You've built your career in care at home and you're good at it. But if you're being honest, the question isn't whether you can do the job. It's whether where you're doing it still feels right.
If Aberdeen has started to feel like the ceiling rather than the opportunity, this might be worth reading.
A well-established care at home service in the Scottish Highlands is looking for a Registered Manager to lead, stabilise and grow a rural operation delivering around 700 hours of care per week, with a clear plan to reach 1,000.
The service is based around 14 miles north of Inverness. That's roughly two hours from Aberdeen. Not commutable daily, but for the right person, very much relocatable, and the employer is serious about making that transition work. Open conversations around housing support and temporary accommodation are part of the package, not an afterthought.
The Highlands aren't for everyone. But for care at home managers who want space to actually lead, without the noise, the volume pressures and the conveyor belt of a central belt operation, it tends to feel exactly right.
This is what the role actually involves.
A team of 26 care practitioners, a Care Coordinator and Team Leads already in place. Lone worker oversight across a wide rural geography. Care plans that need to stay live and reflect real lives. Commissioner relationships with NHS Highland that are already established and worth protecting. And a rota that, like every care at home rota, does not stay still.
The service is operational and functioning. What it needs is the right registered leader to take ownership of it, grow it sustainably and build the kind of stability that earns further investment.
Who you'd be working with.
The Operations Manager above you has spent her career at the sharp end of care at home, former Operations Director for one of the Highlands' largest providers, and well-connected across the sector in Scotland. She knows what good looks like and she knows what support actually means in practice.
Day-to-day operational decisions are yours. Budget sign-off sits higher in the business, which is worth knowing upfront. But the expectation is clear, you run the service, and you're trusted to do it.
Standards matter here. The team are looked after genuinely. And the benchmark for success is simple: build something stable enough that nobody above you is worried when they step away.
By the end of year one, success looks like steady growth toward 1,000 hours, a retained and well-supervised team, a strong inspection outcome, and a commissioner relationship built on reliability. For the right person, longer-term growth beyond this branch is a realistic conversation, but it starts here.
What will help you succeed:
Several years working within care at home services, not just social care more broadly
Registered Manager experience or a clear, credible route to registration
Confidence with compliance, inspection standards and stakeholder relationships
A full UK driving licenceQualifications being sought:
SCQF Level 9 in a health, social work or related field
Leadership and Management at SCQF Level 10 (or a committed plan to complete it)
SVQ Level 4 in Health and Social Care or readiness to move quickly toward itA competitive salary is on offer, aligned to experience. Relocation support is available. Sponsorship may be considered for the right background.
If you're based in or around Aberdeen and the Highlands has been something you've thought about, even loosely, this is probably worth a conversation before you talk yourself out of it.
Send your CV to Recruitment Panda. It doesn't need to be updated. Or get in touch directly and we'll take it from there.
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Salary description
£38000.00 - £43000.00 per year