Participation Adviser

Job title: Participation Adviser

Salary: £41,910 - £46,302 (Grade 5)

Hours: 35 hours per week

Location: flexible (any Care Inspectorate office)

Contract: temporary for 6 months (secondments welcome)

Closing date: 08:00 on Tuesday 28 April 2026

About us

We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. That means we look at the quality of care in Scotland to ensure it meets high standards. We are responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high-quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

Our values

1. Person-centred: we put people, empathy, compassion, and kindness at the heart of everything we do

2. Respect: we value everyone's dignity and are respectful in everything we do

3. Equity: we embrace diversity and nurture an inclusive environment where everyone is supported to achieve equal outcomes

4. Integrity: we act impartially, fairly, and consistently, upholding transparency and accountability in all our actions

5. Impact: we focus on making a positive impact for everyone experiencing care in Scotland whilst ensuring our work delivers the best value to the public

Work-life balance

Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, which enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. Our hybrid working policy gives you the flexibility to mix working from home with attendance at your base office and other work locations, spending no more than 60% of your working time working from home, measured over a four-week period.

About the role

This role is central to fulfilling our statutory responsibilities for participation and ensuring that people who experience care and those important to them have their voices heard. You will lead our Volunteer Development Programme, lead participation development work and provide line management to our Participation Coordinators. A key part of the role is ensuring volunteers are well supported, confident in their contribution and deployed effectively and meaningfully to enhance our organisational work.

You will collaborate with external partners and colleagues across assurance, improvement and wider organisational functions to ensure our participation activity is targeted, timely and aligned to organisational priorities. Your leadership will help ensure that participation is embedded across our work and that the voices of people who experience care meaningfully contributes to our everyday work.

We welcome opportunities for secondments and are open to hosting individuals who wish to broaden their experience, share knowledge, and contribute to our team. If you are interested in arranging a secondment with us, we would be pleased to discuss this further.

You will find more information in the job profile and person specification.

About you

You should be educated to SCQF level 9 or equivalent in social work, education, community development, health, social care, or a related discipline, or have the relevant skills and experience for this role.

You can find more about SCQF Level 9 on their website.

You should be passionate about participation, human rights, and equalities, with a strong commitment to ensuring people’s voices are heard and valued. You should have experience supporting and managing others and can confidently oversee

volunteer programmes and participation in activities in an inclusive and empowering way.

You will bring excellent communication and organisational skills, with the ability to build trusting relationships across diverse groups. You should be proactive, approachable, and values-driven, with a focus on creating meaningful opportunities for people to get involved and influence change.

Starting salary

New employees start at the minimum salary for the grade. However, we offer a generous benefits package.

Next steps

If you believe that your skills, experience and motivation make you a suitable candidate for this post, please complete our online application form by 08:00 on Tuesday 28 April 2026.

We anticipate holding interviews during the week commencing 25 May 2026 at our Dundee office or on Microsoft Teams.

Please note that choosing a Teams interview will not negatively impact your application in any way. We recognise the current challenges associated with fuel costs and travel and aim to offer flexibility to support all applicants.