Service Director, Place Shaping and Strategic Planning

South Gloucestershire is one of the most exciting places in Britain to work in place leadership.

As part of the West of England combined Authority area, it combines nationally significant growth opportunities with outstanding environmental assets and quality of life. Home to Brabazon, the West Innovation Arc and globally recognised aerospace, defence and advanced manufacturing businesses, the area sits at the heart of the West of England economy and the UK's strategic transport and infrastructure network. More than a third of Bristol's urban footprint lies within South Gloucestershire, alongside thriving market towns, villages, and the southern edge of the Cotswolds.

Few places offer the opportunity to influence growth, infrastructure planning, regeneration, investment, and environmental stewardship at this scale and in such a varied setting.

For talented place leaders, this is a rare opportunity to help shape the future of a nationally important area at a pivotal moment in its development.

Whether your passion is strategic planning, infrastructure delivery, regeneration, place-making or system leadership, South Gloucestershire provides the scale, ambition, and partnership environment to make a genuine difference. If you are looking for a role where you can leave a legacy, work with exceptional partners and help shape one of the UK's most dynamic places, we would love to hear from you.

About the role

This is the council’s 10-year-plus place-shaping role. You will be responsible for the big place story: how South Gloucestershire grows, connects, plans and positions itself over the long term.

Working closely with Members, senior officers, WECA, Government, neighbouring authorities, developers, infrastructure partners and the wider system, you will lead the council’s long-term spatial strategy, strategic transport planning, planning policy, place-making priorities and major growth opportunities.

You will provide strategic leadership for the Local Planning Authority, working alongside a strong Chief Planning Officer model. This means the role is not about being the sole technical professional voice. It is about creating the conditions for high-quality decision-making, professional confidence, good governance and long-term impact.

The strategic planning, masterplanning and regeneration direction is already well advanced, so this is not about starting from scratch. It is about bringing the pieces together, strengthening partnerships, influencing at regional level and ensuring South Gloucestershire is well-positioned within major conversations around growth zones, mass transit, national infrastructure and future investment.

About you

You will be a strategic, confident and collaborative place leader with experience in planning, transport, regeneration, place-making or a closely related field. A planning background would be helpful, but it is not essential. What matters most is your ability to lead across systems, influence complex partnerships and command professional confidence.

You will bring political awareness, sound judgement and the ability to work well in a collaborative, trust-based organisation. With elections ahead in May, you will also need the resilience and maturity to support a potentially new administration while keeping a steady focus on the long-term interests of the place.

South Gloucestershire offers the best of both worlds: the stability and confidence of a mature unitary council, and the opportunity to influence one of the UK’s most important growth geographies.

Closing Date: Sunday, 27th September at midnight

At Tile Hill, we are committed to inclusion and accessibility. We champion and support all individuals to ensure everyone feels valued, listened to and motivated to get the very best out of each recruitment process and that processes are designed to meet the needs of individuals.