About Aberlour …

We are a values driven organisation delivering over 40 services across Scotland supporting children, young people and families.

The rights of children and young people are at the forefront of decision making and policy development in Scotland thanks to the introduction of the Promise and the UNCRC. Our work aims to ensure the voices and views of children and young people we work with are at the centre of decision making and policy development within Aberlour and across Scotland.

What we are looking for...

You will support Aberlour’s commitment to elevate and amplify the voices of children, young people and families. Working alongside other members in the team you will develop and lead on specific rights and participation programmes of work.

You will also support staff to ensure that all Aberlour services are able to demonstrate the active and meaningful participation of children, young people and families in decision making, policy making and service planning.

You will have experience of working in a social care environment supporting children and young people and you will have a track record working directly with children and young people to amplify their voices and views. You will have a good understanding of children and young people’s rights and the UNCRC. You will also have experience of managing and motivating staff. Please see the job description on our website for further details about the role along with the required qualification level and knowledge.

What we offer...

As well as a supportive team, we want all our employees to feel valued and rewarded for the vital work they do. When you work with us, we'll recognise your efforts with generous annual leave, an excellent employer pension scheme, life assurance worth 3x salary and a range of deals and discounts across various retailers.

Are you an experienced Estates and Operations Manager? We are looking for an experienced individual who understands our goals, to join our dynamic team of professionals.

At CHAS, we provide unwavering care across homes, hospices, and hospitals for children who may die young. We create moments of joy and support families at every step on this hardest of journeys.

The role

Children's Hospices Across Scotland is seeking a dedicated and experienced Estates and Operations Manager to ensure the smooth functioning of our properties and facilities across the organisation. In this critical role, you will oversee a dedicated internal team and external contractors, while ensuring compliance with statutory, legislative and Health and Safety requirements. You will lead a team, coordinating all hard facilities management services, day to day property management, implementing planned and preventative maintenance strategies and maintaining high industry standards for CHAS facilities. You will procure and lead on small projects working closely with our internal teams. Additionally, you will work closely with clinical and non-clinical staff in our hospices to meet the ongoing needs of children, families, staff, volunteers and visitors.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain a robust planned and preventative maintenance programme to ensure the safety, operation and compliance of the CHAS estate.
• Manage reactive maintenance activities, effectively prioritising requests and allocating resources.
• Oversee the development and delivery of the Asset Management plan and works programme, including condition surveys, informing budgeting and financial planning processes.
• Plan and execute capital works projects, from tendering to commissioning and overseeing project teams.
• Specify, tender, negotiate, and manage Estate, Hard FM contracts and services.
• Monitor and report on the assigned Estate Management and Hard FM budget, ensuring adherence to financial guidelines and preparing multi-year forecasts.
• Ensure statutory compliance, conducting assessments, audits, and inspections while maintaining relevant records.
• Lead sustainability and energy management efforts, promoting environmental action plans and managing utility contracts.
• Oversee security procedures and systems for all CHAS sites.
• Develop and maintain effective systems for estate data management.
• Manage the Hard FM Team, supporting staff development.
• Communicate effectively with Operations Manager Soft FM and Head of Facilities Management & Projects to address site issues and prioritise actions.

Requirements

• Degree/HNC/HND in a Property or Building Services discipline or five years' relevant experience in a similar role.
• Possess IOSH Managing Safely Qualification.
• Proactive with a positive attitude and excellent planning and prioritisation skills.
• Highly developed communication and collaboration skills with the ability to simplify technical information.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities, including the ability to make decisions under pressure.
• Knowledgeable in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook).
• Wide and detailed knowledge of Hard FM Services, including electrical and mechanical systems.
• Experience in managing multi-site estates with both owned and leased premises.
• Demonstrated team management and organisational skills in a multi-disciplinary environment.
• Experience in contract management of outsourced services and suppliers.
• Detailed knowledge of statutory compliance and legislative requirements in property and facilities management.
• Experienced in the use of building management systems and project management.
• Budget management skills and experience.
• Ability to travel to each of our sites across Scotland.

Why CHAS?

At CHAS, we care for dying children and their families. However, we also care about you. Some of the benefits of a career at CHAS include:

• A robust induction programme.
• Development opportunities for your career and leadership progression, and the time to prioritise your personal development.
• A supportive and collaborative work environment.
• Opportunity to make a real impact on the community by delivering best-in-class services.
• Working across different parts of Scotland with diverse stakeholders.
• Flexible and hybrid working available.
• The opportunity to continue paying into existing NHS pension schemes (subject to eligibility), or membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Further Information

CHAS support families across the whole of Scotland. Our Head Office is based in Edinburgh, and we have two hospices: Rachel House in Kinross and Robin House in Balloch. We also have our fundraising office in Glasgow, dedicated bases in Aberdeen and Inverness, and Shops in Dunfermline and Kinross.

As this role will closely support our hospices, we would like to speak to candidates who could base themselves from either Edinburgh, Kinross or Balloch and we do expect regular travel across these sites with predicted 3 days onsite/week, varying as needed. The remaining days can be worked remotely.

As a team we work flexibly and are happy to discuss how we can meet business needs while accommodating individual working patterns and requirements.

We are open to hearing from applicants who feel they could excel in the role but may not have all the skills listed above. If you have a strong core skillset within Estates and Operations Management and are eager to learn, we encourage you to apply

This post is subject to a Basic Disclosure Scotland check.

WE ARE SEEKING TO RECRUIT ENTHUSIASTIC AND COMMITTED PROJECT WORKERS TO JOIN OUR SHORT BREAKS SERVICE

We have a number of Full-Time Waking Night Shift positions available working on a rota basis, including weekends.

ABOUT CAERN

Barnardo's Caern Disability Services consists of three unique Projects who deliver a variety of quality services for young people with learning disabilities and/or autism. We have done this for over forty years.

Our Caern Short Breaks service supports up to 5 children and young people at any one time aged 5-18 by offering short break respite packages to them and their families. All staff play an active role in supporting the children, young people and their families/carers to achieve positive outcomes, as identified in the Young People's Individual Support Plans.

ABOUT YOU

Ideally you will have experience in working directly with children and young people in a similar setting. Experience in supporting children and young people with a learning disability and/or Autism would be an advantage. Communication with the young people is paramount - the key is time tabling; structure; reliability and consistency. You will be faced with behaviours that challenge, including physical.

The staff team across Caern Services must be fully accepting of our children and be prepared to offer them a professional relationship based on acceptance and informed by our understanding of their individual needs, wishes and experiences. We are passionate about the children and young people that we care for, showing understanding, empathy and consistency in our approach.

You will hold (or be willing to work towards) a relevant professional qualification at SCQF level 7 or above (for example SVQ3 children and young people) plus an HNC in social services. These qualifications are required to register with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) as part of your employment. There may be external grants available to partly fund this.

For an informal chat about this role – please call 0131 339 8840

Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing after 5 years service
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

About Barnardo's

At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Barnardo's is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce for staff and volunteers. We actively encourage applications from disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates as they are under-represented within Barnardo's.

Our basis and values