Service Transformation and Innovation Lead in Cheadle

Are you a strategic thinker who can bring people together to turn complex challenges into practical change? Do you have the experience and influence to turn ambitious ideas into practical, sustainable transformation? If so, this could be the opportunity for you. At Together Trust, everything we do is about creating opportunities for the people we support to thrive. As we deliver our ambitious five-year strategy, we are looking for a talented Service Transformation & Innovation Lead to help turn our vision into reality. This is a great opportunity for someone who enjoys strategic thinking, collaborative change and working across an organisation to connect services, people and ideas in ways that make a real difference.

You will work closely with senior leaders and colleagues across the Together Trust to translate strategy into action, align priorities and support transformation, innovation and partnership work. Hybrid Working – Cheadle / home-based with travel across the Northwest (predominantly Manchester and Stockport area). Interview Date: 23rd October 2026.

About the role

As our Service Transformation & Innovation Lead, reporting directly to the Service Director, you will act as a key connector across services, strategic programmes and organisational priorities helping teams build momentum and embed meaningful, lasting change.

What you will be doing

• Shaping and leading improvement activity that helps deliver Together Trust’s five-year strategy and strengthens the way services work for the people we support.
• Turning strategic ambitions into practical delivery plans that help colleagues move forward with clarity, confidence and shared purpose.
• Identifying opportunities to align projects, initiatives and change activity across services.
• Supporting senior leaders to manage priorities, dependencies and organisational capacity.
• Championing innovation, continuous improvement and the sharing of best practice.
• Moving new ideas, sustainability priorities and emerging partnerships from early thinking into practical change that services can adopt and sustain.
• Facilitating cross-service collaboration to strengthen outcomes and reduce duplication.
• Providing insightful reporting, governance support and delivery assurance.
• Working in line with Trust safeguarding policy and practice.

About you

You are someone who builds positive working relationships and enjoys bringing people together to solve complex challenges. You balance strategic ambition with operational realities and turn ideas into practical, sustainable solutions. We would particularly welcome applications from candidates who can show experience, understanding or transferable skills in the following areas:

• Strategic delivery, transformation or service improvement across multiple teams or services.
• Stakeholder engagement, influencing and building alignment without direct authority.
• Turning organisational priorities into actionable plans and measurable outcomes.
• Identifying connections, dependencies, risks and opportunities across complex programmes of work.
• Facilitation and collaboration that help teams achieve shared objectives.
• Using evidence and data to support planning, decision-making and evaluation.
• Planning, organisation and communication.
• Relevant professional experience, learning or qualifications that support you to succeed in the role (including degree-level education or equivalent relevant experience).

It would be great if you also have:

• Project Management qualifications such as PRINCE2, APM or AgilePM.
• Change Management qualifications such as Prosci or APMG.
• Experience within social care, education, health, charity or other regulated service environments.
• Knowledge of programme management, portfolio delivery and benefits realisation approaches.
• Experience supporting innovation, sustainability or partnership development.

Why join Together Trust?

• Annual Leave – 27 days plus 8 bank holidays, rising to 30 after 5 years and 33 after 10 years.
• Generous pension scheme and death in service benefit – up to 7% employer pension contributions and up to 6× basic salary.
• Occupational sick pay and enhanced maternity, paternity and adoptive leave.
• Reward and Discount platform plus eligibility for Blue Light Card.
• Real Living Wage employer.
• Refer a Friend scheme.
• Training and development opportunities, including apprenticeships.
• Long service awards with cash gifts and extra holiday.
• Promotion of Wellbeing, including Mental Health First Aiders and free weekly yoga (in person/online).
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme.
• Inclusive networks: Disability & Neurodiversity, Race Equality, Proud Together (LGBTQ+), Together for Men, Women Together.

You'll have the opportunity to:

• Shape the future direction of services across the Together Trust.
• Lead meaningful transformation that positively impacts people's lives.
• Work alongside compassionate, courageous, and collaborative colleagues.
• Influence strategic decision-making at a senior level.
• Be part of an organisation committed to innovation, learning and continuous improvement.
• Enjoy a flexible hybrid working environment.

Our commitment to inclusion

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued, respected and able to thrive. We positively encourage applications from people with lived experience. If you need any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and employment journey we will work with you to understand what support would help. Enhanced DBS check required (undertaken by Together Trust).

Ready to make an Impact?

If you are passionate about driving innovation, building partnerships and delivering meaningful change that improves outcomes for people and communities, we'd love to hear from you. We reserve the right to close this advert early if a suitable candidate is identified. Applications are very welcome from all regardless of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, race, sex, sexual orientation, trans status or socio-economic background. We are committed to making reasonable adjustments for disabled people. We positively encourage applications from those with lived experience. If there is any part of your lived experience you want to keep confidential in some way please talk to the Recruitment or HR shared service teams and we will do what we can to support you. The Together Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the people we support and expects all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Safeguarding checks will be undertaken for the successful candidate in line with our safer recruitment policy.