Head of Transport Policy & Projects in Hastings

We are looking for a permanent Head of Transport Policy & Projects to join City Infrastructure’s senior leadership team, and you will report to the Service Director. This is an exciting time to join Brighton & Hove City Council with local elections in the city in 2027 and devolution with elections to appoint a Mayor of Sussex in May 2028.

City Infrastructure have a wide-ranging remit, including:

• Major Transport Projects and Engineering Projects within the city
• Managing a Capital Funding Programme worth £40m
• Flood Risk and Coastal Protection
• Provide the strategic overview of Transport Policy for the city
• Delivery of the City’s Transport Plan
• Bus Service Improvement Plan
• Road Safety

What you’ll get in return:

• Salary £68,949 - £75,505
• Local Government Pension Scheme including employer contributions
• Interest free rental deposit loan scheme
• Family Friendly policies
• Staff discounts including travel and wellbeing
• Employee Assistance Programme 24/7 support
• Extensive learning and development opportunities

It’s important that you present a highly developed appreciation of how managing the transport policy and projects team within the wider place agenda can support inclusive economic growth in the city, as well as the city’s carbon net-zero ambitions. We’re looking for a versatile leader with a breadth of perspective and experience, including a track record of delivering projects, managing significant budgets and important framework contracts.

You should bring a sound understanding of the regulatory frameworks and statutory functions within this area of City Infrastructure, as well as practical experience of procurement and contract management. The ability to work well with a diverse range of stakeholders is key: you’ll need to be able to influence, advocate and broker agreement on an agenda that people are passionate about.

Working for Brighton & Hove City Council means you’ll be joining one of the largest employers in Sussex and an organisation that’s active in its community. For us, a better Brighton and Hove is:

• A city to be proud of
• A fair and inclusive city
• A healthy city where people thrive
• A responsive council with well-run services

Promoting and ensuring everyone adopts the Five Pillars:

• Be connected
• Be confident
• Be innovative and creative
• Be diverse and inclusive
• Be healthy and psychologically safe

The Transport Policy & Projects team is based within City Infrastructure and the City Operations directorate. The directorate works to make the city a vibrant place where people want to live, visit and do business, and where the unique character of Brighton and Hove is celebrated and enhanced. This includes making the city an accessible and sustainable place where people are well-connected and can enjoy an attractive, well-maintained built and natural environment.

Some of the key actions for the team include:

• Ensuring the new sustainable local Transport Plan for the city is delivered through key capital transport projects.
• Reducing harmful emissions from transport in the city by encouraging the Bus operator to be sustainable.
• Delivering the Bus Service Improvement Plan.
• Protecting and restoring the city’s coastal and seafront highway infrastructure.
• Delivering the flood management strategy.

For an informal discussion, please contact Charles Field - Service Director - City Infrastructure. Apply for this role if you are motivated to improve the way people travel around the city and see Brighton and Hove thrive, by working to develop a transport system that is sustainable, well-maintained and easy to use.

This role has been designated a politically restricted post. This means that political activity is restricted through the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and prevents post holders from taking part in certain political activities outside of work.

As part of your application, you will need to complete your education and work history and provide answers to some shortlisting questions. Your answers to the shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview.

Encouraging a diverse workforce: Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it’s what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds.

In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

How to apply: Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.

AI advice for candidates: We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn’t give us enough evidence of your individual skills.

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only. A basic DBS check is required for this role.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration.