Head of Care (Education & Residential)

Job Description

Head of Care – Education Division
National | Home-Based with Extensive Travel
Full-Time | 40 Hours Per Week
Salary: Up to £65,000 + Benefits

About the Role We are seeking an experienced and passionate Head of Care to provide strategic and operational leadership across a portfolio of specialist education settings supporting children and young adults with complex needs.

Reporting directly to the Divisional Director, you will be responsible for leading care, residential, safeguarding, therapeutic support, positive behaviour support, and student welfare services across multiple sites nationally.

This is a high-profile leadership opportunity for someone committed to delivering outstanding outcomes for young people while driving quality, compliance, safeguarding excellence, and continuous improvement across a growing organisation.

Key Responsibilities Strategic Leadership

• Lead and develop a high-quality, consistent care model across multiple education settings.
• Provide subject matter expertise in care, safeguarding, and therapeutic support.
• Ensure care provision complements educational achievement, independence, and life outcomes.
• Contribute to divisional strategy, business planning, and service development.
• Champion innovative and sector-leading approaches to supporting children and young people with SEND.

Quality, Compliance & Safeguarding

• Maintain oversight of regulatory compliance and inspection readiness across all services.
• Lead quality assurance programmes, audits, and service improvement activity.
• Drive safeguarding excellence through robust governance, oversight, and leadership.
• Analyse trends and implement preventative strategies to improve safety and outcomes.
• Support services through inspections and regulatory reviews.

Positive Behaviour Support & Therapeutic Practice

• Promote trauma-informed, person-centred, and relational approaches to care.
• Work closely with therapeutic teams to ensure integrated support models.
• Oversee behaviour support planning and the reduction of restrictive practices.
• Ensure best-practice approaches are embedded across all services.

Leadership & Workforce Development

• Coach, mentor, and develop senior care leaders across the division.
• Build a high-performance culture focused on accountability, quality, and outcomes.
• Lead talent development, succession planning, and leadership capability programmes.
• Promote staff wellbeing and a positive workplace culture.

Performance & Reporting

• Monitor and improve key performance indicators relating to:
  • Safeguarding
  • Behaviour incidents
  • Student welfare
  • Complaints
  • Attendance and engagement
  • Quality assurance
  • Workforce performance
• Produce regular reports and improvement plans for senior leadership.

About You

We are keen to hear from candidates who can demonstrate:

• Significant senior leadership experience within specialist education, SEND, residential care, or children’s services.
• Experience leading multi-site services and geographically dispersed teams.
• Strong safeguarding leadership experience at a strategic level.
• A track record of driving quality improvement and service transformation.
• Experience supporting services through Ofsted and other regulatory inspections.
• Strong knowledge of Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) and trauma-informed practice.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Experience working with commissioners, regulators, and external partners.
• A passion for improving outcomes for children and young people with additional needs.

Qualifications Essential

• Relevant professional qualification in Health, Social Care, Residential Care, SEND, Safeguarding, or Leadership.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.

Desirable

• Degree-level qualification.
• Level 5 Leadership & Management qualification.
• Positive Behaviour Support qualification.
• Safeguarding qualification.
• Coaching or leadership accreditation.

What’s on Offer?

• Salary up to £65,000
• Home-based role with national remit
• Opportunity to influence and shape care strategy across a growing education division
• Collaborative senior leadership team environment
• Professional development and career progression opportunities
• The chance to make a genuine difference to the lives of children and young people with additional needs

Please speak with Jade at FIND Medical:
07376977618
jade.vernon@findmedical.co.uk