Head of procurement and contracts jobs

Director of Isle of Man Services & Quality, Performance and Safeguarding
Service: Isle of Man Services & Quality, Performance and Safeguarding

Salary: £85,000 - £95,000 FTE per annum* Additionally £480 FTE per annum home-based working allowance

Location: Homebased with a requirement to be present on the Isle of Man for at least three days/30 hours a week, including regular travel to our London Head Office.

Contract & Hours: Permanent, 37 hours per week. We offer flexible working arrangements.

Family Action & the Role’s Impact:
Family Action supports people through change, challenge or crisis. It’s what we’ve done for over 150 years. We protect children, support young people and adults and offer direct, practical help to families and communities. We see first-hand the power of family to shape lives, for better or worse, so we speak up for the importance of family in national and local policymaking, amplify family voices and represent the changing needs of families in the UK today.

Are you an innovative, inspirational leader, who is solution focused and passionate about making a difference? Do you have the energy and focus to lead an extraordinary combination of services for children and families across the Isle of Man and take organisational responsibility for quality, performance and safeguarding?

Do you have a proven track record of delivering safe, excellent, inclusive services and cultivating quality and diversity? Are you hungry to show how you can drive system change? Are you looking for a diverse, ambitious and fast paced organisation where you can be part of the Executive leadership team – if so, you have found it.

About the Role:
The Director’s primary function is to provide strategic, operational and professional leadership across Family Action’s services on the Isle of Man (children’s residential homes, secure accommodation, short-stay homes, wraparound and edge of care services, semi independent accommodation, aftercare services, family support and Family Time) - ensuring consistently high-quality, safe, trauma informed practice and provision that meets statutory requirements and best practice standards.

The Director will be the organisational lead for quality assurance, performance and safeguarding, responsible for designing, implementing and assuring robust governance, oversight, and continuous improvement frameworks. They will collaborate closely with Manx Care, Commissioners, partners, multi agency safeguarding arrangements, and internal teams to deliver exceptional outcomes for looked after children, care leavers and families - modelling the organisation’s values; people focus, can do, excellence and mutual respect.

Main Responsibilities:
• Provide executive leadership for Residential, Wraparound, Edge of Care, Leaving and Aftercare services, Family Support and Family Time on the Isle of Man ensuring alignment with organisational strategy and contract specifications.
• Develop high-quality, trauma informed, therapeutic approaches across all services, ensuring models reflect emerging research, innovation, and best practice.
• Serve as the strategic lead for safeguarding, ensuring compliance with organisational safeguarding procedures and statutory requirements.
• Establish, monitor and report on Quality Assurance frameworks, including audits, inspections, risk management, incident reporting, and service performance.
• Ensure all residential services, including secure accommodation, operate in accordance with the Children and Young Persons Act and relevant inspection and regulatory frameworks.
• Advise senior leaders and governors/trustees on matters relating to Residential, Wraparound, Edge of Care, Leaving and Aftercare, Family Support and Family Time provision on the Isle of Man and quality assurance, performance and safeguarding across Family Action.
• Direct line management of two Deputy Directors and overseeing budgets to ensure efficient, cost-effective service delivery. Championing the sharing of learning, the development of staff and volunteers and best practice across services to support continuous improvement and innovation.
• Strategic and accountable leadership, leading the Directorate by motivating and galvanizing the team to achieve the highest quality services maximising outcomes for the children and families we support.
• Be part of the Executive Group of Directors and the Chief Executive, influencing organisational development and decision-making, resource allocation and future strategy.

Main Requirements (for details check the job description and person specification):
• Passionate about social justice, improving life chances and supporting children, young people and adults on the Isle of Man.
• Passionate about leading quality, performance and safeguarding across an entire organisation, and being part of a high-performing executive team leading an exciting and fast-paced charity.
• Extensive senior leadership experience in children’s social care with significant leadership experience in regulated environments.
• Proven responsibility for safeguarding, statutory compliance, quality assurance and regulatory engagement. And who has
• Proven experience working with vulnerable children, young people, and complex families, including trauma-informed practice.
• Highly robust, able to prioritise multiple workflows and issues and a fantastic and inclusive leader that can inspire their Directorate, peers and other senior leaders across Family Action.
• Present on the Isle of Man for a minimum of three days/30 hours a week and to attend Executive Group meetings in London once a month.
• Appointments are subject to satisfactory Safer Recruitment checks and Family Action receiving a satisfactory disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service – Enhanced and children’s barred list.

Benefits:
- an annual paid leave entitlement of 30 working days plus bank holidays
- up to 6% matched-pension contributions
- flexible working arrangements with the right to make flexible working requests from day one of employment
- enhanced paid sick leave and paid family leave provisions
- eye care, winter flu jabs vouchers and cycle to work scheme
- professional development with ongoing quality training and career development opportunities

Closing date - Thursday 21st May at 23:59.

