Work with us
One Small Thing is growing! Join our ground-breaking team committed to redesigning the justice system for women and their children. As vacancies come up they will be posted below.
Head of Quality and Practice
Salary: £50,000 - £55,000 FTE per annum
Location: Southampton
Closing Date: 5pm on Wednesday 21 October 2026
Purpose of the Role
The Head of Quality and Practice is a senior operational leadership role responsible for strengthening the quality, consistency and effectiveness of practice across Hope Street’s trauma-informed residential community for justice-involved women and their children.
Working closely with the Community Director, you will lead the development and consistent delivery of high-quality practice across the Hope Street Hub and supported housing. You will contribute to strategic planning and service development, and lead quality assurance and improvement processes so that the operational model remains safe, effective and responsive to the needs of the women and children we support.
You will provide reflective leadership to key members of the team, modelling trauma informed and responsive practice. In so doing, you will foster a team culture rooted in relational practice, curiosity and accountability and help ensure that day-to-day delivery is consistent with our values and overall aims.
Given Hope Street’s distinctive role as a community-based residential service and alternative to custody, we are seeking someone with extensive safeguarding expertise and experience of leadership in services for justice involved individuals or women-only spaces. This insight will enable you to support team members navigating complex systems, contribute to casework with confidence, and help ensure that Hope Street continues to challenge traditional responses to justice-involved women through a trauma-informed, community-led model. Your professional credibility and operational expertise will support meaningful change and reinforce strong partnerships across the wider justice landscape.
This post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.
This role requires a valid driving licence, access to a vehicle and business-use motor insurance.
Please send your CV, Personal Statement and Equity and Diversity Form to recruitment@onesmallthing.org.uk.
SAFER RECRUITMENT
Safer recruitment is central to the safeguarding of adults, children, and young people at risk. One Small Thing is committed to the safeguarding of every individual that we come into contact with through our work and expects all team members to share this commitment.
As part of our recruitment process, a DBS check at the appropriate level for those successful at interview, but this does not necessarily exclude applicants with convictions. For some roles, a vetting and barring check will also be carried out.
Team member Benefits
• We are a Real Living Wage Employer
• 28 days holiday plus Bank Holidays – pro rata
• A additional day off on your Birthday
• Long Service Award – extra holiday for 3+ years’ service
• A comprehensive induction and training programme
• An unlimited counselling service through our Employment Assistance Programme “OpenUp”,
which you can also extend to 3 members of your family.
• Enhanced sick pay
• Team member of the month awards
• Refer a Friend Recruitment Bonus
• Employer contribution to your Pension
• Learning & Development opportunities relevant to each role
• Blue Light Discount Scheme
• Team building activities
• Regular collaborative team days
Volunteering at Hope Street
We aren’t currently recruiting volunteers for Hope Street at the moment. However, there are some offers of support that will be of help to us. Please feel free to leave your details and offer of support in the form below and we’ll be back in contact with you when we are ready to start our volunteer programme, or if you have a specific skill set we are currently in need of. Thank you for your interest.
The information you provide in this form will be stored securely, and will only be used in relation to your volunteering enquiry.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
At One Small Thing we are committed to tackling injustice and inequality in the justice system and beyond. Understanding diversity, equity, and inclusion is critical to delivering our mission to redesign the justice system for women and their children. Challenging racial injustice is a crucial element of this, and we strive towards anti-racist practice as an organisation and in the services we deliver.
We have been working with Inclusive recruiting to train our Trustees and team, review our policies and lead the recruitment drive for Hope Street. We encourage applications from those who may have had similar experiences to the women and children we support, including those with previous convictions. We are committed to ensuring the voices of those with lived experience are represented across all our work strands.
We know however we need to do much more and want our work towards diversity, equity and inclusion to be measured by our actions. We are currently drafting new EDI and anti-racism action plans, the key commitments of which will be shared shortly.