Head of information systems jobs in Birmingham, west midlands

We are looking for an inspiring Support Services Manager to lead our supported housing schemes, ensuring high‑quality, person‑centred support for women and children across our services.

If you are passionate about transforming lives, improving service quality and leading dedicated teams — we’d love to hear from you.

About the Role

As Support Services Manager, you will:

Lead and develop high‑quality support services

• Provide operational leadership across supported housing schemes
• Ensure trauma‑informed, person‑centred support plans and risk assessments
• Monitor KPIs, contractual compliance and service performance
• Drive service improvement and co‑production with clients

Manage, motivate and develop staff

• Line manage Support Workers and Volunteers
• Ensure supervision, training and performance management
• Support recruitment and staff development across the region
• Build a strong, motivated and skilled team

Champion safeguarding & risk management

• Act as a safeguarding champion across supported housing
• Ensure robust risk assessments, incident reporting and GDPR‑compliant records
• Support staff to maintain the highest safeguarding standards

Ensure housing & compliance excellence

• Work closely with Estates teams to maintain safe, compliant accommodation
• Support quality improvements across physical properties and service delivery

Build impactful partnerships

• Liaise with local authorities, commissioners, health partners and referral agencies
• Represent Life at case conferences, multi‑agency meetings and contract reviews
• Identify and respond to new referral opportunities

Drive quality, governance & reporting

• Produce performance reports and maintain audit readiness
• Support strategic growth and contribute to the department’s business plan
• Promote Life Charity within local communities and public forums

Manage budgets & resources

• Monitor expenditure and support resource planning
• Support with funding bids and service redesign
• Work with finance teams to ensure clients receive appropriate financial support

We’d love to hear from you if you have:

Essential experience & skills

• Experience managing or delivering support and/or care services
• Understanding of supported housing and estates management
• Strong knowledge of support planning, risk assessment and safeguarding
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage at all levels
• Strong organisational, leadership and problem‑solving abilities
• Ability to work independently, handle pressure and prioritise workloads
• Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion
• Full UK driving licence

Desirable

• Relevant housing qualification (e.g., CIH Level 4)
• Experience working in a charity environment
• Experience in troubleshooting or service improvement roles
• Good strategic awareness

About Life: 

Life is a national pregnancy support charity that helps over 60,000 people a year. Through our services, we help people – whoever they are – to meet pregnancy or pregnancy loss with courage and dignity so they can flourish. 

Our services include:  

• Supported housing and community support   
• Counselling and skilled listening   
• Free pregnancy tests and baby supplies  

Our values :

All our work is underpinned by the following universal human values: 

• Humanity – All people are special and equal 
• Solidarity – We’re with you and for you 
• Community – We’re better together 
• Charity – Doing good for one another 
• Common good – Building a better world 

Information about the role: 

For further information, please see the attached job description. 

Salary: £34,000 per annum

Hours: 35 hours per week over 5 days

Location: Home Based with Extensive Travel across the Midlands and South East England

Benefits:  

At Life we are passionate about providing our employees with a supportive and engaging environment. As well as ongoing development and training, we offer our:  

• Generous holiday allowance, starting at 25 days per year, plus 8 Bank Holidays (pro rata for part time hours) 
• Birthday Leave  (applicable after 1 years service)
• Additional annual leave for long term service  
• Company Pension Scheme  
• Signed member of the Menopause Workplace Pledge 

Safeguarding and Equality: 

Life is committed to protecting all staff, volunteers and service users from harm of any kind. Life expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct.   

We are committed to ensuring diversity and equality within our organisation by encouraging applications from all backgrounds.  

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks. Life takes its obligation to protect the rights of children and vulnerable people very seriously; therefore, the successful candidate for this post will be also subject to extensive background checking, including an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS) which is paid for by the Charity.  

