Associate Director for Safeguarding and Looked After Children

Job responsibilities

Please see the detailed Job description and person specification attached for further details regarding the vacancy.

Knowledge, Training and Experience

Essential

• Current Nursing Midwifery Council (NMC) registration.
• Educated to masters level/equivalent level qualification in relevant subject, or significant experience of working at a similar level in specialist area.
• Teaching qualification or equivalent experience.
• Willingness to continue academic and professional development.
• Executive safeguarding experience with extensive knowledge of specialist areas.
• Level 5 competence for Safeguarding and Looked After Children
• Significant experience of successfully operating in a politically sensitive environment
• Significant experience of coordinating projects in complex and challenging environments
• Significant senior level experience of working within a child health/safeguarding and/or looked after children/UASC/care leaver arena.
• Significant experience of managing people, quality, finance, and performance.
• Highly developed, specialist knowledge of the looked after children's agenda and practice
• Full appreciation of the relationships between different stakeholder roles and responsibilities in the child protection/safeguarding process.
• Significant senior experience of multi-agency safeguarding working as a service or system lead.
• Senior nursing experience in a range of settings at Band (8c) or above/equivalence.
• Extensive knowledge of clinical governance processes in clinical services and the interface with safeguarding, quality of care and assurance mechanisms.
• Able to demonstrate sound leadership skills in complex and difficult situations and to lead and motivate a multi-disciplinary team.
• Substantial experience of delivering strategic level advice and guidance to senior managers and Directors.
• Full understanding of the commissioning process and the services necessary to effectively manage and deliver the business, including experience of working in a ICB or commissioning organisation.
• Experience of proactive partnership working and developing stakeholder engagement including Local authorities.
• An excellent working knowledge of relevant Health and Social Care policies, procedures, targets, planning and legislation frameworks.
• A thorough understanding of clinical decision-making processes within health organisations and with partner organizations e.g. local Authority, acute and private providers and the public
• Comprehensive knowledge of Looked after children, Safeguarding Legislation, Government policy and plans relating to safeguarding children as well as safeguarding and quality.
• Understanding of health and safety responsibilities.
• Knowledge of recruitment, performance management, equality, and diversity.

Communication Skills

Essential

• Ability to prepare and produce concise yet insightful communications for dissemination to senior stakeholders and a broad range of stakeholders as required.
• Able to provide and receive highly complex sensitive or contentious information and convey this at the appropriate level to a range of audiences.
• Able to negotiate with senior executive stakeholders on difficult and controversial issues, and present complex and sensitive information to large and influential groups.
• Ability to calmly and constructively challenge others when decision making is contentious, in a multi-agency context.
• Able to remain emotionally intelligent in highly charged situations which require sound risk management approaches and leadership.
• Experience of presenting at a senior level (e.g. Director or deputy director/Board level).

Analytical

Essential

• Ability to analyse very complex issues where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources.
• Demonstrated capability to act upon incomplete information, using experience to make inferences and decision making.
• Significant experience of setting up and implementing internal processes and procedures.
• Experience of negotiation with partnership organisations to effectively analyse data and produce a range of options to improve quality which firstly meet patient need and the clinical model of care.
• Take decisions on difficult issues where there may be a number of courses of action.
• Working Knowledge of Microsoft Office with intermediate key board skills
• Able to think conceptually, recognising assumptions, interpreting and evaluating arguments and deducing inferences.
• Able to think analytically; anticipating obstacles and thinking ahead; using analytical techniques to identify several solutions.
• Ability to give formal presentations at Board level and on behalf of health to other organiations.
• Ability to write clear and concise balanced reports for consideration.
• Ability to negotiate and explain complex facts and arguments and discuss and debate in political or otherwise difficult situations.
• Ability to deal with sensitive information in a tactful and very diplomatic manner.
• Highly developed negotiation skills/ability to representative the ICB in contract negotiation.
• Ability to use Word and databases and the ability to work with IT to develop appropriate information for effective performance management.
• Ability to create/work as part of cohesive team.
• Self-motivated, flexible and adaptable at work in order to meet competing priorities.

Planning Skills

Essential

• Significant experience of leading teams towards quality improvement initiatives.
• Experience of leading and motivating staff, ensuring the planning and delivery of a range of work programmes within agreed timescales.
• Experience of leading service development and change within and across organisations.
• Experience in supervision and mentoring of staff with complex, extremely difficult work.
• Experience in teaching small and large groups and delivery of presentations with confidence to a range of audiences including medical staff.
• Experience of leading service development and change within and across organisations.

Management Skills

Essential

• Highly developed planning and organisation skills/able to determine own agenda and organise own work.
• Ability to determine, prioritise and manage work of a team to deliver organisational priorities within timescales.
• Ability to lead the development of short-medium- and long-term strategic plans for own areas of work on behalf of the ICB and in conjunction with other partner organisation which contribute and compliment the organisational objectives.
• Ability to manage major projects on behalf of the organisation and, at times, local Authority e.g. cross agency
• Ability to motivate and develop staff.
• Facilitation / coaching skills, ability to work with, engage and motivate groups of managers and clinicians across broad spectrum (internal and external) in planning and implementation of change.
• Innovation/proven ability to seek out, identify and implement opportunities for service improvement.

Autonomy

Essential

• Demonstrated capabilities to manage own workload and make informed decisions in the absence of required information, working to tight and often changing timescales.

Equality and Diversity

Essential

• The promotion of equality of opportunity and good working relations (providing practical leadership).

Financial and Physical Resources

Essential

• Financial/budget setting and budget management skills.
• Ability to analyse, interpret, challenge and present complex financial activity information and critically analyse qualitative information (which may be conflicting).
• Experience of negotiation with partnership organizations to effectively analyse data and produce a range of options to improve quality which firstly meet patient need and the clinical model of care.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).