Principal Service Lead - Family Help

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council,

Principal Service Lead – Family Help

Salary: £76,597 - £81,370 (pay award pending)

Location: Dudley, West Midlands – Hybrid

Contract: Permanent, Full Time

Are you an inspirational, values-driven leader who is passionate about improving outcomes for children, young people and families?

Dudley are embarking on an exciting journey of improvement. We have strengthened capacity at Associate Director level with four permanent roles AD Education and Inclusion, AD Quality, Performance and Improvement, AD Family Help and Safeguarding and AD Corporate Parenting. We are now recruiting to our Principal Service Lead roles to further strengthen our leadership capacity.

Dudley Council is seeking an exceptional Principal Service Lead – Family Help to join our Children & Young People Leadership Team. This is a pivotal leadership role responsible for shaping and delivering high-quality early intervention, family support and safeguarding services that help children thrive and prevent needs escalating into statutory care.

In this role, you will:

• Lead Family Help services, including Targeted Early Help, Children in Need, Child Protection and Court Progression, ensuring children and families receive timely, effective support.
• Drive safeguarding, performance and improvement, delivering high-quality practice, robust risk management and transformational change across services.
• Build strong partnerships and high-performing teams, working across health, education, police and the voluntary sector to improve outcomes and reduce demand on statutory services.
• We are seeking a visible, authentic and ambitious leader with significant experience in Children's Social Care and a strong track record of leading successful service improvement.

Applications close: 31/8/26

Workplace Attendance: Working in the office 3+ days a week (pro-rata) or Onsite full time.

So that we can demonstrate Dudley’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and to improve bias in the recruitment process that could create barriers for candidates. Your personal data will be anonymised when you apply, to ensure that you comply with our anonymisation process, please ensure you have removed your name and date of birth from any attachments prior to uploading them to your application.

Online application forms will only be accepted for this vacancy, online facilities for jobs are available at public libraries within the Dudley Borough.

All applicants must be able to provide documentation to prove their right to work in the UK.

Please note: Dudley MBC does not currently offer sponsorship for candidates without the Right to Work in the UK.

If you require support completing an online or paper application form and or interview techniques, please contact Dudley Adult and Community Learning on or who can support with Digital Skills and Job Applications.

If you have a disability and require assistance in making an application please contact the HR Resourcing Team via

If you are experiencing a problem whilst applying for a position, please follow the link below to the WM Jobs Help Page in the first instance

If the WM Jobs Help Page does not resolve your issue then please contact the HR Resourcing Team via

Dudley Council will check the information that you have provided against any details already held for accuracy and completeness. The Council will check, share and cross match your information both internally within the council and with external organisations to protect public funds and prevent or detect crime, only where the law allows us to do so.

The Council’s full Privacy and Disclaimer Statement can be accessed on the website at

N.B. We reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the advertised date should we receive a large number of applications

Attached documents

• JD/PS
• Employee Benefits List.pdf

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