Location
Royal Borough of Greenwich

Hours
Standard working week of 35 hours

Salary
£89,274 per annum

About the Role
South-East London has secured Department for Education funding to create a new sub-regional foster recruitment and retention hub, joining a network of five Fostering Hubs across London. These hubs work collaboratively to develop best practice in foster carer recruitment and assessment and leverage partnership opportunities.

Foster South-East London is seeking an exceptional Head of Service to lead this exciting new service development and fundamentally improve how prospective foster carers are recruited, engaged, and supported across the region.

This is a unique opportunity for an experienced leader with a strong understanding of foster carer recruitment and the fostering landscape, combined with expertise in transformation, service improvement, and partnership working.

The Hub will unite expertise, resources, data, and innovative approaches across the sub-region to create a more coordinated and effective approach to attracting and converting new foster carers. Your leadership will be central to achieving this ambition.

As Head of Service, you will provide strategic and operational leadership for Foster South-East London, establishing and embedding a high-performing service that delivers measurable improvements in foster carer recruitment across participating partners.

You will lead a transformation programme that challenges traditional approaches, uses evidence and data to drive decision-making, and ensures prospective foster carers experience a clear, consistent, and compelling journey from initial enquiry through to approval.

Working across organisational boundaries, you will build strong relationships with senior leaders, fostering services, communications and marketing teams, and other key stakeholders. You will unite people around a shared vision and ensure the Hub delivers value for each participating authority.

You will focus on continuous improvement—identifying what works, understanding where recruitment journeys are lost, using insight to target activity, and developing innovative approaches to reach people who can make a difference to children and young people.

The role is offered on an initial term until 31 March 2028, with the Royal Borough of Greenwich as the host authority for employment. Please note partner local authorities are subject to confirmation.

Experience
- Strategic leadership and influencing skills across organisational boundaries
- Strong understanding of foster carer recruitment and the fostering landscape
- Expertise in transformation, service improvement, and partnership working
- Experience in team coordination, performance management, and fostering best practices

About you
- Confident, innovative, and collaborative leader comfortable at both strategic and operational levels
- Ability to communicate complex issues clearly to senior stakeholders and partners
- Skilled in using data and insight to drive improvement and decision-making
- Resilient with sound judgement and a collaborative leadership style
- Commitment to improving outcomes for children and foster families
- Comfortable working in a new, ambitious, and evolving service environment
- Energetic, curious, pragmatic, and able to constructively challenge established ways of working

Qualifications
Not explicitly stated; however, relevant leadership experience and fostering sector knowledge are essential.