Senior Residential Care Officer - Edge of Care

Senior Residential Care Officer

Edge of Care Residential Service

Permanent | 37 hours per week

Salary £35,570 - £38,510

Please note that we’re unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role, so candidates will need to have an existing right to work in the UK.

Help Build Something Different

Residential care has often been seen as the place children go when everything else has been tried. We think differently.

At Stockton-on-Tees, we're developing an innovative Edge of Care residential service built on a belief that residential care can be a powerful intervention in its own right. A place where children experience safety, families find space to breathe, and relationships have the opportunity to heal.

This isn't a service designed around long-term placements. It's a service designed around children and their networks.

We're creating a relational and restorative environment where children remain connected to the people who matter most to them, while families receive the support they need to move through crisis and create sustainable change.

We're looking for an exceptional Senior Residential Care Officer to help turn that vision into reality.

If you believe the best residential practitioners don't simply care for children but help transform futures, we'd love to hear from you.

This is more than a senior shift-leading role.

As a Senior Residential Care Officer, you'll be one of the people shaping the culture, practice and identity of a brand-new service from the very beginning.

You will:

• Lead shifts and model excellent practice.
• Build meaningful relationships with children and families.
• Support children to develop confidence, resilience and positive aspirations.
• Coach and mentor colleagues to provide consistently high-quality care.
• Work collaboratively with families, social workers, education and health professionals.
• Support care planning, risk management and reflective practice.
• Help create a culture where children feel valued, heard and respected.
• Contribute to the development of a service that puts relationships at the centre of everything it does.

No two days will be the same.

One day you may be supporting a child through a difficult family meeting. The next you might be celebrating a school success, rebuilding trust after a difficult period, or helping a family take the first steps towards reunification.

This role operates on a 7-day rota including evenings, weekends, sleep‑ins and waking nights where required.

In addition to the salary, this post attracts a Level 1 Unsociability Allowance, currently £4,314.82 per annum.

Sleep‑in duties form a key part of the role and are paid at an additional rate of £53.66 per sleep‑in.

We're not simply looking for experience.

We're looking for people who share our belief that children can recover, relationships can be repaired and futures can change.

You’ll be someone who:

• Holds a Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England).
• Understands trauma‑informed and relationship‑based practice.
• Can see the child behind the behaviour.
• Leads with both confidence and compassion.
• Remains calm and reflective during difficult situations.
• Supports colleagues to develop and succeed.
• Builds strong professional relationships and partnerships.
• Has a genuine passion for improving the lives of children and families.
• Holds a full UK driving licence.

Most importantly, you'll bring hope.

Because children facing adversity need adults who can hold onto possibility when they can't yet see it themselves.

To learn more about the role and what we're looking for, please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification in the Supporting Documents section.

Because opportunities like this don't come around very often.

You’ll join a team building something from the ground…