Vacancies

Director of Children's Services

Please Note: The application deadline for this job has now passed.

About the role

Embark on the next chapter of your leadership journey with West Northamptonshire Council

As a progressive new Council we are committed to improving the quality, life experiences and outcomes of our residents, working towards our strong ambition of enabling our children, young people and adults to “Live their Best Lives”.

We’re seeking a dedicated, experienced and strategic individual to drive forward and oversee the transformative work focusing on the children and young people part of this ambition. The role will be instrumental in ensuring our children and young people have the best possible start in life, from early years services to supporting families via our soon to launch family hubs, as well as education, SEND and supporting our children’s trusts improvement journey.

Driving forward our improvement journey

Joining us means joining a team committed to progress. West Northants Council is just over 3 years old and serves a large area of both rural and urban communities. Our communities are becoming increasingly diverse as our population grows. The Council and Children’s Trust have had consistent leadership teams in place since we started our improvement Journey. This has supported our Children’s Trust movement out of inadequacy to requires improvement to be good, our fostering service as good and our Youth offending service as good. However, our journey continues and we have significant work to do to maintain this improvement trajectory with real focus on our SEND and education partnerships.

The DCS role will be part of the People Directorate and will report directly to the Deputy Chief Executive.

What will you be doing?

As our statutory Director of Children's Services, you will provide a pivotal role in providing strategic leadership and direction in key areas such as early years, family hubs, education, SEND and supporting our Children’s Trust improvement journey, with a focus on driving long-term performance improvement and fostering better outcomes for local children.

As a valued member of our People Directorate’s senior leadership team which covers Adults, Children’s and Public Health, you will also be a member of the Councils Executive Leadership Team.

You will work closely and collaborate with the Cabinet, Elected Members, Chief Executive and whole senior management team. Partnership working is also central to the role as social care sits with Northamptonshire Children’s Trust, whilst early years, developing family hubs, education and SEND sit with the Council.

You will also support us to drive our emerging youth offer, new 0-19 service and our care leavers developments.

Key responsibilities include:

Delivering excellent frontline public services, value-for-money and cost-effective systems for setting targets, monitoring performance and delivering improvement.
Developing, supporting, and promoting a culture of continuous improvement, problem solving and customer focus.
Leading, motivating, supporting, and managing managers to get the best from them and their teams.
Taking a long-term view of services, to help ensure our vision and plans are fit for the future and changing circumstances.
Building active working partnerships with the public, private and voluntary/charitable sectors, and with local businesses and community representatives.
Support effective constructive challenge and accountability.

About you

You need proven experience in a senior management role in a Local Authority or a related setting – we are open to social care or education backgrounds. We are also looking for:

A successful record of managing and delivering complex change and improvement programmes.
Experience of managing services and complex teams and of partnership working in the public sector.
Excellent forward-planning abilities and a proven ability to think strategically when establishing, planning and delivering corporate priorities.
Highly developed interpersonal skills and the ability to inspire your teams to become stronger innovators and problem solvers.
An imaginative approach to creating the linkages within the service area and across the council and community.

Our ways of working arrangements allow for a blend of office working for two to three days a week, alongside remote working, offering you the opportunity to thrive in a dynamic environment while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Our benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits to our employees, these include:

Generous annual leave entitlement starting at 28 days annual leave per year, 29 days for senior managers (pro rata, depending on how many hours per week you work), plus bank holidays. An additional 5 days, linked to continuous service, and ability to purchase up to 6 weeks additional leave per year.
Cycle to Work scheme.
Local Government Pension Scheme plus immediate life cover (3 times your annual salary from day one) and ill-health protection.
Employee discounts with local and national retailers, days out, finance, health and beauty, travel and eating out plus lots more.
Car Lease scheme
Payment of professional subscription / membership - If your job description requires that you are registered with or are a member of a professional body, WNC will pay for your professional subscription or membership fees.
Employee Assistance Programme - We have an employee support programme run by Health Assured, an independent, external organisation. Health Assured is available for you and your immediate family members, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and includes telephone counselling, legal advice, bereavement support and medical information.
Ongoing training and development opportunities.
A variety of flexible working options to support your work/life balance, including full or part time, term time, 9-day fortnight, etc. (subject to business needs).
Our West Ways of Working – We want our workforce to thrive, and we equip our employees with the right technology to support hybrid and collaborative working, on or off site, depending on the role.
Making a difference - If you want to use your skills and experience with an organisation that are genuinely invested in making a difference, are committed to improving people's lives, and whose success has a direct impact on the wellbeing of your family, friends and people in your local area, then West Northamptonshire Council is the place for you.

About us

We’re a new council, following one of the largest shake-ups in local government reform in recent history. As a new authority, we’re embarking on an exciting journey to deliver exceptional services for our residents, customers and communities.

Our vision at West Northamptonshire Council is ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services.

Hear more from our Chief Executive, Anna Earnshaw, about what it's like to work at West Northants Council https://youtu.be/lV0EfeUF4aU

At West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.

When potential is unlocked, talent thrives.

Choose a career that offers you a true sense of achievement, fills you with pride and challenges you in a positive way, every day.

West Northants Council, where careers thrive.

Should you require the Job Description in another format or language, please contact: Careers@westnorthants.gov.uk