Senior Assessment Manager - North West
Senior Assessment Manager (Referrals & Assessment)
Homebased | North West | Lifeways
At Lifeways, we don’t just focus on growth, we focus on getting it right. As the UK’s largest supported living provider, supporting around 4,000 people with complex needs, we operate at scale but our focus is on quality, sustainability and outcomes that genuinely work.
The Senior Assessment Manager sits at the heart of that ensuring that what we say “yes” to becomes safe, viable and deliverable support for the people who rely on us.
Position Duration
Permanent
Role Type
Business Development and Marketing
Salary / rate of pay
Up to £45 000
Job Description
Why this role matters
At Lifeways, we know that growth only works if the right decisions are made at the right point and that’s where this role comes in. The Senior Assessment Manager is the point where referrals become services. Where opportunity is tested, challenged, shaped and ultimately delivered or not pursued.
What makes this role different
- You stay close to practice. This is not a purely managerial position. Around 50% of your role will be dedicated to managing your own caseload of referrals, leading complex assessments and making key decisions on suitability, compatibility and risk.
- You own the decision, not just the process. You are accountable for assessment quality, compatibility, risk and viability, particularly for complex, high-cost and high-risk placements.
- You influence both commercial and clinical outcomes. This role sits between Business Development, Operations, Quality and Finance, ensuring that what we win is actually deliverable – safely and sustainably.
- You lead from the front. This is a true player-coach role, balancing hands-on assessment work with the leadership, development and support of your team.
- You shape what "good" looks like. Through feedback from mobilisations and service performance, you continuously improve how assessment works across the business, ensuring the right decisions are made consistently.
What you'll be doing
- Managing your own caseload of referrals, which will account for approximately 50% of the role
- Leading on complex, high-risk and high-value assessments
- Owning decision-making on suitability, compatibility and risk
- Managing, coaching and developing a team of Assessment Practitioners
- Ensuring referrals are progressed into deliverable, sustainable placements
- Working closely with BD, Operations, Quality, PBS and Finance to align decisions
- Identifying risks early and ensuring realistic mobilisation planning
- Feeding learning from service outcomes back into assessment practice
This is a role for someone who is equally comfortable with:
- Managing and progressing their own caseload of complex referrals
- Conducting hands-on assessment work
- Leading and developing others
- Making difficult, high-impact decisions
- Balancing operational, quality and commercial considerations
About you
You're an experienced social care professional who:
- Has strong experience assessing complex needs within health or social care
- Enjoys remaining hands-on in practice and is motivated by managing their own caseload, rather than moving into a purely strategic leadership role
- Is confident making high-stakes decisions around risk, suitability and delivery
- Understands the balance between quality, commercial reality and operational delivery
- Can influence across multiple teams and challenge when needed
- Is passionate about ensuring the right placements are made, not just quick ones
This wording makes it clear that the successful candidate needs to be an experienced practitioner first, with leadership capability, rather than someone looking for a predominantly management-focused role.
Interested?
If you’re looking for a role where your decisions have real impact , not just on numbers, but on people’s lives, we’d love to talk.
