Operational Lead 2 — Service User Experience, Inclusion & Quality

The Salvation Army; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

The Salvation Army in the UK is seeking an Operational Lead 2 — Service User Experience, Inclusion & Quality for a 12‑month fixed-term contract. The role sits in our Birmingham office with Agile Flex working and focuses on inclusive service design, quality assurance and co-production with survivors.

You will lead the Service User Experience and Inclusion workstream, embed co-production, and drive the Quality Centre of Excellence while maintaining trauma-informed practice across delivery teams.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in service design, quality assurance or service improvement within victim support, social care or public services.
• Commitment to embedding equity, diversity and inclusion in service delivery.
• Experience of co-production or user-involvement methods with vulnerable or marginalised groups.
• Strong understanding of trauma-informed practice and its application in case management or support services.
• Experience of developing and implementing quality assurance frameworks and practice standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Service User Experience and Inclusion workstream, ensuring the service model is accessible, inclusive and responsive to the diverse needs of modern slavery survivors.
• Develop and embed a co-production framework that meaningfully involves people with lived experience in service design, testing and improvement.
• Lead the Quality Centre of Excellence workstream, establishing quality assurance frameworks, audit processes and practice standards.
• Embed EDI considerations throughout operational design, including language access, cultural competence, disability inclusion, gender-responsive practice and LGBTQ+ inclusion.
• Work with Operational Lead 1 to ensure referral, assessment, support planning and move-on processes are person-centred and trauma-informed.
• Develop approaches for capturing and acting on service user feedback and satisfaction data.
• Lead the development of practice standards and the Quality Management Plan, contributing to milestones.
• Work with the Talent Development Lead to ensure induction and training reflect inclusive practice and quality standards.
• Build relationships with specialist inclusion organisations and advocacy bodies relevant to modern slavery survivors.
• Contribute to the Service Management Plan and incorporate quality and inclusion measures into operational reporting.

Skills

Service design

Quality assurance

Co-production

EDI / inclusion

Facilitation

Stakeholder engagement

Trauma-informed practice

Job description

Operational Lead 2 — Service User Experience, Inclusion & Quality

This is a fixed-term position for 12 months

Working Pattern: Agile Flex attached to our Birmingham office

Interview Date: To be confirmed

We are looking for an experienced and collaborative Operational Lead to lead our Service User Experience and Inclusion workstream and our Quality Centre of Excellence. You will help ensure that the service is designed, tested and delivered around the diverse needs of modern slavery survivors, with co-production, equity, diversity and inclusion, trauma-informed practice and quality assurance embedded from the outset.
As the Operational Lead 2, you will be working across the mobilisation programme, you will establish practical frameworks, standards and assurance processes that support accessible, person-centred and consistently high-quality delivery.

Inadditional you will;

• Lead the Service User Experience and Inclusion workstream, ensuring the service model is accessible, inclusive and responsive to the diverse needs of modern slavery survivors.
• Develop and embed a co-production framework that meaningfully involves people with lived experience in service design, testing and improvement.
• Lead the Quality Centre of Excellence workstream, establishing quality assurance frameworks, audit processes and practice standards.
• Embed EDI considerations throughout operational design, including language access, cultural competence, disability inclusion, gender-responsive practice and LGBTQ+ inclusion.
• Work with Operational Lead 1 to ensure referral, assessment, support planning and move-on processes are person-centred and trauma-informed.
• Develop approaches for capturing and acting on service user feedback and satisfaction data.
• Lead the development of practice standards and the Quality Management Plan, contributing to M1 and M3 milestone deliverables.
• Work with the Talent Development Lead to ensure induction and training reflect inclusive practice and quality standards.
• Build relationships with specialist inclusion organisations and advocacy bodies relevant to modern slavery survivors.
• Contribute to the Service Management Plan and incorporate quality and inclusion measures into operational reporting.

To be successful in this role, you will have;

• Significant experience in service design, quality assurance or service improvement within victim support, social care or public services.
• A demonstrable commitment to embedding equity, diversity and inclusion in service delivery.
• Experience of co-production or user-involvement methods with vulnerable or marginalised groups.
• A strong understanding of trauma-informed practice and its application in case management or support services.
• Experience of developing and implementing quality assurance frameworks and practice standards.
• Excellent interpersonal and facilitation skills, including the ability to engage sensitively with people with lived experience.
• The ability to work across multiple workstreams and influence without direct line-management authority.
• Knowledge of modern slavery, the National Referral Mechanism and the policy landscape surrounding victim support.
• A qualification or training in quality management, such as ISO 9001, EFQM or a similar framework.
• Experience of working in a prime-contractor model with supply-chain partners.
• Research or evaluation skills relevant to measuring service impact.

Our values

We expect you to demonstrate behaviours that model our values of integrity, accountability, compassion, passion, respect and boldness.

In order to complete your application please download and read the job profile and any other attachments.

In the job profile you will find the criteria required for the role, please make sure that you address this in your supporting statement as this forms the basis of our shortlisting.

Appointment will be subject to;

• Satisfactory references
• A criminal record checkDBS Basic
• Evidence of your Right to Work in the UK in line with Home Office requirements. As we are not a licensed sponsor, applicants must already have the right to work in the UK. Details on how to prove your Right to Work can be found here .

The Salvation Army actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills and potential, and we welcome applications from a wide range of candidates, including those with criminal records .

Please note that any Salvation Army employees who are under notice of redundancy and apply for this position will be given priority consideration.

We reserve the right to close this advert earlier if we feel that we have received sufficient applications.

Promoting equality in the workplace and as a disability confident leader scheme employer, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet all the minimum essential criteria for the vacancy.