Senior Highway Steward in Horsham

About the Job

Are you passionate about improving West Sussex's roads and highways?

Are you looking for a role that offers work-life balance?

We are looking for someone to lead on safety inspections and safety response services.

Could this be your next career move? Keep reading to find out more…

Salary:£41,177 to £44,253 per annum

Contract:Permanent.

Working Pattern:Full-time, 37 hours per week.

Location:Jobs Depot, Pookbourne Lane, Hickstead, West Sussex, BN6 9HD, you will also be required to travel.

You will be able to work in a hybrid manner, as determined by the needs of the service.

Interview Date:19th October 2026

As a Senior Area Highway Steward, you will be responsible for the effective stewardship of an assigned area. This role includes ensuring the delivery of a high-quality highway network through regular inspections and necessary repairs.

Some of your daily tasks will include:

• Supporting the enforcement of highway regulations and ensuring consistent and reliable licensing procedures.
• Assisting in the delivery of contractual maintenance activities through monitoring and auditing.
• Collaborating closely with Planned Delivery Teams and asset owners to ensure effective and efficient work scheduling.
• Act as a mentor to Highway Stewards and managing day-to-day activities.
• Offering advice on resolutions to complex highway issues and providing technical input as needed.

Excellent customer service is key to this role, and this may be face to face, on the phone or written. As a senior member of the Area Team, you will deal with more complex customer responses and will delegate for the local highway managers as required.

Key Skills

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to engage with diverse range of stakeholders.
• Proven ability in anticipating and identifying problems, developing solutions, making practical decisions, and maximising the use of available resources.
• Capable of prioritising tasks amid numerous competing demands and managing time effectively to work independently.
• Clear and decisive thinker who makes accurate and timely decisions.
• Ability to maintain composure under pressure and demonstrate flexibility in adapting work schedules on short notice when relocating to a specific site is necessary.

Qualifications and/or experience

• Degree in engineering/related discipline, or an equivalent qualification, for example, HNC/ONC in Civil Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• New Roads and Street Works Supervision Qualification.
• Significant experience of Highways maintenance/engineering demonstrating a high level of technical/theoretical knowledge or application over a range of scenarios.
• Experience of delivering a high-quality maintenance and repair service within a Highways context.
• Practical and theoretical knowledge of engineering/civil construction.
• Knowledge of the Highways Act, and other relevant pieces of legislation, including health and safety.
• Full current drivers’ licence.
• Sound and accurate IT knowledge.

What we offer

As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this we want to help support your development and provide a great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential, have access to a range of benefits including:

• an excellent local government pension scheme
• generous holiday entitlement of 27 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
• arange of flexible working options, depending on your job role
• maternity, paternity, dependencyand adoption leave
• volunteering opportunities
• training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
• a range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see our Staff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
• health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme,Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is EIE01607.

You will be required to travel around the county independently to undertake site inspections and as part of your job there will be some physical activities such as picking up manhole covers and shovelling debris away from gutters and gully tops.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Adam Dendy at Adam.Denby@westsussex.gov.uk

For issues or queries regarding your application please contact hrrecruitment@westsussex.gov.uk.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.This post is subject to 3 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.