Head of Catering and Housekeeping

About The Role

Lead the strategy that shapes exceptional dining, nutrition and living environments across a national care home portfolio. Joining us means leading the development of catering, nutrition, housekeeping and domestic standards that make a meaningful difference to residents' everyday lives. Working collaboratively with operational, quality and support teams, you'll help create environments where great food, welcoming surroundings and high standards of cleanliness enhance wellbeing, dignity and quality of life. This is a field‑based role covering an assigned region, with regular travel to care homes, regional offices and commissioner meetings. Occasional travel to our Central Support Office in Darlington will also be required.

As Head of Catering and Housekeeping, you'll provide strategic leadership across a national portfolio of care homes, setting standards, driving continuous improvement and supporting colleagues to deliver outstanding resident experiences. Through expert guidance, quality assurance and collaborative leadership, you'll ensure catering and housekeeping services consistently meet the highest standards of quality, safety and regulatory compliance. You'll develop and implement group‑wide strategies, policies and quality frameworks, using audit findings, resident feedback, performance data and quality intelligence to identify opportunities for improvement and ensure consistently high standards across all homes.

Working closely with operational leaders, Quality, Estates, Procurement, Learning and Development and Home Managers, you'll provide expert advice, support organisational improvement programmes and ensure catering and housekeeping remain central to the resident experience. You'll lead the development of national standards for nutrition, food safety, housekeeping and infection prevention, while supporting homes through quality assurance visits, coaching, training and practical improvement planning. You'll also build and support networks of catering and housekeeping champions, sharing best practice and helping teams develop the knowledge and confidence to deliver exceptional services.

About You

You’ll be an experienced senior leader with a strong background in catering, hospitality, housekeeping, facilities or resident services within a care, healthcare, hospitality or other regulated multi‑site environment. You’ll combine strategic thinking with a practical, collaborative approach, using data, quality information and resident feedback to drive improvements while building trusted relationships with colleagues across multiple functions. Confident influencing at senior level and supporting frontline teams alike, you’ll be passionate about creating outstanding dining experiences, maintaining exceptional living environments and ensuring every resident benefits from high‑quality, person‑centred services. You’ll be an approachable and credible leader who enjoys developing others, championing innovation and delivering sustainable improvements that enhance both resident experience and organisational performance.

Essential

• Significant leadership experience within catering, hospitality, housekeeping, facilities, domestic services or resident experience in a care, healthcare, hospitality or regulated multi‑site environment.
• Strong knowledge of nutrition, hydration, food safety, allergen management, IDDSI requirements and modified texture diets.
• Strong understanding of housekeeping, domestic services, infection prevention and control, laundry and environmental standards.
• Experience developing organisational standards, policies, audit frameworks or quality improvement programmes.
• Experience leading quality assurance visits, audits or service reviews and supporting teams to improve performance.
• Excellent leadership, communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence colleagues at all levels.
• Strong analytical skills with experience using performance data, audits and resident feedback to identify trends and drive improvement.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities across a national portfolio.

Desirable

• Level 4 or above qualification in food safety, nutrition, hospitality management, facilities management or a related discipline.
• Knowledge of regulatory frameworks across England, Scotland and Wales.
• Experience working with regulators, environmental health officers, suppliers or specialist nutrition professionals.
• Experience using digital audit, reporting or business intelligence systems.

Additional Information

This is a national leadership role with regular travel across care homes in England, Scotland and Wales. The position works closely with senior operational, quality, estates, procurement and learning teams to shape organisational standards, provide assurance and support continuous improvement across catering, nutrition, dining experience and housekeeping services. As with all colleagues, you'll be expected to comply with our policies relating to health and safety, infection prevention and control, safeguarding and all relevant regulatory requirements. From time to time, you may be asked to undertake other duties appropriate to the role, and the responsibilities outlined above may be reasonably reviewed and updated following consultation to reflect business needs.