{"id":2409343,"url":"https://alion.io/job/iworkrecruitment-regional-development-manager-fostering","title":"Regional Development Manager – Fostering","company":{"id":4422609,"name":"iWork Recruitment","domain":"iworkrecruitment.uk","url":"https://alion.io/company/iworkrecruitment","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":true,"employer_type":"agency","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Manatal","truth_index":null},"role":"Management","role_family":"Management","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Cardiff, United Kingdom"],"countries":["GB"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":39000,"max_usd":84000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":339},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-13T01:47:34Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-13","last_verified_at":"2026-10-25T18:10:08Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":12,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":12},"description":"Contract to start ASAP\nDuration: 12 weeks with a possible extension.\nRegional Development Manager - Fostering\nHours: Full-time (37 hours per week)\nContract: 12 Week Temporary Contract, ending 17 January 2027\nSupport the Growth and Development of Fostering Services Across the Region\nWe're recruiting an experienced Regional Development Manager - Fostering to join Cardiff Council, supporting the development, growth, and strategic delivery of fostering services across the region.\nThis is an excellent opportunity for someone with experience in fostering, children's services, service development, recruitment, stakeholder engagement, commissioning, or regional partnership working.\nYou'll work closely with fostering teams, local authorities, partner agencies, carers, communications teams, and senior stakeholders to strengthen fostering provision, improve recruitment and retention activity, and support the delivery of high-quality services for children and young people.\nAbout the Role\nAs a Regional Development Manager - Fostering, you'll support the strategic development of fostering services across the region, helping to increase placement capacity, improve service performance, strengthen partnership arrangements, and support the recruitment and retention of foster carers.\nYou'll play a key role in coordinating development activity, identifying opportunities for growth, and ensuring that fostering services are responsive to local demand and aligned with wider children's services priorities.\nWhat you'll be doing:\nLeading and coordinating regional fostering development activity\nSupporting the recruitment and retention of foster carers\nDeveloping and implementing strategies to increase fostering capacity\nWorking with local authorities and partner organisations to strengthen regional fostering provision\nIdentifying gaps in placement provision and developing plans to address them\nSupporting marketing, engagement, and recruitment campaigns aimed at prospective foster carers\nBuilding strong relationships with foster carers, fostering teams, and external stakeholders\nMonitoring recruitment and retention performance and identifying areas for improvement\nUsing data and management information to inform service development and strategic planning\nSupporting the development of regional policies, procedures, and service standards\nWorking with senior managers and operational teams to align fostering development activity with wider children's services priorities\nSupporting partnership working across local authority boundaries\nCoordinating stakeholder engagement events, meetings, and workshops\nDeveloping business cases, proposals, and reports to support service development\nSupporting improvements in placement sufficiency and matching\nPromoting best practice in fostering recruitment, assessment, and support\nWorking with communications and marketing teams to raise awareness of fostering opportunities\nSupporting service transformation and continuous improvement activity\nIdentifying emerging risks, challenges, and opportunities across the regional fostering landscape\nProviding regular updates and reports on progress, performance, and outcomes\nSupporting compliance with relevant legislation, statutory guidance, and local policies\nRepresenting the service at regional meetings, forums, and partnership groups\nRequirements\nWe're looking for a strategic, proactive, and highly organised professional with strong experience in fostering, children's services, or service development.\nYou'll ideally have:\nExperience working within fostering, children's services, social care, or a related field\nExperience in service development, programme management, or strategic delivery\nStrong knowledge of fostering services and the needs of children in care\nExperience supporting foster carer recruitment and retention\nExperience working across multiple teams, organisations, or local authority areas\nStrong stakeholder engagement and partnership-working skills\nExperience using data and performance information to drive improvement\nAbility to develop strategies, plans, and improvement programmes\nStrong project management and organisational skills\nExperience preparing professional reports, business cases, and presentations\nExcellent written and verbal communication skills\nAbility to influence and engage senior stakeholders\nUnderstanding of placement sufficiency and commissioning challenges\nStrong knowledge of safeguarding and children's services\nAbility to manage multiple priorities and deadlines\nExperience leading change or service transformation\nLocal authority or public-sector experience would be advantageous\nA relevant qualification in Social Work, Management, Commissioning, or a related discipline would be advantageous\nEligibility to work in the UK\nAbility to provide three years of references/work history\nAbility to complete a Criminal Convictions Declaration\nAbility to sign a Confidentiality Agreement\nWhy Apply\nCompetitive Umbrella rate of £33.01 per hour\nOpportunity to work with Cardiff Council\nSenior development role within fostering services\nOpportunity to influence regional fostering strategy and service growth\nWork with local authorities, fostering teams, carers, and partner organisations\nOpportunity to support improvements in foster carer recruitment and retention\nGain valuable regional children's services experience\n12-week temporary assignment\nFull-time 37-hour working week\nBenefits\nWeekly Pay\nCompany Pension\nOngoing Agency Support\nAdditional Information\nClient: Cardiff Council\nJob Title: Regional Development Manager - Fostering\nLocation: County Hall, Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff, CF10 4UW\nStart Date: 26 October 2026\nContract Duration: 12 weeks, ending 17 January 2027\nHours: 37 hours per week\nPay Rate: Umbrella: £33.01 per hour\nEmployment Type: Temporary\nNumber of Positions: 1\nJob Types: Full-time, Temporary contract\nContract length: 12 weeks\nPay: £33.01 per hour\nBenefits:\nCompany pension\nApplication question(s):\nDo you have experience working within fostering, children's services, social care, or a related environment?\nDo you have experience in service development, strategic delivery, or programme management?\nHave you supported foster carer recruitment, retention, or placement sufficiency?\nDo you have experience working across multiple local authorities, partner agencies, or regional services?\nAre you confident using performance data and management information to drive service improvement?\nDo you have experience preparing strategies, business cases, reports, or improvement plans?\nPlease confirm your current location and whether you can reliably travel to County Hall, Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff, CF10 4UW as required.\nExperience:\nFostering / Children's Services: 2 years (preferred)\nService Development / Programme Management: 2 years (preferred)\nFoster Carer Recruitment / Retention: 1 year (preferred)\nLocal Authority / Public Sector: 1 year (preferred)\nEducation:\nRelevant qualification in Social Work, Management, Commissioning, or related discipline (preferred)\nWork authorisation:\nUnited Kingdom (required)\nWork Location: In person\nDisclaimer: On applying for this vacancy, you agree that your personal details will be passed onto our client for their consideration of your suitability for the role. I acknowledge that it is my responsibility to notify iWork Recruitment Limited of any hirer who I do not want my details to be passed onto.\nOR118235-10-26","description_format":"text","description_chars":7430,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United Kingdom","iso":"GB","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-13T01:47:34Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":47,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.523,"p_room":0.9,"age_days":12,"expected_fill_days":27,"reasons":["conf:3","agency","velocity","win:mid","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-25T05:49:26Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/iworkrecruitment-regional-development-manager-fostering","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/iworkrecruitment-regional-development-manager-fostering.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-25T21:56:05Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":30995,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-26T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":4422609},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=4422609"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fiworkrecruitment-regional-development-manager-fostering"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fiworkrecruitment-regional-development-manager-fostering"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fiworkrecruitment-regional-development-manager-fostering"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/iworkrecruitment-regional-development-manager-fostering\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fiworkrecruitment-regional-development-manager-fostering"}]}