Rostering & Workforce Optimisation Manager in Thame

Salary: £50,000 per annum

Location: Thame (Oxfordshire) or Leicester, with travel nationally to our support locations where required.

Working arrangement: Hybrid, with a minimum of 2 days per week in the office.

Contract: Permanent, 37.5 hours per week

Help us make sure the right support is in the right place, at the right time. At Affinity Trust, people are at the heart of everything we do. We support people with learning disabilities, autism and related needs to live their lives their way. To do that well, we need strong planning, good decisions, and the confidence to use our resources in the best possible way.

About the role

The Rostering & Workforce Optimisation Manager role at Affinity Trust is a high-impact role with a clear purpose: to improve rostering quality, strengthen cover planning and reduce avoidable agency use. You’ll work with Support Managers, Operations Managers and senior leaders to spot where things are not working as well as they should, understand why, and put practical improvement plans in place. That might mean identifying patterns in sickness and annual leave cover, highlighting gaps between commissioned and rostered hours, improving the way rosters are reviewed, or helping managers use the rostering system more consistently and meaningfully. You’ll set clear minimum rostering standards, lead a regular governance and review rhythm for priority locations, and create repeatable insight packs that help operational leaders make better decisions. You’ll also act as the business owner for our rostering system, SONA, helping to shape priorities, improve reporting and support meaningful use across the organisation.

What success looks like

Success in this role means priority locations are meeting minimum rostering standards, managers are planning cover more effectively, last-minute changes and preventable gaps are reducing, and agency reliance is falling for the right reasons. It also means leaders have better insight, decision‑making becomes more consistent, and our rostering system is being used in a way that supports quality, continuity and good operational control.

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for someone who is analytical, practical and confident working with people at different levels of the organisation. You will ideally bring:

• Experience of improving rostering, workforce deployment or operational performance in a multi-site environment
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to turn data into practical action
• Confidence using systems, spreadsheets and management information
• The ability to influence, support and challenge managers constructively
• Experience of identifying root causes and delivering sustained improvement
• Experience of working across functions to solve problems and remove blockers
• A clear understanding of how staffing, cover planning and roster quality affect continuity, quality and cost.

Experience in health and social care would be particularly valuable, especially within learning disability, autism or children and young people’s services. Knowledge of SONA or similar rostering systems would also be helpful.

This is a chance to shape an important area of work with real visibility and real impact. You’ll help us improve consistency, reduce avoidable cost pressure, strengthen decision-making and support better outcomes for the people we support. If you enjoy combining data, operational insight, coaching and problem-solving, and you want to help drive meaningful improvement across a large and diverse organisation, we’d love to hear from you. Apply now to help us build stronger rostering practice, better workforce planning and more consistent support across Affinity Trust.