CAMHS Operational Manager

CAMHS Operational Manager Overview

This role presents a unique opportunity to lead and influence the future of specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) inpatient and acute care across Greater Manchester. As the CAMHS Operational Manager, you will provide compassionate leadership for our specialist inpatient service while playing a strategic role in developing the CAMHS acute care pathway. This influential position allows you to shape services for children and young people facing complex mental health challenges.

As part of Pennine Care’s senior CAMHS leadership team and in collaboration with the Bee Together Greater Manchester Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provider Collaborative, you will drive service transformation, enhance access to care, minimize avoidable admissions, and ensure that young people receive high-quality care closer to home.

Main Duties

• Provide operational, clinical, and strategic leadership across CAMHS inpatient and acute pathway services.
• Lead and develop the CAMHS inpatient service and the wider acute care pathway across Greater Manchester.
• Drive service improvement, innovation, and transformation in line with local and national priorities.
• Provide inclusive and supportive leadership to nursing, therapeutic, medical, and administrative teams.
• Ensure high standards of quality, clinical governance, safeguarding, patient experience, and regulatory compliance.
• Oversee patient flow, bed management, and system-wide capacity planning.
• Build strong partnerships with young people and families, commissioners, local authorities, community teams, and other inpatient providers.
• Represent Pennine Care as lead provider and contribute to strategic decisions across the Greater Manchester system.

About Us

Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust is dedicated to delivering high-quality mental health and learning disability services while improving the lives of the communities we serve. Our CAMHS inpatient and acute care services are entering a significant development phase, emphasizing collaboration, innovation, and improved outcomes for young people and their families. Leaders are encouraged to think creatively, challenge established practices, and contribute meaningfully to service design and system-wide change.

About You

We seek an experienced, credible, and inspirational leader with a robust background in mental health inpatient services and experience in CAMHS or working with young people. You should have experience leading multidisciplinary teams, managing complex services, developing staff, and delivering quality improvement and change. You must be confident in working across organizational boundaries, building relationships with partners, and balancing operational pressures with a clear strategic vision. Most importantly, you should be passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people.

Qualifications and Experience

• Essential: First level registration (RMN or equivalent) and current registration with a recorded license to practice.
• Essential: Demonstrable experience of mental health inpatient ward management (Band 7).
• Essential: Experience leading a multidisciplinary team, including chairing meetings and case management.
• Essential: Experience in project management and business planning.
• Essential: Experience and skills in clinical and management supervision.
• Essential: Experience working in a CAMHS inpatient unit or with young adults.
• Essential: Knowledge of the functioning of inpatient units and current trends in therapeutic interventions for young people.
• Essential: High-level knowledge of child safeguarding.

If you are looking for a challenging, rewarding, and influential senior leadership role, we encourage you to apply. This is a rare chance to shape specialist CAMHS services and help create a more connected and responsive acute care pathway for young people across Greater Manchester.

Degree Requirement: Bachelor’s

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