Client Services Manager

Client Services Manager
Breaking Barriers
Greater Manchester/Hybrid with minimum of 2 days per week in Manchester office
Permanent
Salary £36,000 - £40,000 based on experience (pro rata if part time)
Full time, open to 4.5 days (0.9) or compressed hours, with flexible working arrangements and occasional weekend of evening work (TOIL provided)
Excellent benefits including 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays and Christmas closure, Cycle to Work scheme, Wellbeing Day, Employee Assistance Programme

Do you have experience managing teams delivering frontline employment or support services, with knowledge of services and stakeholders in Manchester? If you're looking for a new role with a values-led organisation which is mission-led, welcoming, entrepreneurial and collaborative, we'd love to hear from you.

Charity People are delighted to be working with Breaking Barriers, a charity which helps refugees to find meaningful employment, to recruit a Client Services Manager.

Breaking Barriers is a specialist refugee employment charity. Refugees flee their homes in fear, with more hardship on their arrival in the UK: a new country, language and stigma. With a different work culture to navigate, refugees are four times more likely to be unemployed and are often left to face these barriers alone. Breaking Barriers' vision is for every refugee to access meaningful employment and build a new life. They do this through one-to-one advice and guidance, education, and training, and innovative partnerships.

This year, Breaking Barriers marks its 10th anniversary and in the past decade they've grown from an ambitious start-up to a high-impact charity supporting over a thousand individuals annually. Through their work, refugees and people from a refugee background are becoming financially stable and finding purpose in their work.

The Client Services Manager will lead a team of Advisers and client-facing staff to deliver high-quality employment support services to refugees in Manchester.

Key responsibilities

• Team Leadership & Development: Manage and support a team of Advisers and client-facing staff through supervision, coaching, recruitment, and fostering a collaborative, high-performing culture.
• Service Delivery Oversight: Ensure high-quality, client-focused employment support services, oversee the full client journey, maintain operational systems, and drive continuous service improvement.
• Project & Programme Management: Lead, plan, develop, coordinate and review key projects, adapt delivery models to meet funder and client needs, and monitor progress to ensure successful outcomes.
• Stakeholder & Partnership Engagement: Build and maintain strong relationships with external partners, represent the organisation in networks, and collaborate with employers to create opportunities for clients.
• Monitoring, Reporting & Safeguarding: Ensure accurate reporting and data use for service improvement, embed evaluation and client feedback processes, and uphold safeguarding standards across the team.

About You

The successful candidate will be an experienced manager of frontline employment or support services, with strong people management skills across supervision, training, and performance. You will bring expertise in employment support, careers guidance, or refugee integration, and have successfully led service delivery across multiple locations.

You will have a solid background in project or programme management (planning, developing, coordinating and reviewing), adapting services to meet funder and client needs, and using data to monitor KPIs and produce insightful reports. You will be confident building partnerships with external stakeholders and using data to drive service improvements.

You will understand safeguarding in client-facing services and can support staff in identifying and escalating concerns. You also bring insight into the challenges faced by displaced communities, ideally through Lived Experience of seeking sanctuary in the UK.

Experience working with local authorities, DWP/Jobcentre Plus, or training providers; familiarity with CRM systems; and a track record of contributing to service innovation are desirable criteria.

How to apply

To apply for this role or for an informal confidential, share your CV via the link below. Jen D'Souza will be in touch with the full pack and details on how to apply. The application process is CV and Supporting Statement.

The deadline is 12 noon on Tuesday 24 June with interviews scheduled for w/c 30 June. First stage interviews will be held online with second stage likely in person in Manchester (TBC) on Tuesday 8 July.

Charity People actively promotes equality, diversity and inclusion. We match charity needs with the skills and experience of candidates, irrespective of age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We do this because we know greater diversity will lead to even greater results for the charities we work with.