384 Quality and practice development lead jobs

About the role:

For a young person arriving somewhere new, often after instability, trauma or significant change, the quality of the service around them can shape what comes next. As Service Manager at Cecil House, you’ll lead a service where safety, consistency and ambition for every young person really matter.

Cecil House is a 21-bed, Ofsted-registered high-support service in the heart of Camden and forms part of the wider Camden Young People’s Assessment Centre. Supporting young people aged 16+, you'll empower young people including unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people, looked-after young people and those involved with youth offending services. You’ll lead a team including a Team Manager, Young Persons Workers and a Youth Opportunities Coordinator, creating the culture, structure and support they need to deliver consistently strong, personalised and trauma-informed practice.

You’ll hold overall responsibility for the safe, effective and high-quality running of the service, with confident oversight of safeguarding, risk, housing management, staffing, performance, quality and day-to-day operations. You’ll make sure young people receive purposeful support from the point they arrive, helping them build stability, develop independence and move towards positive longer-term pathways. As an Ofsted-registered service, you’ll also keep quality and regulatory expectations firmly embedded in everyday practice rather than treating inspection readiness as a one-off exercise. The service operates across early, late and sleep-in shifts on a six-week rolling rota, so strong operational oversight and consistency across the full service are essential.

Beyond Cecil House, you’ll build strong relationships across Camden, working closely with local authorities, commissioners and partner agencies around referrals, safeguarding, education, offending, immigration, health and move-on. You’ll use performance information, young people’s feedback and learning from practice to keep improving the service and challenging what could be better. At Single Homeless Project (SHP), you’ll be supported to keep developing as a leader too, with access to training, reflective learning and opportunities to influence how we deliver high-quality services for young people across the organisation.

About you:

• You bring strong experience managing accommodation-based, residential, youth, housing, social care or similar services, with the confidence to lead a sizeable team and hold service-wide standards.
• You understand the responsibilities that come with managing a young people’s service, including safeguarding, housing management, health and safety, performance, quality and risk.
• You’re confident supporting teams to work with young people facing multiple disadvantage, using trauma informed, psychologically informed and strengths-based practice to shape meaningful, personalised support.
• You can balance warmth with accountability, creating a team culture where staff feel supported, clear on expectations and able to deliver high-quality work.
• You build trust quickly with staff, young people and partners, and bring the integrity, curiosity and courage needed to lead a service where people can thrive.

About SHP:

We’re London’s leading homelessness charity – and we get things done.

In a city where hundreds are forced into homelessness every day, our work has never been more needed or more challenging. And we’re not shying away. We’re rolling up our sleeves to make change and helping over 10,000 Londoners every year. We prevent homelessness, provide safe places to live and give people the opportunity to rebuild their lives and transform their futures. And we never give up. 

We’re here for Londoners wherever they are on their journey. We start with trust, building relationships that help people feel safe, supported, and ready to move forward. Every day, we put people first in everything we do, challenging injustice and barriers that keep people from the safety, stability and opportunity they deserve. We stand alongside people as they rebuild and shape a future that feels their own. 

Joining Single Homeless Project means joining a team that’s bold, compassionate and determined to do better for the people we support and for each other. You’ll work alongside colleagues with lived experience, in a space that’s trans-inclusive, disability-friendly, and actively striving to be anti-oppressive and equitable. 

We’re not perfect, but we’re real. We listen. We learn. And we push forward, together. Because this isn’t just a job. It’s a chance to lead with empathy, spark change, and help build a London where no one is left behind.

Important Info:

Closing Date: Sunday 18th October at midnight 

Interview Date: Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th October at SHP Head Office 

Please note there will be a second stage interview in service in Camden for suitable candidates

This post will require an Enhanced DBS check to be processed for the successful applicant. 

Please note applications are reviewed for AI use in application questions. Applications with insufficient/without current right to work or requiring sponsorship will not be accepted for this role.