Active Pathways
Registered Manager (New Mental Health Service)
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Registered Manager (Residential Mental Health)
Droylsden, Manchester
Full-Time - 37.5 hours per week
Salary: £43,000 - circa. £50,000 depending on experience
Shifts: Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm
Active Pathways is growing, and we’re looking for an exceptional Registered Manager to lead the opening of a new 12-bed residential mental health service in Manchester, launching later this year.
You’ll take the service from mobilisation through to a stable, high-performing operation: finalising the environment with contractors, building trusted relationships with local commissioners, shaping referral pathways, recruiting and developing your team, and embedding a culture that reflects our CARE values. This role offers genuine influence, autonomy, and long-term opportunity. This is a rare opportunity to join at the very start of the service’s journey. You won’t be inheriting an established operation — you’ll be shaping it.
If you’re an accomplished Registered Manager from a regulated residential mental health setting and you’re energised by building something exceptional, we’d like to speak with you.
Why this role is different
Reporting to the Regional Manager, this is more than a Registered Manager position. It’s an opportunity to:
- Lead the opening and mobilisation of a new residential service
- Shape the culture, standards, and operating model from day one
- Build and develop your own multidisciplinary team
- Work directly with commissioners to generate, assess, and convert referrals
- Drive occupancy, performance, and growth in a growing region
- Play a key role in Active Pathways’ ambition to grow from 150 to 300 beds by 2030
- Position yourself for further senior opportunities as we continue to expand across Greater Manchester
Whether you bring experience of opening new services, managing multiple sites, or transforming and stabilising existing residential services, this is a role with scope, stretch, and progression.
As our Registered Manager, you will:
- Work with the Regional Manager and Operations Support Team to lead the setup and opening of a new residential mental health service within our comprehensive mobilisation framework
- Work closely with contractors and internal teams to ensure the environment is safe, compliant, and ready for service delivery
- Establish robust clinical governance, quality, and risk frameworks aligned with CQC expectations
- Build strong relationships with local commissioners, professionals, and partners to support referral flow and occupancy
- Assess and manage referrals, supporting safe admissions and effective pathways
- Recruit, develop, and lead a skilled, values-driven team from the ground up
- Maintain accountability for quality, safety, occupancy, performance, and financial sustainability
- Act as the Registered Person with CQC, ensuring inspection readiness and regulatory compliance
- Model Active Pathways’ CARE values in all aspects of leadership and decision-making
- Contribute to wider organisational growth and development within the region
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This is a role with real influence, strategic exposure, and the chance to leave a legacy.
About You
You will be:
- An experienced Registered Manager, with a Good or Outstanding CQC track record
- A senior leader from complex, regulated mental health settings
- Ambitious and commercially aware, with the drive to grow alongside a scaling organisation
- Visible, people-centred, and uncompromising on quality and standards
Ideally you will have:
- Experience of successfully opening new services
- Multi-site management experience, working across different services and service types
- Experience of successfully leading service transformation or turnaround
You’ll bring:
- Strong experience leading regulated residential mental health services
- Credibility and confidence to act as a Registered Person with CQC
- A passion for recovery-focused, least restrictive care
- The ability to balance clinical quality, governance, and commercial performance
- A leadership style that is visible, values-led, and empowering
The Best Bits
- Competitive salary, with flexibility for the right individual
- 27 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays
- Additional annual leave at 2, 3, and 5 years’ service
- Workplace pension scheme
- Option to purchase up to 5 additional days’ leave
- Refer a Friend scheme - earn up to £500 per referral
- Wellbeing benefits, including company sick pay, occupational health service, and a Health Cash Plan for health costs, virtual GP, counselling, and discounted gym membership
- Free Blue Light Card membership
- Free enhanced DBS, on-site parking, and lunch (for site-based roles)
- Ongoing leadership support, development, and progression opportunities
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Passionate About Joining Us?
Given our exciting growth ambitions, we welcome applications from experienced CQC Registered Managers from complex mental health settings, including those with multi-site responsibility and/or mobilisation experience.
If this sounds like the right next step, we’d welcome an open and confidential conversation to explore the opportunity, the scope of the role, and how the overall package could be shaped for the right person.
About Us
Active Pathways is a specialist mental health and rehabilitation provider with over 20 years’ experience delivering recovery-focused services across the North of England.
We support adults with complex mental health needs through residential rehabilitation, step-down services, and supported living, working closely with individuals to build independence, confidence, and meaningful lives beyond services.
To find out more about the types of services we offer and the standard of the homes we provide, you can see details of the last service we opened, Fernside House, in January 2026 here - https://www.active-pathways.com/care-homes/fernside/
Our CARE values — Competent, Accountable, Resilient, and Ethical — are at the heart of everything we do. They shape how we lead, how we support our teams, and how we deliver safe, high-quality care.
We are proud to be CQC Rated Outstanding and Investors in People Gold.
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