Area Manager

About Outward

For 50 years, Outward has been providing high-quality support and care services to vulnerable people across London, predominantly in North East London. Established by families seeking alternatives to institutional care, we’ve grown into a respected provider of person-centred support for adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs, and complex needs. We support over 1,000 people across nine boroughs, guided by our core values: engage, enable, and empower .

About the Role

We are seeking a proactive and experienced Area Manager to join our senior Care and Support leadership team. This is a strategic, hands-on operational role responsible for the quality, compliance, and performance of services across a broad geographical area. You will lead a group of Service Managers, ensuring the delivery of person-centred, safe, and high-quality services that meet both regulatory standards and the expectations of those we support.

Key aspects of the role include :

· Operational leadership of supported living and outreach services, ensuring compliance with CQC and contract requirements

· Line management and professional development of Service Managers, driving accountability, continuous improvement, and performance

· Service audits and quality assurance, working closely with our Quality and Involvement Team.

· Creatively implement and develop a new portfolio of high quality services for people with complex needs including Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or Profound Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD).

· As part of our passionate care and support senior management team leading on CQC compliance, policy development and delivering best practice. Working with our Quality and Involvement Team, you will deliver a service that meets and aims to exceed the expectations of the people we support, their funders and the local authority.

· Stakeholder engagement, building strong relationships with commissioners, funders, and external partners

· Financial oversight, ensuring services remain within budget while maintaining quality standards

· Strategic input, contributing to the development and implementation of Outward’s five-year strategy

· On-call duties as part of the senior management rota (one week every two months)

You will be based in our services a lot of the time commuting between boroughs as required, auditing services you are responsible for, enabling our teams to deliver high quality service.

This is a high-impact leadership role suited to someone who thrives on improving services, supporting teams to succeed, and driving positive outcomes for people with complex needs, including Autism and PMLD .

We’re looking for someone who shares our values and brings the leadership, insight, and practical skills to ensure excellent service delivery.

How to Apply

If you’re ready to make a difference and have the skills and experience for this role, please submit your CV and a covering letter (preferably in one document). In your covering letter, outline your motivation for applying, how your skills align with the role, and highlight relevant achievements. In the subject line, please state clearly the role you are applying for and your name.

The closing date for all applications is 13/06/25, however it is only an indicative date.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a sufficient number of suitable applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible. It would be great to hear from you.

We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

As an employer, who aspire to become Disability Confident Committed, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. Please indicate clearly at the beginning of your supporting statement if you have a disability (as defined by the Equality Act 2010), and you wish to be considered for an Offer Of an Interview (OOI) Please note that the OOI is available to disabled candidates only. Regrettably, any false declaration of disability in order to secure an interview will impact on your overall application

Requirements

Essential:

• Substantial experience managing care and support services for adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs, or other complex support needs
• Proven ability to lead, develop, and motivate managers and multi-disciplinary teams across multiple services
• A strong track record of delivering services that meet regulatory (e.g. CQC) and contractual standards
• Solid understanding of person-centred planning, safeguarding, and compliance within social care
• Experience managing budgets, ensuring financial accountability, and balancing cost with quality
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build professional relationships with stakeholders at all levels
• Willingness and ability to travel across services in North and East London and participate in the senior on-call rota.

Desirable

• Experience as a Registered Manager or experience working at senior level in regulated services
• Knowledge around PBS and practice.
• A relevant management qualification, such as the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care (or equivalent)
• Experience supporting people with complex needs such as behaviours of distress or PMLD
• Experience in service development or leading tenders/new business opportunities
• A professional qualification such as Registered Nurse, Social Worker, Occupational Therapist, or equivalent
• Familiarity with digital care systems and time-attendance platforms (e.g. Sona, Nourish)

Full job description available on request .

Benefits

We value everything our staff do for the people we support, so we provide a great benefits package:

• 25 days Annual Leave excluding Bank Holidays (pro rata for part time)
• Comprehensive Learning & Development Programme

• Cycle-to-Work Scheme
• Death in Service Benefit
• Health Assured – Employee Assistance Programme
• Eye care Vouchers
• Flu Jab Reimbursement
• Pension Scheme
• Purchase Additional Annual Leave
• Refer-a-Friend Scheme

Outward is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults at risk and expects all staff to share this commitment. If the post you apply for involves working with or having access to adults at risk and/or their records, we will require a Basic DBS for successful candidates. This will be fully subsided by Outward.