Head of Residential Placements

Location: Birmingham, with some travel

Reports to: Managing Director, Residential

Direct Reports: Residential Placement Officers

As Compass Community enters the next phase of ambitious growth and national influence, the Head of Residential Placements plays a pivotal role in maximising placement outcomes in our children’s homes, strengthening commercial relationships and ensuring Compass is the partner of choice for local authorities.

This role leads a high-performing, commercially astute placements function that combines child-centred decision-making with disciplined execution, data-led insight and strong market engagement. The postholder will ensure that referrals are managed efficiently and strategically, that placement matching is robust and timely, and that Compass’s full therapeutic and educational offer is understood and promoted effectively.

Working in close partnership with the Commercial Team, Finance and Residential operational leaders, the Head of Residential Placements will embed CRM capability, performance dashboards and market intelligence to drive sustainable growth, high utilisation and exceptional stakeholder experience – always aligned to Compass’s values and safeguarding standards.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Leadership & Commercial Growth

• Lead the development and execution of our placements’ strategy, ensuring alignment with Compass’s Value Creation Plan and growth ambitions.
• Drive placement growth, occupancy and service utilisation across Compass children’s homes.
• Work in close partnership with operations and the Commercial Team to strengthen commissioner relationships, improve win rates and secure long-term partnership arrangements.
• Ensure a proactive approach to relationship management with local authorities, building trusted, solution-focused partnerships.
• Embed commercial discipline in referral handling, financial package negotiations and service positioning.
• Identify market trends, commissioner priorities and competitor activity, translating insight into clear commercial actions.

CRM Implementation & Digital Enablement

• Lead the implementation and optimisation of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to ensure structured referral tracking, pipeline visibility and performance reporting.
• Embed CRM usage as standard practice across the placement team, ensuring data integrity, compliance and consistency.
• Develop clear dashboards and reporting mechanisms to monitor referral conversion, response times, utilisation, pipeline forecasting and commissioner engagement.
• Use data and analytics to inform strategic decisions, improve conversion rates and identify growth opportunities.
• Work cross-functionally with IT, Finance and Commercial colleagues to ensure seamless system integration and data accuracy.

Operational Excellence & Performance

• Ensure efficient and high-quality management of all referrals from initial enquiry through to placement confirmation.
• Oversee inbox management, allocation processes and workload balancing to maintain responsiveness and service standards.
• Monitor and improve KPIs including response times, conversion rates, placement stability, utilisation and margin performance.
• Provide regular performance reporting and analysis to senior leadership, identifying risks and improvement opportunities.
• Strengthen matching processes to ensure every placement decision aligns with children’s care plans, therapeutic needs and long-term stability.
• Support regional services to maximise internal step-up/step-down pathways across fostering, residential, education and community services.

Partnership & Stakeholder Engagement

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with operations and the Sr. Head of Business Development ensure smooth referral transitions and placement start-ups.
• Act as a senior ambassador for Compass in external meetings, commissioner reviews and partnership forums.
• Coordinate commercial timelines in partnership with Registered Managers and Commercial colleagues.
• Support services in preparation for Ofsted inspections where placement performance data or commissioner relationships are relevant.
• Promote Compass’s full-service offer, ensuring commissioners understand the breadth of therapeutic, educational and specialist provision available.

Financial & Commercial Accountability

• Work within agreed budgets to deliver an efficient and commercially sustainable placements function.
• Support financial modelling, pricing discussions and package negotiations in partnership with Finance and Commercial teams.
• Monitor margin performance and contribute to initiatives that strengthen financial sustainability without compromising quality.
• Track and reduce reliance on external spot purchasing by strengthening direct commissioner relationships and preferred provider status.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, motivate and develop a high-performing placements team.
• Provide regular supervision, performance management and professional development opportunities.
• Set clear expectations for quality, pace, safeguarding compliance and commercial awareness.
• Lead recruitment, induction and ongoing development of placement colleagues.
• Ensure resilience and resource planning across the team to manage absence, growth and peak demand.
• Model Compass values in everyday leadership practice.

Safeguarding, Compliance & Governance

• Ensure all placement activity is fully compliant with safeguarding frameworks, regulatory standards and data protection requirements.
• Maintain strict confidentiality and ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR requirements.
• Embed safer decision-making processes within referral handling and matching.
• Ensure accurate record keeping and audit-ready documentation across all placement systems.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Experience

• Significant experience within children’s services, fostering or residential placements.
• Strong understanding of the needs of looked after children and care leavers.
• Demonstrable experience of managing teams and driving performance improvement.
• Experience building and maintaining commercial relationships with local authorities or commissioners.
• Proven ability to implement or optimise CRM systems and performance dashboards.
• Experience using data and analytics to drive service improvement and commercial outcomes.
• Track record of working across organisational boundaries to achieve improved outcomes.
• Experience of managing financial negotiations and contributing to margin improvement.

Attributes

• Commercially astute and relationship-driven.
• Data-literate and systems confident.
• Highly organised with strong operational discipline.
• Resilient and solution-focused in demanding environments.
• Values-led and child-centred in decision-making.
• Collaborative and influential across multiple stakeholders.