Service Improvement Lead

Bristol City Council; West of England; Hybrid; GBP 71,000 - 79,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Local Government Pension scheme

Generous annual leave

Job summary

Bristol City Council is seeking a senior professional to lead the new Adult Social Care Service Improvement & Business Management Unit at City Hall, Bristol. You will drive service improvement, governance and business intelligence, turning insight into practical action.

With experience in complex organisations, you will build capability, manage high-performing teams and use data to shape strategies, plans and dashboards that improve outcomes for residents.

Qualifications

• Experience leading service improvement or governance within a complex organisation.
• Ability to deliver large-scale projects and transformations.
• Strong leadership and stakeholder management.

Responsibilities

• Provide visible leadership for Adult Social Care improvement with Heads of Service, team managers and senior leaders to identify improvement opportunities and develop sustainable solutions.
• Combine operational understanding with analytical thinking to strengthen practice, improve processes and build improvement capability across teams.
• Lead practice-led improvement and ensure activity is informed by evidence and insight.
• Use performance, financial and business intelligence data to drive service improvement and informed decision-making.
• Collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders to turn evidence into practical improvement and outcomes for residents.

Job description

The job requirements are detailed below. Where applicable the skills, qualifications and memberships required for this job have also been included.

Job details

Job reference VAC009015 Date posted 28/10/2026 Application closing date 11/11/2026 Location City Hall College Green City Centre Bristol BS1 5TR Salary TP1: £70,919 - £78,556 Package Blank Contractual hours 37 Basis Full time Job category/type Social Care Attachments Job Description.pdf Person Specification.pdf

Join our new Adult Social Care Service Improvement & Business Management Unit

This is an exciting opportunity to join a newly developed Business Management Unit at the heart of Adult Social Care in Bristol.

We are building a multidisciplinary team that will bring together service improvement, business intelligence, performance, governance and change expertise, helping Adult Social Care understand how services are performing, identify where improvement is needed and turn insight into action.

Our ambition is to create a permanent improvement function focused on improving how Adult Social Care operates, alongside a business management function providing business intelligence, governance coordination, strategic support and oversight.

We are looking for people who are curious, collaborative and motivated by improving services and outcomes for Bristol residents.

About the Role

You will provide visible leadership for Adult Social Care improvement, working with Heads of Service, team managers and senior leaders to identify improvement opportunities, understand complex service and practice issues and develop sustainable solutions.

The role combines operational understanding with analytical thinking and improvement expertise. You'll help strengthen consistency of practice, improve processes and flow, build improvement capability across teams and ensure that improvement activity is informed by evidence and insight.

We're particularly interested in candidates with strong Adult Social Care experience who can diagnose complex problems, interpret evidence, facilitate constructive conversations and lead practice-led improvement.

We're looking for someone who:

• Has experience leading service improvement, business management or governance functions within a complex organisation.
• Can successfully deliver large-scale projects, change and transformation programmes.
• Has strong leadership skills and experience managing high-performing teams.
• Can use performance, financial and business intelligence data to drive service improvement and informed decision-making.
• Builds positive relationships and works effectively with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Is resilient, adaptable and committed to delivering better outcomes for residents and communities.

What you'll be part of

This isn't just about filling individual posts. We're creating a team that can connect evidence, insight and improvement.

The new unit is intended to provide a central Adult Social Care business management and improvement hub and a reliable source of performance and improvement information, while supporting service planning, dashboards, governance, risk, assurance and complex improvement programmes.

The Service Improvement function will complement this by working directly with services to understand challenges, redesign processes, embed continuous improvement and strengthen data-informed decision-making.

That means you'll be joining a team where different professional skills are expected to work together rather than operate in isolation.

This is an opportunity to help shape a new function from the beginning.

You'll be working at the centre of Adult Social Care, alongside colleagues from operational services, commissioning and other professional and corporate functions, helping to create stronger links between intelligence, planning, governance and improvement.

If you enjoy asking good questions, making sense of difficult problems, bringing people together and turning evidence into practical improvement, we'd like to hear from you.

Why Bristol City Council?

At Bristol City Council, we go that extra mile for our people; we offer a work environment which is fast moving and supportive, giving you the chance to use your skills and develop new ones within a high-profile organisation. For the majority of our roles hybrid working arrangements are available, giving teams the opportunity to work in a way that suits them, balancing service need and individual choice - mixing both home and office working.

Join us and you'll receive an excellent rewards package including flexible working and flexitime, membership of the Local Government Pension scheme, and a generous annual leave allowance. In addition, you'll be working in a supportive environment where you'll have the chance to make Bristol a better place and contribute to its future.

For further information, please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification or alternatively, please contact Thomas Wilson on [e-mail]

Please note that this role is subject to an Enhanced DBS Check.

Bristol City Council are not offering sponsorship for this role.

We're a Disability Confident employer which means we value recruiting and retaining disabled people. Any job applicants who consider themselves to be disabled and meet the essential criteria in the Person Specification are guaranteed an interview. We'll make reasonable adjustments throughout the interview process and provide continued workplace support throughout your career.

Bristol City Council strives to have a workforce that reflects the communities it serves, we are therefore committed to ensuring diversity in our hiring process. We welcome, develop and promote people from all sections of the community. Appointments will be made on merit.

Thepersonal information section (including your name) you’ll complete as part of the application form will not be visible to hiring managers, but is used confidentially to make sure that everyone is treated fairly.