Family Adventures Group
Regional Director -Nurseries & Early Years- South West
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Regional Director – Nurseries & Early Years (South West)
Salary: £60,000–£65,000 plus industry-leading benefits
Location: Hybrid regional role across Somerset and the South West, based from our Weston-super-Mare HQ
Reports to: Chief Quality and Operations Officer
Direct reports: 12 Nursery Managers and a Curriculum & Practice Lead
Contract: Permanent, full-time
Twelve nurseries. One region. A chance to make it the best in the country.
Family Adventures Group, a Sunday Times Best Place to Work, is hiring a Regional Director to lead 12 nurseries across the South West. This is a senior multi-site early years operations role for an experienced Regional Manager, Area Manager or Operations leader who's ready to own a region and shape how it grows.
About Us
Our purpose is Empowering the Generations of Tomorrow. We run nurseries across Somerset, the Midlands and South Wales under our Little Adventures and Green Giraffe brands, alongside our family leisure venues. We're values-led (Accountable, Reliable, Caring and Honest), founder-led and growing, with acquisitions and new openings planned.
We're proud to be recognised as:
- Sunday Times Best Places to Work (Large UK Company, 2025/26)
- Great Place to Work® Top 100 Large UK Company (2025/26)
- Top 20 UK Large Nursery Group (2025/26)
- UK Top 100 Best Workplace for Women, for Development and in Education (2025/26)
The Role
You'll have end-to-end accountability for quality, compliance, people and commercial performance across our South West region of 12 nurseries.
You'll lead and develop our Nursery Managers, line manage the Curriculum & Practice Lead, and turn group strategy into a clear regional plan. You'll work alongside our second Regional Director to keep standards consistent across the Group, supported by central teams in People & Culture, Safeguarding & Inclusion, Customer Success, Finance, Estates and Training.
This is a role for someone who combines strong operational grip with a genuine passion for early years education, and who builds managers who can deliver without constant central support.
What You'll Lead
Regional operations
- Set clear expectations and a regional operating plan, backed by performance reviews, nursery visits and data
- Spot underperformance early and lead proportionate, decisive improvement
- Lead the response to significant incidents, complaints and inspection outcomes
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Quality, curriculum and compliance
- Keep every nursery inspection-ready, with consistent EYFS curriculum delivery and high-quality practice
- Use audits, learning walks and inspection findings to drive improvement
- Maintain full compliance with Ofsted and CIW requirements, safeguarding, health and safety and safer recruitment, working closely with our Safeguarding & Inclusion Lead
People and leadership
- Line manage, coach and develop 12 Nursery Managers as confident business and educational leaders
- Build stable leadership teams, succession plans and a culture of high support and high challenge
- Tackle turnover, absence and workforce planning trends across the region
Commercial performance
- Own regional occupancy, revenue, staffing costs and contribution (P&L)
- Help Nursery Managers understand and manage their budgets, forecasts and enquiry pipelines
- Drive occupancy through a strong parent experience, local reputation and close work with Customer Success and Marketing
Growth
- Support acquisitions, TUPE transfers, integrations and new nursery openings
- Bring regional insight to group-wide strategy and projects
What Success Looks Like
- Strong, stable Nursery Managers.
- Every nursery delivering high-quality care and inspection outcomes.
- Robust compliance, with risks spotted early.
- Healthy occupancy and commercial performance.
- A region that sustains high standards without depending on constant central intervention.
About You
Essential:
- Senior multi-site operational leadership experience (Regional Manager, Area Manager, Operations Manager or equivalent), ideally in early years, education, care or another regulated sector
- A track record of leading and developing a team of site or nursery managers
- Strong knowledge of EYFS and the Ofsted and/or CIW frameworks, safeguarding, and health and safety
- Commercial acumen, including P&L, budgets, occupancy and staffing costs, and confidence using data to make decisions
- Strong coaching, performance management and change leadership skills
- Excellent communication skills, and the credibility to hold senior managers to account
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Desirable:
- Experience of acquisitions, new openings or significant growth
- Experience working across both English and Welsh regulatory contexts
- Experience leading curriculum or quality improvement through specialist team members
- Level 5 or above in early years, or a leadership and management qualification
- Designated Safeguarding Lead, Safer Recruitment or IOSH Leading Safely training, or a willingness to complete them
- A full UK driving licence (regular regional travel is required)
If you're strong on most of this and ready for your next step, we'd love to hear from you.
What We Offer
- £60,000–£65,000 salary
- Business mileage paid at HMRC rates
- 30 days' holiday plus 8 bank holidays, plus your birthday off
- Private medical insurance
- Income protection of up to 70% of salary, plus life assurance at 2× salary
- Enhanced family leave, including 12 weeks' maternity or adoption leave at full pay
- Heavily discounted childcare at our nurseries, and free holiday club places for children aged 5–10
- Spark wellbeing platform: 24/7 support for you and your family, virtual GP and physiotherapy
- Electric car salary sacrifice scheme and Cycle to Work
- Leadership development, coaching, mentoring and manager retreats
- Awards events, socials and a supportive senior leadership team
Benefits are subject to eligibility and scheme rules.
How to Apply
Apply via LinkedIn or our careers site and we'll be in touch. We welcome applications from everyone, and we're happy to make adjustments at any stage. Just let us know what would help.
Safeguarding
Family Adventures Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All colleagues are expected to share this commitment. Appointment is subject to our safer recruitment procedures, including identity and Right to Work checks, satisfactory references, an Enhanced DBS check and a relevant barred list check where required, and any other suitability checks applicable to the role.
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