Engage Deputy Manager

About Keys Engage

Keys Engage is a highly personalised, relational, and trauma-informed programme supporting children and young people who are not currently able to access traditional education successfully.

Our approach recognises that, for some young people, progress begins before academic learning can successfully take place. Engage supports learners to develop the confidence, emotional regulation, positive relationships, independence, resilience, and learning behaviours they need to move forward towards a positive and sustainable educational destination.

Our guiding principle is:

Preparing young people for education by developing the person before the learner.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced, organised, and motivated Engage Deputy Manager to join Keys Engage and support the continued delivery and development of the service.

Based at our Head Office in Ipswich, Suffolk, and reporting directly to the Service Lead – Engage, you will take responsibility for maintaining strong day-to-day operational grip across the service, with regular travel across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex as required.

You will ensure learners are supported effectively, staff have clear direction, quality systems are operating consistently, and operational issues are identified and addressed promptly.

This is a hands-on operational management role. You will directly line-manage our Progress Coordinators, provide operational oversight and performance support to our Engage Mentors, and work collaboratively with colleagues across Keys Inclusion Pathways and Keys Education.

You will be expected to make confident day-to-day operational decisions within agreed service parameters, while recognising when significant strategic, safeguarding, referral, high-risk placement, formal performance, or commissioning matters require escalation to the Service Lead or appropriate organisational lead.

What you'll be responsible for

As Engage Deputy Manager, you will:

• Oversee the smooth day-to-day delivery of Keys Engage, maintaining clear operational oversight across the service.
• Identify staffing pressures, capacity issues, delivery gaps, missed or under-delivered sessions and other operational barriers early, coordinating practical solutions with the relevant teams.
• Maintain oversight of every learner's journey, using information from Progress Coordinators, live Engage Development Trackers and agreed reporting systems.
• Ensure learners are making meaningful progress through the Engage domains, challenging stagnation, drift, or lack of follow-through.
• Ensure agreed actions from reviews, professional meetings, tracker oversight, or commissioner discussions are completed within appropriate timescales.
• Ensure transition planning begins early and is driven by the learner's readiness, evidence, and individual needs rather than simply time spent on the programme.
• Support learners to progress towards another Keys Inclusion Pathways route, Keys Education, mainstream or specialist education, LA-sourced full-time provision, or another appropriate positive destination.
• Ensure phased transitions are purposeful, coordinated and reviewed where Engage and Education temporarily overlap as part of an agreed transition plan.
• Directly line-manage Progress Coordinators, providing supervision, clear expectations, support, challenge, and accountability.
• Undertake half-termly Mentor performance and quality reviews, using Progress Coordinator intelligence and service information to inform discussions.
• Support staff development, identify learning needs and ensure appropriate coaching, guidance and improvement actions are implemented.
• Address routine or lower-level performance concerns promptly and escalate formal capability, disciplinary, significant conduct, or repeated performance matters appropriately.
• Ensure quality assurance, safeguarding and compliance systems are operating effectively and consistently.
• Ensure learner documentation and records are accurate, current, professionally written and audit ready.
• Promote safe practice and ensure safeguarding concerns are recognised, recorded, reported, and escalated through the appropriate organisational and DSL structures.
• Assess the operational feasibility of new referrals, considering learner need, risk, staffing availability, geography, commissioned hours, and current service capacity.
• Work collaboratively with Referrals, Timetabling and other operational colleagues to understand what would be required to deliver proposed placements safely and sustainably.
• Provide clear operational recommendations to the Service Lead regarding placement viability, escalating significant capacity, risk, contractual or sustainability concerns appropriately.
• Maintain positive professional relationships with Local Authorities, schools, referrers, families, and partner professionals.
• Ensure stakeholders receive clear, timely and evidence-based information regarding learner progress, barriers, placement sustainability, and transition planning.
• Identify recurring operational issues, feedback themes, and opportunities to improve systems, communication, and the learner experience.
• Contribute ideas and operational insight to the continued development of Keys Engage.

About you

We are looking for someone who combines strong people-management skills with excellent organisation, professional judgement, and the ability to maintain oversight across a busy and evolving service.

You will ideally have significant experience within alternative provision, SEND, specialist education or a related children's service, together with experience of managing, supervising, or developing staff.

You should be confident in:

• Managing competing operational priorities across multiple learners, staff, and locations.
• Supporting, developing and constructively challenging staff.
• Maintaining strong operational oversight and ensuring actions are followed through.
• Understanding learner progress and recognising when intervention or additional challenge is required.
• Supporting children and young people with complex or additional needs.
• Working within safeguarding, risk-management, and quality-assurance frameworks.
• Communicating effectively with families, Local Authorities, schools, referrers and other professionals.
• Working effectively within commissioned or partnership services.
• Using service information and evidence to identify themes, risks and practical solutions.
• Maintaining high standards of professional documentation and record keeping.
• Making sound operational decisions and recognising when matters require escalation.
• Supporting positive and sustainable transitions into a learner's next stage of education.

The person we're looking for

You will be:

• Calm, reflective and solution-focused
• Relational but professionally boundaried
• Highly organised and responsive
• Able to maintain strong operational grip across multiple priorities
• Resilient and appropriately decisive
• Ethical and accountable
• Comfortable holding others to high standards while remaining supportive
• Committed to continuous service improvement
• A strong team contributor who promotes a positive organisational culture.

Why join Keys Engage?

This is an opportunity to take an important operational leadership role within a service that is continuing to develop and grow.

You will work alongside the Service Lead, Progress Coordinators, Mentors, and wider Keys teams to ensure that the support we provide translates into meaningful, evidenced progress and successful educational transitions for children and young people.

We are looking for someone who can maintain high standards while helping us continue to improve — someone who can spot problems early, bring people together around solutions and make sure that good intentions translate into action for our learners.

Most importantly, you will be joining a service built around the belief that progress looks different for every young person and that strong relationships, consistency and personalised support can create the foundations for successful engagement with education.

Preparing young people for education by developing the person before the learner.

Practical requirements

This is a full-time role with an expectation of regular presence at Keys Head Office in Ipswich, Suffolk, alongside flexibility to work across our other sites and from home where appropriate. Applicants will therefore require access to their own vehicle with appropriate insurance and must be able to travel across the service area as required.

Safeguarding

Keys is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment.

KIPTEM