Interim Manager  Children’s Home Cardiff CF15 Fixed Term Contract  6 Months

• As Interim Manager, you will provide strong, visible leadership and be accountable for the day-to-day management and performance of the home.
• Acting as the home’s senior safeguarding lead, ensuring children and young people are safe, protected, and supported at all times.
• Taking immediate ownership of regulatory compliance, inspection outcomes, action plans, and service improvement initiatives.
• Providing decisive operational leadership across staffing, rotas, supervision, performance management, and daily decision-making.
• Leading teams through periods of change, embedding high professional standards, accountability, and a positive culture.
• Developing and implementing robust quality assurance, governance, and recording processes.
• Building effective relationships with Ofsted, local authorities, social workers, and wider partner agencies.
• Embedding sustainable improvements and ensuring effective succession planning and handover arrangements.
• Promoting therapeutic, child-centred practice that improves outcomes and experiences for young people.
• This role reports directly to the Responsible Individual/Head of Children’s

Essential Experience & Qualifications required for Interim Manager

• Significant experience managing or leading Children’s Residential Homes.
• Proven experience within regulated children’s services.
• Strong working knowledge of: 
• Children’s Homes Regulations
• Quality Standards
• Ofsted inspection frameworks
• Demonstrable safeguarding expertise and the ability to make sound decisions in complex and high-pressure situations.
• A track record of leading teams through change, challenging poor practice, and driving service improvement.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and report-writing skills.
• Experience of working with therapeutic approaches, including PACE and therapeutic parenting models.
• The resilience, professionalism, and credibility required to operate effectively in demanding environments.
• Desirable
• Registered Manager status or eligibility to register with Ofsted.
• Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (or equivalent).
• Experience supporting children with: 
• Trauma and attachment needs
• SEMH needs
• Complex behaviours
• High-risk presentations
• Previous experience leading turnaround, improvement, or post-inspection recovery programmes.

Key Attributes of Interim Manager

• We’re looking for a leader who is:
• Passionately child-focused with strong professional values and integrity.
• Calm, authoritative, and confident in their leadership approach.
• Highly organised with excellent attention to detail.
• Resilient, adaptable, and able to operate at pace.
• Solution-focused and outcome-driven.
• Emotionally intelligent, with the ability to inspire, support, and challenge others effectively.