Business Manager - Burnley, Lancashire

Lead a service that changes lives. Strong employability services do more than achieve targets; they help people rebuild confidence, overcome barriers and move into sustainable work. As a Business Manager, you will lead the teams that make this happen. You will have the opportunity to shape how a service operates, develop capable managers and create the structure people need to perform at their best. You will use data, professional judgement and your understanding of people to turn challenges into practical improvements. This is a role with real scope, visible impact and clear ownership.

You will lead an employability service or region, managing Team Leaders, Advisors and operational delivery colleagues. You will be accountable for:

• Delivering contractual KPIs and strong job outcomes.
• Developing confident, capable and accountable managers.
• Maintaining high standards of customer experience and service quality.
• Ensuring compliant and safeguarding-focused delivery.
• Managing caseloads, resources and operational capacity.
• Using performance information to identify risks and opportunities.
• Building trusted relationships with commissioners, partners and stakeholders.
• Managing budgets, operational risks and value for money.

You will be close enough to delivery to understand what is happening, while having the leadership perspective to decide what needs to change.

A day in the role may involve:

• Reviewing performance across your service.
• Visiting a team and speaking with colleagues about delivery challenges.
• Reviewing caseloads and making decisions about capacity or resources.
• Coaching a Team Leader through a difficult management issue.
• Recognising strong performance and sharing effective practice.
• Responding to a safeguarding, quality or compliance concern.
• Meeting a commissioner to discuss progress and future priorities.
• Working with an employer or partner to create opportunities for customers.
• Reviewing staffing, recruitment, absence and development needs.
• Preparing for an audit, contract review or service launch.
• Testing whether previously agreed actions have delivered the expected improvement.

Some days will involve planned development work; others will require you to respond quickly to an operational risk. Your role is to provide direction, maintain momentum and help your teams deliver consistently.

You will be able to see the connection between your leadership and real outcomes. A better coaching conversation with a Team Leader can improve the performance of an entire team. A decision about caseloads or resources can improve the support customers receive. Stronger performance can mean more people moving into work and building greater stability in their lives.

You will also have the opportunity to:

• Develop Advisors and support colleagues to progress.
• Improve how a service operates rather than simply maintain it.
• Build relationships with influential commissioners and partners.
• Lead through periods of growth, change and mobilisation.
• Share effective practice across a wider organisation.
• Develop your own operational, commercial and strategic leadership.

This is a supportive leadership role, but it is also an accountable one. You will need to be comfortable with:

• Taking ownership of the performance of a service or region.
• Working towards contractual KPIs and job-outcome targets.
• Using data to understand what is working and what needs attention.
• Giving clear feedback and addressing underperformance fairly.
• Making evidence-based decisions, including difficult ones when necessary.
• Balancing employee wellbeing with customer and contractual requirements.
• Maintaining high standards of quality, safeguarding and compliance.
• Managing competing priorities and responding calmly when plans change.
• Communicating confidently with commissioners and senior stakeholders.
• Remaining visible, consistent and constructive during challenging periods.

We are looking for a leader who asks the right questions, acts on evidence and follows through.

You may have worked in employability, skills, welfare to work, justice, health, education, public services or another regulated and outcome-focused environment. We are looking for evidence of:

• Leading managers and operational delivery teams.
• Delivering against KPIs, contractual measures or service outcomes.
• Improving the performance or quality of a team or service.
• Coaching managers and addressing underperformance.
• Using management information to make decisions.
• Managing quality, compliance, safeguarding or data integrity.
• Planning resources, capacity and caseloads.
• Building credible stakeholder and partner relationships.
• Understanding budgets and the commercial drivers of funded services.
• Leading consistently and professionally under pressure.

Experience in employability would be valuable, but leadership experience from a comparable publicly funded or regulated service may also be relevant.

You will:

• Set clear expectations and give people the support to meet them.
• Create an environment where managers take ownership.
• Balance empathy with constructive challenge.
• Recognise progress and celebrate strong performance.
• Use evidence and data rather than assumption.
• Act early when performance or quality is at risk.
• Make decisions fairly and explain them clearly.
• Bring stability, professionalism and positive energy to your teams.

Within your first 90 days, you should understand the contract, your teams, the performance position and the most important opportunities and risks. You should have strong relationships with your managers, colleagues and stakeholders, with clear performance routines and focused plans wherever improvement is needed. Within 6-12 months, we would expect to see:

• Consistent achievement of contractual KPIs.
• Strong and sustainable job-outcome performance.
• Reliable data and confident forecasting.
• Managers who lead their teams with clarity and ownership.
• High-quality, compliant and safeguarding-focused delivery.
• Effective use of resources and caseload capacity.
• A professional culture where people understand what is expected and feel supported to succeed.

You will have the opportunity to lead a service with visible social impact and influence how it develops. Benefits include:

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Pension contributions.
• Employee ownership share scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support.
• Employee assistance programme.
• Gym discounts and wellbeing rewards.
• Leadership and development opportunities.

You will also gain broader experience in operational, contractual and performance leadership, supporting future progression within Get Set UK and our wider global group.

Get Set UK helps people overcome barriers, develop skills and move into sustainable employment. We deliver employment, skills, health and justice services and are part of Palladium, a global group operating across more than 90 countries. Our values are Ambitious, Proud, Considerate, Own It and Inspire. In this role, those values mean setting high standards, supporting people fairly and taking responsibility for delivering what has been promised.

Please review your CV carefully. Your CV should clearly show:

• The size and type of teams you have led.
• The services, contracts or regions for which you were accountable.
• The KPIs or outcomes you were expected to deliver.
• Examples of performance or quality improvements you achieved.
• Your experience managing budgets, compliance and stakeholders.
• Measurable results rather than responsibilities alone.

The process includes:

• A short role-focused application questionnaire.
• Review of your CV and the evidence you provide.
• A conversation with our recruitment team.
• An online role assessment.
• A hiring-manager interview incorporating a realistic operational-performance exercise.

You must have the full right to work in the UK. Sponsorship is not available for this role. Appointment will be subject to satisfactory references, right-to-work checks and enhanced vetting appropriate to the service. This position requires full compliance with safeguarding, confidentiality and data-security requirements. Get Set UK is a Disability Confident and Equal Opportunity Employer. Disabled applicants who evidence the minimum essential criteria will be offered an interview. Reasonable adjustments are available throughout the recruitment process. If you enjoy developing people, improving services and turning operational challenges into better outcomes, we would be pleased to hear from you. Get Set to lead a service that changes lives. Apply today.