We are looking for a dynamic, values-led, strategic leader to drive our mission for migration justice and social work solidarity. The role entails oversight of the operations and strategy of the organisation, responsibility for financial management and fundraising, maintaining the health of the organisation and embedding anti-racist and anti-opressive values into every aspect of the organisation. 

Salary: £33,000 per annum pro rata
Hours: 22.5 hours over 3 days per week, must be available to work Tuesdays
Contract Type: Permanent
Location: Birmingham 
Reports to: Senior Suicide Prevention Therapist 

THE CHARITY 
Suicide is the leading cause of death of men under 35 and three quarters of those who die by suicide are men. James’ Place exists to save the lives of men in suicidal crisis through delivering clinical services. We are a charity currently offering free, life-saving therapy to suicidal men at our centres in Liverpool, London and Newcastle. 

James’ Place was set up by Clare Milford Haven and Nick Wentworth-Stanley in 2008 after their twenty-one-year-old son, James, died by suicide ten days after a minor operation. James had no history of mental illness or depression and had sought urgent help for anxiety and suicidal thoughts but didn’t find it. 

James' Place was set up to make the experience of finding help as easy as possible. We offer men who are experiencing a suicidal crisis a brief, intensive, therapeutic intervention in a safe environment. Men who walk through the door at James’ Place will be in a space where they feel valued and respected.  We provide a calm and peaceful environment both inside the centres and in our outside spaces, accessible to men who visit us as well as their friends and families. We have so far treated over 5,100 men who might otherwise have been unable to access the support they desperately need.

In early 2026 we will be opening our fourth centre in Birmingham. Our new centre in Birmingham will be there to support suicidal men living in the West Midlands.

THE OPPORTUNITY 
We are expanding our newly established team of clinicians to deliver our clinical proven intervention at our new James’ Place centre in Birmingham. As a Suicide Prevention Therapist, you will be an experienced mental health professional or therapist with demonstrable interest in suicide prevention. You will support men who are experiencing a suicidal crisis and their supporter(s), delivering our unique intervention and co-producing effective safety plans to maintain their safety. Successful applicants will be joining a new team at a pivotal time and will have the opportunity to shape the local culture at James’ Place Birmingham. Training and support will be provided by the Head of Centre in Birmingham and the wider James’ Place team.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 
Clinical

• Conduct initial Welcome Assessments with men in a suicidal crisis, assessing risk and the suitability of the James’ Place intervention and co-producing effective safety plans 
• Deliver our therapeutic intervention, building trust and exploring the reasons for crisis
• Use the Lay Your Cards on the Table intervention to encourage men to talk about and explore their feelings, attitudes and behaviours and develop positive coping strategies 
• Take full clinical responsibility of the men under James’ Place care, as a member of the clinical team and in consultation with Senior Suicide Prevention Therapist and Head of Centre when needed
• Escalate care to appropriate services when necessary, including emergency services and secondary mental health teams 
• Deliver one-off guidance sessions to supporters of men under the James’ Place care
• Work collaboratively with other professionals to coordinate comprehensive care
• Demonstrate self-awareness and regularly dedicate time and space, inside and outside of work, to keeping yourself well 
• Undergo clinical supervision with a qualified supervisor to reflect on clinical work and raise any issues or concerns arising from work
• Remain up to date with developments in law, theories and research 
• Engage in peer support sessions, caseload discussions and Reflective Practice with the team
• Contribute to an environment in which confidentiality, privacy and dignity are respected and be clear with clients about limits of confidentiality
• Maintain confidentiality and adhere to ethical standards
• Complete session notes in a timely and effective manner 
• Participate in continuous professional development and engage in training provided both internally and externally 
• Support the Clinical Administration team as and when necessary 
• Support with the creation and facilitation of a Peer Support Group once James’ Place Birmingham is well-established 

Outreach and Engagement

• Support the local management team to increase contact with local community organisations able to refer to us or offer move on support for men completing our intervention
• Support the fundraising team to bring potential supporters into our building and showcase our work, including the facilitation of events

Values

• Demonstrate commitment to the James’ Place values of Focus, Bravery, Respect, Compassion, Professionalism, Collaboration and Hope through all aspects of work

PERSON SPECIFICATION
The role requires someone with a relevant qualification who can confidently support men experiencing a suicidal crisis. You will need to be able to effectively conduct risk assessments and deliver our clinically proven therapeutic intervention to ensure client safety. Strong therapeutic communication, the ability to work autonomously and teamwork skills are also essential to this role, as well as the ability to build trust and hope. 

