Children's Services Manager - BARNARDO'S

BARNARDO'S

42,856.32 per year (pro rata)

Newry and Armagh

Full-time

4th January 2026

Are you an experienced leader passionate about making a difference in children's lives?
We are seeking a dedicated Social Work Manager to join our team and lead high-quality, child-focused services in our Armagh and Newry Family Resource Centres.

This is an exciting opportunity to shape practice, support a skilled team, and ensure the best outcomes for children and families. If you thrive in a dynamic environment and are committed to safeguarding and excellence, we'd love to hear from you.

If you have a passion for family support, then this role is for you.

About the Role

As Children's Services Manager, you will:

Lead and manage a dedicated team of practitioners delivering a range of services to children, young people and families.
Oversee service delivery, ensuring high standards of practice, safeguarding, and outcomes.
Work collaboratively with community partners.
Use your professional expertise to develop innovative approaches that reduce risk, promote children's wellbeing and ensure children's needs are met..
Monitor impact and contribute to strategic planning and funding development

About You

Please ensure that you outline on your application how you meet the criteria below:

Essential Criteria

Hold a professional qualification in Social Work recognised by the NISCC, have completed the AYE and be registered with the NISCC on part 1 of the register
Ability to lead and support staff in managing safeguarding concerns, ensuring timely and effective responses, and escalation as required

Can outline their experience of working with children and young people and in leading others to best practice in the delivery of children's services.
Can demonstrate, using an example, how they have worked constructively with partner agencies, commissioners and other stakeholders, in a way that enhances the reputation of the organisation externally
Demonstrable experience in managing budgets within a children's services setting, including responsibility for financial planning, forecasting, and monitoring
Can evidence the ability to set clear team and individual objectives, and to coach and support staff in achieving high performance through regular feedback, development planning, and promoting a culture of continuous improvement
Hold a valid driving licence and have access to a vehicle with business class insurance to use during working hours (alternatively those applicants with a disability that prevents them from holding a driving licence should be able to demonstrate how they can meet the mobility requirements of the post). The post is office based and requires regular travel across both office locations and at times across the Southern Trust.

Ready to make a difference? Apply now.

Location: Post will be based in either Armagh and Newry with expectation of regular travel across both office locations and throughout the Southern Trust area.

Salary: £42,856.32 – £54,240.03

Hours: 37 per week

Contract: Permanent

Closing Date: Midnight, Sunday 4th January 2026

Interview Date: 13th and 15th January 2026

Contact: recruitment.support@barnardos.org.uk

A waiting list will be held in the event that similar vacancies arise during the next 12 months

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values.  We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours.  More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.

Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
Service related sick pay from day 1
Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
Cycle2work scheme
Interest free season ticket loans
Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
20% discount at Barnardo's stores
Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

Reference number:22164
Job Title:Children's Services Manager
Location:Newry and Armagh
Locality:Southern Trust Area
Contract type:Permanent
Hours:37
Salary:42,856.32 - 54,240.03
Closing Date:4 January 2026
Interview Date:13th and 15th January 2026

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