IPS Team Lead

IPS Team Lead Basildon, SS16 5XY Contract Type: Full Time Salary: £35000 - £38500 Working Hours: 35 Job Category: Education/Training/Instruction 06/11/2026 - 13 days remaining Apply for this job

Job Introduction

IPS Team Leader - Mental Health Employment Services

Lead a team that helps employment become part of recovery 

Paid employment can rebuild confidence, independence and purpose for someone experiencing serious mental ill health. 

As our IPS Team Leader, you will lead a number of Employment Specialists supporting people to find and sustain jobs that reflect their individual skills, preferences and ambitions. 

You will coach your team, manage performance and ensure the Individual Placement and Support approach is delivered with quality, pace and compassion. 

This is a visible, hands-on leadership role. It is not a work-from-home position and it is not based permanently in one office. 

You will travel throughout Essex every working day, meeting your remotely based team, observing their work, supporting clinical relationships and maintaining a clear understanding of delivery across the region. 

The real job

You will be responsible for the day-to-day performance, development and wellbeing of a geographically dispersed team.

Your Employment Specialists will be working in community and mental health settings, meeting participants, clinical teams and local employers. You must therefore be present across the delivery area, as you cannot manage the service entirely through Teams calls, emails and spreadsheets. 

You will provide regular supervision, review caseloads, observe practice and help specialists solve difficult employment-related challenges. You will coach them on vocational profiling, rapid job search, employer engagement, job matching and in-work support. 

You will also ensure employment support is integrated within mental health services. This requires credible relationships with NHS and clinical teams, effective participation in multidisciplinary meetings and the confidence to challenge barriers that prevent people from accessing employment support. 

You will balance encouragement with accountability. Your team must feel supported, but they must also understand what is expected in relation to job outcomes, employer engagement, caseload momentum, record quality and IPS fidelity. 

A day in the role

You may start your day meeting an Employment Specialist in one part of South Essex to review their caseload and discuss participants who are not progressing. 

You could then attend a clinical meeting at another location, strengthening referral pathways and ensuring employment goals are included within recovery planning. 

Later, you might accompany a specialist while they engage local employers, observe a participant appointment or provide coaching on how to develop opportunities within the hidden labour market.

You may finish by reviewing performance data, completing a supervision meeting remotely or agreeing an improvement plan with a team member. 

This variety is central to the role. You must be comfortable planning your diary around the needs of a mobile service and travelling between different locations each day. 

What you will do

You will:

• Lead and manage remotely based IPS Employment Specialists
• Maintain a regular and visible presence throughout South Essex
• Provide structured one-to-ones, supervision, coaching and performance reviews
• Observe practice in community, clinical and employer settings
• Review caseloads and help specialists maintain purposeful progression
• Drive performance against job-start, sustainment and progression targets
• Coach the team on employer engagement and job-development strategies
• Ensure specialists spend meaningful time meeting employers face to face
• Coordinate employer activity and encourage the sharing of intelligence and opportunities
• Embed the principles of IPS and support Good-to-Excellent fidelity
• Build productive relationships with NHS, clinical and community teams
• Help integrate employment into mental health care and recovery planning
• Use data to identify trends, risks and areas requiring improvement
• Identify individual and team training needs
• Encourage reflective practice, peer learning and continuous improvement
• Maintain safeguarding, GDPR, evidence and audit standards
• Escalate service, performance and safeguarding risks appropriately
• Report clearly to the Contract Manager on delivery, risks and required actions

 

The parts people can underestimate

This role requires you to be comfortable with:

• Managing more than four people across multiple remote locations
• Travelling throughout the delivery area on a daily basis
• Leading people who spend most of their working time in the community
• Knowing what is happening without relying solely on remote updates
• Setting clear targets and addressing underperformance promptly
• Coaching frontline employability practice, not simply managing administration
• Supporting colleagues handling complex mental health circumstances
• Influencing clinicians and partners you do not directly manage
• Challenging practice that does not meet the required standard
• Using data and case evidence to guide your decisions
• Balancing team wellbeing with responsibility for outcomes
• Working across different community, health, employer and office environments

 This will suit a leader who enjoys being out with their team and close to delivery. 

What you need to bring

Essential experience

You must be able to evidence:

• Experience working within employability, employment support or welfare-to-work services
• Experience managing a team of more than four people
• Experience leading colleagues who work remotely or across multiple locations
• Performance management in a target-driven service
• Coaching colleagues to improve participant progression and employment outcomes
• Experience of careers advice, information, advice and guidance, employability coaching or similar participant support
• Confidence reviewing caseloads, action plans and quality of delivery
• Experience building relationships with employers, partners or external services
• Strong organisation, record keeping and data-led decision-making
• Safeguarding awareness and sound pro