Job Introduction
Contracts & Quality Officer – Children’s Commissioning Team
Location: Bradford Council
Contract: 2-year temporary post / secondment opportunity.
Level: Suitable for candidates with Level 4 education or equivalent experience
Curious, confident, and ready to make a difference?
Do you want to improve the lives of Bradford’s most vulnerable children & young people? Here’s a fantastic opportunity to join a small, friendly team having a direct and positive impact. By reducing the cost of services for looked after children, we free up funding to get the best possible social care for all children who need it.
Overview:
You’ll join a team working closely with a wide range of people to review costs and explore opportunities together to make savings. You’ll research, file and analyse a wide range of information from different sources about individual children’s care needs. You’ll be trained to use our new online business tool to help find the right cost for each care package that we review. You’ll be trained to help negotiate on the price of complex care packages, with the needs of children at heart. And you’ll learn to use your own professional judgement to identify and achieve savings opportunities.
What you’ll bring:
A commitment to public service, social justice and a determination to help the council save money so that we can continually improve the quality of children’s care. You’ll enjoy variety, learning new things, problem-solving and have emotional intelligence. You’ll have the ability to work logically and methodically, with patience and attention to detail. With a positive attitude and professional curiosity you’ll be great as part of a team. You’ll enjoy being able to use your own judgement and acting on your own initiative, while knowing there’s support if you need it. You’ll be able to build excellent relationships with a wide range of people. This will include doing things with people, rather than doing things to them or for them, and knowing when to listen and when to talk. It will also include being able to have honest and transparent conversations without harming relationships. You’ll appreciate how serious and important services for our most vulnerable children are. But you’ll also know how to look out for your colleagues, celebrate wins, and when it’s okay to raise a smile together. You’ll enjoy working in an environment where mistakes aren’t punished but are seen as development opportunities for yourself and the service. Most of all you’ll enjoy bringing your whole self to work – we strive to have a human touch and would invite you to bring your interests, experiences and personality.
What you’ll be doing:
- You’ll initially work with a specific focus on securing the best value care packages for children in care as described in the overview above. However, you’ll be part of the wider Contracts and Quality service. The job description reflects the work of the whole team which you may be deployed to support and is generic to all posts in the service.
- You’ll help find the best value and manage & improve services that support looked after children, care leavers, families needing early help, and children with SEND.
- Improving quality: You’ll contribute to quality improvement initiatives, using your problem-solving skills and curiosity to help services deliver better outcomes.
- Monitoring performance: You’ll help track how services are doing, offering support and challenge to providers to keep standards high.
- Supporting financial efficiency: You’ll work methodically to ensure services stay within budget and deliver high quality - Best Value.
- Collaborating with others: You’ll build strong working relationships with colleagues, partners, and stakeholders across health and social care.
- Helping shape services: You’ll be involved in developing services that respond to local needs and priorities.
Impact:
The Contract & Quality function is essential to the successful delivery of the aims of the Council, the Trust (Bradford Children & Families Trust), and partners in ensuring that children and families receive the support they need to live happy and healthy lives and have bright futures. Your role will be pivotal in supporting the continued progress and positive impact of the Bradford Children & Families Trust, as noted by Ofsted in May 2024.
Team Environment:
You will be joining a supportive and highly skilled team that champions Bradford’s commissioning and contract management practice. This team is a key driver for developing services for both public health and children within the wider health and care partnership.
Opportunity:
This is an exciting time to join the Contracts & Quality Team as we look to further build the capacity of the service. We offer a supportive environment, opportunities to develop your skills and experience, and the chance to make a real difference to people’s lives in Bradford. We’ll aim to notify you of our shortlisting decision by 19th December. We’re planning to hold interviews during the week commencing 12 January 2026.
Secondment Opportunity:
This post is suitable as a secondment opportunity and is open to internal candidates who have obtained approval from their current line manager and employer. The successful candidate will retain their substantive employment status with their current employer during the secondment period, while working full-time in the seconded role.
How to Apply
For further information regarding this post please contact John Bradshaw, Contracts ＆ Quality Best Value Manager via john.bradshaw@bradford.gov.uk or 07484 951709
Applications that utilise AI-generated content will not be considered. We value authentic and original submissions that reflect the applicant's true skills and experiences.
Employee Offer
Why work for Bradford Council? Find out why by taking a look at Our Employee Offer.pdf .
Equal Opportunities
We do not discriminate against any applicant or employee directly or indirectly on the grounds of gender, marital status, gender re-assignment, pregnancy, sexual orientation, disability, race, colour, ethnic background, religion or belief nationality or age. And, as an equal opportunities employer, the Council strives to employ the best qualified people from a diverse range of applicants.
The RESPECT Allyship Programme is available to all staff, which offers the opportunity to learn more about the diverse communities & groups and provides added benefits and resources to its members.
