West Northamptonshire Council is a new large unitary council serving nearly half a million people, in settlements ranging from the historic town of Northampton (230,000) to the smallest hamlets, across 1,400km2 of attractive countryside. We have an ambitious transformation programme, providing services and assets to meet the needs of our communities in sustainable ways.
We need a talented and ambitious individual who can lead the Council’s building construction activity, delivering a wide range of projects safely, sustainable, and efficiently. The pipeline of projects is large and wide ranging including new schools, relocatable temporary accommodation, provision of children’s homes, office optimisation, renewable energy, leisure facilities, and more. Current projects range from around £100k up to £25 million in value. Additionally, you would be providing technical support to wider corporate responsibilities and projects, such as one of the largest school PFIs, economic development, and the built environment.
We are seeking a construction professional who is a good leader and manager, someone who has experience of managing multiple projects that range in their value and complexity, with a keen eye for detail, understanding of commercial issues, and most importantly someone that can help enable service transformation across the Council and within the team. Ideally you will also be someone who can bring expertise in quality design to the team as we seek to build up our in-house technical expertise.
The new Manager will be a key part of the management of Works service and Assets & Environment team, within the Place, Economy & Environment Directorate. You will work across the Council and with partners to secure the optimal outcomes for our people. You should expect to be well known to senior Members and Directors, and key external partners.
Our benefitsWe 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.
What will you be doing?To be the Council’s professional lead for building construction. Leading, developing, and managing a multi-disciplinary design and construction delivery team on varied projects across a range of sectors within agreed project time, cost, quality, and safety, enabling services to efficiently meet their obligations. Championing good design across the Council’s build programme.
Be responsible for the successful delivery of key strategic Council priority programmes and projects. Develop, plan, implement and review strategies, processes and policies that enable delivery of corporate objectives. Robustly manage project and programme performance, reporting to Members, the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and external partners such as the Department for Education (DfE). Identify programme delivery risks and implement mitigations to ensure successful delivery.
About youWe are seeking a construction professional who is a good leader and manager, someone who has experience of managing multiple projects that range in their value and complexity, with a keen eye for detail, understanding of commercial issues, and most importantly someone that can help enable service transformation across the Council and within the team. Ideally you will also be someone who can bring expertise in quality design to the team as we seek to build up our in-house technical expertise.
About usAt 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.
Our vision 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
We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner
The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.
If you need additional support or reasonable adjustments during the application process, including needing the job description in another format or language, please email careers@westnorthants.gov.uk for support.
West Northants Council, where careers thrive.
