Who we are

Alzheimer Scotland is Scotland’s national dementia charity. Our aim is to make sure nobody faces dementia alone. We provide support and information to people with dementia, their carers and families, we campaign for the rights of people with dementia and fund vital dementia research.

Help us keep Scotland’s dementia charity safe

Nobody should face dementia alone, and nobody should be put at risk while supporting someone through it. As our Head of Health and Safety, you will lead how Alzheimer Scotland keeps people living with dementia, carers, colleagues and volunteers safe, healthy and supported.

This is an exciting opportunity to help shape an organisation-wide approach to health and safety, as our Health and Safety competent person. Working in the People team and closely aligned with our positive People and Wellbeing approach, you will help build and contribute to a culture where safety, wellbeing and continuous improvement are part of everything we do.

What you’ll do

• Lead our health and safety approach, giving clear advice and assurance on legal compliance and organisational risk.
• Develop and improve our policies, management systems, risk assessment processes and assurance frameworks.
• Provide clear advice, guidance and evidence-based reporting.
• Lead incident reporting, investigation and learning, so lessons are embedded across the charity.
• Design and oversee health and safety training, from induction to line manager development.
• Build strong relationships with operational and property teams, ensuring compliance with regulatory and external partners’ requirements.

What you’ll have

• A professional health and safety qualification (NEBOSH Diploma, NCRQ Diploma, NVQ Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety, or equivalent).
• Substantial experience in an organisation-wide health and safety role, with sound knowledge of legislation and best practice.
• Proven experience of leading risk-based health and safety systems across multiple or dispersed sites.
• The ability to influence and coach colleagues at every level, and to communicate complex issues clearly and persuasively.
• Experience of risk assessment, incident investigation and working with regulators.
• Strong IT and data skills, and a willingness to work towards IOSH membership or similar.
• An understanding of health and social care and dementia support is desirable.

Why Alzheimer Scotland?

We are an accredited Living Wage employer, committed to fair work, trust and respect. You will join a collaborative, inclusive team where your voice counts, learning is encouraged and your work makes a real difference to people’s lives.

Applicants must hold a full, valid driving licence and have access to a vehicle, or be able to travel to our services and locations by other means as required for this role.

AVA is looking for a strategic, values-led Chief Executive Officer to shape what Aberdeenshire’s Third Sector Interface, Magpie, and our other services must become by 2031 and beyond.

This is a role for someone who can combine community purpose with organisational reinvention: working with external partners to influence outcomes of public service reform and community wealth building; building new partnerships and income streams; using data and technology responsibly to build evidence and support practice; developing leadership capacity within AVA; and making clear choices about what AVA should build, protect, transform, or stop.

AVA engages annually with up to 1,000 voluntary, community, third sector, and social enterprise organisations who deliver services for residents of Aberdeenshire. We work closely with local public sector partners, and collaborate nationally with our TSI Scotland Network partners on a regular basis. You will spend real time becoming familiar with the communities and community-led groups and organisations that AVA exists to support, connect, and promote. The ability to travel from Sandend and St Combs in the north, to Braemer in the west, and St Cyrus in the south will be necessary as well as beyond the Aberdeenshire borders.

The successful candidate does not need to have spent their career in the third sector, but you will need to understand mission-led leadership, work confidently with a board of Directors/Trustees, and earn credibility with the staff team, our members, our current and future funders, and other partners from across varying sectors.

Experience and Qualifications

You will be a strategic leader with experience working accountably with a board, governing body or equivalent and a sound understanding of executive-governance boundaries. You will have significant senior leadership experience and be able to demonstrate evidence of setting direction and delivering organisational change. You will also have a track record of influencing across organisational boundaries, shaping service or operating-model redesign and changing how resources, decisions or delivery are organised. You will have excellent written and verbal communication skills and stake holder management skills with the ability to demonstrate evidence of influencing senior stakeholders, building coalitions and representing an organisation externally.

You will have a track record of leading teams through change, setting expectations, developing capability and handling difficult decisions. In addition you will have strong financial literacy, budgeting, forecasting, risk management and resource prioritisation.

You will have a proven ability to turn strategy into measurable outcomes and use evidence to improve decisions. You will be able to demonstrate evidence of using technology, data, and responsible AI to improve services, productivity, insight or organisational capability while managing risk and inclusion.

You will be able to demonstrate that you value Integrity, inclusion, equity, collaboration, and resilience and can demonstrate sound judgement under pressure.

You will be able to challenge inherited assumptions, build capabilities the organisation does not yet possess and make evidence-led choices to protect, transform, partner, grow or stop activity.

Whether you have experience within the third sector or not you should be able to demonstrate a credible understanding of communities, third sector/public-service relationships and rural/place-based challenges with specific knowledge of how these operate in Scotland being desirable.