Days with senior on-call responsibility £37,500 – £40,000 per annum

Lead a home worth being proud of. From day one.

You already know what good residential care looks like. You know what it takes to hold a team together on a hard day, to sit with a child who is struggling and not flinch, and to run a shift that stays calm, purposeful and safe even when it doesn't feel that way, So now lead it.

We're opening two new Ofsted registered children's homes in Gloucester, ten minutes apart, and we're looking for a Deputy Manager to help shape one of them from the ground up. Culture, practice, standards, team, built with you, not handed to you.

This is the rare opportunity to build, not inherit.

Clinical infrastructure built in, not bolted on. Our therapeutic model, grounded in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, PACE and Secure Base principles, is supported by a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Therapeutic Practitioner embedded in the service. Reflective practice supervision is a structural commitment, not an aspiration.

A new registration means you help set the standards. No entrenched habits to undo, no culture inherited from a previous regime. You'll help establish how this home operates, its rhythms, its expectations, its relationships with children, families and placing authorities.

Deliberate consistency. Small, stable teams built for relational continuity. Children in our homes have adults who know them, stay with them, and mean it.

A genuine career pathway. Clear progression toward Registered Manager and beyond, across Frontline Social Care and the wider Aetheria Group. Working toward your Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management? We'll support you to complete it.

Trusted leadership. Delegated authority is real here. You'll have the autonomy to lead, not simply relay decisions made elsewhere.

The Role

Working in close partnership with the Registered Manager, you will:

• Support safeguarding oversight, quality assurance, workforce supervision and care planning governance, acting as senior on-site decision-maker in the Registered Manager's absence.
• Mentor, develop and performance-manage the staff team, building capability, confidence and a culture of reflective, child-centred practice.
• Maintain inspection-ready standards across the home, covering recording quality, care plan currency, risk management, and the evidence base for each child's progress.
• Hold the Designated Safeguarding Lead function when required, ensuring referrals, notifications and multi-agency communications meet statutory requirements under Working Together to Safeguard Children (2026) and the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015.
• Share the senior on-call rota, providing 24/7 safeguarding escalation and management support.
• Contribute to the home's engagement with placing authorities, social workers, Independent Reviewing Officers and each child's wider professional network.

Above all, you'll set and sustain the emotional tone of the home: calm, consistent, boundaried, and relentlessly focused on what each child needs to feel safe, valued and able to move toward something better.

What You'll Bring

• A warm, grounded steadiness under pressure, and leadership that brings a team with you
• A deep, practical grasp of safeguarding and trauma-informed practice, including developmental trauma, attachment disruption, and the impact of adverse childhood experiences
• Confidence in an Ofsted-regulated environment and an understanding of what inspection-ready practice looks like day to day, not just when notice is given
• The belief, held without sentimentality, that every child in residential care can move toward a more stable and hopeful future
• Level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare, Level 3 Health and Social Care (Children and Young People pathway), or a degree-level qualification in Social Work, Childhood Studies, Youth and Community Work, Psychology, Criminology, Education, Nursing or a closely related discipline. Candidates with substantial, clearly transferable experience from children's residential care, fostering, education, youth justice, family support, NHS, mental health or other regulated care settings will also be considered.
• Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare, held, in progress, or committed willingness to work towards (desirable)
• Demonstrable experience of leading shifts, supervising staff and carrying safeguarding and care planning responsibilities in an Ofsted-registered children's home or directly comparable regulated setting.
• Aged 21 or over (a Genuine Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010)
• Right to work in the UK (we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role)
• Full UK driving licence.
• Flexibility across working patterns including evenings, weekends and sleep-in duties as required by the rota.

Benefits

• Casual dress
• Company events
• Company pension
• Employee mentoring programme
• Free on-site parking

Frontline Social Care is unconditionally committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. This role constitutes regulated activity with children. Every appointment is subject to an enhanced DBS disclosure with Children's Barred List check, full identity and qualification verification, a minimum of two satisfactory professional references (including most recent employer) verified before appointment, and a values-based interview with safeguarding scenario assessment.

Our safer recruitment process is fully aligned with Working Together to Safeguard Children (2026), Keeping Children Safe in Education (2024), and the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015, Schedule 2.

We are an Equal Opportunities Employer, committed to anti-discriminatory and anti-racist practice, and we actively welcome applications from all communities, backgrounds and identities. If you need any adjustment to the recruitment process, tell us and we will make it without question.

We are shortlisting on a rolling basis and will move quickly for the right candidate.