Early Childhood Risk & Assurance Consultant Full Time

Type: Full Time / Fixed Term Contract – FTC up to 9 months

Salary: DOE £

Closing Date: 30th April or until the right candidate is hired

All Internal Applications need to attach an up to date and relevant CV to be consideration

Purpose Of Role

The Early Childhood Risk & Assurance Consultant provides independent expert validation of Bright Horizons’ highest-rated and highest-consequence nurseries, with a focus on Green and Green+ RAG-rated settings and nurseries of high commercial significance. The role strengthens organisational confidence that these sites are genuinely low risk in lived practice and safeguarding culture, not simply strong on audit inputs. This role acts as an escalation-aware “sense check” function to reduce blind spots, validate internal assessments, and support timely corrective action where risk indicators emerge. Depending on business need, the postholder will also work with the Director of Early Childhood and colleagues across the wider team on improvement projects and short-term assignments that strengthen quality, safety and consistency.

What We Can Offer You

• Our benefits include but are not limited to.
• Flexible working and holiday entitlements
• Discounted childcare in one of our nurseries
• Fantastic range of discounts on high street retailers, grocery stores, cinema tickets, holidays and more
• Wide range of wellbeing resources, supporting our teams for the ups and downs of daily life

Why Bright Horizons?

We’ve been voted Great Place to Work for the last 17 consecutive years, as well as being awarded the newly created Great Place for Wellbeing and Great Place for Women 2022.Our support functions enable our nurseries to deliver the best possible care and education to over 10,000 children across the UK. Through this support, our nurseries can deliver excellence – with 98% of our 300+ portfolio being rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted. We’re on a mission to change the future for children, families, and the people we work with, and are committed to progressive working values like flexibility, work-life balance, and wellbeing.

Key Accountabilities

• Validate Green / Green+ RAG Ratings (High-End Assurance)
• Conduct targeted deep-dive validation visits for nurseries rated Green/Green+ to confirm that statutory safeguarding requirements and lived practice standards are genuinely secure.
• Triangulate evidence across observation of practice, leadership decision-making, staff confidence in safeguarding thresholds, incident/notification patterns, and follow-through reliability (not paper compliance alone).
• Document each visit through a clear written report capturing the assurance judgement (“Validated / Validated with Conditions / Re‑rate Recommended”), key concerns, rationale and risk indicators, with follow‑up actions noted.
• Commercially Critical Nursery Assurance
• Prioritise assurance activity for nurseries with high revenue, high occupancy, Work & Family clients, or reputational sensitivity, ensuring quality and safeguarding remain strong under commercial pressure.
• Work with Heads/Senior ECSs and Ops to ensure actions are targeted, proportionate and time-bound, protecting both children’s outcomes and business sustainability.
• Independent Challenge and Early Warning
• Provide independent challenge where internal reassurance may be masking risk, supporting the organisation’s move from audit-led reassurance to practice-led assurance.
• Escalate concerns promptly through agreed routes where safeguarding risk, leadership drift, or regulatory vulnerability is suspected.
• Integration with External Mock Inspection
• Coordinate with external mock inspectors (and/or other consultant resource) to align scope, avoid duplication, and ensure feedback converts into tangible coaching and practice-change plans.
• Ensure mock inspection learning is captured as improvement themes and fed into the centralised Early Childhood Education model.
• System Improvement Contribution (RAG + Risk Indicators)
• Contribute to refinement of the RAG framework indicators, particularly at the Green/Green+ boundary, ensuring the model reflects current regulatory expectations and the reality of lived practice.
• Propose and test “hard stop” triggers (e.g., safeguarding threshold uncertainty, notification pattern risk, leadership minimisation) to prevent false Greens.
• Reporting and Governance
• Produce concise, high-quality assurance notes and recommendations that are actionable and proportionate.
• Provide monthly reporting to the Director of Early Childhood and Heads of Early Childhood Education on: sites reviewed, risk status validation, systemic themes, and urgent escalations.

