Quality Assurance & Development Manager
Location: Great Barr, West Midlands (with travel across Bright Life Living Children's Homes)
Salary: £45,000 - £55,000 per annum
Job Type: Full-Time, Permanent
About Bright Life Living
At Bright Life Living, we are dedicated to providing outstanding residential care and support for children and young people. We are seeking an experienced and driven Quality Assurance & Development Manager to lead on quality assurance, compliance, safeguarding, learning and development, and continuous service improvement across our children's homes.
This is a senior leadership role offering the opportunity to influence practice, support operational excellence, and improve outcomes for children and young people across our services.
The Role
The Quality Assurance & Development Manager will lead and oversee the organisation's quality assurance framework, ensuring all services remain compliant with Children's Homes Regulations, Quality Standards, safeguarding requirements, and organisational policies.
Working closely with the Directors and Responsible Individual, you will provide independent oversight of service delivery, identify areas for improvement, support managers to strengthen practice, and lead learning and development initiatives across the organisation.
Key Responsibilities Quality Assurance & Compliance
- Lead quality assurance and compliance activity across all homes.
- Conduct audits, quality assurance visits, and practice reviews.
- Review children's records, safeguarding documentation, and operational systems.
- Produce detailed reports, action plans, and recommendations.
- Monitor progress against inspections, Regulation 44 reports, audits, and service improvement plans.
- Ensure services remain inspection-ready and achieve positive regulatory outcomes.
Service Improvement
- Analyse performance data, safeguarding concerns, incidents, complaints, and emerging trends.
- Identify risks, areas of good practice, and opportunities for improvement.
- Support managers to implement and sustain improvement plans.
- Promote a culture of accountability, learning, and excellence throughout the organisation.
Learning & Development
- Lead the organisation's learning and development programme.
- Identify training needs through audits, inspections, safeguarding concerns, and competency assessments.
- Deliver training, workshops, and reflective practice sessions.
- Support leadership development and workforce progression.
- Monitor training compliance and evaluate learning effectiveness.
Operational Support
- Provide support to homes during periods of transition, improvement activity, management absence, or increased operational risk.
- Support homes through Ofsted inspections and post-inspection action plans.
- Undertake interim management responsibilities when required.
- Participate in the senior management on-call rota.
Person Specification Essential Requirements Qualifications
- Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (or equivalent).
Essential Experience
- Significant experience within Children's Residential Care, with a minimum of 3 years' experience working within homes that have achieved and maintained Good or Outstanding Ofsted ratings.
- Strong knowledge of Children's Homes Regulations, Quality Standards, safeguarding legislation, and Ofsted requirements.
- Experience delivering training, coaching, and workforce development programmes.
Desirable Requirements Experience
- Experience conducting audits, inspections, and quality assurance reviews within children's residential services.
- Experience supporting services through improvement programmes, regulatory inspections, and Ofsted activity.
Skills & Knowledge
- Excellent understanding of safeguarding and child protection.
- Strong leadership and coaching abilities.
- Excellent report writing and analytical skills.
- Ability to influence, challenge, and support managers effectively.
- Experience of effective partnership working with internal and external stakeholders.
- Strong organisational and communication skills.
Additional Requirements
- Full UK Driving Licence and access to a vehicle.
- Willingness to travel across services.
- Enhanced DBS check.
- Flexibility to work outside normal office hours when required, including participation in senior management on-call responsibilities.
Skills & Knowledge
- Knowledge of quality assurance frameworks and governance processes within children's residential care.
- Experience analysing performance data and identifying trends to drive service improvement.
- Experience supporting multiple homes or services within a multi-site organisation.
Additional Requirements
- Previous experience in a senior leadership, operations, quality assurance, or Responsible Individual support role.
- Experience facilitating reflective practice sessions and delivering in-house training programmes.
What We Offer
- Competitive salary of £45,000 - £55,000 per annum.
- Opportunity to influence and improve services across a growing organisation.
- Ongoing professional development and training opportunities.
- Supportive and forward-thinking leadership team.
- A rewarding role making a real difference to the lives of children and young people.
- Opportunity to contribute strategically to service development and organisational growth.
Apply Now
If you are an experienced quality assurance, compliance, learning and development, or operational leader within children's residential care and are passionate about driving excellence and improving outcomes for children and young people, we would love to hear from you.
Pay: £45,000.00-£55,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Licence/Certification:
- UK Manual driving license (required)
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: In person
