Senior Occupational Therapist (Autism Specialist Function) in Harrow

Salary: £51,735 to £54,843 DOE

Job Type: Full-Time, Employed

Location: Harrow, London

NO SPONSORSHIP available for this role. You must have the PERMANENT RIGHT TO WORK in the UK.

Perks:

• Specialist senior OT role within a new Autism Function
• Strong salary for a senior practitioner post
• Opportunity to shape a developing service
• Preventative, early intervention focus
• Complex and meaningful adult caseload
• Hybrid working across office, community and partnership settings
• Collaborative MDT environment
• Small, capped caseload
• Chance to influence wider practice across Adult Social Care
• Subsidised local parking available
• Clear route for specialist growth and future progression

Why You’ll Love It:

This is a proper “make a difference” role, not a tick‑box OT post. You will be joining at a point where the service is actively developing, improving and building something more specialist for autistic adults who need the right support before things reach crisis point. It is hands‑on, complex and meaningful, but also genuinely influential. You will have the chance to bring your autism expertise into the room, help shape care planning, support better outcomes and be part of a team that really wants to move things forward. If you are passionate about strengths‑based and neurodiversity‑affirming practice, you'll have the opportunity to influence how support is designed around autistic adults, focusing on what matters to them rather than what systems think they need.

All About You:

You will be an HCPC Registered Occupational Therapist with strong post‑qualifying experience working with autistic adults or people with complex neurodevelopmental presentations. You will bring confidence in sensory integration, environmental adaptation, functional formulation, trauma‑informed practice, safeguarding, capacity and risk. You will be comfortable working with complexity, ambiguity and high‑risk situations, including adults at risk of placement breakdown, crisis, restrictive care models or high‑intensity support packages. Experience across Adult Social Care, Mental Health, Learning Disability, forensic or complex community settings would be welcomed. A strong understanding of community deprivation of liberty safeguards and legal literacy within complex adult care would be highly valuable. A senior specialist Band 7‑level OT role with significant autonomy and influence, rather than a management‑led position.

What will you be doing?

You will provide specialist autism and sensory‑informed assessment, formulation and intervention for autistic adults at risk of escalation. You will support care planning that reduces reliance on restrictive, staffing‑intensive support models, while helping adults maintain independence, stability and safer routines. The role will include consultation, advice, training and reflective learning for social workers, care managers, AMHPs, managers, providers and wider partners. You will contribute to safeguarding responses, placement stability, tenancy support, crisis prevention and system‑wide learning across Adult Social Care. This is not a traditional equipment‑led OT role. It is a specialist, preventative and highly collaborative position where your clinical judgement will genuinely matter. The work is grounded in strengths‑based practice. You will champion approaches that recognise strengths, preferences, autonomy and lived experience, ensuring support is built with autistic and neurodivergent adults rather than done to them. You will work collaboratively with individuals, families, professionals and providers to develop practical, personalised solutions that promote independence, reduce restrictions and improve quality of life.

Working Hours and Environment:

This is a full‑time role, Monday to Friday, broadly 9 am to 5 pm. Our client offers hybrid working, with an expectation of around two days per week in the borough, alongside community visits, meetings and partnership work. The role is based across office, community and local partnership settings. Driving would be helpful, but is not essential due to public transport links.

Reaching Your Potential:

Our client is developing a new specialist Autism Function within Adult Social Care, with a strong focus on prevention, early intervention, reducing avoidable harm and improving outcomes for autistic adults. There is real energy around improvement, service development and creating better pathways. This role offers the chance to be part of that journey from an early stage. For the right OT, there is genuine scope to influence practice, shape the specialist function and develop into wider clinical, strategic or operational leadership over time.

Apply Here:

If you are interested in making a meaningful impact with our client, please submit your CV via the portal. If you are experiencing technical issues, please send your CV to info@recruittherapists.co.uk. We will contact all shortlisted candidates. Please note that we retain the right to close the advert early if a suitable candidate is appointed. Employment offers are subject to satisfactory pre‑employment checks. Our client promotes diversity and equal opportunity. Permanent right to work in the UK is required.