Nursery Manager

Nursery – Bright Horizons Brentwood Day Nursery & Pre School

Salary – £47,000 per annum (dependent on qualification/s and experience)

Location –  Coptfold Road, Brentwood, CM14 4BN

We are looking for an experienced Nursery Manager to lead our brand-new 88-place nursery opening in November 2026 in central Brentwood, just a short distance from the Baytree Shopping Centre.

Currently undergoing extensive renovations, the setting is being thoughtfully designed to create a warm, welcoming environment where children can thrive.

The nursery will feature a wraparound garden, giving children the opportunity to access outdoor spaces throughout the day.

With onsite parking available and Brentwood station just a short walk away, this is an exciting opportunity to shape and lead a new setting in a fantastic location.

Our Benefits

• £47,000 per annum

• Childcare discount of 100% for first child

• Enhanced parental leave

• 25 days annual leave, plus bank holidays and paid Christmas closure. Ability to also purchase additional leave*

• Pension

• Financial and wellbeing benefits including 24/7 virtual GP appointments, early access to wages, and more

• Professional development programme access for every stage of your career, including access to a careers coach​

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*Subject to T&Cs

The Role

As a Nursery Manager, you will lead a team to deliver outstanding care and education to all the children in your setting, and through inspirational leadership drive employee engagement, retention and performance. You will act as Designated Safeguarding Lead, holding overall responsibility for the day to day running of the nursery, and management of safeguarding policies. You will work in partnership with support office teams to recruit, nurture, and continuously develop high performing colleagues, as well as identify and implement commercial plans and strategies to deliver FTE growth. You will optimise nursery performance, revenue generation, and cost efficiency in line with staff ratio requirements.

What we’re looking for

• Full and relevant Level 3 or above Early Years qualification

• Experience within an Early Years leadership role (ideally as a Nursery Manager, Deputy Manager, Assistant Manager or similar)

• Experience of participating with a regulatory inspection, leading to a ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ outcome

• Experience of developing high performance teams, with effective regulatory compliance, quality improvement, delivery of high-quality pedagogy, innovation and service excellence

• Confident decision maker, with ability to support change and understanding of complex relationship between commercial and service excellence within a regulated setting

• Strong knowledge and understanding of Safeguarding, Child Protection, and the wider legislative requirements for working with children

• Ability to develop trust and strong working partnerships with both colleagues and parents/ carers

We are an inclusive employer and welcome people from all ages and backgrounds to apply. We will consider reasonable adjustments required by applicants. Please note, due to our sector all roles are subject to an Enhanced DBS.

If you want to make a difference, with a company who has been voted Great Place to Work every year since 2006, apply today!

INDLEH

Bright Horizons is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. This post is subject to safer recruitment practice and pre-employment checks, including an enhanced DBS check, which will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed.

We are an inclusive employer and welcome people from all ages and backgrounds to apply. We will consider reasonable adjustments required by applicants.

Proud to be a Great Place to Work for 20 years. Apply today!

We look forward to receiving your application!