Assistant Director of Change

Southwark is at the heart of London’s success, known across the world for its physical landmarks but powered by its extraordinary people. We have much to be proud of and every reason to be ambitious about the future. Our recently agreed 2030 Strategy unites partners around a vision that together, we will build a fair green and safe Southwark where everyone can live a good life as part of a strong community.

To deliver our shared vision, we will need to unleash the collective talents of residents, communities, organisations and businesses for the good of everyone who calls Southwark home. This is your chance to take the lead in a high-profile, high-impact role, helping to shape the future of one of London’s most ambitious councils.

As our Assistant Director of Change, you’ll be at the heart of change, supporting cross council innovation that helps us meet our vision for good lives. You will lead our Future Southwark change programme which aims to transform the way we work. Guided by our three principles of tackling inequality, investing in prevention and empowering people, the programme aims to help us reimagine what we do and how we do it so that we can serve our residents into the future.

Who are we looking for?

• We are looking for someone who is curious, highly skilled and driven by public service.
• This job will be a great fit if you have exceptional leadership and collaborative skills and enjoy working as part of a one council team.
• Have proven experience leading complex, organisation-wide change in local government or a similarly complex environment.
• Have the skills and thinking to problem solve and work collaboratively to seek out the root causes of problems and develop resident driven solutions.
• Can design and deliver change at both a system and individual level.
• Have the skills to deploy a broad range of change approaches, picking the right tools for the job and using modern design techniques.
• Can demonstrate how you have translated big ambitions into tangible, high-impact transformation programmes which can prove outcomes.
• Have the ability to work with and influence senior stakeholders and drive collaboration.
• Have a results-driven mindset, ensuring transformation delivers measurable benefits, from service improvements to financial sustainability.
• Have the skills to leverage data and insights to shape change & transformation initiatives.
• Have the bandwidth to manage and drive value from a broad portfolio of change.

What You’ll Be Doing

• You’ll lead a transformation function across the council to ensure our services are modern and efficient.
• Leading and embedding a bold transformation strategy aligned with Southwark 2030, ensuring services are future-proofed and built around resident needs.
• Overseeing cross-cutting change programmes, from service redesign to digital transformation, leveraging emerging technologies and fresh thinking to improve efficiency and service delivery.
• Use innovative problem-solving, design thinking, and clean, high-quality data insights to shape transformation initiatives and drive evidence-based decision-making.
• Ensure every change delivers real and lasting benefits to our communities, embedding a human-centred approach to service transformation.
• Build and develop a high-performing transformation function, fostering a culture of collaboration, creativity, and agility.
• Oversee the Programme Management Office to ensure change is delivered effectively and at pace.
• Work with senior leaders and elected officials to champion innovation, embed a mindset of continuous improvement, and ensure transformation is embraced across the organisation.

About Southwark Council

Southwark Council is the largest local authority social landlord in London, managing 55,000 homes lived in by 40% of Southwark’s residents. We are home to over 18,300 businesses including iconic London venues such as The Shard, The Tate Modern and Borough Market along with many social enterprises and we have a young, diverse, and growing population.

At Southwark we are committed to making our borough just and fair and are taking positive action to tackle inequalities. Our residents and communities are our greatest asset and the passion we have for Southwark is shared by millions of Londoners who enjoy our outstanding cultural offer, use our hospitals and attend our universities. Our refreshed borough plan and focus on Southwark Stands Together, (which is our work with Southwark’s communities and the council’s staff to tackle racism, injustice and inequality) underpins all that we do.

Benefits and more information:

Salary Up to £105,096. This post attracts an additional benefit to the value of £3,503 PA for staff which can be used for benefits or taken as cash.

Recruitment timetable:

• Application Closing Date: 11.59pm on the 19th of May 2025
• Stakeholder Panel Interviews: The 29th of May 2025
• Final Interview Date: The 30th of May 2025

We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together initiative. We particularly welcome applications from members of the black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you’ll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria: Members of the Armed Forces.