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Ref no:
276297
Published:
19/05/2022
Closes:
15/06/2022
Location:
St Margarets House, 151 London Road, EH7 6AE
Salary:
£33,567 - £37,100 per year dependent on skills and experience
Contract Type:
Permanent
Position Type:
Full Time
Hours:
37.5 hours per week

Job title: Service Manager, Link Academy

Location: can be based in Edinburgh, Kirkcaldy or Falkirk

Are you passionate about helping people to live a better life? Do you want to work for a charity where your health and wellbeing matter just as much as the people you support? Do you want to be part of a trauma-informed team where you will be supported to develop creative and flexible ways of working

At LinkLiving, our values and people are at the heart of everything we do including how we recruit our staff. It is important for us to find people who share our values, which are:

  • Empathy (listen to and understand an individual’s needs and circumstances)
  • Respect (treat others the way they wish to be treated)
  • Integrity (be honest and have strong moral principles)
  • Caring (show kindness and concern for others)

LinkLiving is a Scottish health and wellbeing charity that supports people to manage or overcome the effects of negative life experiences (including trauma, mental health challenges, poverty and inequality) so that they can build on their strengths and aspirations in order to live their best possible lives. We support people through a range of models including:

  • Personal development and employability programmes
  • Self-help coaching
  • Supported accommodation
  • Care at home
  • Housing support
  • Befriending
  • Social cafes

The Service

Link Academy has an excellent track record of supporting people to develop the personal resilience, practical and emotional skills necessary for successfully moving onto their next steps in learning, personal development and accessing further education and employment. The wide range of supports offered through this service are delivered through a combination of group work and one-one interventions, along with access to accredited training as part of its status as a learning academy and SQA Centre.

In addition to the intensive personal development and resilience-building support we offer, we also support people by offering valuable work placements and a wide range of qualifications to support their progression, including employability, independent living skills, youth work and leadership award qualifications.

We work closely with statutory and voluntary sector partners including Link Group subsidiaries, local authorities, youth groups, mainstream education, careers services, employability services, NHS and job centres. It is through these partnerships that we can engage with people who may benefit from getting involved with our service.

The Job

The Service Manager will take a lead role in the development and delivery of Group-wide initiatives for service users, tenants and customers, ensuring alignment with the ambitions of the Link Group Communities Strategy employability pathway.

The Service Manager will participate in a range of external networks for the benefit of service users, acting as an ambassador for the whole organisation internally and externally, and will negotiate effectively with external funding partners to secure funding for service consolidation and development in conjunction with the Head of Practice and Participation.

The Service Manager will be responsible for a range of services within the Link Academy team remit and will use their knowledge of training and employability practice to lead, motivate, develop and supervise staff teams who provide professional person-centred services to service users, tenants and customers.

The Service Manager will manage a complex budget of funding from Health, Local Authority, Scottish Government and others including grant-making trusts, and manage a complex and extensive range of stakeholders.

About You

You will be educated to degree level and have a management qualification or extensive experience, combined with experience in managing a service, service development and growth and managing complex budgets.

The successful candidate will be able to manage resources and performance effectively and set clear objectives, be able to coordinate and prioritise resources and have experience in conflict management, with the ability to remain focused in the face of conflicting demands.

You will require specialist knowledge and experience of working with young people, plus experience of working with people with complex needs, experience of multi-agency working and the ability to problem-solve, balancing the needs of a range of stakeholders including funders, staff and service users.

Also required is a knowledge and understanding of the employability sector initiatives and any legislative requirements, plus experience of developing and delivering training programmes combined with the ability to design and develop courses to be accredited to SCQF standards and knowledge of the use of evaluation methods to ensure training is effective.

The successful candidate will have strong written communication skills including the ability to write clear and concise reports and funding applications, a non-judgemental attitude and willingness to embrace diversity, the ability to adapt to new environments and to work openly and honestly within a team setting, while being able to manage effective relationships/partnerships with other voluntary and statutory agencies.

A Proactive approach to your own learning and development, a proactive approach to service user participation along with the ability to drive and able to travel between services as required and a flexible, practical and reliable approach, including being able to work flexible hours including evenings, weekends and public holidays as required is also essential.

For a comprehensive list of the essential and desirable criteria required for this post, please refer to the Job Specification in the Job information Pack above.

What’s in it for you?

As a LinkLiving employee, you'll benefit from a generous annual leave entitlement; a competitive pension; life assurance and a comprehensive wellbeing package.

This post is subject to Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme registration. Link will meet the cost of any new PVG scheme membership or scheme record update.

Further Information

Interested? If you have any questions about the role, please email jobs@linkhaltd.co.uk and we can arrange for someone from the service to call you for an informal chat.

To find out more about what LinkLiving do, please visit our website at https://www.linkliving.org.uk

Closing Date: midnight on Wednesday 15 June 2022

Interview Date: Interviews are being held on Friday 24 June 2022 at Link Academy in Falkirk where social distancing will be observed

How to Apply

To complete an application form, please click on the “Apply Now” button below. Instructions on how to complete the form are at the top of the page.

We can offer suitable alternative methods to apply if requested including although not exclusively; hard copy, Braille and audio. You can request these by emailing our Resourcing Team at jobs@linkhaltd.co.uk and detailing which format you would require.

Please note should an internal applicant be successful in applying for this position on either a seconded or permanent basis, they will move to the terms and conditions associated with the role for the duration of the time they are in post. The terms and conditions are outlined in the job information pack.

LinkLiving is an equal opportunities organisation, and we welcome applications from all sectors of the community. Our offices are fully accessible to wheelchair users and, as a Disability Confident employer, we will interview all disabled candidates who meet the essential criteria.