Role: Academies Manager
Location: Preston site, with regular travel to individual prison academies across the portfolio
Hours: Monday – Friday, 40 hours per week
Salary: £40,000 per annum plus car allowance
The Role:
The Academies Manager is responsible for the leadership and operational oversight of our portfolio of prison-based workshop academies. These academies operate within secure prison establishments and specialise in the dismantling, processing and recycling of display equipment (e.g. monitors, televisions, screens) and other Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).
The role holder will ensure academies operate safely, securely, compliantly and commercially, while delivering genuine rehabilitative value: providing prisoners with accredited training, real work experience and employability skills that support resettlement and reduce reoffending. The postholder acts as the senior link between the organisation, HMPPS/prison establishment leadership, regulatory bodies and commercial partners.
The Business:
Recycling Lives Services is not a typical recycling company. Since 2008, the business has been structurally built around social value, employing people from disadvantaged backgrounds, partnering with the justice system to reduce reoffending, and delivering environmental excellence at scale. The social mission is not a layer added on top of commercial activity. It is the reason the business operates in the way it does.
As a certified B Corp (scoring 103.5 against a business median of 50.9), Recycling Lives Services generated £42.9m in social value in 2024, achieved a 61% reduction in CO2 emissions, and diverted 97% of waste from landfill. 15% of our team have been welcomed through our rehabilitation programmes, and only 6% of people we support reoffend — compared to a national average of over 25%.
We operate UK-wide across construction, manufacturing, retail, utilities and public sector markets, offering total waste management, WEEE recycling, and specialist hazardous waste services.
What You'll Be Doing:
Strategic & Operational Leadership
- Own the overall strategy, growth and performance of the prison academies portfolio, aligning workshop capacity and output with commercial and rehabilitative objectives.
- Provide day-to-day leadership and direction to Academy Managers responsible for individual prison workshop sites.
- Set, monitor and report against production, throughput and quality targets for the dismantling and processing of WEEE and display equipment across all sites.
- Lead the mobilisation of new academies, including site set-up, equipment procurement, security sign-off and workforce (prisoner and staff) induction.
- Identify opportunities to expand the academy portfolio into new establishments or new waste streams.
Health, Safety & Security
- Ensure every academy operates to the highest standards of health and safety, particularly given the manual handling, tools and hazardous materials involved in equipment dismantling
- Maintain full compliance with prison security requirements, including tool control, contraband management, staff/prisoner ratios and searching regimes, working closely with prison security departments and Governors.
- Own the risk assessment and safe systems of work for all dismantling and processing activities, ensuring COSHH and manual handling controls are current and embedded.
- Investigate incidents, accidents and security breaches, ensuring lessons are captured and shared across the portfolio.
Rehabilitation, Training & People
- Champion the rehabilitative purpose of the academies, ensuring prisoners receive accredited training (e.g. NVQs, WEEE/recycling qualifications, health & safety certifications) and genuine work experience.
- Work with education and resettlement teams within each establishment to support prisoners' progression, including links to employment on release where possible.
- Recruit, develop and performance-manage academy management and instructor staff, building a strong leadership pipeline across the portfolio.
- Foster a culture of safety, respect, fairness and high performance among both employed staff and prisoner workers.
Stakeholder & Commercial Management
- Build and maintain strong working relationships with Prison Governors, Heads of Business/Industries, HMPPS regional teams and other establishment stakeholders.
- Manage relationships with commercial clients and downstream recycling/processing partners, ensuring service levels and contractual obligations are met.
- Own the portfolio budget, including cost control, revenue from processed materials/contracts, and capital investment planning for equipment and site upgrades.
- Prepare and present regular performance, compliance and impact reports to senior leadership and external stakeholders (including social value and rehabilitation outcomes).
What We're Looking For
Essential
Desirable
Significant leadership experience in a multi-site operations, manufacturing, recycling or waste management environment
Experience specifically within WEEE, electronics recycling or wider circular economy operations
Experience working within, or in close partnership with, a secure or highly regulated environment (e.g. prisons, MOD, healthcare)
Direct experience working within HMPPS/prison establishments or the criminal justice sector
Strong working knowledge of health & safety management, including COSHH and manual handling in an industrial setting
NEBOSH or equivalent health & safety qualification
Understanding of environmental/waste compliance requirements (or ability to acquire this quickly)
Experience designing or delivering accredited training/employability programmes
Proven people leadership skills, including managing managers across dispersed sites
Experience of contract/client management in a B2B recycling or facilities context
Full UK driving licence
Experience with resettlement, education or offender management partners
Genuine commitment to rehabilitation and belief in the value of prison work and training
Willingness and ability to travel regularly across a national portfolio of sites
Able to obtain and maintain enhanced DBS and prison establishment security clearance
What We Offer:
- Competitive salary plus car allowance
- 25 days' annual leave plus bank holidays.
- Company pension (5% employee / 3% employer).
- Healthcare Cash Plan.*
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Free financial wellbeing support
- Cycle to Work Scheme.*
- Enhanced maternity and paternity pay.*
- The opportunity to work for a certified B Corp making a genuine social and environmental impact.
- Available after 12 months' service.
We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitable qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.
