Join the Kindred Family – A Place to Grow, Thrive and Make a Difference

At Kindred, we’re passionate about giving children the very best start in life while creating a workplace where our people feel valued, supported and inspired.

Are you an experienced leader who is passionate about developing people, driving performance and creating exceptional early years environments? Join Kindred as an Area Manager and play a key role in supporting our nurseries to deliver outstanding care, education and commercial success.

Want to know what it’s really like to work at Kindred?
Visit our Why Work With Us page to explore our benefits, career development opportunities and discover why so many of our colleagues choose to grow their careers with us.

What You’ll Be Doing

As an Area Manager, you’ll provide strategic leadership across a group of nurseries, empowering Nursery Managers to deliver outstanding care, education and operational excellence. You’ll work closely with Head Office teams to drive performance, develop future leaders and ensure every nursery provides exceptional experiences for children and families.

You will:

• Lead, coach and support Nursery Managers to achieve outstanding outcomes for children, families and colleagues.Build high-performing teams by mentoring leaders and developing talent across your region.

• Support nurseries to achieve and maintain Good or Outstanding Ofsted outcomes.

• Promote a culture of continuous improvement, accountability and excellence.

• Lead safeguarding, compliance and operational standards across your nurseries.

• Carry out quality audits and support action plans to drive continuous improvement.

• Support recruitment, succession planning and leadership development.

• Monitor occupancy, staffing, budgets and commercial performance.

• Work collaboratively with Finance, HR, Property, Marketing and other Central Support teams to achieve business objectives.

• Support the integration of new nurseries and wider business projects.

• Build strong relationships with children, families, Local Authorities and external partners.

• Travel regularly across your region and to Kindred’s Central Support Office as required.
  
  What You’ll Need
  
  Essential:

• A full and relevant Early Years qualification (Level 3 or above).

• Significant leadership experience within Early Years.

• A strong understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Ofsted requirements.

• Excellent leadership, coaching and communication skills.

• Commercial awareness with experience managing budgets and operational performance.

• A full UK driving licence and flexibility to travel regularly.
  
  Desirable:
  

• A management qualification.

• Experience managing multiple nursery settings.

• Experience leading nursery improvement programmes or supporting Ofsted inspections.

• A commitment to continuous professional development.
  
  Why You’ll Love Working at Kindred
  
  At Kindred, we’re more than a nursery group – we’re a family.
  

• Supportive Culture: Built on strong relationships, teamwork and a genuine sense of belonging.

• Career Development: Leadership development, mentoring and opportunities to progress within a growing organisation.

• Work-Life Balance: Enjoy the flexibility and autonomy of a regional leadership role.

• Competitive Pay & Benefits: Competitive salary, car allowance and a generous benefits package.

• Award-Winning Family: Join a company that values recognition, personal growth and team success.

• More than 9 out of 10 of our colleagues would recommend Kindred as a great place to work.
  
  What Happens Next?
  
  Our recruitment process may include:
  

• Initial video interview.

• Face-to-face interview.

• Leadership assessment or presentation (where applicable).

• Safer recruitment checks, including references, an enhanced DBS check and qualification verification.
  
  Ready to Start Your Kindred Journey?
  
  Click Apply to submit your application.
  
  We review applications as they’re received and aim to respond within 2–5 working days.
  
  We look forward to receiving your application and welcoming you to the Kindred family.
  
  Our Commitment to Safeguarding
  
  Kindred is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. All successful applicants will be subject to safer recruitment checks, including an enhanced DBS check, references and qualification verification, in line with our safeguarding policy.
  
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