Regional Manager
BestStart Educare is the country's largest provider of early childhood education and care, with over 260 centres and around 4,500 awesome staff, from Whangarei to Invercargill. Proudly Kiwi-owned, BestStart educates and cares for 20,000 children daily and is here to make a positive difference in the lives of children. With the vision ‘To be the Leader in Early Childhood Education’, BestStart stands up and stands out for their children, their whānau, communities and their people. The flexible, inclusive and supportive culture creates a sense of belonging, where staff love what they do and are passionate about making a difference.
About The Role:
Based in Christchurch, the Regional Manager for the South Island and Wellington oversees the operations of 90 centres within the Southern region, working closely with Area Managers and Centre Managers. As an active and positive contributor to the Lead Team, the role will develop and implement strategies and change to secure BestStart’s short and long-term success and be a key advisor to the business.
You will:
- Deliver fantastic educational and quality outcomes for tamariki, whānau and communities.
- Drive increased occupancy and growth across centres.
- Deliver uncompromised business results, with overall accountability for building staff capability, financial and commercial performance, while supporting the achievement of quality curriculum and compliance, as per Ministry of Education expectations.
- Lead a team of Area Managers and support office staff geographically spread across a large area.
- Be passionate about delivering an outstanding customer experience, thinking like a customer, getting underneath the insights and opportunities to drive continuous improvements.
- You’ll be keen on the numbers, reporting and all things data.
- Manage, empower and develop a multi-disciplinary workforce while harnessing the talents of your staff at all levels across your centres.
- Collaborate across the organisation with a variety of different teams in both support offices and centres. You will work to inspire your fellow colleagues to action and deliver initiatives with many moving parts, often within tight deadlines.
- Build great relationships with the Ministry of Education and other regulatory bodies.
Skills & Experience:
- An experienced and inspiring senior leader with a focus on quality and a track record of delivering outcomes (+5 years in a senior management position).
- As a high impact leader with buckets of energy, you will have strong commercial acumen that has served you well in your current role and strengths in leading customer service.
- Self-motivated, innovative, reflective and prepared to think beyond the boundaries.
- Demonstrated understanding of financial and operational outcomes.
- Top-notch engagement skills that enable you to work with anyone at any level of the organisation.
- A drive to get things done and never afraid to fail fast and try again.
- You’re not afraid of a tight deadline and you work comfortably under pressure to manage all priorities, adaptable and able to ‘turn on a dime’.
- You have a focus on how things can be done differently to achieve fantastic outcomes for our whānau, tamariki and communities.
- Working at pace is a sweet spot for you, you love solving problems and getting the right people around to make decisions.
- A relevant tertiary qualification, in commerce or management, or equivalent demonstrated experience.
- Education sector experience would be advantageous but not essential.
How to Apply:
Candidates can view the Candidate Information document, including a Position Description, and apply, in strict confidence, online at www.sheffield.co.nz
To apply by email, please attach your cover letter and CV and send to cvchc@sheffield.co.nz quoting 8916aa. Applications close on 10 February 2025. Emails will be electronically acknowledged, and further correspondence may be by email.
For more information please phone Andrea Bankier on +64 (0)274 478 102.
