Principal Social Worker (Safeguarding Adults Team)

About the role

We are delighted to offer an exciting opportunity for an experienced and motivated Principal Social Worker to join our Safeguarding Adults Team.

This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of a highly regarded, supportive, and passionate team, providing professional leadership, practice oversight, and support to help deliver high-quality safeguarding services across North Northamptonshire.

Our Safeguarding Adults Team has a strong and positive culture where colleagues are valued, supported, and encouraged to grow. We work collaboratively, share knowledge and expertise, and are committed to achieving the best outcomes for adults at risk. Staff wellbeing, continuous learning, and professional development are at the heart of what we do.

You must be a registered Social Worker with Social Work England to apply for this role

What will you be doing?

As Principal Social Worker, you will provide professional guidance and constructive challenge, ensuring safeguarding practice is person-centred, strengths-based, and legally literate. You will champion professional curiosity, reflective practice, and continuous learning, supporting practitioners and managers in managing complex and high-risk situations.

You will play a key role in driving continuous improvement, championing best practice, supporting workforce development, and strengthening safeguarding arrangements across North Northants. The role also includes contributing to quality assurance activity, service improvement, and the review and development of safeguarding processes, helping to embed a culture of excellence, learning, and accountability.

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Significant experience in adult social work and safeguarding practice.
• Strong knowledge of the Care Act, Mental Capacity Act, and safeguarding responsibilities.
• Proven leadership, coaching, and staff development skills.
• Experience of quality assurance, performance management, and service improvement.
• Excellent communication and partnership-working abilities.
• A commitment to promoting high-quality, outcome-focused practice.

The role requires a commitment to undertaking 1–2 duty days per week at Haylock House, providing visible leadership and support to the operational safeguarding function.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced social worker who is passionate about safeguarding adults, developing others, and shaping high-quality services that make a real difference to people's lives.

Our Benefits

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.

You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us?

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a competitive salary
• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
• generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

About us

Our Values and Behaviours

Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:

Customer-focused
Respectful
Efficient
Supportive
Trustworthy

Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.

Disability Confident Employer

We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.

Our Employment and Disability Service provides bespoke support to individuals facing barriers to employment, helping them work towards their goals to start, stay and succeed in employment. For further information please click here The Employment and Disability Service (EADS) | North Northamptonshire Council

Armed Forces Community

The council obtained the Gold status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS).

Further information can be found at Jobs and careers | North Northamptonshire Council (northnorthants.gov.uk)