Director of Transformation

Overview

• ID

  305581

• Salary

  £90,000

• Type

  Permanent - Full Time

• Location

  Birmingham

• Hours

  37.5

• Closing Date

  29/03/2026

• Downloadable Files

About the Role

Sense has an exciting opportunity for a Director of Transformation who will lead and own the end-to-end Operations transformation portfolio, ensuring the successful design and delivery of Sense’s service transformation agenda. This role sits within our operations directorate and is centred on transforming our care and support services. The emphasis is on service design, operating models, workforce capability and improving outcomes for the people we support.

This role is accountable for aligning complex, multi-year programmes to organisational strategy, ensuring strong governance, appropriate resourcing, and delivery that improves outcomes for disabled people with complex needs.

As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, you will:

• Lead large-scale change across services, operating models and systems.
• Ensure transformation is co-produced, values-led, financially sustainable and operationally deliverable.
• Advise the COO and Chief Officers Group on prioritisation, delivery risks, phasing and organisational capacity.

This is a national leadership role, contracted to one of our regional offices, with regular travel to Birmingham and periodic visits to services across the country.

About the Operations Directorate

Our ambition is to deliver gold-standard support alongside disabled people with complex needs: consistently safe, high-quality and inspection-ready services, rooted in person-centred and rights-based practice, enabling people to live gloriously ordinary lives.

As part of our new organisational strategy, we are building a high-performing leadership culture across Operations. This role joins a newly appointed Chief Operating Officer and new Directors of Operations to deliver an ambitious transformation programme that will modernise, streamline and strengthen our services nationally.

This is a pivotal moment for Sense and an exceptional opportunity to shape large-scale change that improves lives.

Key Responsibilities

Transformation is central to Sense’s strategic ambition. Our services must be sustainable, person-centred and responsive to increasingly complex needs. This requires significant change across:

• Service models and structures.
• Team capability and capacity.
• Systems and operating models.

The transformation programme will ensure:

• A clear and coherent service offer aligned to strategy and values.
• Services that enable communication, connection and participation.
• Structures that support quality, consistency and growth.
• A skilled, motivated and appropriately resourced team.
• Positive stakeholder engagement and confidence.

Future organisation-wide transformation programmes may also fall within this role’s remit.

Transformation Leadership & Prioritisation

• Provide strategic leadership and accountability for the transformation portfolio.
• Ensure programmes are robustly planned, governed, resourced and delivered.
• Deliver agreed outcomes, milestones and benefits realisation.
• Manage interdependencies across transformation and wider initiatives.

Governance, Risk & Assurance

• Maintain oversight and reporting to Executive and Board.
• Safeguard service continuity, quality and regulatory compliance.
• Ensure effective risk, issue and dependency management.
• Oversee formal programme closure and operational handover.

Financial & Resource Management

• Manage programme budgets (typically £1m+) with strong financial control.
• Align transformation with corporate planning and commissioning cycles.
• Oversee relationships with partners, suppliers and consultants.

People Leadership & Capability

• Recruit, lead and develop high-performing programme teams.
• Build organisation-wide change capability and best practice.
• Contribute actively to senior leadership across Operations.

Engagement & Communication

• Ensure inclusive and accessible stakeholder communication.
• Work closely with fundraising, communications, policy and campaigns.
• Embed co-production, inclusion and accessibility throughout transformation activity.

Learning & Continuous Improvement

• Monitor sector developments across social care, disability rights and commissioning.
• Embed innovation and learning to strengthen transformation impact.

Person Specification

Essential

• Significant senior leadership experience delivering complex transformation or change programmes.
• Proven success managing large, multi-disciplinary programmes and budgets (£1m+).
• Strong programme management expertise (PRINCE2, MSP or equivalent).
• Ability to influence at Executive and Board level.
• Experience of financial oversight, risk management and benefits realisation.
• Exceptional communication skills, able to convey complex change clearly and accessibly.

Desirable

• Experience within social care, disability, health or voluntary sector environments.
• Understanding of the social model of disability and rights-based practice.
• Experience working with commissioners, local authorities or system partners.

Our Chief Operating Officer would be very happy to have an informal and confidential conversation with anyone who would like to find out more about the role before deciding whether to apply.

About Sense

We believe that every disabled person should have the opportunity to connect with others and be included in the world. We use our knowledge and expertise to deliver personalised, creative and flexible support at every stage of life. Sense is proud to be a disability confident leader.

Working at Sense can be incredibly rewarding; we offer the opportunity to work in a large, diverse and successful charity where people can develop their skills, knowledge and careers in a supportive and flexible environment. In addition, we have excellent training and development, the opportunity for you to join our Group Personal Pension scheme and a generous annual leave entitlement.

To apply

Please use the link below to complete your application. Managers will use your application to shortlist candidates for interview; in relation to the Personal Specification. Therefore, it is very important you complete this section thoroughly. We would recommend that you read the candidate guidelines, job description and person specification (found at the base of this advert) before applying.

Please note to avoid disappointment, we advise you to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close posts at any time.

If you require any further assistance, please contact the Recruitment Team on 0121 393 4529 or recruitment@sense.org.uk

Sense is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable children and adults and expects all employees to share this commitment. Therefore, all offers of employment, where appropriate, are subject to a DBS check; level dependent on the nature of the role.

For this role we particularly welcome applications from candidates from underrepresented ethnic minority backgrounds and candidates with disabilities. Sense is committed to equality of opportunity, and to promoting and celebrating the diversity of staff, volunteers and the people we work with. Everyone's contribution is valued and we ensure they're given the opportunity to realise their potential. We welcome applications from talented people from all sections of the community who share our values and belief that no one, no matter how complex their disabilities, should be isolated, left out, or unable to fulfil their potential. For more information please visit:  https://www.sense.org.uk/about-us/equality-and-diversity/

No agency submissions please: any submissions without prior authorisation from the Sense Recruitment Team will be treated as our own and as such no fee will be payable.

Closing Date

29/03/2026