Head of Service - Operations (Adult Social Care)

A leadership role where your impact will be felt from day one.

Lancashire is one of the largest and most complex Adult Social Care systems in the country. We are looking for an experienced operational leader who thrives in challenging environments, can bring clarity and pace to complex services, and is passionate about improving outcomes for residents.

This is not a traditional Head of Service role. It's an opportunity to step into a broad, high-profile portfolio at a time of significant transformation, helping shape services, support improvement, strengthen partnerships and lead through change across a system serving thousands of residents every day.

As Head of Service - Operations, you will provide visible leadership across key areas including older people and physical disabilities community teams, hospital discharge and prevention ensuing a strengths-based approach is embedded in practice. Working closely with community partners, health partners and senior colleagues, you will lead improvement activity, deliver high-quality operational performance and help drive Lancashire's ambition to support people to live better lives.

We're looking for a credible senior leader with broad Adult Social Care experience, strong operational grip, political awareness and the ability to inspire teams in a demanding environment. Whether your background is in social work, occupational therapy, nursing or another relevant discipline, you'll be someone who can build relationships quickly, navigate complexity with confidence and deliver results through others.

Why Lancashire?
This is a rare opportunity to influence services at scale, lead significant improvement programmes and work within a large county-wide organisation that is committed to strengths-based practice, workforce development and delivering better outcomes for its communities. You'll join a leadership team that is ambitious, collaborative and focused on innovation, improvement and partnership working.

If you're an accomplished Adult Social Care leader who enjoys challenge, values innovation and wants to help shape the future of services across Lancashire, we'd love to hear from you.

For a confidential discussion, please contact our colleagues at Tile Hill, Anita Denton 07725 554802 (anita.denton@tile-hill.co.uk) or Helen Alwell 07931 543313 (helen.alwell@tile-hill.co.uk).

For more information or to apply, please visit www.leading-lancashire.co.uk

Webinar: 
Join us for a live Executive Search Webinar exploring career enhancing opportunities with Lancashire County Council's Adult Social Care Directorate:

• Head of Operations
• Head of Service, Quality Assurance and Improvement

Hear directly from Helen Coombes, Executive Director of Adults, Health and Wellbeing at Lancashire County Council, and John Williams, Director of Operations for Older People, as they discuss Lancashire's vision for adult social care, the priorities shaping services across the county, and the important role these appointments will play in delivering safe, high-quality, person-centred support for residents.

Monday 10th August at 2:00pm

This is an opportunity to gain insight into the scale, complexity and ambition of adult social care in Lancashire, learn more about these key leadership roles, and discover how you can contribute to improving outcomes for adults, carers and communities across one of England's largest county councils.

Register your place here:
https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/cf2d52e6-8f1c-4f93-90db-0cb70ad04589@6a2831ce-7b24-4bd8-b168-a40e6c4ac076

Closing Date for Applications: Midnight Sunday 23rd August

To apply:
To apply, please submit an up-to-date copy of your CV (three sides of A4 maximum), along with a supporting statement (three sides of A4 maximum) detailing your experience, and achievements and addressing the key criteria for the role set out on this site and using examples to demonstrate how you meet the requirements. Documents should be uploaded via our website, please include and upload the below information in two documents only. If you experience any issues whilst applying, please contact ella.vanderhook@tile-hill.co.uk

Local Government Reorganisation
The Government has confirmed that local government across Lancashire will be reorganised, with the current 15 councils being replaced by four new unitary councils covering North, South, East and West Lancashire from April 2028.

If you are successful in your application, you will initially join Lancashire County Council. However, as part of the planned transition, your employment will transfer to one of the new unitary councils from April 2028, subject to the implementation of the reorganisation and relevant employment legislation.

Throughout this period, our focus remains on delivering excellent services to our communities. By joining us now, you'll play an important role in shaping the future of local government and helping to build a strong new organisation that will serve residents for years to come.

Timetable:

• Applications Closing Midnight on Sunday 23rd August
• Shortlisting Meeting: Thursday 27th August (PM)
• Final Panel Process (In person): Monday 7th September

Applications must include:

• Full contact details;
• Names, positions, organisations and contact details for two referees (we will ask your permission before contacting referees);
• Details of your notice period;
• Notification of any dates when you are not available for interview.

At Tile Hill, we are committed to inclusion and accessibility. We champion and support all individuals to ensure everyone feels valued, listened to and motivated to get the very best out of each recruitment process and that processes are designed to meet the needs of individuals. If you have any specific requests and would like a confidential discussion with the Tile Hill team, then please email inclusion@tile-hill.co.uk.

If the organisation we’re representing is a member of the Disability Confident Scheme and you’d like to apply under the scheme, please mention this clearly in bold at the top of your supporting statement. If there are any adjustments that would support you during the application or interview process, please let us know.