Turnaround Manager

Overview

Turnaround Manager – Children’s Residential Home (OFSTED) |

Location:

County Durham | Basis: 3 month Fixed-term contract, with possibility to extend | Salary:
Negotiable

Are you an experienced children’s residential leader who thrives in challenge and change? We are seeking a Turnaround Manager to take decisive leadership of a children’s residential home requiring stabilisation, improvement, and strong safeguarding oversight. This is a pivotal role for a confident, resilient professional who can quickly establish operational grip, drive regulatory compliance, and embed high-quality, child-centred practice. You will be trusted with significant responsibility and autonomy to lead improvement at pace, while maintaining a trauma-informed, therapeutic approach that places children’s safety, welfare, and voice at the heart of everything you do.

As Turnaround Manager, You Will

• Act as the senior safeguarding lead, ensuring children and young people are safe, protected, and supported at all times
• Take immediate responsibility for addressing regulatory shortfalls, inspection outcomes, and improvement plans
• Provide strong, visible operational leadership, stabilising staffing, rotas, supervision, and day-to-day decision-making
• Lead, motivate, and challenge staff through change, setting clear expectations and professional standards
• Embed robust quality assurance, governance, and recording systems
• Work confidently with Ofsted, placing authorities, social workers, and partner agencies
• Ensure improvements are sustainable, with clear succession planning and a structured handover

This role reports to the Responsible Individual / Interim Children’s Lead / Head of Children’s Services.

• Significant experience leading or managing children’s residential homes
• Proven experience of turnaround, improvement, or post-inspection recovery in regulated services
• Strong working knowledge of Children’s Homes Regulations, Quality Standards, and Ofsted frameworks
• Demonstrable safeguarding expertise and confident decision-making under pressure
• Ability to lead teams through change, challenge poor practice, and drive accountability
• Excellent communication, report-writing, and stakeholder engagement skills
• Resilient, decisive, and able to work at pace in complex environments
• Experience using PACE and therapeutic parenting models

• Registered Manager status or eligibility to register
• Experience supporting homes rated Requires Improvement or Inadequate
• Experience working with complex needs, trauma, SEMH, or high-risk behaviours
• Level 5 Leadership and Management (or equivalent)

• Strong moral compass and unwavering child-focused values
• Calm, authoritative, and credible leadership style
• Highly organised with strong attention to detail
• Solution-focused, outcomes-driven, and emotionally intelligent

• Opportunity to make a real, immediate impact on children’s lives
• Trusted leadership role with delegated operational authority
• Supportive senior leadership and clear governance
• Chance to leave a lasting legacy of sustainable improvement

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All appointments are subject to safer recruitment checks, including enhanced DBS clearance.