Front of house manager jobs in guildford, greater london

We're looking for a kind, compassionate and resilient Service Manager to join our Mental Health service in Slough.

£41,000.00 per annum, working 40 hours per week.

Want to feel like you're making a difference? You'll feel at home here.

Our benefits include:

Annual leave increasing up to 30 days with length of service
Free DBS
Exclusive discounts and cashback via Reward Gateway® and opportunity to buy a Blue Light Card
Fully paid induction programme and further training
ILM courses and Apprenticeship Programmes
Healthcare Cashplan through our partner Healthshield
Cycle to work scheme
Employee Assistance Programme for 24-7 confidential support
Online wellbeing resources
A generous pension - we will contribute up to 4% and life assurance cover up to £10,000 (T&Cs apply)
Quarterly Staff Awards to reward & recognise our amazing staff's commitment and contribution
All applicants must be legally eligible to work in the UK by the start of employment as Look Ahead are not able to offer sponsorship.

We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Contract Manager to oversee the successful delivery of our mental health services within the Slough area. This pivotal role is responsible for the operational and strategic management of all contracts in your designated patch, ensuring high-quality service delivery and positive outcomes for individuals with mental health and complex needs.

As a Contract Manager, you will lead and support a team of front-line staff, providing clear direction, performance oversight, and ongoing professional development. A key aspect of the role is fostering strong leadership and cultivating competence within your team to drive continuous improvement.

What you'll do:

Drive business planning activities within your contract, ensuring relevant and challenging objective setting and ongoing performance tracking, developing turn around action plans as may be necessary
Using sound financial and accounting principles, manage contract budgets to deliver on corporate and local contract financial targets
Successfully lead and motivate your team to ensure the championing of and maintenance of a positive local culture within your service
Work to continuously improve staff competence, ensure ownership of all staff issues and speedy and effective conflict resolution
Responsible for reporting all staff changes to HR and Payroll departments, as appropriate e.g. starters, leavers, additional hours etc.
Responsible for maintaining quarterly staff succession plans
Deliver effective, professional and commercially focused briefings and supervision meetings with staff and ensure that information, reporting & communications flow up/down is effective
Responsible for managing and allocating customers to support staff (casework management)

For the full list, please see our website.

This is not an exhaustive list of all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time and is subject to change in accordance with the needs of Look Ahead

About you:

Ability to lead and motivate staff to deliver excellent services
Is fundamentally calm and resilient, does not let emotion adversely affect them or obscure their judgement
Has a practical and logical mind
Excellent organisation skills
Thrives on change and enjoys dynamic diverse environments

For the full list, please see our website.

What you'll bring:

Essential:

Educated to degree level or equivalent
Experience of managing contracts and resources and delivering to budget and performance targets
Experience of delivering to housing management performance targets
Experience of effectively managing and developing staff to ensure delivery of services performance targets within contract
Experience of successfully managing external partnerships to ensure successful delivery of services
Holds relevant CMI/NVQ Level 4 or other Business/Management Qualification

Desirable:

Other relevant professional memberships and/or specialist qualifications
About us:

Look Ahead is a leading, not-for-profit care and support provider in London and the South East. Our vision is to build better lives through social care and housing in local communities. As an organisation we deliver over 100 services, providing support to thousands of customers each year. Our mission is to co-design and deliver services that offer innovative social care solutions and support people to thrive. We work across mental health, homelessness and complex needs, young people and care leavers and learning disabilities so there are plenty of opportunities to grow and progress your career with us.

We have a strong social purpose and we live and work by our values:

We focus on Excellence and innovation.
We are Caring and Compassionate.
We are Inclusive and Trusted.
We work in Partnership and are One-Team.
Look Ahead is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk, and expects all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.

If your application for this role is unsuccessful, but we feel that you would be suitable for another role, we may contact you to discuss alternative opportunities. If this occurs you would not need to submit another application for the alternative role.

We reserve the right to close this advert early if we are able to appoint to the vacancy before the advertised closed date.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion at work and are accredited with Silver in the Inclusive Employers Standard 2021. We are a proud member of the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant and encourage applications from a diverse range of applicants of all backgrounds.

Our passionate Regional Casework Coordinators are SSAFA’s front line of support for members of the armed forces community in need. They are the first point of contact for all beneficiaries into the Regional Office, assessing needs and allocating the case to one of our volunteer caseworkers.

You will sometimes handle complex problems from individuals who may be distressed, identifying the presenting and potential underlying needs to determine the best way to support the beneficiary. You will have ownership of cases from beginning to end, coordinating the casework process in a timely manner and ensure that the beneficiary journey is at the centre of the Service. You will have the opportunity to shape processes and procedures within the office which will lead to improvements in the service offered to clients.

To help you establish yourself in this new post you will receive excellent training and induction to SSAFA.

Whilst the post is homebased, to be eligible for this role you are required to live in the North East England or Yorkshire region, which includes North, South, East and West Yorkshire, Teesside, County Durham, Tyne & Wear and Northumberland. There will be occasional travel around these areas, and you may be required to travel at short notice for face-to-face meetings.

About the team

The team work remotely and pride themselves in maintaining a close working bond which ensures the smooth operation of the office. You will work closely with volunteers from the eight SSAFA branches in the Northeast and Yorkshire, supporting them to administer casework for SSAFA beneficiaries. The successful candidate will work as part of a team 8, which includes a Regional Casework Manager and a Regional Manager for Casework and Community Engagement.

About you

To carry out this role successfully you will have a track record of providing welfare advice in key areas such as housing, benefits, debt, disability, mobility or immigration issues. You will have knowledge of safeguarding and GDPR and experience in dealing with sensitive information and people in vulnerable situations. You will be able to provide excellent customer service by telephone, e-mail and face to face. You will have used Microsoft Office 365 to a high standard. It is important that you have experience of planning and managing your own workload, with minimal supervision.

It would be advantageous if you have an understanding of the way of life for today’s Armed Forces, veterans and their families and if you have experience of recruiting and supporting volunteers. An understanding of the voluntary sector and preferably the military charity sector landscape across the Northeast and Yorkshire would be valuable.

About SSAFA

SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, has been providing practical, emotional, and financial support to our Forces and their families since 1885. SSAFA, is a trusted source of support for the Armed Forces community in their time of need; last year our trained teams of volunteers and employees helped more than 53,000 people in need, including veterans, serving personnel (regulars and reserves) and their families.

SSAFA understands that behind every uniform is a person. We are here for that person and their family – any time they need us, in any way they need us, for as long as they need us.

Diversity and Inclusion at SSAFA

SSAFA exists to support a diverse range of beneficiaries within the armed forces community, and we believe diversity within our teams is key to ensuring we can deliver our services effectively. We thrive on differences and believe it is critical to our success as a worldwide charity. SSAFA is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace that seeks to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We therefore encourage applications from all genders, races, religions, ages and sexual orientations, as well as parents, veterans, people living with disabilities, and any other groups that could bring diverse perspectives to our business.

SSAFA is committed to using the Disclosure & Barring Service to ensure we, as an employer, safeguard those we serve.

No agencies please. Any unsolicited submissions from agencies will be accepted as a direct application from the candidate and no fees will be payable.

Closing date: Midnight on Monday 23 June 2025.

Interviews: 30 June 2025