Senior Operations Contract lead

Based: Chelmsford, Maidstone or Canterbury with travel across Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent

Salary: £20.80 ph hour PAYE - £26.38ph PAYE OR £26.50ph UMB - £34.00ph UMB

Start Date: ASAP

Duration: Temp – ongoing

Hours: 28 hours per week between 4 days between Monday to Friday (flexible) - Hybrid - 1 day from home

This role is responsible for services across Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent. It can be based at Chelmsford, Maidstone or Canterbury with regular travel to the other locations. The expectation is that a minimum of three days per week are spent in face-to-face, in-person contact (e.g. in Women’s Centres, Estates or external visits), with a monthly visit to the Head Office in Hammersmith. Visits may also be required to HMP Peterborough and HMP Bronzefield.

Synopsis of duties:

• Hold a key role together with Director and the Head of Criminal Justice in programme and services development, including contributing to the tendering, bidding, strategy for services.
• Drive and develop existing and new innovative models utilising learning from services, the service users, research and policy.
• As part of the criminal Justice Services management team, be responsible for ensuring the implementation of the business plan for services.
• Develop and implement strategies to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of CJS processes.
• Implement quality assurance systems, and ensure that KPIs, targets and outcome measures for contract compliance, taking appropriate action to manage poor performance in your team or with the partners who we lead as necessary, ensure a high quality service while offering solutions/contingencies.
• Develop and implement risk management strategies to mitigate potential issues.
• Set up systems and work with the Data Insights to improve monitoring processes and systems for data, proving the impact of the work, and ensuring feedback from service users is used to improve services.
• Plan, lead and implement new services and new developments including proactively identifying gaps and incorporating equalities issues.
• Oversee and ensure casework and safeguarding is to a high quality standard and embeds best practice while ensuring the team remain motivated and risk and needs are well managed across the projects.
• Attend, contribute and communicate outcomes from regular strategic and operational meetings and one to one performance review meetings with funders and partners.
• Manage a complex workload, working independently and within a team as appropriate, and problem solve proactively to resolve issues which affect front line services and team performance.
• Be responsible for line management and performance management of Operation Managers, and project staff, including annual appraisals and supervision, staff training and development, and ensuring that staff are fully inducted and trained.
• Effectively manage change within the services and ensure best and most appropriate use of staff to support capacity issues and ensure coverage of the programme.
• With the management team, set, advise on and vary programme and project/pilot budgets to ensure high quality service delivery.
• Ensure, manage and oversee the services work within the budget, are compliant with financial regulations, policies and procedures, and meets funding and Advance requirements.
• Collate and check all payroll data related to programme staff, and other human resources information (such as training, sickness and so on) providing monthly returns to the HR team as required.
• Manage budgets, allocate resources, and monitor financial performance of services within your region within the scope of assigned budgets, meet deadlines and submit quarterly and financial reports to commissioners and key stakeholders.
• Manage and oversee the first tier manager managing day to day financial transactions such as women centre budgets and petty cash.
• Develop and maintain relations with influence and network with appropriate authorities, organisations, commissioners, and partners.
• Develop, maintain and review protocols, agreements and contracts with partner agencies while monitoring and reviewing the project.
• Escalation point of contact for all safeguarding and incidents that arise within the service, managing incidences in line with Safeguarding policy as applicable.
• Ensuring through you and your team, attendance and delivery of case presentations at all external Probation meetings and being a point of contact for all key stakeholders (PDUs, probation, courts, prisons, police and community-based services).

Essential requirements:

• A thorough understanding of and knowledge of the issues relating to women in the criminal justice system.
• A sound knowledge of safeguarding adult and children principles, child abuse, child protection issues and safeguarding.
• A good knowledge and understanding of organisational systems and frameworks, line management and project management.
• Significant experience, likely to have been gained over several years, of strategic planning and operational management at a service manager level, and developing and delivering services at senior service management level.
• Experience of developing relationships with funders/commissioners and achieving required outcomes.
• Experience of implementing quality assurance frameworks, monitoring, evaluating and measuring impact.
• Enhanced Adult and Child DBS on the update service or dated within the last 12 months.
• Enhanced Level 2 vetting essential.