Senior Assessment Manager - South West

Job Description

What makes this role different

• 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 and have a huge impact.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 — leading complex assessments yourself while developing and guiding 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

• Leading on complex, high-risk and high-value assessments
• Owning decision-making on suitability, compatibility and risk
• Managing 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  : hands-on assessment work,  leading others  and making difficult, high-impact decision

About you

You’re an experienced social care leader who

• Has strong experience in assessing complex needs within health or social care
• 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 quick ones

Why Lifeways

We’re realistic about our journey. Like many providers, we’ve evolved — and we’ve worked hard to strengthen how we operate.Today, we are investing in our people, systems and services to ensure we deliver consistent, high-quality, sustainable support.

Our breadth of care is extensive across supported living, residential and mental health — and we are building a growing track record of services that work well for the people we support and those who commission them.

For you, that means being part of an organisation that is not only focused on growth — but on getting it right.

Connected to something bigger

This role is part of a wider commercial model at Lifeways — working alongside Referrals, Business Development and Operations to ensure demand, decision-making and delivery are fully aligned.

It’s an opportunity to play a key role in shaping how the organisation grows — and how that growth is delivered.

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.