Job Description

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Salary: 72,159

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Hours: 35 hours per week

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Location: flexible (any Care Inspectorate office)

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Contract: permanent

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Closing date: 08:00 on Monday 27 October 2025

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Job profile and person specification

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Help shape the future of adult health and social care in Scotland

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About us

At the Care Inspectorate, we believe everyone in Scotland deserves high-quality, compassionate, and person-centred care that supports their rights, choices, and wellbeing. Our Strategic Inspectors play a vital role in making this vision a reality, by evaluating how effectively services and partnerships work together to improve outcomes for people who experience care, their families, and carers.


We are currently recruiting experienced, values-driven professionals to join our Strategic Scrutiny team. In this role, you will lead or contribute to strategic inspections across adult, children's, or justice services, working closely with local partnerships, national bodies, and government to assess how services are planned, led, and delivered across Scotland. You will also contribute to a range of quality assurance activities and national policy development and support both internal and external improvement initiatives.


If you're a confident, collaborative leader with a passion for strategic improvement and a deep commitment to equity, inclusion, and human rights, we want to hear from you.


Join us in shaping a more integrated, inclusive, and outcomes-focused care system for Scotland.


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About the role

As a strategic inspector, you will lead and support inspections that evaluate how well local partnerships and services work together to deliver positive outcomes for people across Scotland. You'll assess strategic planning, leadership, and delivery across sectors such as health, social work, education, and justice with a strong focus on how lived experience informs and shapes care and support.


Using national frameworks, data, and evidence, you will produce high-quality public reports that highlight strengths, identify areas for improvement, and support meaningful change. You'll work closely with senior leaders, the Scottish Government, and national partners to influence improvement, contribute to the development of inspection methodologies, and support both internal and external quality assurance initiatives.


This is a key leadership role with significant scope to make a lasting impact on the quality of care and support in Scotland.


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About you

You'll be a skilled and experienced professional with a strong background in social work, health or education. You'll bring a track record of leading strategic projects, service delivery, or improvement initiatives at a senior level, with the insight and confidence to evaluate complex systems and make evidence-based decisions.


Your leadership experience may come from roles such as service manager, strategic lead, inspector, or advisor, where you've worked collaboratively across sectors and driven meaningful change. You will have excellent analytical, communication, and report writing skills, with the ability to engage stakeholders at all levels and influence decision-making locally and nationally.


You'll be values-driven, politically astute, and committed to equity, inclusion, and person-centred practice, motivated by the opportunity to make a real difference to people's lives through scrutiny and improvement.


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Qualifications and registration

To apply for this role, you must hold a relevant qualification at SCQF Level 9 or above that enables registration with a recognised professional regulatory body such as the Scottish Social Services Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council, General Teaching Council for Scotland, or Health and Care Professions Council. In addition, your qualification must meet the requirements for Secondary Authorised Officer status under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. This means it must be directly relevant to social services, social work, health, education, or a related care discipline. If you are unsure whether your qualification meets this requirement, we encourage you to contact us before applying.


If you are registering through the Scottish Social Services Council, to comply with their Secondary Authorised Officer registration category, you'll need a relevant practice qualification and be required to complete the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM), Accredited assessor or Assessor training certificate within 3 years of appointment.


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What we offer

The starting salary for this role is fixed at the grade minimum 72,159 for all new entrants in line with our pay policy. This is not subject to negotiation.


We offer a comprehensive total rewards package, including flexible and hybrid working, generous leave, and a defined benefit pension. Discover the full range of benefits on the total rewards package page of our website.


Due to the nature of the role, you must be willing to travel, with some inspections requiring overnight stays. Travel and accommodation costs are covered in line with our expenses policy.


Joining us will allow you to play a vital role in supporting the rights, wellbeing and quality of life of people across Scotland.


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Work-life balance

Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, which enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. Our hybrid working policy gives you the flexibility to mix working from home with attendance at your base office and other work locations, spending no more than 60% of your working time working from home, measured over a four-week period.


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Next steps

To find out more about working at the Care Inspectorate, our recruitment process and our talent pool, please visit our work with us section of the website.


For any further information, please contact our recruitment team at recruitment@careinspectorate.gov.scot and we will be happy to help with your query.


To apply please complete our online application form by

08:00 on Monday 27 October 2025

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The Care Inspectorate is committed to recruiting, retaining, and developing a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. It is vital that we monitor and analyse diversity information to improve how we meet the needs of our applicants and staff. We encourage you to complete the equalities monitoring form at the end of the application process.


We anticipate holding the assessment centre for this post at our Dundee office over a two week period, from the week commencing Monday 24 November.


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Job profile and person specification

(webpage)

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Job profile and person specification

(PDF)