Head of Services (Female Applicants Only)

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity to join Women and Girls Network's Senior Leadership Team and lead two of our most impactful service areas: the Intersectional and Anti-Oppressive (IOS) Team and the Criminal Justice and Violence Against Women & Girls (CJS, VAWG) Team.

As Head of Services, you will play a vital role in shaping and driving services that support women and girls affected by gender-based violence, ensuring they receive empowering, trauma-informed and culturally responsive support. You will lead with a strong commitment to feminist, anti-racist and anti-oppressive values, ensuring that the voices and experiences of survivors remain at the heart of everything we do.

Working closely with the Director of Services and senior colleagues, you will provide strategic leadership across a diverse portfolio of services, strengthening partnerships, influencing systems and championing innovative approaches that remove barriers and improve outcomes for women facing multiple disadvantages. This is a unique opportunity for an experienced leader to make a lasting impact, both within our organisation and across the wider VAWG sector.

Job description

As the Head of Services, you will:

• Lead and inspire the IOS and CJS, VAWG teams, providing strategic direction and oversight to ensure services are accessible, high-quality, survivor-centred and aligned with WGN's feminist values and vision.
• Champion intersectional and anti-oppressive practice, ensuring services are responsive to the diverse experiences of women and girls, particularly those from Black and Global Majority communities and others facing systemic barriers.
• Drive excellence in service delivery, safeguarding and quality assurance, ensuring robust risk management and compliance while creating environments where survivors can heal, recover and thrive.
• Lead, support and develop Service Managers, fostering a culture of collaboration, wellbeing, accountability and continuous learning that enables staff to deliver their best work.
• Build influential partnerships across statutory, voluntary and community sectors, strengthening pathways for survivors and ensuring WGN's expertise informs local, regional and national responses to violence against women and girls.
• Use insight, evidence and survivor feedback to evaluate impact, drive innovation and shape the future development of services, ensuring they continue to meet emerging need and deliver meaningful change.
• Represent WGN as a sector leader, advocating for systemic change and helping to create a society where all women and girls can live free from violence, inequality and discrimination.

Supporting Statement Guidance

Your supporting statement should clearly demonstrate how your experience, knowledge, skills, and qualifications meet the requirements of the role. Please address the key criteria outlined in the Job Description and Person Specification, providing specific examples of achievements and responsibilities that evidence your suitability for the position.

Focus on relevant professional experience, transferable skills, and the impact of your work. Where possible, use concise examples to illustrate how you have successfully applied these skills in practice.

The supporting statement should be no more than 500 words and should complement, rather than repeat, the information contained in your CV or application form.

Closing date and interviews

This vacancy will close at 9am on Monday 28 September 2026. Interviews will take place shortly thereafter, and shortlisted candidates will be notified of the arrangements.

We encourage early applications, as we reserve the right to close the vacancy before the advertised closing date should we receive a high volume of applications or identify a suitable candidate.

The selection process will consist of two interview stages and a role-related assessment task. Interviews may be conducted either in person or remotely, depending on panel availability and logistical requirements, and may involve a combination of both formats throughout the process. Candidates invited to participate will receive full details of each stage, including the assessment task and interview arrangements, in advance.

About us

Women and Girls Network (WGN) is a pan-London organisation that supports women and girls affected by all forms of gendered-based violence. Our overall aim is to promote, preserve and restore the mental health and well-being of women and girls who have experienced, or are at risk of, gendered-based violence, whilst working towards a society free of gendered-based violence.

We do this by:

• Providing women-only holistic and seamless therapeutic services, which meet women and girls' needs and contribute to total and sustainable recovery from the experiences of violence.
• Evidencing the impact of gendered-based violence and presenting this information in appropriate forums to affect social change in attitudes towards, and responses to, gendered-based violence.
• Developing good practice in the sector by providing training and guidance on specialist service provision and the development of culturally appropriate service delivery.

WGN is proud to be an accredited Living Wage Employer and a member of The London VAWG Consortium, Halo Code, and Helplines Partnership.

Commitment to Equity and Inclusion

We are deeply committed to building a workforce that reflects the diversity, resilience and strength of the women and girls we serve. We strongly encourage applications from Black and Global Majority women and applicants with Lived Experience, including those who may not meet every criterion.

WGN is an equal opportunities employer.

Exemption

This post is exempt under the Equality Act 2010, Schedule 9, Part 1, and is open to female applicants only, due to the nature of the role.