Vacancy: Joint Head of Service - Adult Learning and Skills York and North Yorkshire
Salary: SM2 - £59,526 - £67,815 per annum and a relocation package of up to £8000
Contract: Full-time/ Permanent
Location: York / Northallerton
We are looking to appoint to the pivotal position of Joint Head of Service who will lead and further transform North Yorkshire County Council and City of York Council, Adult Learning Services.
The brief for this post is to take two services, already rated “Good”, to build a united, agile and resilient service, that together elevate their impact on skills across the region to the next level. Responsible for a combined budget of around £8m you will drive innovation that has positive impacts for adult learners across the city and county.
Our services have a major role in enabling residents across the city and county to achieve the best they possibly can, the result being the foundation for our thriving economy. Key priorities for the service are to develop core skills and skills for employment as well as supporting health and wellbeing. What we deliver will be determined by emerging market needs; you will ensure we are ahead of this thinking. With your leadership, our integrated service will maximise the opportunity of agile and modern methods of delivery improving access, learning and business effectiveness.
Programme areas include 16-18 personalised learning for some of the most vulnerable young people, 19+ high needs support, apprenticeships, family learning, learning to support mental health and wellbeing, personal development and community learning. This is an excellent opportunity for someone to further develop their career; we are two local authorities with strong track records, relentless focus on delivery and performance, with strong stable leadership, talented teams and well-developed partnerships.
In many ways we are at the start of a journey, presenting you with an exciting opportunity to shape, lead and influence service integration and delivery models, the result being the provision of liberating and life enhancing skills and learning solutions. This passion drives you.
What you will bring to the role
You will be a strong leader with a collaborative mind-set, an excellent communicator – both verbally and written, with ability to forge strong and authentic partnerships, motivating and empowering others. You are able to make an instant impact at the highest-level, in a high profile, demanding and complex environment, with clarity of focus.
As a high profile leader, you act with integrity, leading by example and taking pride in promoting your service internally and externally. You are innovative and forward thinking, with the ability to lead services through transition and identify new opportunities. Your strong moral purpose drives your strong commitment to the safeguarding and welfare of children, young people and adults.
You will have worked in or delivered to complex organisations and have a strong track record in the education and skills development sector. You understand and can navigate the complex strategic partnerships in the sector. Your knowledge of the sectors funding mechanisms and standards frameworks together with your robust performance and financial management assures your services deliver to budget, to quality standards, this maximises you and your services reputation and impact. It is important you have significant knowledge of the AEB funding environment and an understanding of how learning services contribute towards the targets within the council plan.
Your knowledge of inspection regimes will ensure that your service is inspection ready by default and that you have a relentless focus on delivering to funding agreements and your leadership will empower and motivate whilst holding staff to account for delivering agile, effective services that are centred-around learners.
Your experience of networking and building robust strategic partnerships with multi-agencies enables you to influence locally, regionally and nationally. This enables you to be knowledgeable about the national and regional issues; supporting the preparation for the devolution of the AEB budget, leading your learning and skill service to meet current and forecast need whilst building the services reputation.
As the leader and provider of learning services, you will personally constantly learn, creating a learning culture throughout your service.
We are looking for someone who can demonstrate an understanding of the importance of green and digital skills, leading your services thinking about the solutions and methods of service delivery - a priority for both North Yorkshire County Council and the City of York Council.
If this role sounds like it’s right for you then we welcome you to contact us for an informal conversation:
· Amanda Newbold (Assistant Director for NYCC Education and Skills) on 01606 532166 or email Amanda.Newbold@northyorks.gov.uk
· Charlie Croft (City of York Council - Assistant Director (Communities and Culture) by emailing charlie.croft@york.gov.uk
Visit our dedicated Campaign Page for more information.
We welcome individuals looking to relocate, for further information please see our Relocation Policy
Key dates
- Closing date: Midnight on 26 April 2021
- Shortlisting: 27-28 April 2021
- Interview date: 12 May 2021
Key documents
We look forward to exploring your interest and receiving your application.
Enhanced Level DBS Disclosure is required for appointment to this post.
NYCC are committed to directly recruiting staff and will not accept applications nor services from agency suppliers in respect of our vacancies.
We are committed to meeting the needs of our diverse community and aim to have a workforce reflecting this diversity. We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.