Service Manager Children in Care

Nottingham City Council; Nottingham; Hybrid; GBP 59,000 - 62,000; Full time

Job summary

Nottingham City Council in Nottingham is seeking a Service Manager for Children in Care to provide strategic and operational leadership across social work teams, ensuring safe, stable care and ambitious planning for children in care.

You will work with colleagues across fostering, residential, leaving care, education, health and partner agencies to champion Nottingham's corporate parenting role and keep children's voices central in decision-making.

Qualifications

• Experience leading high-performing social work teams and delivering service improvement.
• Ability to develop others, foster a positive culture and support practitioners to deliver excellent practice.
• Strategic and operational leadership across multiple partner agencies to improve outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership to social work teams.
• Oversee service delivery, quality assurance and workforce development.
• Champion corporate parenting and involve children's voices in decision-making.

Job description

Service Manager Children in Care (Closing Date Monday 2nd November)

Contract: Permanent
Location: Hybrid / Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham NG2 3NG
Salary: £58,602 - £62,109

As Service Manager for Children in Care, you will play a key role in leading and shaping services that support children in care across Nottingham, ensuring they experience safety, stability, permanence and the opportunity to achieve their full potential.

Reporting to the Head of Service, you will provide strategic and operational leadership to a number of social work teams, creating the conditions for high-quality practice, strong performance and continuous improvement. You will oversee service delivery, quality assurance and workforce development, ensuring children receive timely, effective support and ambitious care planning that improves outcomes.

Working closely with colleagues across fostering, residential, leaving care, education, health and partner agencies, you will champion Nottingham's role as a corporate parent and ensure children's voices remain at the heart of decision-making. You will support a relationship-based approach that promotes stability, belonging and positive futures for children in care.

We are seeking an experienced and inspirational social work leader with a strong track record of leading high-performing teams and delivering service improvement. You will be passionate about developing others, creating a positive culture and supporting practitioners to deliver excellent social work practice.

Through your leadership, you will help embed Nottingham's vision for children in care, ensuring children and young people experience consistent support, strong professional relationships and the very best opportunities to thrive.