Member Job Opportunity: St Christopher's - UK Head of Operations

Location: Head Office
Contract Type: Permanent
Closing Date: 14 July 2019
Salary: £60,000 - £65,000 pa depending on qualifications and experience
Specific Hours: 37.5 hours per week

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St Christopher's is a leading charity for children and young people and we are proud of our history for providing fostering, children's homes and a range of innovative leaving care services across the UK & Isle of Man.

St Christopher’s has established an ambitious, five-year strategy, which sets out a series of three key aims and objectives for the organisation.  Mainly to achieve, “Brighter Futures for double the number of young people by 2023”. 

As part of our Strategy, a new Head of Operations post has been created and we are now looking for the right person to drive our expansion plans to meet increasing need as well as oversee our established services in the UK region.  Reporting to the Director of Operations you will line manage a professional team (of 4 Regional Managers and 2 placement officers) who are well qualified and experienced in their respective roles.

St Christopher’s Approach
At St Christopher’s, Social Pedagogy is our core philosophy of care, drawing together theories and concepts from related disciplines such as sociology, psychology, education, philosophy, medical sciences and social work. Our use of social pedagogy centres on attachment theory and building positive relationships with young people to bring out their inner “diamond”.

About the Role
We have a passionate commitment to our young people, placing them at the centre of everything we do and as the Head of Operations; you will be a key player in building and extending this commitment. You will the lead the regional teams to deliver and exceed our agreed levels of care ensuring stable and safe placements. In addition, you will be the designated safeguarding officer  placing the safeguarding of children and young people at the forefront of all our work in accordance with St Christopher’s safeguarding policy.

The successful candidate will ideally:

• Have a detailed understanding of the legislative and regulatory requirements for safeguarding children and young people as well as a working knowledge of implementing them.
• Have experience of successfully growing residential services and achieving Good to Outstanding Ofsted gradings  with  experience of overseeing several residential services
• Have demonstrable knowledge of current developments and good practice in residential children’s homes as well as 16+ provision and leaving care services.
• Have the skills, ambition and drive to grow and maintain excellent services that meet their financial targets.
• Possess the leadership skills to build and lead a team of professional staff

In return we offer:

• Salary £60,000 - £65,000 per annum pro-rata.
• Annual salary review based on performance.
• A friendly working environment, a fun, open and honest culture.
• Industry leading training programme including children’s right and participation, CSE, empowerment, mental health and Social Pedagogy.
• 25 days holiday rising to 27 days after 3 years’ service, plus Bank Holidays.
• 5% employer contributory pension scheme, Enhanced Maternity and Company Sick Scheme.
• BUPA Employee Assistance Programme, offering counselling, financial advice and legal support.
• Interest-free season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme.
• Discount shopping scheme.
• Discretionary Funded Training Programs.
• Employee Awards based on performance and length of service.

Recruitment Process
At St Christopher’s we are committed to the safeguarding of all children and young people in our care. As part of our recruitment process you will be expected to complete an online application to ensure we capture essential information to meet legislation, best practice and vetting requirements.

Applicants will ideally already be on the DBS Update Service; if this is not the case St Christopher's will carry out a DBS (police) check prior to starting.

For the full Job Description and Person Specification, please click here.

Your application must include a supporting statement addressing the criteria given in the Person Specification.

Closing Date: 14th July 2019

Please bear in mind that applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

St Christopher’s is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community as well as applications from candidates with care experience or experience of being a care leaver.

Full details and apply here