Nursery Manager | Cheltenham | £43,000 to £45,000

Location: Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Salary: £43,000 to £45,000 per annum
Hours: Full-time
Contract: Permanent, Full-time
Schedule: Monday to Friday
Closing date: Sunday 29 November 2026

Ready to lead your next nursery?

Are you an experienced Nursery Manager, Deputy Nursery Manager or Early Years leader looking for your next opportunity in Cheltenham?

We're looking for an inspiring and experienced Nursery Manager to lead a fantastic Early Years team and create an environment where children thrive, families feel confident and colleagues feel supported to do their best work.

You'll take overall responsibility for the nursery, combining exceptional Early Years practice with strong people leadership, safeguarding, compliance and operational management.

Why join us?

We want you to have more than a job. We want you to build a leadership career you enjoy.

You'll benefit from:

• £43,000 to £45,000 annual salary

• Monday-to-Friday working

• 33 days' holiday for full-time colleagues, including bank holidays

• An additional paid day off for your birthday

• Excellent staff childcare support from day one, subject to availability and scheme conditions

• Training and leadership development, including mentoring and learning resources

• Career progression within our growing nursery group

• Wellbeing support, with services that may include 24/7 emotional support, virtual GP/nurse access, online physiotherapy and medical, financial and legal helplines

• Stream financial wellbeing tools

• Gym and lifestyle discounts

• Cycle to Work scheme for eligible colleagues

• Recognition and rewards, including Adventurous Applause, colleague awards, referral rewards and long-service recognition

• Team events and celebrations

We're proud to be a Great Place to Work® certified organisation and recognised by The Sunday Times Best Places to Work, reflecting the supportive, inclusive culture we're building for our people.

What you'll be doing

As Nursery Manager, you'll:

• Lead the day-to-day operation and overall performance of the nursery

• Inspire, motivate and develop your Early Years team

• Create a positive culture where colleagues feel supported, valued and accountable

• Maintain consistently high standards of care, learning and development

• Ensure children's individual needs remain at the heart of nursery practice

• Lead a strong culture of safeguarding and child protection

• Ensure appropriate staffing, deployment and ratios are maintained

• Coach and develop your leadership team and wider nursery colleagues

• Lead effective supervisions, performance conversations and colleague development

• Build strong and trusted relationships with parents, carers and families

• Maintain high standards of health, safety and welfare

• Ensure policies, procedures and regulatory requirements are consistently followed

• Support the commercial and operational success of the nursery

• Lead by example and bring our values to life every day

What we're looking for

You'll need:

• A full and relevant Level 3 Early Years / Childcare qualification or equivalent

• Strong Early Years leadership or management experience

• Experience leading and developing a nursery or Early Years team

• Excellent knowledge of safeguarding and child protection

• Strong understanding of child development and high-quality Early Years practice

• Confidence managing staffing, deployment and day-to-day nursery operations

• Strong communication, organisation and people-management skills

• Confidence building positive relationships with families and colleagues

• A positive, caring and accountable leadership style

• A strong commitment to safeguarding and promoting children's wellbeing

• An Enhanced DBS or willingness to undertake the required checks

Previous experience as a Nursery Manager, Deputy Nursery Manager, Assistant Nursery Manager or senior Early Years leaderwould be an advantage.

Grow your Early Years leadership career

Already an experienced Deputy Nursery Manager ready to take the next step?

Or are you an established Nursery Manager looking for a new challenge and the opportunity to make your mark?

We're looking for a leader who can build a great team, develop colleagues, deliver high standards and create an exceptional environment for children and families.

Our culture is built around our ARCH values: Accountability, Reliability, Caring and Honesty, with learning, recognition and career development forming part of our colleague promise.

Safeguarding children

Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.

Our safer recruitment process includes appropriate identity and Right to Work checks, references, Enhanced DBS and barred-list checks where required, qualification verification and employment history checks.

Join us in Cheltenham

This opportunity could suit candidates travelling from:

Cheltenham | Gloucester | Prestbury | Bishops Cleeve | Churchdown | Charlton Kings | Tewkesbury | Winchcombe | Gloucestershire

Ready for your next adventure?

If you're looking for a Nursery Manager, Early Years Manager, Childcare Manager, Nursery Deputy Manager or nursery leadership job in Cheltenham or Gloucestershire, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply today and take the next step in your Early Years leadership career.

Applications close Sunday 29 November 2026.