Designated Safeguarding Officer and Safety Lead

This is your chance to lead something truly meaningful. As our Designated Safeguarding Officer and Safety Lead, you won’t just influence safeguarding practice—you’ll help shape the future of safe, high-quality care for children, young people, and families across the UK.  

This is a high-impact, highly visible and exciting role for someone who wants to do more than just uphold standards—you want to raise them. You’ll work hand-in-hand with senior leaders, commissioners, and local teams, driving forward a culture where safeguarding is second nature and safe systems of work continue to be fully embedded. From crafting policies and procedures to delivering training and coaching frontline teams, your leadership will empower services to go further, think bigger, and deliver exceptional outcomes. 

You’ll play a central role across Compass’ early intervention programmes—including mental health, substance misuse, school nursing, and emotional wellbeing—ensuring our services are not only effective, but safe, inclusive, and built around the needs of our children, young people and families. 

With frequent travel and the chance to support teams directly on the ground, no two days will be the same. If you’re an experienced safeguarding leader who thrives on variety, challenge, and driving real change, this is the role for you. 

Join us and be the difference behind safer futures. 

You’re a confident, experienced safeguarding leader who brings strategic insight and frontline credibility. You’re passionate about quality, hold high standards, and driven in your belief that every child and young person deserves to feel safe, respected, and supported. You thrive in fast-paced settings, are a natural collaborator and have the leadership skills to inspire and lead teams through change.

To succeed in this role, you’ll need:

• To be a registered professional (e.g. Nurse or Social Worker)

• Ongoing professional development and commitment to learning

• Level 5 safeguarding training (or willingness to complete this)

• Strong safeguarding leadership experience working with children, families, and vulnerable adults

• Deep knowledge of safeguarding frameworks, including the Children Act, Care Act, and Mental Capacity Act

• Experience delivering training and providing safeguarding supervision and advice

• A track record in quality assurance, governance, and continuous improvement
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• Strong communication, planning, and risk management skills, able to manage priorities under pressure

Compass is committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults. Established for over 30 years, Compass is a national charity which works in communities across the UK providing services spanning substance misuse treatment and rehabilitation, early interventions for vulnerable young people, school-aged health programmes and associated prevention as well as treatment and health promotion initiatives.

All Compass posts are subject to appropriate level DBS checks.

We positively encourage applications from all members of the community, regardless of gender, race, faith, disability, age, or sexual orientation, and encourage applications from people who have experiences in life which enrich skills and empathy. This is part of our commitment to equality and developing a truly inclusive and representative workforce.

We are happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments individuals may require in the recruitment process, on commencement, or once in post.

Benefits

We offer a range of benefits including:

• 27 days holiday + bank holidays, rising to 32 days over time (pro rata)
• Life assurance at 2 x basic salary
• Competitive contributory pension scheme
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme and OH service
• Enhanced sick pay
• Excellent learning & development opportunities and career progression
• Annual performance/salary review