Essential
Qualification(s)

• A Core Profession such as Mental Health Nurse, Occupational Therapist or Social Worker, counselling or practitioner psychologist registered with NMC, HCPC, or Social Work England

or

• Accreditation as a psychological therapist, psychotherapist, or counsellor registered with BACP, UKCP, BABCP or equivalent, or have completed training and awaiting accreditation

You must hold a relevant qualification to be considered for this role.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Demonstrable experience working with adults experiencing acute psychological distress
• Demonstrable knowledge of social and other factors which could lead to suicidal thinking and actions
• Demonstrable knowledge of the factors contributing to male suicide
• Evidence of being able to deliver a therapeutic session and work in a therapeutic environment  
• Effective communication skills (both written and verbal)
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to manage difficult situations
• Ability to assess, plan, implement and evaluate therapeutic interventions
• An ability to collaborate with clients in the development of a person centred, individual intervention plan
• An ability to engage clients in the intervention plan, overcoming barriers to communication
• Ability to conduct effective risk assessments and collaborative safety plans with men who are presenting with high risk of suicide, or be willing and able to learn how to do so
• Ability to identify if the James’ Place service is not adequate to maintain the person’s safety and facilitate rapid transfer to the most appropriate service 
• Ability to maintain boundaries within a time-limited intervention 
• Ability to work as an effective team member
• Ability to manage and prioritise own workload, using own initiative and confidence in decision making
• Strong time management
• Ability to maintain up to date client records in line with James’ Place standards
• Ability to maintain own personal safety and the safety of others within the centre
• Knowledge and understanding of Safeguarding Procedures

Values

• Commitment to clinical supervision 
• Ability to engage with James’ Place values 
• Ability to promote people’s equality, diversity and rights 
• Ability to work collaboratively and demonstrate commitment to co-production
• Ability to be transparent, honest and show discretion when needed 
• Commitment to suicide prevention and working with men in a suicidal crisis 

WE OFFER

• A 7% employer contributory pension scheme
• Family friendly policies
• Death in service insurance scheme 
• 25 days plus bank holidays leave entitlement (FTE), including enhanced holiday allowance with incremental rises after qualifying period 

LEARN MORE
If you would like to learn more about working for James' Place, sign up to our online recruitment information session on Wednesday 8th April at 6:30pm - 7:15pm

HOW TO APPLY
To apply, please use the online application system to submit your CV detailing your experience, roles and responsibilities, and answer the three screening questions. Please note, you do not need to upload a cover letter for this role. 

If you have any queries or experience challenges with the application process, please contact us directly. 

Closing date: Friday 1st May, 5pm

Interviews are expected to be held in person on 12th and 13th May.

Our aim is to recruit a team of clinicians who are representative of the communities of men who will access treatment at James' Place Birmingham. We particularly encourage applications from underrepresented groups and those who have experience in delivering therapy within culturally diverse communities, particularly in widely spoken languages within those communities. 

James’ Place is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community. Our aim is that no job applicant, temporary worker or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, disability, gender and transgender status, race and ethnicity, religion and belief (including no belief), marriage or civil partnership status or sexual orientation.

If you have a disability or health conditions which means you'd benefit from any adjustments to the interview process to help you perform at your best, please do let us know in advance.

Any job offers made are subject to the receipt of two relevant satisfactory employment references. We expect this to include one from your most recent or current employer. Any job offers made are also subject to a satisfactory DBS check and a Right to Work in the UK check.

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