Job Title: Assistant Director of Quality and Improvement

Contract Type: Permanent

Salary: £88,219.95 per annum (£92,604.32 achieved after 18 months in role)

Working Hours: 37.5 Hours per week

Working Pattern: Monday-Friday/Hybrid

Location: This is a national role and can be based anywhere in the UK

Interviews will take place Thursday 17th Sept in person in Arlington, Camden

The difference you will make as the Assistant Director of Quality and Improvement

As Assistant Director of Quality and Improvement, you’ll be a key strategic partner to the Chief Care & Support Officer, driving excellence across our services. You’ll lead a high-performing team to embed a culture of continuous improvement, ensure our people are equipped to deliver safe, high-quality support, and use data-driven insights to shape better outcomes. Your leadership will help keep our customers and colleagues safe, while ensuring their voices are central to everything we do.

Why Riverside?

At Riverside, we’re a housing association with a difference – enhancing the everyday for all our customers. For 90 years, we’ve been revitalising neighbourhoods and supporting communities by providing the homes they need to live full, fulfilling, and rewarding lives. We have a portfolio of over 75,000 affordable residential and retirement homes across the UK. Our work ranges from homelessness services to social care, employment support to retirement living, and we need the best people on board to help us.

Working with us, you’ll enjoy:

• Competitive pay & generous pension
• 28 days holidays plus bank holidays
• Flexible working options available
• Investment in your learning, personal development, and technology
• A wide range of benefits

Diversity and Inclusion at Riverside:

We are inclusive. At Riverside, we value diversity in all its forms. We foster a workplace where all individuals are respected, empowered, and heard. Our commitment to inclusivity drives our success and enriches the lives of our customers and colleagues. Riverside is a Disability Confident Employer and operates a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for any applicant who declares they have a disability. If the applicant meets the minimum requirements for the role (as set out in the role profile and/or person specification) they will be guaranteed an interview.

This role also falls under our Ethnic Diversity guaranteed interview scheme. If you are Ethnically Diverse and demonstrate you meet the minimum criteria for the role, you will be guaranteed an interview.

Applications may close before the deadline, so please apply early to avoid disappointment.

Role Responsibilities

Leadership

Build a high performing, customer focused Quality & Improvement team that:

• Sets high quality standards in line with regulatory requirements
• Provides assurance that the business is meeting quality standards, and is operating safely and effectively
• Promotes a culture of quality – providing advice and support where required and continuously seeking to improve in response to challenges and opportunities
• Collaborates with centres of excellence across the business to deliver efficient and best practice services that meet business needs
• Work alongside the C&S Committee and Executive Team to support the development of the C&S Strategy, and to deliver objectives related to Quality and Improvement

Quality Management

Lead and own the quality management framework and service audit programme for all C&S services, ensuring adherence with regulatory quality frameworks (e.g., for CQC or other regulatory quality frameworks) or setting high-quality internal standards (for non-regulatory frameworks). Ensure quality management tools and systems are reviewed regularly and that customers and colleagues are involved in reviews. Develop and present reports to the C&S Committee, Executive teams, and Riverside Board as required. Provide expert advice, updates on any regulatory or sector developments, and ensure senior managers and the governance community are informed of any audit requirements, trends, and performance. Engage with peers across the sector, including through the facilitation of peer review groups, to enable effective collaboration and to drive improvements within C&S.

Performance Data and Analysis

Work in conjunction with internal experts across the wider business to:

• Ensure a framework of business intelligence/insight channels is in place to gather feedback in line with quality standards, and to enable continuous learning and improvement. Channels include audit findings, system-based intelligence, best practice groups, reflective practice, customer involvement forums, and satisfaction surveys.
• Maintain an accurate and useful C&S information dashboard and coordinate the completion of commentary for the group’s performance metrics dashboard, ensuring that senior colleagues across Riverside are appraised of performance.
• Undertake internal and external reporting to include Business Information, KPI’s, and contractual returns.
• Co-produce with customers and act as C&S lead on the completion of an annual satisfaction survey for supported customers. Ensure survey methods are fit for purpose and enable C&S customers to provide meaningful feedback on the services they receive.
• Provide the Committee, C&S Executive Team, and managers with:
• Accurate and comprehensive performance information for C&S, including in relation to empty homes, cash leakage, and other performance data including support metrics and service outcomes
• Analyses that identify issues, trends, and potential improvements
• Ensure C&S data quality is maintained