Assistant Director of Services - Criminal Justice & Housing/Homelessness, CRANSTOUN

About the role

Reporting to the Director of Operations, you will lead a substantial portfolio of complex commissioned services and senior operational managers. You will lead nine services with nine direct reports, spanning criminal justice and housing/homelessness provision. You will have clear accountability for ensuring services are safe, effective and well-led, with strong contractual performance, financial sustainability and positive outcomes for the people and communities we support. You will provide operational grip and evidence-based assurance, strengthen safeguarding and management accountability, build effective relationships with commissioners and partners, and ensure risks and underperformance are identified, escalated and addressed early. You will also work collectively with fellow senior operational leaders to embed a One Cranstoun approach, strengthening common standards, sharing learning, developing leadership capability and improving quality and resilience across our services.

What you will be accountable for

As an Assistant Director, you will take senior operational accountability for:

• Safe, effective and well-led services – ensuring strong safeguarding, quality, operational risk management and service user outcomes.
• Contractual performance – ensuring services deliver against contractual requirements and KPIs, with strong commissioner relationships and timely action to address underperformance.
• Financial sustainability – maintaining strong financial oversight, effective workforce management and oversight of the sustainability of individual contracts.
• Evidence-based assurance – using reliable performance, quality, workforce and financial information to identify risks and drive improvement.
• Collective organisational leadership – working beyond individual portfolio boundaries to build consistent standards, stronger leadership and shared ways of working across Cranstoun.

You will lead and develop senior operational managers, set clear expectations and create a culture in which support and accountability operate together. You will also lead and contribute to service mobilisation, transformation, workforce planning and continuous improvement.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for established senior operational leaders with substantial experience leading complex commissioned services and geographically dispersed teams.

Requirements

You will bring a strong track record of:

• leading safe, high-quality services for people with complex needs;
• safeguarding, quality and operational risk management;
• contract and performance management;
• managing significant service budgets and improving financial performance;
• building effective relationships with commissioners, regulators and strategic partners;
• leading service improvement, mobilisation and organisational change;
• developing senior operational managers and addressing underperformance; and
• using performance, quality, workforce and financial information to provide assurance and drive improvement.

You will need to combine strategic leadership with operational pragmatism, understanding the detail when necessary while maintaining oversight of performance, risk, quality and sustainability across a complex portfolio. Above all, we are looking for collaborative, credible and values-led leaders who can support and challenge in equal measure, build leadership capability and bring people together around common standards and organisational priorities.

Specialist experience

For this role, you will need significant leadership experience across both Criminal Justice and Housing/Homelessness services, including housing or accommodation-based provision. You will understand the complexity of working across criminal justice, housing, local government and other statutory systems and be experienced in building effective relationships with commissioners and partners while maintaining strong operational and contractual oversight.

This response is AI-generated, for reference only.