Service Manager

We're looking for a kind, compassionate and resilient Service Manager to join our Braknell Young People's Service.

£40,000.00 per annum, working 40 hours per week.

Want to feel like you have an exciting future? You'll feel at home here.

Making you feel at home here means helping you thrive in every way. That's why we offer a wide range of benefits, award-winning Learning & Development and a culture that welcomes all. These aren't token gestures - we've thought long and hard about how best to support our team. After all, our people are doing something amazing: helping to transform lives every day.

Our benefits include:
Annual leave increasing up to 30 days with length of service
Free DBS
Exclusive discounts and cashback via Reward Gateway and opportunity to buy a Blue Light Card
Fully paid induction programme and further training
ILM courses and Apprenticeship Programmes
Cycle to work scheme
Employee Assistance Programme for 24-7 confidential support
Online wellbeing resources
A generous pension - we will contribute up to 4% and life assurance cover up to £10,000 (T&Cs apply)
Quarterly Staff Awards to reward & recognise our amazing staff's commitment and contribution

All applicants must be legally eligible to work in the UK by the start of employment as Look Ahead are not able to offer sponsorship.

Join Look Ahead as a Service Manager for Bracknell Young People, where you'll oversee innovative 24 hour supported accommodation for young people aged 16-25 . You will oversee four projects and diverse teams within the Bracknell Forest Council area.

As a Service Manager, you will lead and inspire front-line staff, fostering leadership and competence development within your team. Your operational excellence will ensure effective management of all projects, maintaining high standards in service delivery. You will be responsible for upholding regulatory responsibilities (OFSTED), ensuring a safe and welcoming environment for our customers, and driving continuous improvement through quality assurance.

In this role, you will actively listen to and engage with young people, ensuring their voices are heard and their needs are met. Developing and maintaining essential external partnerships will be key to providing a robust support structure for our customers.

We are looking for an empathetic leader who can connect with young people and staff alike, showing genuine care and understanding. You should be adept at comprehending and implementing policies and procedures to benefit both customers and the organisation. Excellent communication skills are essential for effectively liaising with stakeholders, Children services, Commissioning teams, and OFSTED. A proactive approach to service development and regulatory compliance will be crucial to your success.

You'll have the chance to grow your leadership skills and advance your career in an organisation that prioritises personal development and values partnerships and collaborative efforts.

What you'll do:

- Drive business planning activities within your contract, ensuring relevant and challenging objective setting and ongoing performance tracking, developing turn around action plans as may be necessary
Using sound financial and accounting principles, manage contract budgets to deliver on corporate and local contract financial targets
Successfully lead and motivate your team to ensure the championing of and maintenance of a positive local culture within your service
Work to continuously improve staff competence, ensure ownership of all staff issues and speedy and effective conflict resolution
Responsible for reporting all staff changes to HR and Payroll departments, as appropriate e.g. starters, leavers, additional hours etc.
Responsible for maintaining quarterly staff succession plans
Deliver effective, professional and commercially focused briefings and supervision meetings with staff and ensure that information, reporting & communications flow up/down is effective
Responsible for managing and allocating customers to support staff (casework management)
Develop key business relationships with all relevant customers/external parties to ensure service delivery excellence and maximise new business opportunities in own patch
Plan, organise and prioritise operations within your contract to ensure maximum efficiencies/utilisation of all resources
Working with your team lead creative and ambitious customer involvement plans across the patch and ensure successful implementation
Where appropriate to role, carry client group specialism activities, linking in with other Managers and Heads of Operations to ensure focussed integration of specialisms across the whole organisation
Lead quality visits, using Look Ahead's local indicators to monitor quality/performance, set targets and lead action plans to ensure highly rated services that reflect requirements of local funders and local and national standards
Responsible for producing and submitting Monthly Management Reports to the Performance team, ensuring that all data gathered on local KPI's are accurate and up to date
Drive continuous improvement initiatives across contract portfolio ensuring Look Ahead continues to set and achieves sector best practice standards and is held as a benchmark to competitors
Develop and maintain excellent internal management relationships with all other Look Ahead departments and functions, ensuring sharing of best practice and supporting initiatives to improve organisational performance

Please see our website for the full job description.