Head of Service - Portfolio and Strategy WCC616185

Job Details:

Salary range: £74,688 - £103,830 per annum  
Work location: Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, SW1E 6QP
Hours per week: 36  
Contract type: Permanent 
Closing date: 12 May 2024
Interview date: 17 May 2024
Contact details for Informal discussion: Frances Martin, ED of Environment & Communities via email on fmartin@westminster.gov.uk

About Us:

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF SERENA’S VISION 

Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. Where innovative and open-minded people bring everything to the cause. Even expertise from surprising places. 

Take Serena. She is an absolute force of nature at the heart of our Church Street regeneration. And she puts the residents first in everything. Serena’s vision is clear. Regeneration isn’t just about bricks and concrete. It’s about communities. It’s about the environment. It’s about the lives of people and how they feel about where they call home. Serena is their advocate, making sure residents’ voices aren’t just heard, but drive the changes we’re making. The future is safe in her hands. 

Please view the extraordinary story of Serena’s Vision here.

The Role:

As Head of Service - Portfolio and Strategy (Environment & Communities) you can make your own powerful contribution to Westminster’s success. Working in partnership with the Executive Director and Senior Leadership team to drive the development and delivery of initiatives and priorities across the Environment and Communities Directorate, you’ll have a particular focus on issues related to climate change and tackling inequalities. Leading and driving a consistent approach to business planning for the Directorate, you’ll also work on risk and performance management, and ensure that the appropriate checks and controls are taken to ensure efficiency and value for money.

Committed to building and maintaining excellent relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, you’ll serve as an important link between the Directorate and its lead Cabinet members, ensuring their needs are met and concerns are addressed effectively. Overseeing communications and Freedom of Information requests will be another key task, as will liaising with elected members on behalf of the Directorate, and collating information and drafting responses to relevant correspondence, emails and press lines.

You’ll have a wide range of additional responsibilities – these include ensuring that the Directorate is fully prepared for critical meetings, assisting with the preparation of material for presentations and reports, and helping to develop policies, procedures and guidance to support first class delivery. We’ll also expect you to contribute to corporate initiatives including the climate and equalities, diversity and inclusion agenda, and work with your colleagues to ensure we meet our strategic goals.

Please refer to the Job Description for more information. 

About You:

You’ll have plenty of experience leading and delivering in a similar role with an organisation of comparable size and complexity as ours, and be ready to co-ordinate work across multi-disciplinary directorates, partners and stakeholders. Skilled at developing business plans in a local government context and building collaborative partnerships with senior managers, elected members, the public and private sector partners, you’ll also have the ability to implement cross-cutting strategies and policies.

Committed to providing inspirational leadership and line management within a dynamic environment, and of interpreting vision and strategy to drive delivery, you’ll be a strong influencer, capable of negotiating with stakeholders at all levels, and communicating your ideas to a diverse, non-expert audience. Your excellent people management skills will allow you to create a positive environment in which equality and diversity are embedded in every aspect of the team’s output, dignity at work is upheld and staff are empowered and motivated to achieve good outcomes. 

Capable of managing and mitigating risk and able to lead a continual planning process in a very complex environment, you’ll be skilled at presenting sensitive information to a range of audiences. And when it comes to financial and budget management skills we’ll expect you to have the ability to determine, analyse, monitor and evaluate performance indicators and data, and present them in an understandable way.

The Council is committed to achieving diverse shortlists to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. We especially encourage applications from a global majority background and, while the role is open to all applicants,  we will utilise the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to appoint a candidate from a global majority background where there is a choice between two candidates of equal merit. If you are from a Global Majority background you can self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments.

What We Offer:

Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit  https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties
As a forward thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.

The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.

The Council is committed to achieving diverse shortlists to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. We especially encourage applications from a global majority background and, while the role is open to all applicants, we will utilise the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to appoint a candidate from a global majority background where there is a choice between two candidates of equal merit. If you are from a Global Majority background you can self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments.