JOB DESCRIPTION

March 2015

Job title:DirectorofCrisis Skylight Newcastle Department: Client Services

Team: Crisis Skylight Newcastle Job holder: Replacement

Reporting to:Director of Operations

Aim

  • Ensure that all single homeless people have access to the services and support they need to transform their lives and leave homelessness behind for good.

Dimensions

  • Lead the Crisis Newcastle team of permanent staff, Skylight tutors and volunteers and line manage a number of direct reports.
  • Managethe budget for Crisis Newcastle.
  • Manage relationships with stakeholders, including funders, partners and other agencies and identify new opportunities for growth and partnership across the city/region.
  • Contribute to the development and delivery of effective and consistent practices within Client Services

Circumstances

  • 35 hours per week, some evening and weekend work will be required.
  • Travel will be required acrossthe UK for meetings.
  • A satisfactory enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure Barring Service is required for this role to check suitability to work with vulnerable adults and young people.

Salary

  • £51,000 per annum

Organisational chart

Please note the team structure is subject to change

Principal accountabilities

Management & leadership

  • Successfully deliver the Crisis Newcastle Business Plan, and lead on the development of future business plans for the services.
  • Use the Crisis Model of Change and Performance Management Framework to plan and deliver a balance of programmes and support that enable our clients to leave homelessness behind for good.
  • Inspire the Crisis Newcastle team to maximise their effectiveness and impact and ensure that all understand how their role contributes towards ending homelessness. Be open to innovation and willing to trial new approaches to ending homelessness.
  • Take overallresponsibility for health and safety and safeguarding processes atCrisis Newcastle to ensure the safety of clients, staff, volunteers, tutors and partners.
  • Ensure member involvement is fully integrated into the work of Crisis Newcastle.
  • Prioritise resources and set and manage budgets across Crisis Newcastle.
  • Champion and raise the profile of Crisis Newcastle at public forums, to all relevant sector networks, local and national government and within Crisis.
  • Operate as part of the wider Crisis Strategic Leadership team and contribute to the development and delivery of effective and consistent practice within Client Services.

Monitoring and quality

  • Ensure services(and any associated contracts) perform against targets andtake responsibility for evaluatingperformance and producing reports for relevant stakeholders.
  • Lead on the implementation of quality standards (including the Matrix action plan), quality assurance and quality improvement processes ensuring all monitoring and evaluation data informs improvement plans.
  • Ensure staff understand and adhere to quality and audit systems.
  • Work with the Quality Improvement Manager to ensure robust self-assessment produces effective continuous improvement plans and underpins staff development and training priorities.

Relationships

  • Work on own initiative and with the appropriate head office team to build and develop strong relationships with potential partner organisations from the statutory, charitable and private sectors to maximise the effectiveness and impact or our work.
  • Lead on local campaigning and communicating Crisis’ messages to a variety of audiences with guidance and support from the Head Office campaigns team.
  • Promote the work of Crisis Newcastle to external bodies and organisations and work with Communications Team to produce high quality marketing and communications materials.
  • Maintain excellent relationships with all Crisis departments to ensure delivery of a high quality service.

General

  • Develop and maintain an understanding of Crisis’ work and the needs and circumstances of homeless people.
  • Comply with Crisis policies and procedures, including Health and Safety policies, for which all employees owe a duty of care both to themselves and others, in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act.
  • Carry out duties that may reasonably be required in the light of the main purpose of the job.

Service specific

  • Work closely with the Crisis Newcastle Cafe Team (who are line managed by the Head of Cafes) to ensure a successful training programme is in place.
  • Develop the outreach/ in-reach model for service delivery to reduce reliance upon a single building based service offer and increase access to services for single homeless people more widely within the sub region.
  • Effectively manage the building and maintain professional relationships with organisations who rent space from Crisis.

Person Specification

Essential

  1. Have worked at a senior managerial level in a relevant sector e.g. homelessness, adult education, training and employment.
  2. Able to oversee the implementation of quality standards and ensure the accredited learning offer meets the required standards of various awarding bodies and funders.
  3. Experience of preparing and managing a complex budget with competing demands for resources.
  4. Awareness of the barriers to participation and learning experienced by homeless and marginalised people and an understanding of how these might be overcome.
  5. Sound knowledge of health and safety issues and safeguarding procedures to ensure a safe environment is provided for members, staff, volunteers, supporters and visitors.
  6. Able to think strategically and plan service delivery and resource allocation accordingly.
  7. Strong networking and partnership building skills adaptable to a variety of audiences including funders, supporters, learning organisations, statutory bodies and employers.
  8. Excellent communication skills, spoken and written, including the ability to promote Crisis services and deliver reports and proposals required by a wide variety of audiences.
  9. Able to support and lead on funding bid applications and ensure that funding applications are in line with strategic and operational plans.
  10. Able to manage and inspire a multi-disciplinary team ensuring all staff are fully committed to Crisis’ vision and mission.
  11. Ability to work autonomously through a remote management relationship.
  12. Commitment to Crisis’s purpose and values including equality and social inclusion

We encourage applications from all sections of the community particularly those with personal or previous experience of homelessness.