Residential Commercial Growth Lead

Job Description

The opportunity

Our Residential portfolio has significant opportunities for growth through improved occupancy, stronger referral conversion and deeper engagement with Local Authority and NHS partners.

As Residential Commercial Growth Lead, you will take ownership of identifying and unlocking these opportunities. You will work closely with commissioners, social work teams, brokers, funding panels and internal stakeholders to understand demand, resolve barriers and move appropriate referrals through to placement.

This is a commercially focused role. While you will work closely with operational colleagues, you will not be responsible for operational leadership. Equally, this is not a traditional programme management or transformation position.

We are looking for someone who is comfortable operating at the point where commercial performance, commissioning and operations come together — and who can demonstrate a track record of turning that understanding into measurable results.

What you will be responsible for

• Improving occupancy and reducing voids across the Residential portfolio.
• Increasing referral conversion and turning demand into successful placements.
• Building and strengthening relationships with Local Authority and NHS commissioners, brokers, social work teams and funding panels.
• Identifying and removing the barriers that prevent appropriate referrals from progressing.
• Working collaboratively with operational teams to unlock available capacity and improve commercial performance.
• Identifying opportunities to increase placements and sustainable contribution across the portfolio.
• Using data, market insight and commercial understanding to identify areas of opportunity and underperformance.
• Influencing stakeholders across the organisation to deliver measurable improvements.
• Developing strong commissioner confidence and engagement with Lifeways' Residential services.

What success looks like

Your success will be measured through tangible commercial and portfolio outcomes, including:

• Increased occupancy.
• Reduced voids.
• Improved referral-to-placement conversion.
• Increased placement volumes.
• Stronger commissioner relationships and engagement.
• Improved commercial performance across the Residential portfolio.
• Sustainable growth in revenue and contribution.

About you

We are looking for someone who can demonstrate personal delivery of measurable commercial or growth outcomes, rather than simply having exposure to them.

You may have experience in areas such as:

• Specialist healthcare partnerships, referrals or business development.
• Commissioning, market shaping or provider partnerships.
• Residential care occupancy and growth.
• SEND or specialist education placements.
• Supported housing and Local Authority partnerships.
• Healthcare workforce solutions or consultative account management.
• Commercial or improvement roles within regulated sectors.

You will ideally have experience working with Local Authority and/or NHS commissioners, brokers, social work teams and funding panels, alongside a strong understanding of how commissioning, referrals, operational capacity and commercial performance interact.

Most importantly, you will be able to demonstrate examples where you have personally:

• Improved occupancy across one or multiple services.
• Increased placement numbers.
• Improved referral conversion.
• Strengthened commissioner relationships.
• Removed barriers preventing placements from progressing.
• Or materially improved commercial performance across a portfolio.

If you can demonstrate that impact, we want to hear from you.

Why Lifeways?

This is an opportunity to take a highly visible commercial role within a growing organisation, with the opportunity to make a measurable difference across an established Residential portfolio.

You will have the scope and influence to identify where opportunities exist, bring the right stakeholders together and turn available capacity into sustainable growth — while ultimately helping more people access the support and care they need.

If you have a proven track record of improving occupancy, converting referrals into placements and delivering commercial growth within a regulated or commissioning-led environment, we would be keen to hear from you.