Location: Royal Borough of Greenwich, South-East London

DBS requirement: Standard DBS check

Are you an experienced Programme Manager passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people? The Royal Borough of Greenwich is leading an ambitious initiative to develop a South-East London Fostering Hub, bringing local authorities together to transform foster carer recruitment, strengthen retention and help more children in care find safe, stable and loving family homes.

As the Fostering Hub Programme Manager Children's Services, you will lead the development and implementation of a collaborative, multi-authority service, supported by a Department for Education grant. You will bring together senior leaders, operational teams and external partners to establish effective recruitment pathways, digital systems, targeted communications and training and support for foster carers.

This is an opportunity to lead meaningful transformation in a complex public service environment, shaping a more effective and sustainable fostering system across South-East London. You will have responsibility for coordinating delivery, managing risks and dependencies, monitoring performance and ensuring the programme delivers measurable improvements in the foster carer journey.

Responsibilities of the Programme Manager

• Lead programme mobilisation and delivery: Establish the programme framework, develop a comprehensive project plan and define objectives, outcomes, milestones, responsibilities and delivery dependencies.
• Establish programme governance: Implement appropriate governance arrangements, set up working groups where required and provide clear, timely progress reports to the programme governance board.
• Manage multiple workstreams: Coordinate concurrent projects covering foster carer recruitment, digital interfaces, case management systems, performance reporting, communications, training and retention.
• Develop cross-authority collaboration: Build effective working relationships with senior leaders, Heads of Service and operational teams across the participating local authorities, ensuring the hub reflects each authority's strengths and service requirements.
• Create an effective recruitment pathway: Oversee the development of an end-to-end pathway that improves the experience of prospective foster carers from initial enquiry through application and approval.
• Drive recruitment and retention improvements: Support initiatives designed to increase enquiries, improve enquiry-to-application conversion, reduce withdrawals, increase approvals and strengthen foster carer retention.
• Coordinate communications and branding: Work with participating authorities, other London Fostering Hubs and relevant stakeholders to develop a coordinated recruitment campaign and a strong regional identity that complements individual local authority brands.
• Strengthen foster carer support: Coordinate the development of a retention-focused training and support offer that helps foster carers feel informed, prepared and supported.
• Manage programme risks and dependencies: Identify, record, monitor and escalate risks, issues and delivery barriers, developing practical mitigation plans to maintain progress.
• Coordinate resources and specialist input: Work with legal, HR, commercial and other relevant teams across the participating authorities to deliver key implementation activities.
• Manage delivery partners and stakeholders: Maintain productive relationships with the programme's delivery partner, external organisations and relevant sector stakeholders, ensuring collaborative and effective implementation.
• Oversee reporting and grant submissions: Coordinate submissions and required information for the Department for Education, ensuring data and reports are accurate and submitted within agreed timescales.
• Lead the programme team: Line-manage or matrix-manage the wider implementation team, allocating responsibilities according to colleagues' skills, experience and strengths.
• Monitor impact and performance: Use management information, performance indicators and other insight to evaluate progress, identify areas for improvement and report on the effectiveness of the hub.
• Promote compliance and good governance: Ensure programme activity follows relevant information governance, data protection, information security, freedom of information, health and safety and equal opportunities requirements.
• Support continuous improvement: Engage with other London Fostering Hubs, pan-London initiatives and sector stakeholders to share learning, adopt best practice and contribute to wider developments in foster carer recruitment and retention.

Skills and Background of the Programme Manager

Qualifications and programme management knowledge of the Programme Manager.

The successful candidate for the Programme Manager role will demonstrate:

• A degree-level qualification or equivalent workplace experience.
• A recognised programme or project management qualification, such as PRINCE2 Practitioner, Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) or another relevant industry qualification.
• A strong understanding of programme and project delivery, including the management of multiple workstreams, milestones, dependencies, risks and governance arrangements.
• Knowledge of both traditional and agile project management methods and the ability to apply suitable approaches to the delivery environment.
• An understanding of local authority structures, operational complexity and the challenges involved in delivering transformational change across public services.
• An appreciation of children's services and the importance of effective service design in improving outcomes for children, young people and families.
• An understanding of partnership-based programme delivery, including how to align stakeholders with different priorities, responsibilities and ways of working.

Relevant experience of the Programme Manager

You should be able to demonstrate:

• Experience delivering transformational change within Children's Services or a related service environment.
• Experience managing programmes or major projects involving multiple stakeholders and interdependent workstreams.
• Experience working in complex and challenging environments, including maintaining delivery momentum during periods of uncertainty and change.
• Experience developing productive relationships with senior leaders, colleagues, external partners and other stakeholders across organisational boundaries.
• Experience monitoring programme performance, interpreting management information and using evidence to identify improvement opportunities.
• Experience engaging staff in the design and implementation of effective services.
• Experience managing programme resources, budgets and performance to support delivery, efficiency and value for money.

Leadership and delivery skills of the Programme Manager

As the Fostering Hub Programme Manager Children's Services, you will need to demonstrate:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to assess complex information, identify delivery challenges and develop practical solutions.
• Excellent programme planning, organisation and prioritisation skills, enabling you to manage multiple workstreams and competing demands.
• Effective stakeholder management, negotiation and influencing skills, including the ability to secure cooperation and agreement across different organisational levels.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to present information, prepare reports and communicate programme progress to senior stakeholders.
• The ability to establish clear accountability, allocate responsibilities and coordinate teams across organisational boundaries.
• A strong customer and service-user focus, with an understanding of how effective programme delivery can improve service quality and value for money.
• The ability to use performance data, management information and wider insight to evaluate progress and inform decision-making.
• A collaborative leadership style that encourages engagement, shared ownership and constructive working relationships.

Personal attributes and values of the Programme Manager

You will be a proactive, resilient and solutions-focused programme leader who can bring people together around a shared objective. You will demonstrate sound judgement, adaptability and the confidence to navigate complexity while maintaining focus on agreed outcomes.

You will also show a clear commitment to equality of opportunity, inclusive practice and the Local Authority's staff values: improving residents' lives and opportunities, treating people with respect and fairness, taking ownership, continually improving and working collaboratively across services.

As the Programme Manager, you will play a pivotal role in developing a more coordinated and sustainable approach to foster carer recruitment and retention across South-East London. Your work will help participating authorities improve recruitment outcomes, strengthen support for foster carers and increase opportunities for children in care to experience stable, nurturing family environments.

If you have the programme leadership experience, partnership-building skills and commitment to public service transformation needed to deliver this ambitious initiative, this Programme Manager opportunity offers the chance to make a lasting contribution to children's services across the region.

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