Service Manager

Are you an experienced service leader who wants to help people build a safe and supportive place to call home? Join Right There as our Service Manager in Orkney and lead services that put people’s strengths, aspirations and relationships at the heart of their support.

You’ll oversee supported accommodation, young people and family support, counselling and mentoring across Orkney. Working alongside colleagues and local partners, you’ll combine day-to-day leadership with service development, helping ensure people receive the right support at the right time.

Right There has spent 200 years standing alongside people in Scotland. We provide tailored support at home and in the community for people living with the effects of homelessness, poverty, addiction or family breakdown. We meet people where they are, without judgement, building trusting relationships and walking alongside them to help prevent homelessness and separation from the people they love.

Your role

• Lead, coach and develop staff and volunteers through supportive supervision, reflective practice and individual development plans.
• Ensure high-quality, person-centred support that recognises each person’s strengths, choices and aspirations.
• Embed a People First approach and Psychologically Informed Environment (PIE) principles in service delivery.
• Involve the people we support in shaping services, listening to feedback and resolving complaints.
• Maintain safe accommodation and ensure services meet contractual, regulatory and health and safety requirements.
• Build strong working relationships with commissioners, local authorities and partner agencies.
• Manage budgets and resources, use service data to guide improvements, and oversee Care Inspectorate and local authority reporting.
• Contribute to programme development, identify local funding opportunities and take part in the shared locality management on-call rota.

What you’ll bring

You’ll bring experience of managing a service and supporting people to do their best work. You’ll be comfortable taking responsibility, making thoughtful decisions and building respectful relationships with colleagues, partners and the people we support.

• Experience of coaching, people management, recruitment and team development.
• A track record in service planning, performance management and quality assurance.
• The ability to manage budgets effectively and analyse data to support decisions.
• Strong organisation, prioritisation and communication skills, including writing comprehensive reports.
• Professional integrity, clear boundaries and the ability to build effective working partnerships.
• Flexibility around working patterns, the ability to travel within the agreed geographical area and to respond to crisis situations at short notice.

Essential qualifications: You must hold SVQ 3 in Social Services and Health Care at SCQF Level 7 or an HNC in Social Services. You must also hold, or be willing to work towards, SVQ 4 Social Services and Healthcare at SCQF Level 9, and be willing to work towards either a management award at or above SCQF Level 9 with a minimum of 60 credits, mapped against the National Occupational Standards: Leadership and Management for Care Services at SCQF Level 10, or SVQ Care Services Leadership and Management at SCQF Level 10.

Experience in a similar environment, third-sector management experience in housing, social care or support services, an understanding of PIE principles and experience of social care management information tools would be helpful.

Our offer

• A permanent, full-time role with a salary of £35,709–£38,896 per annum.
• Annual leave of 210 hours, equivalent to six weeks, rising to 280 hours, equivalent to eight weeks, from your second year, including public holidays, with the option to buy or sell five days.
• People’s Pension from day one if eligible, with employer and employee contributions of 5% each.
• Life insurance at four times your salary through the YMCA scheme.
• Enhanced family leave and paid compassionate leave.
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme support, a Wellbeing Hub and self-care resources.
• Mentoring, People First trauma-informed training and an annual role-relevant development plan, with funded SVQ qualifications for appropriate roles.
• A Health Shield monthly plan, including GP Anytime and support towards dental care, glasses, massage and physiotherapy.

Working arrangements

Your core place of work will be Glaitness Farmhouse, Glaitness Road, Kirkwall, KW15 1TN, reporting to the Locality Manager. Your usual hours will be Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm, with a one-hour unpaid break. Flexibility is required for evenings and weekends according to service needs, alongside participation in the shared on-call rota. Working arrangements will be agreed with your line manager around programme needs. 

If you share our commitment to supporting people without judgement and have the experience to lead our Orkney services, we’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your experience, what matters to you about this work and how you would help people and colleagues feel respected and supported. Please read the job pack for the full responsibilities and person specification.