About Us

Social Care Wales provides leadership and expertise in social care and early years in Wales.
Our vision is to make a positive difference to care and support for children, adults and their families and carers.
To do this, we lead on developing and regulating the social care workforce, service improvement, data and research to improve care.

The Role

The Director of Service Support and Improvement is a member of the Social Care Wales Executive Management Team and provides strategic leadership for our service improvement, research, data and innovation activities.
This role provides a key opportunity to improve and develop the support available to social work, social care, early years and childcare services in Wales, and to ultimately improve care and support for individuals in Wales.
This is an important leadership role in social care in Wales, and the role holder will be expected to provide significant systems leadership across the sector.

We will be consulting on our new strategic plan in Quarter 3 2026/27, in parallel with this recruitment process. The draft plan focuses on the three strategic objectives below.
1. Supporting excellence across social care services 
2. Building valued and skilled social care and early years workforces 
3. Shaping the best possible future for social care 

As well as being guided by Social Care Wales’s strategic plan, we have two specific, sector-wide strategies underpinning our work for which this position provides strategic direction and oversight:
• Ymlaen our long-term strategy for improving social care in Wales. It sets out our vision for people leading, developing and delivering social care to feel confident, supported and inspired to use evidence and innovation to make a positive difference to care and support in Wales.
• The Health and Social Care Workforce strategy, underpinned by a workforce delivery plan on how we will support the social care workforce to be skilled, supported and able to meet changing demand. 

This post also has oversight of the Strategic Approach to Social Care Data work that we carry out.

This role is offered with flexible working options, and we are happy to consider job share arrangements.

The main focus of this role is to:
• To lead and develop the Service Support and Improvement Directorate to deliver impact across the social care sector that is legally compliant and builds on evidence-informed interventions
• As a key member of the Executive Management Team, provide cross organisational leadership in the development and delivery of strategic aims and priorities
• Provide strategic direction and leadership in the development and management of resources and budgets to support the effective delivery of our vision
• Develop innovative and new approaches to support the sector in achieving the commitments of the Social Services and Wellbeing Wales Act
• Work with the Board and Executive Management Team colleagues to set the strategic direction and lead on the implementation of their work area activities in line with Social Care Wales vision, purpose and values
• Fulfil Social Care Wales’ role and remit and statutory responsibilities as a Welsh Government Sponsored Body, in line with policy and best practice
• Oversee the planning of proposals for areas of responsibility flowing from the strategic and annual Business Plan and to develop delivery plans that maximise value for money and impact
• Directly lead and manage Directorate staff, enabling them to perform to their maximum potential.
• Support the ambitions of Social Care Wales’s Strategic Equality Plan to embed an anti-discriminatory approach and to embody the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of the role
• Contribute to system leadership to seek solutions to challenges in the delivery of services such as leading our role to the Digital in Social Care
• Manage relationships and embed collaborative working to maximise our engagement with the sector building a culture of listening, hearing from individuals with lived experience, employers, and local authorities
• Ensure effective performance management processes and performance reporting to enable accountability and transparency of activity, outcomes and impact
• Adhere to Social Care Wales governance arrangements, and commitment to delivering to the vision and ambition of “one public” sector.
• Report on and respond to scrutiny on strategic and business activities to the Board and Welsh Government

The closing date for this role is 05 October 2026 and the interview and assessment process will be in person at our Cardiff office on 19 October 2026.

You must be based in the UK to apply for this role and be able to work from one of our offices when required.

The Benefits:
• Salary of £96,854 - £108,790 (pro rata if part time)
• 30 days’ holiday plus bank holidays as well as an additional 3 privilege days at a fixed time (pro rata if part time)
• We also have a purchase of additional annual leave scheme.
• Local government pension scheme
• Flexible work policy
• Hybrid working from home and our office as required
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Employee Benefits scheme, including cycle to work and car benefit schemes and discounts at hundreds of retailers
• Family Friendly policies

Reasonable adjustments will be made at any stage of the recruitment process for candidates with a disability, impairment or health condition, for example who are neuro-divergent or who use British Sign Language. Please get in touch with the HR Team to discuss adjustments for any part of the process.