OD & Culture Manager in Morpeth

We are delighted to be recruiting for Northumberland County Council who is seeking an exceptional professional to join the People and Culture Senior Leadership Team as OD & Culture Senior Manager. Northumberland County Council is undergoing a major transformation to modernise how they work, strengthen leadership, and create a modern, inclusive and high‑performing organisation that puts residents first. As part of this, they are redesigning their Organisational Development & Culture (OD&C) service - and they are now recruiting a new senior leadership role to help shape the future.

For this role, we are looking for an exceptional OD&C Senior Manager to act as Practice Lead for Culture, Leadership & Engagement - a senior organisational development leader who will influence culture, leadership behaviour, belonging, voice and the everyday colleague experience at scale.

About the Role

This is a strategic practice‑leadership role at the heart of the People & Culture Central Enabling Function (CEF). Reporting to the Head of OD & Culture, you will provide expert leadership across:

• Culture & Values
  • Leading the evolution and embedding of the culture framework
  • Designing and steering culture diagnostics, activation and behaviour change
• Leadership Behaviour & Impact
  • Developing leadership expectations and behavioural frameworks
  • Strengthening reflective practice, coaching‑style leadership and psychological safety
  • Supporting leaders to build trust, healthy team climates and relational wellbeing
• Engagement, Voice & Organisational Listening
  • Leading the organisational listening strategy (surveys, pulses, lived‑experience insight)
  • Turning qualitative and quantitative feedback into meaningful action and cultural insight
  • Developing storytelling and organisational narrative around culture and leadership
• Inclusion, Belonging & Staff Networks
  • Partnering with staff networks and lived‑experience groups as part of the employee voice model
  • Embedding belonging, fairness and inclusion into leadership and cultural interventions
  • Collaborating with OD colleagues responsible for equality data and statutory reporting to ensure DEI insight is connected to the cultural, behavioural and engagement work you lead
  • Leading and coaching specialist OD practitioners within the behavioural practice
  • Setting standards for behavioural OD practice, consultancy, facilitation and insight
  • Co‑leading shared domains (DEI, wellbeing, coaching, EX, change enablement) with the Capability & Digital Enablement Practice Lead
• Embedding Agile OD & New Ways of Working
  • From June 2026, OD&C will move to a new operating model based on agile OD, including a single intake route, triage, backlog prioritisation and cross‑practice OD squads delivering short cycles of work. You will play a central role in shaping, role‑modelling and embedding these new ways of working.

About You

We are seeking a senior behavioural OD leader with:

• Deep experience in cultural and leadership behaviour change in complex organisations
• Strong diagnostic judgement and the ability to get to the root of organisational issues
• Confidence using engagement, culture and leadership insight (qualitative & quantitative)
• Skilled facilitation, with the ability to work with emotion, conflict and group dynamics
• Experience working with, or alongside, staff networks or lived‑experience groups
• Understanding of inclusion, belonging and relational wellbeing
• Experience coaching and developing OD practitioners
• Ability to influence senior leaders with clarity, credibility and relational skill
• A mindset aligned to agile, iterative OD - experience embedding or working with agile OD is a strong advantage
• Comfort leading through ambiguity, transition and evolving operating models

You may come from an OD, organisational psychology, leadership development, culture/change or related background. We are looking for the quality of your OD practice and impact, not a specific job title.

Why Join Northumberland?

• A major opportunity to build and lead a new behavioural OD practice
• A strategic leadership role with real visibility and influence
• A genuine commitment to culture, inclusion and leadership transformation
• The opportunity to shape and embed agile OD across an entire OD function
• Attractive local government benefits including generous leave, pension, agile working, wellbeing support and leadership development

How to Apply

Please submit your CV and a supporting statement outlining how your experience and practice align with the role's requirements. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a panel interview exploring OD judgement, behavioural leadership, organisational insight and your ability to lead through change.

This role offers a salary range of £63,785 up to £67,561 along with outstanding benefits including a generous annual leave (starting at 26 days and rising to 31 after 5 years' service), attractive local government pension scheme, flexi scheme, agile working, leadership development, wellbeing support, and local government discount schemes.

To apply for this role, please contact Melanie Bolton at Sullivan Brown (melanie@sullivanbrown.co.uk) - please note, all direct applications will be forwarded to Sullivan Brown.