Strategic Head of Quality, Practice & Safety
Strategic Head of Quality, Practice & Safety
Autism Together is seeking an exceptional, values-driven Strategic Head of Quality, Practice & Safety to provide organisation-wide strategic leadership across quality assurance, professional practice, safeguarding, and risk management.
Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer, you will serve as a pivotal senior leader and authoritative adviser to the Executive Team and Board of Trustees. In this vital role, you will champion person-centred, autism-informed, and rights-based practice, ensuring that services remain safe, high-performing, and compliant with statutory and regulatory standards.
Key responsibilities include:
Leading and implementing the organisation's comprehensive quality, practice, and safety strategy.
Serving as the organisation's designated Safeguarding Lead, driving robust safety and incident governance.
Overseeing audit, governance, and quality assurance frameworks across both regulated and non-regulated services.
Developing the charity's Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) Strategy and championing least restrictive practices.
Fostering an open culture of continuous learning, reflective practice, and evidence-informed improvement.
If you bring senior leadership expertise within complex regulated social care or health environments and are passionate about transforming the lives of autistic people, we invite you to apply.
Having a valid driving license is essential for this role.
About this role
As the Strategic Head of Quality, Practice & Safety, you will hold an impactful, visible leadership position directly shaping the future of care at Autism Together. You will spend your days collaborating with registered managers, executive peers, trustees, and regulatory bodies, translating strategic vision into tangible service enhancements.
This role offers an extraordinary opportunity to spearhead innovation in autism-specific practice, co-producing initiatives with supported individuals and their families. With oversight spanning health and safety, safeguarding, audit, and positive behavioural support, you will experience rich strategic variety while leaving an indelible mark on an esteemed charity dedicated to supporting brighter futures.
What you will need
Required criteria
- Professional recognised qualification, or demonstrable equivalent senior leadership experience in social care, health, quality assurance, safeguarding, clinical practice, public sector governance, or a related discipline.
- Significant senior leadership experience within a complex regulated organisation.
- Comprehensive knowledge of quality assurance, regulatory compliance, inspection preparation, audit, governance, improvement planning, and assurance reporting.
- Advanced understanding of safeguarding adults, risk governance, incident review, statutory reporting, organisational learning, and safe systems of practice.
- Highly developed understanding of autistic experience, person-centred support, positive behavioural support, communication needs, sensory needs, human rights, and least restrictive practice.
- Ability to lead at a strategic level, influence across complex systems, exercise sound judgement, communicate with authority, manage change, and build trusted relationships.
- Demonstrated commitment to inclusion, dignity, respect, rights, accountability, transparency, continuous learning, and high-quality support.
- Ability to think strategically and translate vision into operational delivery.
- Ability to develop quality governance, audit, and continuous improvement frameworks.
- Excellent understanding of safeguarding processes.
- Excellent stakeholder engagement skills, resilience, and the ability to self-manage workload.
- Ability to use data and intelligence to inform assurance and make decisions.
- Willingness and eligibility to undergo an Enhanced DBS check.
- Driving License and access to vehicle
Desired criteria
- Postgraduate qualification, executive leadership qualification, quality improvement qualification, safeguarding qualification, or health and safety qualification.
- Clinical qualification (e.g. Registered Nurse or other care professional).
- Experience of working within a charitable, not-for-profit or values-led organisation, ideally at senior management or executive advisory level.
- Experience leading organisational improvement programmes or supporting services through external inspection, enforcement, recovery, or transformation.
- Experience acting as a strategic safeguarding lead, organisational safeguarding advisor, or senior accountable lead for safety and risk.
- Evidence of co-producing strategic or practice improvements with autistic people, families, advocates, or people with lived experience.
- Experience presenting assurance, risk, or performance reports to boards, committees, commissioners, or senior governance forums.
- Experience operating at Board or Executive level.
- Experience in developing organisational training and development around continuous improvement.
- Ability to lead organisational change and present complex information clearly to senior stakeholders and trustees.
Skills needed for this job opportunity
Applying Data to Decisions
Continuous Improvement
Leading Teams
Managing Change
Managing Quality
Managing Risk
Quality Management
Regulatory Compliance
Risk Assessments
Risk Management
Strategy Formulation
Cyber Security
GDPR Compliance
Auditing Skills
Leadership
