Project Manager (Children & Young People)


Company:	inploi
Salary:	Competitive
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	Manchester, M1 6EU
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	1 Oct 2026
Closing date:	31 Oct 2026

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Summary

Children’s Services Project Manager

£50,908 - £55,224 (Subject to Job Evaluation)

Fixed Term until September 2028

Your role:

The Greater Manchester Regional Care Cooperative (GM RCC) is a partnership of the ten Greater Manchester local authorities, hosted by Greater Manchester Combined Authority, established to strengthen sufficiency, quality and value for money in children’s social care. Working at a regional scale, the GM RCC leads collaborative commissioning, market engagement and system reform to improve outcomes for children and young people, particularly in fostering and residential care.

The GM RCC has secured £4.75m through the Department for Education Innovation Fund to develop and deliver a range of programmes designed to test innovative models to strengthen foster carer recruitment and retention and deliver better outcomes for children and young people.

There are two project manager vacancies available, please specify in your application which project you would like to apply for. Only one application will be required, even if you would like to apply for both vacancies.

Vacancy 1: Project Manager - Transitions

The Greater Manchester Transition Pathway Programme is a £1.07m Department for Education Innovation Fund project that aims to help children and young people move safely from residential care into stable, family-based fostering placements. Delivered across Greater Manchester's ten local authorities, the programme brings together fostering, residential care and specialist support services to improve outcomes for children, increase fostering capacity and reduce reliance on residential care.

As Project Manager, you will lead the mobilisation and delivery of this innovative programme, coordinating activity across local authorities, providers and partner organisations. You will be responsible for programme planning, governance, stakeholder engagement, risk and issue management, performance reporting and supporting delivery of project outcomes, ensuring the programme delivers tangible improvements for children and young people across Greater Manchester.

Vacancy 2: Project Manager - Hive

The Greater Manchester Hive Expansion Programme is a £1.9m Department for Education Innovation Fund project that will scale Manchester's successful foster carer-led Hive model across all ten Greater Manchester local authorities. Hive's provide peer support, training, advice and community activities for foster carers, helping to reduce isolation, improve placement stability and strengthen carer retention through locally based support networks.

The post holder will likely be required to provided project capacity across more than one thematic area within the RCC depending on where resources are most required. Efforts will however be made to align with areas of interest and existing knowledge and experience.

About you:

You will be an organised and proactive project professional with experience of supporting projects or programmes in a complex working environment. You will be confident in developing project plans, coordinating activity, keeping documents up to date, tracking actions, and supporting the management of risks, issues and milestones.

You will be able to build good working relationships with colleagues and partners across different organisations, helping to keep people informed and activity moving forward. You will communicate clearly, both verbally and in writing, and be comfortable preparing reports, updates, meeting notes and other project materials.

You will have an interest in children’s services and improving outcomes for children and young people. Knowledge of fostering, placement sufficiency or multi-agency working is would be an advantage.

You will be self-motivated, adaptable and comfortable working as part of a wider team. You will bring attention to detail, good judgement and a practical, solutions-focused approach to supporting delivery across Greater Manchester.

About us:

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) brings together the cityregion’s ten councils and key partners including Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) - to deliver the Greater Manchester Strategy. Our shared vision is to create a thriving city region where everyone can live a good life. We work to grow an inclusive economy and ensure people have what they need to live happy, healthy lives, tackling inequalities. Our policy department include Digital, Economy, Education, Work & Skills, Environment, Place Making, Public Service Reform, and Safer & Stronger Communities - who are supported by our essential corporate functions like Finance, Legal & Governance, People Services, Procurement and Communications.

We value the diversity of our employees, and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects our diverse communities across Greater Manchester. We encourage applications from all suitably qualified individuals, irrespective of people's age, disability, Trans status and Non-binary identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. We have guidance in place to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process, including the consideration of reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability.

To find out more about working for us please click here: https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/

Our offer:

In return for your hard work, we offer our employees a competitive package as part of our offer that you can find out more about here:

Greater Manchester Combined Authority - Home | greater.jobs

If you would like an informal chat please contact : Jordan.Newton@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk

Mandatory Information:

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

We embrace AI to enhance our operations and to innovate our services. However, we value human talent and are looking for passionate individuals to join our organisation. Please ensure you personally complete your application and read all the instructions carefully to maximise your chances of success.

Applications that rely too heavily on AI may be rejected during shortlisting, however we understand that AI may be used as a reasonable adjustment, if using AI to support your application, please give a brief explanation why to help ensure fair selection process.

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Employees on the redeployment register will be given priority for any vacancies in the first instance. If employees are identified as a match from the register then the vacancy may be withdrawn or put on hold pending an outcome.

For this opportunity, you must be able to prove you have the right to work in the UK - if in doubt please visit the following link Employers' right to work checklist - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Please note we are not a licenced sponsor.

Hybrid working

This role is part of GMCA’s hybrid working scheme. As part of our commitment to ‘Build Back Fairer’ in Greater Manchester following the Covid-19 pandemic, we have evolved our management methods by trusting and empowering staff to deliver their work in the best way that suits the business and their individual needs, and supports health and wellbeing. Our hybrid working policy sets out a flexible approach, combining attendance at our Manchester city centre office, allocated GM Local Authority office(s), or on site in the community, with remote working, typically from home (within a reasonable commutable distance from Greater Manchester); the location of work is primarily dictated by the needs of the business: ‘Do what is right for you and the business on that day’. If appointed to the role you will work with your manager to agree and regularly review the best working pattern for you, your team and your work.