Interviews and assessment - week commencing 1st or 8th June via Microsoft Teams.

If you would like to discuss the selection process or the potential for flexible working, please see email address provided on the Family Action job advert for David Holmes.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion:
We are committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in all that we do and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Intersectionality is important to us and we particularly welcome applications from ethnically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ candidates and disabled candidates because we are committed to increasing the representation of these groups at Family Action. We also encourage applications from candidates with lived experience of the people we serve. We know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for families and children and we strive for our workforce to be truly representative of the diverse communities we support.

We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process and also, we will make reasonable adjustments on the job where required. All candidates with a disability are welcome to apply under the Disability Confident Scheme and request priority consideration for an interview, provided they meet the essential criteria for the role.

To help remove financial barriers, we will reimburse reasonable travel costs if you attend an interview in person.

*Salaries are typically not offered at the top of the range and will be based on the level of skill and expertise of the successful candidate and internal equity.

Location:MSSC National Support Centre, 200b Lambeth Road, London SE1 7JY

Contract: 35 hours per week

Salary: £27,300 gross per annum

Closing Date: Monday 25 May 2026

Interviews: Assessment Day at MSSC NSC on Monday 1 June 2026

Are you passionate about supporting volunteers and looking for a new opportunity?

The Marine Society & Sea Cadets (MSSC) is the leading maritime charity for youth development and lifelong learning. We are a vibrant and growing charity inspiring young people to achieve their potential through challenge and nautical adventure and also enabling seafarers and maritime professionals to realise their potential through learning and career development. Working with our employees, cadets, and volunteers, we have built a strong vision and five-year Future Ready strategy to meet the growing demand for what we provide, both for young people, seafarers and maritime professionals – and the thousands who aspire to be the sea cadets and marine professionals of the future. It is also about equipping them to achieve their potential and thrive in a rapidly changing world, while growing our charity to benefit even more people – including those from under-represented or marginalised groups.

We are currently looking for a Volunteer Support Officer with proven administrative and IT skills to join our busy Volunteer Support team based at our National Support Centre.

This role plays a vital part in supporting the smooth and safe onboarding of adult volunteers within Sea Cadets. As a key member of the Volunteer Support Team, you will ensure that all administrative processes are completed. You will act as a first point of contact for volunteer enquiries, maintain high quality records throughout volunteers’ membership, maintaining MSSC’s commitment to safer recruitment and compliance.

Responsibilities

• Support the processing of adult volunteer applications to join Sea Cadets, ensuring all personnel records are accurately updated on the CRM system.
• Review and approve volunteer references in line with MSSC’s Safer Recruitment Policy.
• Administer the enhanced disclosure process, acting as an MSSC counter-signatory.
• Process grants and claims relating to volunteer uniform allowances.
• Review and submit applications for UKSV Security Clearances and MOD 90 ID Cards.
• Respond to all Volunteer Support enquiries received by MSSC via email, post, and phone.

Requirements

• Experience working in a customer‑focused role, handling a wide range of enquiries by phone and email, including challenging conversations.
• Excellent IT proficiency, particularly in Microsoft Excel and Outlook.
• Experience using data protection procedures and handling confidential information appropriately.
• Experience organising own workload and managing deadlines effectively.

Desirable

• Experience of database inputting, record maintenance, and data management.
• Experience working with volunteers.

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave per annum increasing with length of service
• Hybrid working for many roles
• Life assurance (4x salary)
• Private medical insurance
• Generous pension (employer contribution up to 10%)
• Cycle to work scheme
• Wellbeing portal and EAP with 121 counselling
• Employee development: We are investing in our employees' development and have an annual calendar of learning and development opportunities, designed to support employees to develop into their roles and stretch them to achieve their full potential.

Additional Information

MSSC positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates from all backgrounds. Equity, diversity, and inclusion really matters to us, so we can best serve our beneficiaries from every community. We work to ensure a fair and consistent recruitment process and aim to be a charity where diversity of experience, identity and skills are valued and welcomed. MSSC is an equal opportunities employer.

We recognise our responsibilities to safeguard and protect the young people and vulnerable adults with whom we work. We do all we can to promote their health, safety and wellbeing, and we expect our staff to share this commitment and work in line with safeguarding policy, the MSSC’s values and ethos of inclusivity. We adhere to safer recruitment practices and therefore employment is subject to detailed pre-employment checks for successful candidates, including references and criminal disclosure checks and the completion of a disclosure questionnaire. 

All successful applicants are required to attend safeguarding training and undergo pre-employment checks.