Service Manager in Buckingham

JOB DESCRIPTION

Position Title:

Service Manager

Reports To:

Head of Operations

Travelling across Buckinghamshire, South Midlands, Leicester and Rutland 

Primary Objective:

The Service Manager will be responsible for leading the effective delivery of the contract, ensuring eligible young people receive high-quality wraparound support, are matched to suitable fully funded employment opportunities, and are supported to sustain and progress in work. The role will provide day-to-day operational leadership, performance management and stakeholder coordination to ensure contract outcomes, compliance standards and participant experience expectations are consistently achieved.

Key Relationships/Interactions

Internal

Head of Operations and Senior Leadership Team

Mentors and Activity Co-ordinators

Employer Services and Employer Engagement colleagues

Quality, Compliance and Performance teams

Customer Excellence Centre and Participant Experience teams

Wider Delivery colleagues

Shared Services functions across the Group, including People and Culture, Finance and MI Teams

External

Participants (young people aged 18 to 24), and, where appropriate and with consent, their support networks and other support services helping young people overcome barriers to work

Department for Work and Pensions and Jobcentre Plus contacts

Local employers providing funded employment opportunities

Local authorities, education providers, training providers and community partners

Key Responsibilities

As Service Manager for the contract, you will lead local delivery of a high-quality employment support service for eligible young people. You will ensure participants receive tailored pre-employment preparation, in-work support and progression planning so they can succeed in funded employment and move towards sustained work.

You will be accountable for the day-to-day management of contract delivery, including performance against referral, engagement, job matching, employer placement, sustainment, quality and compliance expectations.

You will use management information to monitor performance, identify risks, implement improvement actions and report progress to the Head of Operations.

You will lead, coach and support delivery colleagues to provide consistent, participant-centred support. This includes ensuring caseloads are managed effectively, participant action plans are meaningful, barriers to work are addressed, safeguarding responsibilities are understood, and all records meet contractual and audit requirements.

You will work closely with employer engagement colleagues and local employers to source suitable funded employment opportunities, match participants to roles aligned to their skills and aspirations and maintain strong relationships that support positive participant and employer outcomes.

You will develop effective working relationships with DWP, Jobcentre Plus and wider local partners to support referrals, resolve delivery issues, strengthen local labour market links and promote the offer across the area.

You will lead and manage the team, supporting recruitment, induction, training, observations and ongoing development of team members to build a confident and high-performing service.

You will ensure delivery complies with DWP requirements, company policies and values, data protection, health and safety, safeguarding, equality and diversity legislation, and quality assurance standards.

You will work flexibly across both your assigned regional area, and UK wide from time-to-time, outside standard hours to meet participant and programme needs.

You will also undertake any other duties appropriate to the level of this role, for which you have the necessary training or experience.

Essential and Desirable Skills, Knowledge and Experience

Experienced operational leader with experience of contract managing employability, welfare-to-work, youth employment, skills or similar publicly funded contracts.

A clear commitment to helping young people access and sustain meaningful employment.

Strong people management experience with a proven ability to lead, motivate, coach and performance manage front-line delivery teams in a target-driven environment.

Strong understanding of participant-centred support, action planning, barrier removal, job matching, in-work support and sustained employment outcomes.

Experience of using management information to monitor performance, identify trends, manage risk and implement service improvement actions.

Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build effective relationships with DWP, Jobcentre Plus, employers, local partners and internal teams.

Good knowledge of compliance, audit, quality assurance, safeguarding, data protection, health and safety, employment legislation and equality and diversity requirements.

Excellent communication, influencing, negotiation and presentation skills.

Highly organised, resilient and able to manage competing priorities, deadlines and operational pressures.

Good IT skills, confident using Microsoft Office, digital communication tools, case management systems and performance reporting dashboards.

Knowledge of the local labour market, employer recruitment needs and support services available to young people is desirable.

Ability and willingness to travel locally and regionally as required to support delivery sites, employer activity, stakeholder meetings and contract reviews.

Forward Assist Recruitment is operating as an employment agency. Forward Assist Recruitment is an Equal Opportunities employer; we welcome applicants from all backgrounds.