Assistant Director of Services - Substance Use & Children and Young People, 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 eight services with nine direct reports, spanning substance use and services for children and young people. 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.

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, significant senior leadership experience within substance use services is essential, including experience of leading CQC-regulated provision and maintaining high standards of quality, safety and regulatory compliance. You will also need a strong understanding of safeguarding and the governance required to deliver safe and effective services for children and young people. Direct operational experience of Children & Young People services would be valuable, but we are equally interested in candidates who can demonstrate strong safeguarding and CYP governance experience alongside substantial substance use leadership.

Be part of Cranstoun's next chapter

Our successful five-year strategy has seen Cranstoun grow considerably, extending our reach and the range of services we provide. We remain ambitious and innovative, committed to developing services that respond to the changing needs of people and communities. As we look to the future, we are investing in the leadership, operational capability and organisational infrastructure needed to support our continued development, strengthening operational governance, consistency and assurance across our services. This role offers the opportunity to do more than manage established portfolios. You will help shape the future of our services and build an Operations Directorate characterised by high standards, clear accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement.

Find out more

For an informal discussion, please contact Darren Nicholas, Director of Operations, at dnicholas@cranstoun.org.uk. Please refer to the accompanying recruitment pack for the full Job Description, Person Specification and details of the application process. All posts are subject to an Enhanced DBS check.

Permanent | Full-time
Salary: £58,560 – £71,480 per annum
Hours: 35 per week
Location: Home-based with regular national travel