Senior Safeguarding Officer

Senior Safeguarding Officer

Time commitment: Full-time preferred. Part-time applicants are considered for a minimum of 4 days per week. Importantly, our services operate 9am-5:30pm, so out-of-hours safeguarding is not required.

Location: Either hybrid (3 days per week in our London office, 2 days from home) or fully remote.

Reporting to: Mark Jenkins (CEO) in interim, and then to Operations Manager for Clinical Quality

About Paloma

Mark & Darshak founded Paloma as they were frustrated that families are waiting 2-10 years for NHS children’s autism and ADHD assessments. Learn more about the crisis in NHS children’s neurodevelopmental services from this Children’s Commissioner for England here: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/blog/childrens-commissioner-warns-of-invisible-crisis-as-delays-and-inequalities-laid-bare-among-children-with-neurodevelopmental-conditions/

Paloma’s mission is to make children’s autism and ADHD assessments and care available on the NHS within 4 weeks of GP referral. We are making this happen by redesigning care pathways, building new software & AI tools, and training up a specialist clinical workforce.

We are growing incredibly fast to meet the need for autism and ADHD care, and we have:

• Raised £5m pre-seed funding from leading healthcare investors (Triple Point Ventures and Heal Capital)
• Grown our fantastic team to 80 people, and are hiring ~100 more over the next 12 months

How is Paloma Health different from other Neurodevelopmental providers?

• We are clinically-led, Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered, and continuously improve our outcomes and family experiences.
• Our in-house product & engineering team ensures we can:
• Give families a more consumer-like experience of healthcare
• Free our clinicians from documentation to focus on supporting families
• Our strong culture, including transparency, a sense of community, and supporting staff career development
• The experience of our founders (Dr Mark Jenkins & Darshak Shah), who have previously built tech-enabled NHS obesity and ophthalmology services. Combined, their previous companies have treated over 1 million NHS patients in the last 15 years!
• Being backed by leading healthcare investors (Triple Point Ventures and Heal Capital) allows us to move fast

The Opportunity

This Senior Safeguarding Officer will lead our Safeguarding Team and partner with our Safeguarding Deputies to ensure Paloma maintains the highest standards in safeguarding for the families that we support. Where clinical decisions are needed alongside safeguarding, you will partner with our senior clinician for safeguarding Dr Kate Bennett (Clinical Psychologist).

From a cultural perspective, you are:

• Comfortable working in a dynamic environment and embracing change
• Excited about using new technologies in your role
• Always looking for ways to improve our staff and patient experience

We commit to supporting your professional development through internal and external mechanisms, and this will be discussed in quarterly development conversations. With success in the role, you can progress to Lead Safeguarding Officer.

Responsibilities:

• Supporting the design and continuous improvement of our safeguarding policies and processes, including training our assessor team on safeguarding best practices.
• Act as the main point of contact on our safeguarding rota (with Deputies covering when unavailable), supporting our assessors when safeguarding needs are identified
• Quality assure all our safeguarding referrals.
• As needed, reviewing safeguarding information in GP referrals and/or family questionnaires and providing appropriate input as needed. Where risk is being managed externally to Paloma, ensuring clarity on where the risk is being managed.
• Ensure we follow best practices and legal requirements in safeguarding, in line with our Care Quality Commission registration requirements, including safeguarding audits and being part of wider safeguarding forums.

Qualifications and experience:

• Social Worker registered with Social Work England, or other registered healthcare professional (e.g. with HCPC, NMC)
• At least 4 years experience in children and young people’s safeguarding 
• At least Level 4 safeguarding training
• We would particularly value candidates with experience within children’s neurodevelopmental services

Why join Paloma?

You will be part of a mission-driven organisation that’s transforming access to autism and ADHD care in England. We offer:

• A strong and positive culture that prioritises staff well-being, transparency, and career development.
• Protected time and budget for team connection, learning, and community-building.
• Salary of £60,000 per year, with some flexibility based on experience 
• Annual salary reviews, 5% employer pension, and company laptop.
• Share options in Paloma Health. We all benefit from our success!
• A unique leave benefits package includes 25 days of annual leave, your birthday off, and 10 days of paid sabbatical leave every three years of service.
• Home Office Equipment Allowance, and Professional Registration Fees Allowance.
• Access to NHS discounts, including the Blue Light Card (as we are an NHS provider).

Equality & Diversity

Paloma Health is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace and throughout the application process. We do not discriminate based on any protected characteristic.

Accommodations

We’re glad to accommodate candidates who need adjustments throughout the hiring process. We encourage you to be open about the adjustments you need, so we can adapt our interview process accordingly.

Safer Recruitment & Pre-Employment Checks

Paloma Health ensures that supporting people to be safe is at the heart of our work and a key priority across all areas of the organisation. As part of our pre-employment checks, you will be asked to complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. As this is a Safeguarding role, the check will be at an Enhanced level. We are committed to safer recruitment practices and expect all applicants to share our dedication to safeguarding. Our recruitment processes are designed to ensure we appoint individuals who are aligned with our values and who will contribute to maintaining a safe and supportive environment for everyone we work with.

Application process

Please apply via our website. We understand that applying for a new job requires a significant amount of effort, and we appreciate your time. We look forward to reviewing your application.

Join us and be part of our journey to revolutionise access to NHS autism and ADHD care!