Homebased with regular office attendance and national travel as required
Status: Permanent
Salary: Band 8b, £66,546 – £76,950, per annum, dependent on experience
Hours: Full-time, 37.5 hours per week
About Us:
Combat Stress is the UK’s leading mental health charity for veterans. For over a century, we’ve been helping former service personnel deal with issues like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from military service. We have teams across the UK providing online and in-person treatment and support, depending on the individual’s needs and circumstances of those who need us.
About the role:
As Head of Engagement and Social Care, you will provide strategic leadership for our national Peer Support, Family Support, Safeguarding, and Co-production functions. You’ll ensure our services are innovative, effective and deliver the highest standards of care, while championing safeguarding excellence across the organisation.
Working closely with colleagues across Combat Stress and with external partners, you’ll help develop seamless pathways of support for veterans, strengthen partnerships across the sector, and ensure that the voices and lived experiences of veterans influence the design and delivery of our services.
This is a highly collaborative role requiring a confident leader who can inspire teams, build strong relationships, and drive continuous improvement.
What you’ll be doing:
- Lead the strategic development, delivery and evaluation of our national Peer Support and Family Support services.
- Provide organisational leadership for safeguarding, ensuring excellent governance and best practice.
- Champion co-production, ensuring veterans’ voices are central to service design and development.
- Build and maintain strong partnerships with organisations across the military, health and charity sectors.
- Lead the development of integrated care pathways that provide seamless support for veterans.
- Line manage and mentor senior service managers and the Veteran Engagement Officer, supporting high-performing teams.
- Promote innovation, evidence-based practice and continuous service improvement.
- Oversee audits, quality assurance, service evaluation and reporting to support strategic decision-making.
- Contribute to organisational strategy as a member of the senior leadership team.
About you:
We’re looking for a compassionate and experienced leader who combines strategic thinking with a passion for improving services for veterans and their families.
You’ll bring:
- Significant leadership experience within health, social care, charity or related sectors.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and developing high-quality services.
- Strong knowledge of safeguarding, governance and quality assurance.
- Excellent relationship-building and partnership development skills.
- Experience influencing strategy and driving organisational change.
- A collaborative leadership style with the ability to inspire, coach and develop others.
- A commitment to evidence-based practice, innovation and continuous improvement.
This role will be subject to a DBS / PVG / ACCESS NI check.
What we offer:
You will work within a reputable charity that is constantly evolving to meet the needs of our veterans, that has a fantastic cause and a committed follower base.
Benefits:
- 30 days annual leave plus bank holidays and an additional increase to 33 days annual leave upon 10 years continuous service, plus bank holidays.
- Competitive stakeholder pension scheme – contributions matched up to 11% of salary
- Discount shopping vouchers
- Access to the Employee Assistance Programme
- Flexible working
- Access to Blue Light Card scheme
- Death in Service Scheme
How to apply: (Only apply if you can attend the interview dates, stated below.)
Thank you for your interest in working for Combat Stress.
If your application is shortlisted, one of the team will contact you shortly after the closing date to let you know the next steps.
Please be aware that due to the high volume of applications we receive, we are unable to respond to all applicants. If you do not hear from the team within 3 weeks of the closing date, we will not be taking your application further on this occasion.
We will keep your details for up to 6 months after the vacancy has been successfully filed. Please feel free to contact us if you no longer wish us to hold your details.
Once again, thank you for your interest in working at Combat Stress.
To apply, send an up to date CV and covering letter to recruitmentheadoffice@combatstress.org.uk
Please ensure your CV is 2 pages maximum and your covering letter 1 page maximum.
If you have been informed about the role by a current employee, please state this and the employees name in your covering letter.
For further information about the role please contact Dave Aitken, Head of Engagement and Social Care on dave.aitken@combatstress.org.uk
Please note, you MUST have the right to work in the UK to apply for our vacancies and work at Combat Stress.
Closing date: Monday 31 August 2026
Interview date: Interviews will be held in person at our Head Office in Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 0BX on 14 or 15 September 2026
Please note, we reserve the right to close this advert early, should we receive a sufficient amount of applicants
Recruitment Privacy Notice
Combat Stress is the data controller for the information you provide during the recruitment process unless otherwise stated. If you have any queries about the process or how we handle your information, please contact us at HR@CombatStress.org.uk.
All of the information you provide during the process will only be used for the purpose of progressing your application, or to fulfill legal or statutory requirements if necessary.
We will not share any of the information you provide during the recruitment process with any third parties for marketing purposes or store any of your information outside of the European Economic Area. The information you provide will be held securely by our data processors whether the information is in electronic or physical format.
We will use the contact details you provide to us to contact you to progress your application. We will use the other information you provide to assess your suitability for the role you have applied for. You do not have to provide what we ask for, but it might affect your application if you don’t.
We do not collect more information than we need to fulfill our recruitment process and will not retain it for longer than is necessary.
Applications sent speculatively will be retained for a maximum period of six months, unless you contact us and ask us to delete your application sooner.
To read Combat Stress’ Privacy Policy please see our website www.combatstress.org.uk.
