Home Finding and Commissioning Team Leader

We are seeking a dedicated and experienced Home Finding & Commissioning Team Leader - Home Finding & Commissioning Team to join our Home Finding & Commissioning Team within Children We Care For Services. This is a vital leadership role where you will help ensure children who cannot live with their families are placed insafe, stable and nurturing homesthat meet their needs, reflect their identity and support positive, long-term outcomes. About the role You will lead a dedicated team delivering a high-quality home finding and brokerage service, ensuring the right placements are secured at the right time, with a strong focus on quality, stability and value for money. You will also play a hands-on role in complex and urgent placement searches, acting as a key escalation point and working collaboratively across services and with external providers. Key responsibilities include leading, supervising and developing Home Finding & Commissioning staff, while managing workflow and the allocation of placement referrals to ensure timely and effective service delivery.The role involves undertaking complex placement searches and negotiating with providers to secure suitable options, ensuring that all placements are safe, appropriate and cost-effective.It also includes building strong relationships with both internal and external providers, monitoring performance, demand and financial pressures, and coordinating multi-agency working to support successful placements.In addition, the postholder will ensure compliance with statutory, safeguarding and procurement requirements, while supporting ongoing service improvement, reporting and sufficiency planning.

We are looking for a confident leader with strong professional knowledge and a passion for improving outcomes for children.,

• A recognised Social Work qualification (or equivalent experience/Level 6 management qualification)
• Proven leadership experience within children's placements, commissioning or brokerage
• Strong negotiation and relationship management skills
• A solid understanding of placement matching, safeguarding and risk assessment
• Knowledge of Ofsted, regulatory and procurement frameworks
• Ability to analyse data and drive service improvement
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Resilience and flexibility to respond to urgent placement situations
• Please ensure that you read the full job profile attached for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement.
Working Arrangements:You will be required to work minimum of two days per week in the office as per our Hybrid Working Policy