Regional Education Director

Lift Schools, London, W12 7TF

14 days remaining to apply

• Start date details

  As soon as possible

• Closing date

  23 November 2026 at 10:26am

• Date listed

  9 November 2026

Job details

• Job role:
  • Other leadership role
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Working pattern: Full time
• Contract type: Permanent
• Full time equivalent salary: £0.0000 - £1 per annum

Regional Education Director job summary

Lead and influence at scale. Shape the future of education.

Are you ready to make an even bigger difference? We're looking for an exceptional leader, who truly understands excellence, to join us as our regional education director for the South West.

We are a national network of local schools, and you will lead the South West region, helping shape its identity, drawing on all the resources that a national network brings.

With fifteen schools from Cheltenham and Chepstow down to Andover, Torquay, and Ryde, this is a brilliant opportunity to step up and help shape the education of 7,067 of children within the region.

At Lift, we believe in an excellent education for every child, in every classroom, every day. And your role will be to help develop our principals in the South West so that vision becomes a reality.

We also believe that talent drives performance, and we're serious about investing in our leaders' growth. As a regional education director, you will benefit from a £100,000 Individual Development Account to support your own growth and development with us.

The opportunity

As Regional Education Director, you will be accountable for the performance and improvement of fifteen schools in our south west region. You will deliver impact through effective leadership that fosters collaboration, develops exceptional principals and contributes to the strategic direction of our trust.

You'll create the conditions in which principals can thrive: setting clear expectations, developing leadership capacity and providing the right balance of professional autonomy, support, challenge and intervention.

You'll also be a vital connection between our schools and the wider trust, translating our shared priorities into meaningful action while ensuring that the experiences and insights of schools contribute meaningfully to shape our future direction.

Success in this role isn't about being involved in everything; it's about judgement and knowing where your leadership will make the greatest difference.

You'll bring the strategic judgement to identify what matters most, the confidence to make difficult decisions and the determination to secure sustained improvement.

What we're looking for

We're seeking a highly credible education leader with a proven track record of school improvement, exceptional judgement and the ability to inspire and develop others.

You'll bring:

• Educational credibility: A deep understanding of what drives sustained school improvement.
• Strategic judgement: The ability to identify priorities, make sound decisions and focus on impact.
• Leadership through others: The confidence to empower principals while holding them accountable.
• Collaborative leadership: The ability to unite and inspire a team of principals, fostering shared responsibility, collective learning and improvement across schools.
• Support and challenge: The ability to build trusted relationships and intervene decisively when needed.
• Organisational influence: The ability to shape thinking, challenge assumptions and contribute to wider decisions.

Above all, you'll believe that exceptional education is achieved through exceptional leadership.

Why Lift Schools?

We're a growing national network of 62 primary, secondary and special schools, united by an ambition to transform the lives of children through education.

As a RED, you'll have the opportunity to lead at a significant scale while remaining closely connected to schools, their leaders and communities.

You'll benefit from:

• A highly competitive salary, bonus and Local Government Pension Scheme.
• £100k investment in your professional development through our Individual Development Account offer.
• Executive coaching, professional development and networking opportunities.
• The expertise and resources of an established national organisation.
• The opportunity to influence trust-wide decisions and make a lasting difference to thousands of children.

This is a leadership opportunity with genuine scale, influence and purpose.

Whether you're looking to broaden your system leadership experience or make your next significant contribution to education, we'd love to hear from you.

Discover more in our candidate information brochure and apply to join Lift Schools.

For an informal and confidential conversation, contact Tanya Bentham at .

Closing date: Wednesday 25 November 2026 at 9:00am

Assessment and interview dates: Wednesday 2 December 2026 and Friday 4 December 2026

Start date: As soon as possible

Further information about the job

The candidate will be required to undergo a full enhanced DBS check and must be eligible to work in the UK.

Visas cannot be sponsored.

If you're interested in teaching or training to teach in England as an international citizen, we can help you understand your next steps.

Commitment to safeguarding

Lift Schools are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our pupils, and we expect all our people and volunteers to share this commitment. We adopt a fair and consistent recruitment process which is inline with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. This includes online checks for shortlisted candidates. All offers of employment are subject to an Enhanced DBS check, references, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check.

Applying for the job

This school accepts applications through their own website, where you may also find more information about this job.

CVs will not be accepted for this application.

About Lift Schools

• Type: Multi-academy trust
• Website: Lift Schools website
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/academies-enterprise-trust

Who is Lift Schools? Lift Schools is made up of 59 primary, secondary and special schools, educating more than 33,000 pupils across the country. We believe education can transform lives – and we want every child in our schools to achieve their full potential. Our mission: 1.We will provide an excellent education to every child, in every classroom, every day. 2.With excellent leadership and teaching in every school, we will help children go on to lead successful and happy lives. 3.We will work with others beyond our network to benefit more children and communities. Every adult in a school has the power to transform lives, and that’s why talented people are essential to us. Our ambition to give every pupil the best start in life relies on our dedicated teachers, teaching assistants, senior leaders, and admin teams. We attract dynamic individuals and provide the space to reimagine what’s possible. That’s why your career is as important to us as it is to you. We want you to develop, we want you to grow, and we want you to feel valued.

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