About Us
At DEN, we believe the best nurseries are built around people.
Children who are known and understood. Families who feel they belong. Practitioners who are trusted to do what they do brilliantly. And leaders who bring all of that together.
We believe every child deserves to flourish. We don't ask children to fit DEN. We make DEN work for every child.
What began with one nursery has grown into a group of six across Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire. We've grown because we're ambitious about what early years can be, but the things that mattered at the beginning still matter now.
Relationships. Curiosity. Individuality. Real childhood. And people who care deeply about what they do.
As we continue to grow, we're looking for an Area / Operations Manager who can help make our nurseries, our leaders and our organisation even stronger, and play an important part in shaping the next chapter of DEN.
The Role
You'll lead the day-to-day operational performance of our nurseries and, importantly, the Nursery Managers who lead them.
You'll spend time where it matters, in our nurseries, getting to know our people, understanding what each setting needs and making sure our managers feel supported, challenged and confident to lead.
Some days you'll be coaching a manager through a difficult situation. On others, you'll be looking at occupancy and performance, preparing for Ofsted, working through a people challenge or helping us get a new nursery ready to open.
You'll know when to step in and when to give people the space to find their own way.
You'll help create consistency where it matters, without losing the individuality of our nurseries, our teams or the communities they're part of.
You'll also work closely with our central teams so that the decisions we make as a group make sense for the people delivering them every day.
Ultimately, your role is to help create brilliant nurseries by helping the people who lead them be brilliant at what they do.
Key Responsibilities
Leading Our Nursery Managers
- Build strong, trusted relationships with Nursery Managers across DEN.
- Coach and develop managers to become confident leaders who make good decisions and take ownership of their settings.
- Know when someone needs support, when they need challenge and when they simply need you to listen.
- Set clear expectations and hold people accountable for delivering them.
- Spend regular time in our nurseries so you understand the people, culture, opportunities and challenges within each setting.
- Help our Nursery Managers become the kind of leaders people want to work with and children and families can rely on.
- Spot potential and create opportunities for our future leaders to grow.
Quality, Safeguarding & Compliance
- Work closely with our Quality, Safeguarding & Training Manager to make sure children receive the care, experiences and support we expect across DEN.
- Maintain strong standards across safeguarding, EYFS, Ofsted and regulatory compliance.
- Support Nursery Managers with Ofsted preparation and continuous improvement.
- Recognise where something isn't working well enough and make sure it changes.
- Share great practice across DEN while recognising that what works brilliantly in one nursery may look different in another.
- Keep children's wellbeing at the centre of decisions about quality and practice.
Performance & Occupancy
- Take responsibility for the operational performance of our nurseries.
- Understand the story behind the numbers, not simply the numbers themselves.
- Monitor occupancy, staffing, quality and commercial performance and identify where action is needed.
- Work alongside Nursery Managers to build sustainable occupancy and retain families.
- Use data and insight to ask good questions, spot opportunities and tackle problems early.
- Make sure commercial decisions support the experience we want for children, families and colleagues.
People & Culture
- Help create nursery teams where people feel valued, trusted and clear about what's expected of them.
- Work closely with our People team on recruitment, retention, performance and development.
- Support Nursery Managers to have good conversations, including the difficult ones.
- Recognise and champion the individuals who make DEN what it is.
- Make development part of everyday leadership, not something that only happens at appraisal time.
- Listen to what our nursery teams are telling us and make sure their experience helps shape decisions across DEN.
- Bring our values to life through how you lead, not simply through what we say.
Growing DEN
- Support the opening of new DEN nurseries from planning through to opening and beyond.
- Welcome new settings and teams into DEN, building strong relationships from the outset.
- Contribute to operational planning as the group grows.
- Lead improvement projects that make a genuine difference to our nurseries.
- Work closely with Finance, People, Marketing and our wider central team so our nurseries get the support they need.
- Question ways of working when there is a better way to do something.
- Help shape how DEN operates as we continue to grow.
Children & Families
- Keep children and families at the heart of operational decisions.
