Director of Operational Services

Join us as Director of Operational Services in our Place Directorate to provide inspiring leadership, vision and direction that will make a far-reaching impact on Salford. You will have the opportunity to achieve transformational change that enhances service delivery and drives forward better outcomes for residents and visitors to our city.

Salford has much to celebrate as a city from new homes and employment opportunities to its vibrant cultural scene. Yet there is still huge potential to build on past successes and find new and innovative ways to improve residents’ lives. You will lead and co-ordinate the provision of the services that are part of the fabric of our residents’ daily lives: operational, environmental, regulatory, neighbourhood, community safety and emergency planning. We want you to take our Operations teams on a journey of change focusing their efforts on realising our vision of 'A fairer, greener and healthier Salford'. You will succeed by leading a learning culture which inspires our people at all levels to perform to their best and seek innovative, new solutions.

Internally, you will foster collaboration across council teams to deliver efficiencies and fresh ideas. Externally, you will build positive relationships with strategic partners, stakeholders, local communities and service users - to enhance the commissioning and implementation of seamless, responsive, right first-time services.

Through effective strategic leadership, you will ensure the provision of a creative and flexible range of effective services and interventions to meet the needs of people across the city. You will be responsible for:

• Providing visible, strategic leadership as part of the leadership team within Place and the wider corporate senior leadership team, embodying the City Council’s values and leadership behaviours.
• Working closely with elected members and senior leadership to ensure the effective delivery of services in line with the City Mayor’s and City Council priorities.
• Producing an annual business plan that aligns divisional work programmes and resources with the Council’s political priorities.
• Ensuring robust and effective corporate governance, with financial, performance, risk and assurance systems and processes in place.
• Ensuring appropriate arrangements for preparing and monitoring budgets and associated divisional income.
• Ensuring effective people management across the division, encouraging a positive employee relations climate and active employee and trade union engagement.
• Developing an inclusive, supportive and constructive environment through personal example, commitment and action.
• Undertaking duties as part of the Emergency Planning and business continuity rota.

About you

Professional credibility and capability through a track record of successful strategic leadership across a range of frontline services including multi-disciplinary teams. Strong experience of partnership working at a senior level to develop and deliver high quality services, in conjunction with sound working relationships with unions. Experience of successfully managing services to ensure a clear recognition of what “excellence” looks like. Skilled communicator who builds trust and communicates vision and passion, conviction and enthusiasm both verbally and in writing - ‘Tells the story’ so that all audiences understand the key messages. Understands the bigger picture and broader context to translate overarching plans to a local setting. A high level of intellectual rigour and political awareness, with effective negotiation skills. Works to high standards, setting challenging goals that are focused on improvement and outcomes, not activities. Open to learning and sharing your knowledge and skills with others. Models and demonstrates the City Council’s values and leadership behaviours.

What we offer

Impact through values-based leadership. The Spirit of Salford lies at the heart of our organisation, embodying our culture and social conscience. This spirit is underpinned by our core values of Pride, Passion, People, and Personal Responsibility. As a leader at Salford, you will get to demonstrate the power of values-based leadership in action. It’s an opportunity to think differently, embrace change, and lead with both vision and practical creativity. Our leaders are the driving force behind the Spirit of Salford. We are not just adapting to change, but actively shaping the future of Salford.

Best Place to Work 2024. Salford City Council was crowned the ‘Best Place to Work’ at the prestigious Local Government Chronicle Workforce Awards in November 2024.

Additional Benefits. The competitive salary and benefits package reflects the importance of the role. Offering flexible hybrid working and being part of a supportive senior leadership team you will have the opportunity to thrive in this influential role. In addition, we put a strong focus on leadership development from internal Masterclasses and eLearning to external accreditations and qualifications.