Operations Manager, Community Drug and Alcohol Service in London

Join us as an Operations Manager in Richmond and Wandsworth. Our team in London is recruiting for an Operations Manager to join them in providing high quality recovery care to a diverse service user group. If you are a dynamic leader who can inspire others to make a difference for their clients using a compassionate and collaborative approach, we want to hear from you.

As a leading charity supporting people with drug, alcohol, and mental health challenges, we operate over 80 services across England and Scotland, providing free and confidential support to more than 100,000 people each year. We are looking for a driven and compassionate individual to lead our psychosocial teams within our Richmond and Wandsworth partnership services. We provide emotional and practical support to individuals affected by alcohol and drug use. Our teams work with people at every stage of their recovery journey - providing evidence-based psychosocial interventions, helping clients build resilience, exploring the root causes of substance misuse and achieving meaningful change.

You will strive to work collaboratively with our lead provider and consortium partners, as well as our wider partners and local communities, ensuring that we are as accessible as possible and that we deliver trauma-informed support with the principles of a Recovery Oriented System of Care at the heart of all that we do. You will lead our WithYou psychosocial teams within the consortium service, working alongside the clinical teams from SLaM as well as the outreach and recovery pathways provided by ST Mungos and CDARs, providing development and clear direction aligned with the organisational and Lead partner aims and be a strong advocate for WithYou externally, maintaining and building our profile as you go.

This post requires excellent leadership skills to work innovatively and confidently, supporting staff to develop in high performing recovery work, overseeing performance, quality assurance and safeguarding with the capacity to work within competing demands and tight timescales. You will work closely with the Head of Partnerships and Director of Service Delivery to ensure clear communication and a mutually agreed delivery of service.

About the Service: At our services in Richmond and Wandsworth, WithYou works closely with the lead provider, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and partners, St Mungo’s and the charity CDARS (Community Drug and Alcohol Recovery Services) providing free and confidential support to adults in London experiencing challenges with drugs and alcohol. The Wandsworth drug and alcohol service is based in Battersea and is located 10 minutes walk from Clapham Junction train station. The Richmond drug and alcohol service is based in Twickenham, not far from the river and the high street and less than a ten-minute walk from Twickenham train station.

This is a permanent, full-time role working 37.5 hours per week between Monday – Friday 9am to 5pm, with some evening and weekend flexibility as required. The salary for this position is £33,272.60 – £48,290 per annum. This includes a £4,000 per annum Inner London Weighting allowance.

Benefits:

• 28 days annual leave, plus bank holidays
• An extra day off for your birthday or a special occasion of your choice
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• 2 days paid volunteer leave per year
• Auto-enrollment into We Are With You’s pension scheme
• Access to a Blue Light Card - giving you great savings on big high-street and online brands
• Flexible working opportunities and access to a range of services and resources to support you with your wellbeing
• We have an excellent Refer a Friend scheme which offers you a £500 bonus for any recommendations, any role!

Experience and Skills: The most important things you can bring to this role is clear and inspirational leadership as well as experience in working collaboratively with partners. We’re open to discussions with candidates working in leadership roles outside of the drug and alcohol arena – for example, in mental health or housing. We’re most interested in your ability to demonstrate motivational leadership skills, with the drive to promote staff development and retention. You’ll have the support of a Head of Service Delivery and a wider team of experienced and dedicated stakeholders across the organisation.

If you have experience managing comparable services, as either an established manager or in a team leader or similar capacity and you are looking for the next step up in your career, we would welcome your application. You should have:

• Experience in drug and alcohol support services, or in an equivalent social care setting
• A proven track record of managing and supervising others
• Experience working with vulnerable people (Young People and Adults)
• Experience of working in a consortium service
• Experience of partnership working and within multidisciplinary teams
• Experience of working within community based services
• Ability to develop and lead a cohesive team
• ONC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent with evidence of further formal management study or commitment to study over the coming 18 months
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to quickly establish credibility and/or make a positive impact
• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written

Creating an Inclusive Environment: As an organisation, we continue to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our staff. We know that representing the communities we serve is key to us meeting our vision of a future where everyone lives a life free from the harm associated with drugs and alcohol. We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring and we encourage people from underrepresented communities and backgrounds to apply to join our team, including people with lived experience, people with disabilities, people from racialised communities, LGBTQ+ people, people of all ages and armed forces veterans.

WithYou is also a Disability Confident Employer and we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates with a disability and meet all the essential criteria for a role. If you have a disability, a learning difficulty such as dyslexia or a medical condition which you believe may affect your performance during any aspect of our selection process, we’ll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to perform at your best.