Internal Only - Lead Apprenticeships Manager

Location: Fire Service Headquarters, Birkenshaw, Bradford, BD11 2DY / Hybrid Working

Contract Type: Full-time, Permanent, Job Share

Closing Date: 09 December 2025

Salary: £45,091 rising to £48,226 per annum

Specific Hours: 37 hours per week

Internal Only - Lead Apprenticeships Manager

We are looking for a talented, quality focused, dynamic and experienced Lead Apprenticeships Manager to lead our work to deploy Firefighter Apprenticeships in WYFRS. This new post enables us to Make West Yorkshire safer through enabling delivery of an excellent apprenticeship experience for our Firefighters, from day one when they join to achieving End Point Assessment and competence in role. 

This exciting role covers the full range including apprenticeship levy finance, budgeting, teaching and learning, curriculum design and delivery support, liaison with our education partner and evaluation of learning progress, achievement, attainment and quality. 

Are you someone with excellent knowledge of apprenticeships? Do you possess the right attitude and bags of skills to lead our journey to become a provider of Firefighter Apprenticeships? You’ll be supported by a passionate team of excellent people making a positive difference to our people. You have a key role in helping West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service by helping develop our people to deliver our work brilliantly. 

The successful candidate will have experience of establishing apprenticeship delivery which is compliant with standards and expectations laid down by Skills England, in line with fire service standards, funding rules, internal / external regulatory frameworks, and aligned with OFSTED expectations. From day one you’ll be hands on with colleagues across the organisation to set out and deliver these expectations and enable a culture of continuous improvement. 

Job Purpose: 

To enable and assure apprenticeship provision is of the highest quality, compliant with regulatory requirements as set out by Skills England, in line with industry standards, funding rules and internal / external regulatory frameworks. As the Authority’s apprenticeship expert, you will lead on quality of teaching and learning, quality assurance and compliance. 

You will support colleagues and their managers to ensure the organisation achieves, maintains, and continuously improves delivery of apprenticeships, meeting all regulatory requirements, making, and following up recommendations on excellent learning practice, service delivery and maximising opportunities through the Growth and Skills (Apprenticeship) Levy. 

As the Lead Apprenticeship Manager you will work with the Head of Organisational Development, Skills and Talent and with the Learning and Professional Development Team, develop strong relationships with Operational Training Centre leadership, instructors, assessors, and others and across the service to deliver seamless apprenticeship management and monitoring of programmes. You will provide advice, guidance, data, and support to subject experts, learning and training professionals, line managers, senior leaders, and apprentices.

Key Responsibilities: 

1. Leadership of Apprenticeship Centre: Lead the establishment and maintenance of the Centre, including monitoring and quality systems, teaching and learning and connect with subject experts and operational leaders to assure teaching and learning, programme delivery and compliance standards.

2. Systems & Quality Assurance: Lead the procurement, deployment and maintenance of data, compliance systems and processes for effective apprenticeship delivery.

3. Apprenticeship Funding Compliance: Ensure programmes are compliant with funding rules and quality expectations, providing financial oversight, planning, and reconciliation of apprenticeship funding.

4. Data and reporting: Ensure effective apprentice and apprenticeship data management. Capture, track and report on Impact, business benefits and quality measures.

5. Apprentice experience: Put apprentices’ experience at the heart of delivery, considering the needs of both apprentices and the organisation.

Essential requirements:

Significant experience of identifying and supporting people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), including supporting teaching / training colleagues to deliver job appropriate reasonable adjustments; support and enable candidates to progress. 

Line management experience, managing budgets, projects, people and performance.  You will have experience of mapping and implementing occupational standards against apprenticeship standards.  

Experience of Ofsted inspections, including preparation of evidence, understanding of standards for teaching and learning and of using grading criteria to achieve continuous improvement. 

You will be educated to Degree level (Level 6) or have significant equivalent level experience. You will have a Level 4 teaching/learning qualification and ideally have qualified teacher status and possess IQA (Internal Quality Assurance) qualification with experience of embedding quality.  

You will have demonstrable knowledge and experience of embedding effective Assessment Strategies, Quality Assurance and Awarding Body Codes of Practice.

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All correspondence will usually be sent to your email account registered with the online recruitment system rather than by letter. Please check your email account regularly.

If after reading all of this information, you are interested in applying, please read the documents listed above for more details and click on 'Apply' for the application form.

Please note we do not accept CVs.  If you are viewing this vacancy on ‘jobsindeed’ or other external platform, please be advised this vacancy is only open to West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service employees.

For recruitment queries please contact Applications@westyorksfire.gov.uk

Apply now