Head of Hull Training & Adult Education

This is a Full Time Permanent Position. We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced professional with extensive knowledge of managing multiple complex funding streams and associated compliance frameworks within a highly regulated environment. The successful candidate will have proven experience in ensuring robust financial governance, meeting diverse funding requirements, and maintaining strict compliance with statutory and regulatory obligations. They will demonstrate strong capability in using high-quality data and insight to drive decision-making, holding accountability for performance, accuracy, and transparency. Excellent analytical skills, strategic thinking, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders while leading continuous improvement are essential in this role.

ROLE AND PURPOSE

The post holder will provide strategic leadership, total accountability, and operational management for Hull Training and Adult Education. The postholder will drive the evolution of an integrated adult learning, and employment and skills service that is responsive to the needs of the community, employers, businesses, the community and voluntary sector and Council, while ensuring high-level performance across a diverse and complex portfolio, including:

• Statutory & High Needs Provision: Oversight of 16–18 Study Programmes and 16–24 High Needs (SEND) provision and funding.
• Apprenticeships & Work-Based Learning: Strategic management of 16–18 and 19+ delivery across both Levy and Non-Levy funding streams.
• Adult Skills & Lifelong Learning: Accountability for 19+ Adult Skills, Tailored Learning, Free Courses for Jobs, and Learner Support funding.
• Specialised Funding & Projects: Management of Adult, full cost-recovery provision, and externally funded careers (IAG) projects.
• Strategic Evolution: Create and implement long-term strategies that align with the City Council, HEYCA Mayoral Combined Authority and national DfE requirements, ensuring the service remains self-financing in the long term and value-for-money in the short term.
• Regulatory Excellence: Act as the lead accountable officer for Ofsted, Ofqual, and the Education and DFE and HEYCA, striving for a ‘Strong’ inspection rating.
• Corporate Governance: Ensure full implementation of Internal Council policies and external regulatory policies (inc. Safeguarding, Health & Safety, GDPR, HR) and provide expert reporting to the Board of Governors, Portfolio Holder, CST, Scrutiny and Assistant Director(s).
• Performance Leadership: Motivate the service to meet rigorous short, medium, and long-term performance targets, ensuring the curriculum supports both the economic skills gap and the wellbeing of residents.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Leading the delivery and continual improvement of allocated service areas against council plan priorities, standards and targets, ensuring value for money and timely delivery.
• Providing visible leadership to multidisciplinary teams and championing a performance culture within the directorate/service.
• Leading service contributions to corporate programmes and inspections (e.g., Ofsted/peer reviews, FE Commissioner reviews), coordinating readiness and improvement actions.
• Acting as principal professional adviser for the service to the Board of Governors, Assistant Director, Executive Directors and Elected Members, offering balanced, evidence‑based advice on strategy, policy and operational issues.
• Interpreting national/local policy and regulatory changes for the service and translating these into high level implementable plans.
• Coordinating cross‑council and multi‑agency work to deliver integrated, “One Council” services and aligned outcomes across partners (schools, health, police, VCS, combined authority etc.).
• Orchestrating workflows across Heads of Service and teams listed within the council’s structure to ensure consistency of practice and seamless customer journeys.
• Work in collaboration with other Heads of Service to deliver business improvements and ensures structures deliver an effective and efficient service meets the priorities for the Council, Regeneration Directorate and Economic Development and Regeneration service priorities.
• Developing service strategies, policies, commissioning intentions and improvement plans that reflect corporate priorities and local need.
• Developing staff capability, talent and succession within the service; mentoring, objective setting and appraisal.
• Managing people, budgets and contracts within corporate frameworks, securing efficiencies and robust financial control.
• Direct management of 4 senior leaders, with indirect leadership of approximately 150 staff across multiple sites.
• Managing performance: setting KPIs, monitoring outcomes, intervening early where delivery is off‑track.
• Maintaining effective governance, risk and assurance arrangements, information management and compliance with statutory duties relevant to the service.
• Maintaining productive working relationships with internal stakeholders and listed Heads of Service across directorates to uphold consistent standards.
• Promoting the council’s values, equality, inclusion and customer focus in all aspects of service delivery.
• Promoting partnership initiatives and service offers across the city’s children and education system (e.g., SEND, Virtual School, safeguarding services).
• Economy and development for adults and employers.
• Influencing strategic partners and city‑wide boards/partnerships to align resources and deliver joint priorities (e.g., Safeguarding Children Partnership, Health & Wellbeing Board, LSIP, HEYCA).
• Shaping the operating context by representing EDR services in regional and national forums to secure better outcomes for Hull and East Riding residents.
• Investigating performance variances, service incidents, complaints or practice issues; commissioning case/file audits and implementing corrective actions.
• Leading service‑level lessons‑learned activities following inspections, peer reviews or critical incidents.
• Researching emerging legislation, guidance and best practice to inform service redesign and innovation; benchmarking with comparable authorities.
• Gathering and analysing service intelligence (demand, outcomes, lived‑experience feedback) to underpin evidence‑based decision‑making.

The above principal accountabilities are not exhaustive and may vary without changing the character of the job or level of responsibility.

Benefits of Working of Hull City Council:

• A competitive salary
• An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Initially 23 days annual leave depending on length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New year period
• Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods
• Supportive and forward-thinking culture
• Great career development opportunities

Please ensure that you complete and submit your application by midnight prior to the closing date. Please ensure that your application demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria against the person specification as listed in the job description. We are committed to increasing the diversity, equality, and inclusion within our workforce to represent the people we serve and build an environment in which everyone can feel like they belong. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. We adopt a ‘name blind’ approach to shortlisting. Recruiting managers will not have access to personal information, including your name and contact details, until a shortlisting decision has been made. Equality monitoring information is not accessible by recruiting managers at any stage.

The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. Online searches, including social media, may be carried out as part of the recruitment process.