Senior Funeral Director

Dignity; Horsham, Crawley, East Grinstead, Boothgate; On-site; GBP 31,000 - 38,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave 25 days

Pension matched up to 4%

Funeral discounts

Will with Farewill

Staff discounts

Employee assistance programme

Training and progression

Long service awards

Job summary

Dignity Funeral Directors in the West Sussex area seeks a Senior Funeral Director to lead families with empathy and professionalism while guiding a care-focused team. You will spend around 70% delivering and overseeing funerals and the rest managing day-to-day operations across four branches in Horsham, Crawley, East Grinstead and Cookfield.

You’ll drive standards and on-call duties within Life Services Group.

Qualifications

• Experience leading or managing a team in a service-led environment.
• Funeral industry experience and leading services.
• Experience managing people, recruitment and performance reviews.
• Strong planning, documentation and compliance skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and support funeral services, delivering complex arrangements, running pre-funeral briefings, and observing your team’s arrangements and funerals to keep care standards high
• Manage and develop your team, through recruitment, onboarding, 1:1s and performance reviews, and by managing rotas, holiday cover and training
• Care for the people who have died, making sure everyone in our care is looked after with timely, respectful, high-quality care, and that records and legal documents are always accurate
• Be on call, sharing the duty phone with your team so families can reach us whenever someone dies, day or night
• Lead local marketing and community engagement, building relationships with care homes, celebrants and local groups, and representing us at memorials and local events
• Go beyond funerals, making sure your team is trained to talk with families about funeral plans and the full range of our services

Skills

People leadership

Team management

Planning & compliance

Resilience under pressure

Driving licence

Flexibility to work evenings/weekends

Education

Dip.FD qualification

Job description

Location: West Sussex area. You’ll cover 4 branches across Horsham, Crawley, East Grinstead and Cookfield, with travel between sites.

Job Type: [Full-Time, 38.33 Hours per week]

Salary: £34,382.01 per annum (£17.23 per hour) + on-call payments

Lead by example, and be there when families need you most

As a Senior Funeral Director, you’ll guide families through one of the hardest times of their lives with empathy and professionalism and support your team to do the same.

You’ll spend around 70% of your time delivering and overseeing funerals, and the rest running the day-to-day operations of [NUMBER] branches across [MAIN TOWNS]. You’ll lead a team of Funeral Directors, Funeral Service Operatives and Funeral Service Specialists, creating a culture where everyone is proud of their work and every family feels informed, respected and looked after.

[OPTIONAL: Our branches serve a diverse community, so you’ll help families arrange funerals that respect a wide range of faiths, cultures and traditions.]

What you’ll do

• Lead and support funeral services, delivering complex arrangements, running pre-funeral briefings, and observing your team’s arrangements and funerals to keep care standards high
• Manage and develop your team, through recruitment, onboarding, 1:1s and performance reviews, and by managing rotas, holiday cover and training
• Care for the people who have died, making sure everyone in our care is looked after with timely, respectful, high-quality care, and that records and legal documents are always accurate
• Be on call, sharing the duty phone with your team so families can reach us whenever someone dies, day or night
• Lead local marketing and community engagement, building relationships with care homes, celebrants and local groups, and representing us at memorials and local events
• Go beyond funerals, making sure your team is trained to talk with families about funeral plans and the full range of our services

What you’ll bring

• Experience leading or managing a team, whether in the funeral sector or another service-led environment
• Funeral industry experience, including leading services and caring for people who have died, is a real advantage
• Experience managing people, including recruitment, performance management and resolving conflict
• Strong planning, documentation and compliance skills
• Resilience and calm under pressure, with the confidence to make decisions and delegate
• A full UK driving licence, as you’ll be driving for the role
• Flexibility to work evenings and weekends, and to take your turn on call with the duty phone

Experience covering more than one branch or deputising for a manager, a background in funeral plan sales, or a funeral qualification such as the Dip.FD would be a bonus.

[OPTIONAL: An understanding of the faith and cultural funeral customs of the communities we serve, or speaking COMMUNITY LANGUAGES, would also be valuable.] You’ll find full details in the job description.

What you’ll get

• 25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays, combined into one allowance you can book flexibly across the year
• Pension with contributions matched up to 4%
• Funeral discounts for your family: 100% off for your partner or child, 50% for your parents and 20% for your wider family
• A free online will with Farewill, one of our group brands
• My Staff Shop discounts at high street and online retailers
• Employee Assistance Programme, with free, confidential support whenever you need it
• Training and development, with clear routes to progress to Business Manager or Cluster Manager
• Long Service Awards from 10 years

Why Dignity Funeral Directors, part of Life Services Group

Death is part of life, and being there for families when it matters is what we do. Do work that means something, in a business changing an industry for the better.

Dignity Funeral Directors is part of Life Services Group, alongside The Crematorium and Memorial Group (CMG), Simplicity Cremations, Dignity Legal Services and Farewill. Our vision is to be the UK’s leading end-of-life company, helping one in three people across the UK to plan for and deal with death, and we’re proud to be named in the FT 500 Best UK Employers 2026, and a top 50 employer.

Meaningful purpose.

We’re there for families at or planning for the hardest moments of their lives. We set high standards for ourselves and aim to lead the industry.

Grow with us.

Be part of a group with learning, apprenticeships and leadership routes across our brands, creating more opportunities for a fulfilling career.

Shape the future.

We’re changing so we can be the UK’s number one end-of-life provider. You’ll have a say in that change. And you’ll see what it delivers, for families and for the bottom line.

FCA statement

Dignity Funeral Directors is part of Life Services Group, which includes FCA-regulated activities. Some roles may be subject to relevant training, screening, conduct and regulatory requirements. We’ll confirm this during the recruitment process.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Our vision is to connect with our clients, colleagues, company and communities based on our principles, while celebrating our differences. We aim to empower leaders and colleagues to seek out and understand new voices and perspectives, to be vocal about inequity and exclusion, and to take decisive, informed and bold action to promote inclusion and belonging.

Any unsolicited submissions from agencies will be treated as a direct application from the candidate, and no fees will be payable.

Depending on the number of applications, we may close or extend the closing date for this role, so we recommend applying early.