IPS Grow Regional Lead – North

We are seeking an experienced IPS professional with recent IPS team leadership experience at a Team Leader, Senior Employment Specialist or Service Manager level.

Deadline: 31st July 2025

• North East
• Full-time

Job overview

We are an ambitious not for profit organisation that partners with governments, service providers, the voluntary sector and the financial community. Together, we find better ways of tackling social problems in the UK and globally.
Our unique method combines financial analysis, data science, service design, and social issues research. We focus this expertise on understanding the needs of service users and working with communities to create new responses to challenging social problems.

IPS Grow is a national programme designed to support the expansion of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) services in mental health, primary care, and drug and alcohol teams across England. The programme is led by Social Finance in partnership with the Centre for Mental Health. It is funded by NHS England and Improvement (NHSE/I), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).

The role will involve a mix of remote and onsite working, supporting IPS services across the North of England. Please feel free to contact IPS Grow if you have any questions about the locations and/or travel.

Role

The role will have a focus on working with regional and national stakeholder to support the national expansion of evidence-based employment provision within health systems. This will require the post holder to lead by example helping services translate research into on the ground practice, with a focus on quality and good performance.

This will involve carrying out field mentoring/case reviews, quality assurance fidelity reviews, facilitating workshops and learning networks. Given the scale of the new contract, the exact role and responsibilities may need to change over time. For example, the exact geography covered by the Lead may vary. Any changes will be made with and after full consultation with the IPS Grow team.

Responsibilities

The key requirements of the role are:

Leadership and technical support

• Conduct regular in-person and virtual visits to services, supporting them to implement good fidelity IPS.
• Work alongside IPS teams to model new skills and help solve problems. This includes coaching staff as they meet with employers; attending vocational unit meetings; and supporting meetings with commissioners and health system leaders.
• Provide feedback on organisational practices and structures, making recommendations to overcome barriers to IPS delivery.
• Mentor IPS Team Leaders in supervising Employment Specialists, focusing on: employer engagement field mentoring, delivering racially equitable services, client centred team meetings, and IPS performance management.
• Support IPS services to raise awareness of IPS and gain buy in from system leadership.
• Create training materials and resources that drive impactful technical support to IPS services.

Performance oversight and stakeholder engagement

• Build strong relationships with IPS services and key stakeholders, maintaining open communication around delivery, performance, and race equity practice.
• Navigate performance and quality conversations effectively.
• Support services and the commissioners in workforce planning and outcome forecasting, ensuring KPIs, targets and resources align with stakeholder requirements.
• Benchmark service performance outcomes against best practice standards and work with services, ICBs, commissioners, and health directors to identify key enablers and blockers.
• Collaborate closely with NHSE/I, OHID, and DWP to provide cohesive support for services.
• Improve data integrity reported to national systems and drive uptake of the IPS Grow Reporting Tool.
• Create accurate and timely reports, including case studies demonstrating impact.

Quality assurance and fidelity reviews

• Lead on IPS fidelity reviews with a second reviewer, participate in consensus scoring, and organise follow up guided reviews in line with national policy.
• Support services through fidelity reviews and guided self-assessments, focusing on client outcomes.
• Produce impactful, concise and accurate fidelity reports and action plans within agreed timescales.
• Ensure active, measurable fidelity and race equity action plans are implemented and monitored regularly.

Facilitate learning networks and communities of practice

• Identify and facilitate links between services to maximise peer support and learning.
• Collaborate with other IPS Grow Leads to run network events and communities of practice.
• Support national webinars and workshops in line with wider team objectives.

The person

Skills, Experience & Qualifications

• IPS leadership experience: At Team Leader, Senior Employment Specialist, or Service Manager level.
• Stakeholder management: Experience working with stakeholders at operational and strategic levels in fast paced delivery environments.
• IPS expertise: Comprehensive knowledge of the IPS approach and practical applications. Familiar with the IPS evidence base and able to talk convincingly about the benefits of IPS to different types of stakeholders.
• Driving performance outcomes: Track record of driving tangible improvements in IPS outcomes with a strong focus on performance management. Deep understanding of IPS implementation challenges and successful strategies to overcome them.
• Change management: Ability to plan, implement, and solidify positive change within IPS services and systems. Drive improvements in employment outcomes for IPS clients through strategic change initiatives.
• Strategic planning and organisational skills: Manage workloads and competing priorities efficiently, and meet deadlines consistently while maintaining high- quality output.
• Driven by a core belief in evidenced-based employment support and integrity to the IPS model.
• Commitment to race equity and willingness to contribute to IPS Grow race equity objectives.
• Takes a structured approach to solving problems and develop creative and innovative solutions to overcome challenges.
• Ability to adapt quickly to complexities in a rapidly changing landscape with a high tolerance for ambiguity.
• High level of integrity, empathy and commitment to driving social change.
• Thoughtful and effective communicator.
• High levels of initiative and personal leadership, and committed to own development and keeping up to date with IPS and leadership practice.

Commitment to travel. The role involves significant travel to build relationships and provide hands- on support as well as meeting with IPS Grow team members from across England.

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