Early Years Compliance Officer

Salary: £40,000–£42,000

Location: Hybrid / Field-Based

Schedule: Full-Time | Monday–Friday

Travel: Regular travel across an assigned Banana Moon nursery region

Banana Moon Day Nurseries is looking for an experienced Early Years Compliance Officer to help our nurseries maintain high standards of regulatory compliance, safeguarding and operational quality.

This is more than an auditing role. You’ll work directly with franchisees and Nursery Managers to identify risk, strengthen practice, support inspection readiness and ensure actions result in sustained improvement. You have the confidence to recognise when something isn’t right, communicate it clearly and work collaboratively with nursery teams to put it right.

You will support an assigned group of nurseries and travel regularly within that region. There will also be occasional travel to our Franchise Support Office in Warwick and, periodically, elsewhere within the Banana Moon network. Overnight stays may occasionally be required.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the quarterly self-audit process for assigned nurseries, including reviewing submissions, conducting verification visits, identifying compliance gaps, working alongside nurseries to agree on clear resolution plans, monitoring corrective action plans, and escalating significant concerns to the Head of Compliance.
• Conduct regular compliance visits across assigned nurseries to assess adherence to applicable regulatory frameworks, safeguarding requirements, Banana Moon operational standards, and internal quality expectations, providing clear feedback and recommendations for improvement.
• Conduct safeguarding, compliance, facilities, and operational audits across the region, ensuring procedures are robust, consistently implemented, and aligned with statutory and internal standards.
• Support nurseries in preparing for regulatory inspections, identifying areas for improvement, monitoring progress against action plans, and helping nurseries maintain ongoing inspection readiness.
• Identify, analyse, and report regional compliance trends, recurring themes, and emerging risks to the Head of Compliance, contributing to broader quality improvement and network-wide development priorities.
• Serve as the primary compliance contact for assigned nurseries, building strong professional relationships with franchisees and nursery managers to support continuous improvement and operational excellence.
• Provide clear written reports, recommendations, and action plans following compliance visits within agreed timelines, ensuring accountability and follow-through.

• Provide ongoing developmental support through on-site visits, virtual meetings, and remote consultations to help nursery leaders strengthen compliance capabilities and operational effectiveness.
• Partner with the Training & Development team to share recurring gaps, themes, and trends identified through audits and visits, ensuring these inform targeted training interventions and support continuous improvement across the network.
• Escalate significant compliance or operational concerns appropriately, including referral to the relevant Franchise Support teams where required.
• Contribute to Early Years Development planning and broader departmental initiatives, including projects and network-wide support activity as needed.
• Support regulatory inspections across the wider network as required, including direct support before, during, or after inspections.
• Maintain commitment to continuous professional development, staying current with regulatory developments, safeguarding expectations, and sector best practice.

Requirements

• Strong working knowledge of the EYFS, safeguarding requirements and Ofsted expectations.
• Significant experience within an Early Years setting, including Nursery Manager, quality, compliance, safeguarding
• Qualified to a minimum of level 3
• Experience assessing standards, identifying risk and implementing or monitoring improvement actions.
• Confidence having constructive but sometimes challenging conversations with nursery leaders and franchisees.
• Strong written skills with the ability to produce clear reports, findings and action plans.
• Excellent judgement, organisation and attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently across multiple locations while building strong relationships.
• Full UK driving licence and willingness to travel regularly across your assigned nursery region.
• Experience supporting regulatory inspections, quality assurance, multi-site Early Years operations or franchise environments would be particularly valuable preferred

Benefits

Why Join Us

Banana Moon is a well-loved UK childcare brand with over 50 franchised nurseries and a reputation for quality, community, and warmth. As part of The Learning Experience family, we are backed by one of the largest early years education providers in North America — which means career growth, transatlantic exposure, and the chance to build something meaningful as our UK footprint expands.

• £40,000–£42,000 salary
• 38 days as part of Annual leave program inclusive of Bank Holidays and Wellbeing days
• Car allowance included as part of role
• Auto-enrolment pension scheme
• Genuine career development opportunity as the UK business grows
• A collaborative, people-first culture with strong US and UK leadership support