About Us

Assistant Director – Assurance and Innovation

MG4

Secondment – 12 month maternity cover 

Full time

Richmond and Wandsworth

Objective of role  

Our vision in Adult Social Care and Public Health (ASCPH) in Richmond and Wandsworth is to support people to lead longer, healthy and fulfilling lives. We achieve this by putting people at the centre of everything we do and promoting independence, choice, and control through strong, person-centred practice. We have a well-evidenced history of excellence with exceptional levels of resident satisfaction. Our highly engaged and stable workforce is professional, open, challenging and responsive.   

As Assistant Director, Assurance and Innovation, you will be responsible for leading the implementation of adult social care transformation, including digital innovation. You will also be responsible for systems development and performance management and any continuous improvement activity within those areas. The focus of this post is to transform Adult Social Care into a consistently high performing service which has continuous improvement and innovation at its core. This post is responsible for development of policy and to shape the future direction of adult social care services, in line with priorities set by elected Members. Following CQC assessments in both boroughs it will be required to lead on implementation of recommendations.  

You will lead on the production of departmental service plans and other strategic documents, in line with statutory requirements and corporate planning processes, and to establish and manage monitoring arrangements for the Directorate with external bodies e.g., CQC and peer reviews of the Directorate’s services.  

You will be required to lead on the development and delivery of the Directorate's IT/ digital / data strategies and represent the Directorate at Corporate IT/Digital forums as well as in wider SWL Health and Care forums to deliver integrated data and systems. The role is the Caldicott Guardian in ASC and will contribute to council-wide information governance forums as the ASCPH representative.  

The role will be an internal secondment to cover maternity leave, commencing from w/c 9th February 2026 (precise start date to be confirmed). A short expression of interest (EOI) process will be conducted with an interview held in late December 2025 or early January 2026. The interview questions will focus on content from the responsibilities described in the Job Description.  

To arrange an informal conversation, please get in touch with Claire Tew, current AD Assurance and Innovation.  

Essential Qualifications, Skills and Experience are in line with the Job Description but include a particular focus on the following:

• Change management - a track record of successfully leading change and delivering positive outcomes in a challenging environment.
• Experience of development of strategy and programmes through to action plan, implementation, review and evaluation.
• Strong intellect and the ability to think strategically.
• Excellent oral, written and presentation skills to provide clear and concise messages in a variety of internal and external contexts, including the ability to clearly communicate complex financial issues to a variety of stakeholders.
• Highly developed influencing, negotiating and excellent inter-personal skills, to influence a range of different stakeholders
• Ability to foster a climate of determination and creativity, to address challenges, achieve continuous improvement and resolve problems

Secondment

All internal applicants for this secondment must seek permission from their current line manager before applying. Failure to do so may result in the secondment not being authorised.

Closing date: 11th December 2025 

Shortlisting date: 12th December 2025

Interview date:  w/c 15th December 2025 (TBC)

To arrange an informal conversation, please get in touch with Claire Tew, current AD Assurance and Innovation via claire.tew@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

We may close this vacancy early once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Richmond & Wandsworth Better Service Partnership are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services. 

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer. If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment and selection process, please let us know.

We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Some posts may be exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to these posts will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to attract, develop, and reward our employees such as 40 days annual leave (including Bank Holidays), flexible working and a generous pension plan.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils