Service Operations Manager – Clinical Services. Fixed Term Contract

Healthcare Operations | Mental Health | Service Delivery | Clinical Pathways | Stakeholder Management

Exceptional Services Need Exceptional Operations Behind Them.

Behind every clinical service is an operational engine making sure the right people receive the right support, at the right time.

For PAIRS Kent , that means supporting families experiencing parent-infant relationship difficulties through a service that is safe, responsive, compassionate and exceptionally well organised.

We’re looking for an experienced Service Operations Manager to make that happen.

This is a varied, hands-on operational role sitting at the heart of the service. You’ll work closely with Clinical Leads and Directors to oversee everything from referrals, triage workflows and appointments to capacity planning, clinical venues, case management systems, reporting and stakeholder relationships.

Just as importantly, you’ll be working with sensitive information and communicating with parents, caregivers, clinicians and referrers. So alongside operational excellence, we’re looking for someone with genuine emotional intelligence, empathy, resilience and professional maturity.

If you’ve built your career within healthcare, mental health, psychological or clinical services and know how to keep a complex service running brilliantly behind the scenes, we’d love to hear from you .

The Role at a Glance

Service Operations Manager

Canterbury, Kent | Hybrid – 3 Days Office

£40,000

Fixed-Term Contract until 25 August 2028

Full Time | 37.5 Hours | Flexible around Core 9am–5pm Hours

Service: Parent and Infant Relationship Service (PAIRS Kent)

About Real Group & PAIRS Kent

Real Group is a dynamic, growing organisation providing CPD training, qualifications, apprenticeships and direct psychological services to schools and families.

Our services span psychology, education and technology and include Real Training, Real Psychology, Dyslexia Action and ESF Apprenticeships.

PAIRS Kent is our Parent and Infant Relationship Service, funded by Best Start in Life through Kent County Council and delivered by Real Group. The service provides emotional wellbeing and therapeutic support to families across Kent.

The Opportunity

As Service Operations Manager, you’ll take ownership of the operational delivery, administration and referral-screening functions that enable PAIRS Kent to deliver an efficient and responsive clinical service.

Working closely with Clinical Leads and Directors within a strict clinical governance framework, you’ll help manage the entire referral-to-treatment workflow, ensuring families move through the appropriate pathways efficiently while clinicians, venues, systems and capacity are coordinated effectively.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Leading the initial screening of referrals for completeness and service eligibility
• Working with Clinical Leads to coordinate and expedite triage and allocation
• Managing appointment processes and communicating sensitively with parents and caregivers
• Supporting demand, caseload and capacity planning across the service
• Overseeing the Iaptus Case Management System, digital workflows and data accuracy
• Coordinating clinical venues and negotiating appropriate contracts and SLAs
• Optimising clinician locations, room utilisation and travel logistics
• Monitoring service KPIs, performance data, reporting and delivery risks
• Supporting GDPR, safeguarding and information governance requirements
• Building effective relationships with Kent County Council commissioners, referrers and external partners
• Supporting clinician onboarding, systems and process training
• Using patient, clinician and stakeholder feedback to drive continuous service improvement

About You

You’ll be an experienced operations or service-delivery professional, ideally with a background in healthcare, psychological, mental health or another clinical service environment.

You understand that excellent clinical services depend on excellent operations. You can manage multiple moving parts, organise people and resources, maintain accurate systems and keep workflows progressing without losing sight of the people behind them.

You’ll bring:

• Proven experience in operational management and administration, ideally within a healthcare, psychological or clinical setting
• Strong organisational, logistical and capacity-planning skills
• Experience using electronic Case Management Systems (CMS) and digital workflows
• Confidence managing diaries, appointments, caseloads and competing service demands
• Strong stakeholder skills across clinicians, referrers, commissioners and external partners
• An understanding of GDPR, safeguarding and information governance within a clinical setting
• The emotional intelligence and resilience to handle sensitive information calmly and professionally
• Excellent communication skills, particularly when dealing with families who may be anxious or vulnerable

The Person Behind the CV

This isn't a role for someone who simply likes systems and spreadsheets.

You'll be dealing with clinicians, commissioners, external partners and families, sometimes while navigating sensitive or challenging circumstances.

You’ll need to be calm, organised and compassionate, able to communicate sensitively while still ensuring processes, deadlines and service standards are maintained.

You’ll know when something needs escalating, when someone needs reassurance and when a process simply needs fixing.

What’s On Offer

• £40,000 salary
• Hybrid working
• Flexible working within a friendly, supportive team
• Pension
• Training and professional development opportunities
• Health and dental plan
• Access to free mental health support
• Salary sacrifice options for purchasing a bicycle or leasing an electric car

You’ll also need to successfully complete Real Group’s Safer Recruitment process and an enhanced DBS check.

If you understand the operational demands of delivering sensitive clinical services and would love to use that experience to help families access the support they need, we’d love to hear from you.

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