- Make sure every nursery is a place where children are recognised and supported as individuals.
- Champion environments and experiences that encourage curiosity, confidence and connection.
- Listen to families and make sure their feedback is heard and acted upon.
- Protect the things that matter about childhood while making sure every child has what they need to flourish.
Skills & Experience
Essential
- Significant multi-site leadership experience within the early years sector.
- A proven track record of leading, coaching and developing Nursery Managers and leadership teams.
- Strong knowledge of the EYFS, safeguarding and early years regulatory requirements.
- Experience of supporting nurseries through Ofsted inspection and continuous improvement.
- Strong commercial awareness and confidence using data and KPIs to understand and improve performance.
- Experience of building occupancy and improving operational performance.
- Experience of leading change and bringing people with you.
- Strong communication and relationship-building skills.
- The ability to balance strategic priorities with the realities of day-to-day nursery life.
- Confidence managing competing priorities across several locations.
- Full UK driving licence and the ability to travel regularly between our settings.
Desirable
- Experience of opening new nurseries or integrating new settings.
- Experience within a growing multi-site nursery group.
- Experience contributing at senior leadership level.
- Experience identifying and developing future leaders.
Personal Attributes
We're looking for someone who:
- Cares deeply about children, families and the people who work within our nurseries.
- Builds trust rather than relying on hierarchy.
- Is warm and approachable but isn't afraid to challenge.
- Sees developing people as one of the most important parts of leadership.
- Is curious and asks questions before jumping to conclusions.
- Understands that accountability and kindness can, and should, sit alongside one another.
- Notices the small things as well as seeing the bigger picture.
- Understands the commercial realities of running successful nurseries without allowing the numbers to become the purpose.
- Is comfortable making decisions and taking responsibility for them.
- Doesn't need every nursery or every leader to look the same in order to recognise what good looks like.
- Enjoys change, improvement and finding better ways to do things.
- Works collaboratively and brings people with them.
- Shares our ambition to make DEN a nursery group others look to and learn from.
Success Measures
We'll know you're making a difference when:
- Our Nursery Managers are confident, capable and taking real ownership of their settings.
- Our nurseries are safe, well led and continually getting better.
- Children and families experience the care, connection and sense of belonging we want DEN to be known for.
- Occupancy is healthy and our nurseries are performing sustainably.
- Our teams are engaged, people want to stay and talented colleagues can see a future with us.
- Great practice is shared across DEN without every nursery becoming the same.
- New settings become part of DEN successfully and their teams feel part of the group from the outset.
- Our nursery and central teams work well together.
- We have people ready to step into the next leadership opportunity.
- The way we operate gets stronger as DEN grows.
Why Join Us?
As DEN continues to grow, you'll have the opportunity to influence how our nurseries develop, strengthen what already works and help shape what comes next.
You'll work directly with our Director of Nursery Operations and Senior Leadership Team, with genuine responsibility, the freedom to contribute and a real voice in the future of the group.
We have a clear idea of the nursery group we want DEN to become. One known for its people, its thinking and the experiences it creates for children and families. We're ambitious, but we're equally clear that growth only matters if what we create gets better along the way.
Our beliefs guide the decisions we make: Every Child Deserves to Flourish. Curiosity Creates Confidence. Relationships Matter Most. Childhood Should Feel Like Childhood. Everything We Do is Connected.
And our values guide how we behave: We care deeply. We champion every individual. We ignite wonder. We grow together. We build trust. We nourish from the inside out.
If you're an experienced early years leader who believes great leadership is about bringing out the best in people and creating nurseries where children can genuinely flourish, we'd love to hear from you.
What We Offer
- £44,000 to £48,000 per annum, dependent on experience
- Car allowance
- 33 days' annual leave including bank holidays, increasing with service
- Birthday day off
- Holiday purchase scheme
- 50% childcare discount
- Perkbox rewards and recognition
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Ongoing leadership and professional development
- The opportunity to have a genuine voice in the future of The DEN Nursery Group
Pay: £44,000.00-£48,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
