Education Enrichment and Childcare Lead

Job Description

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO4 £49,056 - £52,194

Contract Type: Full-time/Permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 17th September 2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): W/C 28th September 2026

Reference: 2287

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

About the role:

We are seeking an experienced and motivated Education Operations Lead to play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering high-quality education, early years, childcare and enrichment services across Waltham Forest.

Reporting to the Education Operations Manager, you will lead on a diverse portfolio of operational, performance and commissioning responsibilities that support the Council's statutory duties relating to childcare sufficiency, free early education entitlement, and enrichment opportunities for children and young people. You will work collaboratively with schools, childcare providers, internal services and external partners to ensure high-quality provision, strong business performance and positive outcomes for families.

The role involves overseeing grant-funded programmes, monitoring provider compliance, developing business processes, analysing performance data, and driving service improvement. You will also provide expert advice and support to providers, helping to ensure they remain sustainable, compliant and responsive to the needs of local communities.

This is an exciting opportunity for a strategic and operational leader who enjoys working across partnerships, using data to inform decision-making, managing complex projects and translating policy into effective service delivery. You will play a key role in ensuring children and families have access to high-quality childcare, early education and enrichment opportunities that support learning, development and wellbeing.

If you are passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people, have strong operational management experience, and thrive in a collaborative, fast-paced environment, we would love to hear from you

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the delivery and operational management of education business operations, performance and support services across the Education Service.
• Support the Council's statutory duties for childcare sufficiency, free early education entitlement and childcare provision.
• Develop and maintain effective relationships with schools, early years providers, childcare providers and key partners.
• Commission, monitor and quality assure childcare, early years and enrichment providers to ensure compliance with statutory and contractual requirement.
• Lead the delivery of grant-funded programmes relating to early education, childcare and enrichment activities for children and young people.
• Analyse performance, financial and service data to inform strategic planning, service improvement and statutory reporting.
• Provide expert advice, guidance and training to providers and schools to support sustainability, compliance and quality improvement.
• Develop and implement policies, procedures and business processes that improve service effectiveness and value for money.
• Lead projects, change initiatives and digital service improvements to enhance operational efficiency and customer experience.
• Monitor risks, ensure effective governance arrangements and maintain compliance with relevant legislation, funding requirements and data protection regulations.
• Prepare reports, briefings and recommendations for senior leaders, stakeholders and partners.
• Support and deputise for the Education Operations Manager when required

Qualifications and Requirements:

• Experience of operationally managing a service/team which contributed to delivering a Council’s statutory requirements relating to delivering a Council’s statutory requirements relating to securing free early education and childcare places to children under 5 who are eligible for a place, as well as childcare for children aged 0 to 14 or up to 18 for disabled children, by creating and retaining high quality places by working with potential providers and existing providers, commissioning high quality providers and delivering information advice and training which empowered providers to remain financially sustainable and provide quality places that comply with business related statutory requirements.
• Experience of successfully operationally managing a service/team delivering grant funded programmes related to early education and childcare and out of school/enrichment activities for school age children
• Experience of operationally managing a team/service which lead on delivering grant funded programmes related to early education and childcare and out of school/enrichment activities for school age children
• Experience of providing a range of information advice and training to Early Years, Childcare providers and Schools regarding running sustainable businesses which comply with statutory requirements.
• Experience of developing and implementing financial and business strategies/plans that are based on thorough analysis of needs and risks.
• Expert knowledge and understanding of Ofsted/DfE requirements, systems, policy, practices, procedures, and legislation regarding early years and childcare.
• Excellent customer service skills, with experience of resolving customer queries.
• Significant experience of working with and forming positive, trusting relationships with commissioned providers (especially Ofsted registered childcare providers and schools).
• Experience of consultation, engagement and participation work with parents/carers, schools and childcare providers
• Experience of providing a range of business operations/support services across an internal service/team.
• A good understanding of the issues that can affect parents/carers, schools and childcare providers and how best to address them.
• Experience of developing team members by effectively delegating tasks and projects
• Experience of translating strategic vision into practical achievable plans · Experience of defining service delivery expectations and setting clear expectations for the team
• Experience of harnessing the strengths of the team to positive advantage · Experience of effectively managing projects/programmes of work including change projects and grant funded initiatives
• Experience of using data and information to benchmark good/best performance and practice to assess performance of team/service
• Experience of developing policies and procedures to improve service outcomes/impact
• Experience of producing a range of advice, information, data and statistical analysis, reports and presentations to internal and external Heads of Service and Senior Managers
• IT skills, including Microsoft Office suite
• Experience use of large complex management and client information systems and finance systems (particularly Oracle)

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory declaration of interest;
• This role is subject to safer recruitment practices as it involves work with children and/ or vulnerable adults;
• Satisfactory DBS check;
• Continued professional body registration;
• As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

We are a Home Office–licensed sponsor; however, for this specific role we are not able to provide Skilled Worker visa sponsorship. To be considered, you must already hold a form of UK work authorisation that does not require sponsorship.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Temilade Adeniji at temilade.adeniji@walthamforest.gov.uk

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-…;

Fraud Awareness Notice
The London Borough of Waltham Forest only advertises vacancies via our official website and approved recruitment platforms (e.g. Jobsgopublic).

We will never ask for payment or request sensitive personal or financial information as part of our recruitment process.

If you are contacted by a third party claiming to represent the Council, please verify the vacancy via our official careers website before sharing any information.

If you have concerns about a job advert or communication, please report it to:
fraud@walthamforest.gov.uk