About the Role
We currently have an exciting leadership vacancy within our team to enable us to continue to build on our success and bring new experience, knowledge, and ideas.
Trafford’s Educational Psychology Service is a successful, thriving and well-respected service driving forward support for children with SEND across the borough and we are looking for a Principal Educational Psychologist to join a dynamic and cohesive, small borough team with a strong track record for recruitment and retention.
Our new Principal Educational Psychologist will have the vision, passion, expertise, and ability to innovatively lead the service forward to ensure the best possible outcomes for our children and young people. You will be able to contribute to supporting and extending our commissioned work streams including supporting the Early Years service and Virtual School alongside the delivery of the Whole School and College approach to Mental Health and the implementation of our Emotionally-Based School Non-Attendance toolkit of support.
As the Principal Educational Psychologist, you will shape local practice, working in partnership with schools and others to drive inclusion and improve SEND practice and you will ensure that our Educational Psychology team has the skills and expertise to influence and lead support across the local area. We are proud of our strong service level agreement offered to our schools including our centralised ELSA training offer.
The EP service also benefits from our strong links with Manchester University and regular involvement in doctoral research commissions and you will enjoy leading and participating in our culture of peer support, our commitment to continuous learning and the professional development of all team members.
About you
You should have proven experience of leadership within an EP service, providing direction and clear vision to those you work with, to ensure service excellence across the SEND sector and we would welcome applications from senior Educational Psychologists with appropriate experience.
You will be able to demonstrate experience in managing and developing staff, alongside excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and have a proven track record of delivering SEND improvements, including experience of planning and budget/financial management.
You must be able to work alongside other managers across the SEND Local Area, to ensure consistency of practice across the borough and to promote the development of a supportive collaborative culture.
You will be able to demonstrate how you have successfully led and managed innovative and developmental projects that addressed the SEND improvement priorities of the local area whilst ensuring children, young people and their families are at the centre of all practice and processes.
You must be able to be flexible and resilient and be able to plan, organise and prioritise a demanding workload to maintain the delivery of multiple and competing short and long term objectives.
You should also have a minimum of 3 years’ Educational Psychology experience and have a Degree in Psychology (or equivalent as recognised by the British Psychological Society) and hold a registration with the Health and Care Professionals Council.
An enhanced DBS check is required for this post.
Key Details
Principal Educational Psychologist
Location: Sale Waterside, Sale M33 7ZF
Salary: Soulbury: Senior and Principal Educational Psychologists: Pt 13-15 (£72,095 to £74,790 per annum)
Contract: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full Time (Monday – Friday)
Working hours: 36.25 hours per week
We will offer flexibility where we can – if you are interested in a role, please speak to the recruiting manager about what flexibility they might consider. Many of our colleagues can work from home for one or more days a week and/or they flex the hours they work. We call this SMART working, and it gives you the option to flex your days and hours so you can fit your work around your life and life around your work.
Interview type: In person
Closing Date: Monday 9th February 2026
NB: The AEP abides by the Advertising Standards Agency Code; we believe all our adverts for vacancies appropriate for our members have been checked in accordance with this code, and AEP policy. To the best of our knowledge, the adverts on this website are ‘legal, decent, honest and truthful’. Except where otherwise stated, all posts carry a salary that is at or above the nationally agreed Soulbury minimum for the post. Members should assure themselves that they are satisfied with the terms and conditions offered. Members are advised to consider fully the implications of successful applications particularly in relation to posts which would entail a move outside the UK, where legislation and cultural issues in other countries should be considered in relation to their personal circumstances. “From time to time, the AEP will carry adverts for agencies supplying EPs to local authorities. Where this is the case, we will have secured agreement from the agency that they will not supply EPs to those authorities we remain in dispute with. Information regarding our current disputes can be found here: http://www.aep.org.uk/members-home/latest-news-members/aep-disputes-update/