Core Outcomes / Deliverables (by end of FTC)

• A validated list of Green/Green+ settings with confirmed “low risk” status based on lived practice, leadership behaviours, and safeguarding decision-making (not documentation alone).
• Identification of any “false Green” settings with recommended risk status adjustment and a clear improvement/escalation plan.
• Strengthened risk indicators for the RAG framework (particularly at Green/Green+ thresholds), including proposed “hard stop” triggers.
• A prioritised review programme for commercially critical nurseries where regulatory deterioration would have disproportionate impact, aligned to a quality–risk–commercial lens.
• Insight reports (monthly) identifying themes, patterns, and systemic risks across high-performing settings and recommended interventions.

Essential Experience

• Senior leadership experience across multiple early years settings or regions, with clear accountability for quality, safeguarding and regulatory outcomes.
• Proven track record of leading and sustaining positive inspection outcomes, including managing complexity, risk and improvement following inspection.
• Extensive experience of safeguarding leadership, including oversight of statutory notifications, significant incidents, escalation and learning at scale.
• Experience of leading inclusive practice and SEND systems, including partnership working with local authorities and external agencies.
• Demonstrated ability to use data, audits, and performance indicators to drive improvement, manage risk and provide professional assurance.
• Strong knowledge of contemporary research, pedagogy, and regulatory frameworks within early childhood education.

Desirable Experience

• Previous Ofsted inspector experience (England) or equivalent inspector/regulatory background.
• Experience of designing, calibrating, or improving internal assurance frameworks (e.g., risk indicators, RAG, QIF) and translating finding into practice improvement.

Qualifications

• Level 3 Early Years qualification (or equivalent) – Essential (e.g., F&R Level 3).
• Degree in Early Childhood Education (or closely related field) QTS/EYPS/EYTS
• Recent and ongoing CPD
• Postgraduate qualification in Educational Leadership, Leadership & Management, Systems Leadership or Organisational Development. (desirable)
• Formal training in coaching, mentoring or supervision (e.g. ILM, EMCC, equivalent), supporting leadership and ECS development. (desirable)
• Specialist qualifications or accredited training in one or more of the following: Inclusion, leadership, trauma informed and/or nurture-based practice, quality improvement and evaluation methodologies, research informed practice or academic partnership working. (desirable)

Personal Attributes

• Demonstrates consistent behaviours aligned with our HEART principles, acting with Honesty, Excellence, Accountability and Respect in all interactions, decisions and ways of working.
• Unwavering commitment to Keeping Everyone Safe, maintaining calm, principled decision‑making under pressure and modelling the highest standards of safeguarding integrity and professional discretion with confidential, sensitive information.
• Strategic, system‑minded and organisationally astute leader who translates vision into sustainable action across divisions and understands how quality, safety, occupancy, revenue and reputation intersect—balancing children’s best interests with organisational priorities.
• Highly credible professional presence, able to influence, challenge and support senior operational colleagues, regulators and external partners with confidence and authority.
• Emotionally intelligent, relational, and attuned, fostering trust while holding clear boundaries and high expectations for quality, compliance and practice.
• Analytical and evidence‑informed, confidently using data, audit findings and research to identify risk, drive improvement and assure performance.
• Strong professional judgement, able to navigate complexity, competing priorities and emerging risk with clarity and decisiveness.
• Resilient and composed, able to lead teams and settings through regulatory scrutiny, serious incidents, high‑pressure inspections and organisational change.
• Skilled coach and developer of people, building capability across Senior ECS and ECS roles and enabling others to succeed while holding high expectations.
• Inclusive, values‑driven and collaborative, committed to equity, children’s rights, the Children’s Voice Charter and culturally responsive practice; able to work diplomatically across Operations, Safeguarding, Inclusion, HR and Risk, staying curious, reflective and proactive as regulatory and sector priorities evolve.

Bright Horizons is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. This post is subject to safer recruitment practice and pre-employment checks, including an enhanced DBS check, which will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. We are an inclusive employer and welcome people from all backgrounds to apply. We will consider reasonable adjustments required by applicants. If you share our passion, values, and have most of the skills listed, we encourage you to apply – as you may be just what we are looking for!

We look forward to receiving your application!

If you experience any problems, please email europe.recruitment@brighthorizons.com and we will be happy to help.