Children's Services Manager

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.

Essential Criteria

• Hold a recognised Social Work qualification, have completed AYE, and be registered with NISCC on Part 1 of the register.
• Demonstrated ability to lead staff in responding to safeguarding concerns quickly and appropriately.
• Proven experience working with children and young people and in leading others to deliver best practice in children's services.
• Evidenced ability to work constructively with partner agencies, commissioners, and stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience of managing budgets within a children's services setting.
• Proven ability to set objectives and develop staff to achieve high performance.
• 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.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

Ready to make a difference? Apply now!

In return Barnardo's offers a reward package that includes a competitive salary, 26 days annual leave and 10 statutory/public holidays (pro-rata) per annum, a contributory pension scheme, an additional holiday purchase scheme and staff discounts.

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

Successful applicants will be required to undertake an Enhanced Access NI with c hild and Adult Barred List Check.

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 possibl

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

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, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

• 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 Buy Your Leave 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:22611
• Job Title:Children's Services Manager
• Location:Newry and Armagh
• Locality:Southern Trust Area
• Contract type:Permanent
• Hours:37
• Salary:£42,856 - £54,240 (FTE)
• Closing Date:18 March 2026
• Interview Date:TBC

Benefits

Vacancy Alerts

Additional Info

• Barnardo's Workplace Offer Visual Summary.pdf (27.58 KB)
• Recruitment of Ex-Offenders Policy Dec 2024.pdf (164.07 KB)
• Children's Services Manager - Job Description and Person Specification.pdf (257.03 KB)
• Storage Handling Retention and Disposal of Disclosure Policy Northern Ireland 2023.pdf (162.93 KB)
• AccessNI Revised Code of Practice.pdf (71.58 KB)
• AccessNI Privacy Notice - May 2025.pdf (141.60 KB)
• Additional Information Sheet - CSM Armagh and Newry Family Resource Centres March 2026.pdf (236.52 KB)