Assistant Director, Children's Improvement and Transformation

Assistant Director, Children's Improvement and Transformation

Date: 13 Feb 2026

Job Location: Gloucestershire

This is a Gloucestershire County Council job.

• Job Title: Assistant Director, Children's Improvement and Transformation
• Contract Type: Permanent
• Closing Date: 08/03/2026
• Job Requisition Number: 13595

We are seeking a new Assistant Director for Children's Improvement and Transformation, who will play a central role in shaping the future of services for children and families across Gloucestershire.

This is an exceptional opportunity for a senior leader with expertise in children's social care, SEND or education services, and a passion for driving sustainable, evidence based improvement.

About us

Right child, right support, right time, every time

In our recent inspection in June 2025, our Children's Services have been officially judged as 'Good' with 'Outstanding' leadership. Ofsted said 'Leaders have set out a clear vision for delivering success for children, by modelling values and creating a culture where the workforce, children and families feel valued and heard; risk is managed confidently with bottom lines clearly set out.'

This marks an important step in our journey to improve outcomes for our children and young people, and we remain focused on our mission: to continue building on this success and ensure that every child and young person in our county has the opportunity to thrive.

Gloucestershire offers a range of opportunities to develop your career, supported by a phenomenal Social Work Academy offer, a developing systemic practice methodology, an ambitious leadership team and an award winning workforce.

We are a local authority adopting, and training all colleagues in, systemic social work practice. If you would like to be part of an authority that takes a relational approach to working with families and focuses on what needs to change in the system around a child and family to enable children to thrive, then consider a role with GCC.

About the role

You'll lead countywide programmes that strengthen practice, accelerate our improvement journey, and embed a culture of high performance and continuous learning. Working closely with the Executive Director for Children's Services and the senior leadership team, you will help us deliver better outcomes, better experiences and better life chances for the children and young people who need us most.

As the strategic lead for improvement and transformation, you'll bring clarity, ambition and system wide leadership to complex change programmes, most notably the Families First Partnership Programme. You will empower leaders and teams, strengthen partnership working, and ensure our services are inspection ready, resilient and delivering excellent practice every day.

This is a role for someone who thrives in complexity, builds strong and trusting relationships, and brings energy, courage and inclusive leadership to a fast moving environment. If you are motivated by making a tangible difference, committed to fairness and equality, and ready to help shape a service that truly reflects our aspirations for Gloucestershire's children, we'd love to hear from you.

Reward and support

For all your hard work, you will receive the following:

• between £85,838 - £94,585 per annum subject to experience (pro rata for part time)
• up to £8,000 relocation package
• flexible and agile working opportunities
• 30 days annual leave (pro rata for part time)
• option to purchase 10 days of additional leave per year
• family friendly policies and benefits to help support you and your family
• supportive and positive working environment with regular, robust supervision
• access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that provides free, confidential, counselling and advice for employees, available 24 hours a day, online and by telephone
• an in house Occupational Health service
• links to employee networks such as Prism (LGBT+) and the Young Employees Network
• career development and qualification opportunities
• access to our Social Work Academy
• Cycle to Work scheme (eligibility criteria and t&cs apply)
• Green Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme (eligibility criteria and t&cs apply)

Please note that our relocation policy is subject to terms and conditions

How to apply

For an informal chat about this role or to find out more please email

We reserve the right to close an advertisement earlier than the stated closing date if we receive a suitable amount of applications or fill the vacancy/vacancies.

Additional Information

To access the Job Profile for this role, please follow the link below.

This position is subject to a DBS check.

Gloucestershire County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people or vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We want to be an employer of choice, attracting and retaining excellent people to work for us, so that we can best serve all of Gloucestershire's diverse communities. Our promise to you is that we will provide an inclusive and supportive working environment that enables you to bring your whole self to work and realise your full potential.

It is a legal requirement, under the Immigration Act 2016, that anyone appointed to a 'customer facing role' must be able to demonstrate an ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in fluent English.

Hybrid working arrangements are available for the majority of our roles, giving teams the opportunity to work in a way that suits them, balancing service need and individual choice, with a mix of both remote and office working.