Head of Service

SF Partners; East Midlands; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 76,000; Full time

Job summary

SF Recruitment is partnering with a Nottingham-based charity to appoint a Head of Service to join the Senior Leadership Team. The role leads four Team Managers and drives frontline services for women and children, ensuring high quality delivery, safeguarding and contract compliance.

The post involves strategic oversight, performance management, budgeting and collaboration with commissioners, with occasional on-call duties and flexible leadership responsibilities.

Qualifications

• Significant management and leadership experience within the charity or similar sector.
• Experience supporting services for women and children affected by domestic violence and abuse.
• Strong safeguarding knowledge and experience handling complex or crisis situations.
• Experience managing and developing teams and supporting managers.
• Experience overseeing multiple services and ensuring contract compliance.
• Strong knowledge of quality assurance, service improvement and performance monitoring.
• Experience working with commissioners and external partners.
• Budget and financial monitoring experience.
• Confidence operating at senior leadership level.

Responsibilities

• Lead, support and develop Team Managers across multiple service areas.
• Oversee performance and quality of frontline services.
• Ensure services meet contractual requirements, agreed outcomes and quality standards.
• Support managers with complex cases, safeguarding and risk.
• Develop and implement service delivery plans.
• Monitor performance data and identify opportunities for service improvement.
• Build relationships with commissioners, statutory bodies and voluntary/community organisations.
• Ensure effective partnership working across referral and care pathways.
• Support organisational strategy as an active member of the Senior Leadership Team.
• Oversee recruitment, induction, supervision, appraisal and development across the teams.
• Support budget management and financial monitoring.
• Ensure high standards of safeguarding, governance, data protection and compliance.
• Contribute to tenders, funding bids and wider organisational development.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Stakeholder management

Budget monitoring

Safeguarding

Quality assurance

Contract delivery

Report writing

Trauma-informed care

Job description

Head of Service - Charity Sector

Nottingham 37 hours per week Permanent

SF Recruitment are working with an established Nottingham-based charity to recruit a Head of Service to join their Senior Leadership Team.

This is a key operational leadership role, responsible for overseeing the delivery and development of specialist frontline services supporting women and children. Reporting into the Director of Operations, you'll lead four Team Managers and have overall responsibility for service performance, quality, people management and contract delivery.

The role:

You'll work closely with the Director of Operations and wider Senior Leadership Team to ensure services are delivered to a consistently high standard, meet contractual requirements and continue to develop in response to the needs of service users.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Leading, supporting and developing Team Managers across multiple service areas


• Overseeing the performance and quality of frontline services


• Ensuring services meet contractual requirements, agreed outcomes and quality standards


• Supporting managers with complex cases, safeguarding and risk


• Developing and implementing service delivery plans


• Monitoring performance data and identifying opportunities for service improvement


• Building strong relationships with commissioners, statutory bodies and voluntary/community organisations


• Ensuring effective partnership working across referral and care pathways


• Supporting organisational strategy as an active member of the Senior Leadership Team


• Overseeing recruitment, induction, supervision, appraisal and development across the teams


• Supporting budget management and financial monitoring


• Ensuring high standards of safeguarding, governance, data protection and compliance


• Contributing to tenders, funding bids and wider organisational development

About you

We're looking for an experienced service leader who is comfortable managing through other managers while retaining oversight of complex frontline services.

You’ll ideally have:

• Significant management and leadership experience within the charity, care, support or a similar sector


• Experience supporting services for women and children affected by domestic violence and abuse


• Strong safeguarding knowledge and experience of managing complex or crisis situations


• Experience managing and developing teams and supporting managers


• Experience overseeing multiple services/projects and ensuring contract compliance


• Strong knowledge of quality assurance, service improvement and performance monitoring


• Experience working with commissioners and external partners


• Budget and financial monitoring experience


• Confidence operating at senior leadership level


• Strong communication, stakeholder management and report-writing skills


• An understanding of trauma-informed service delivery


• A collaborative, inclusive and non-judgemental approach to leadership

This would suit someone currently working as a Head of Service, Service Manager, Senior Service Manager, Operations Manager or similar within a charity or specialist support environment who is ready to take on a broad senior leadership position.

The role will involve occasional evening/weekend working and participation in an on‑call rota. A full UK driving licence and access to a car are required, and the successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.