Corporate Director of City Operations

Our vision as a council is to create a better Brighton & Hove for all - a city to be proud of and a healthy, fair and inclusive city where everyone thrives.

It's an exciting time to join the council. We now have:

• a majority administration with a clear mandate to improve the city
• a new Cabinet system
• a new Corporate Leadership Team
• a refreshed Council Plan

You'll be part of a progressive organisation that values creativity, inclusivity, and excellence, and that will invest in your professional growth and development.

We offer a competitive salary, flexible working arrangements, and the opportunity to lead key services that directly support our community.

About the role

As part of the Corporate Leadership Team, you will work with elected members, senior officers, and partners to bring our shared vision for the city to life through the priorities in our Council Plan.

You will be instrumental in:

• setting the vision, tone and culture of the organisation
• advising at the most senior level
• ensuring resources and effort are aligned to priorities
• ensuring we demonstrate our values and behaviours in all we do

You will ensure a cohesive, strategic approach provides direction and momentum to many of our most high profile, customer facing services.

Working closely with your team of Service Directors, you will establish a culture where service leaders are empowered and equipped to make the decisions that ensure effective operational delivery.

This will enable you to retain a strategic focus, representing the city and identifying opportunities to enhance the look and feel of the city.

Your skills and experience

The defining attributes we are looking for are:

• leadership
• credibility
• impact at a strategic level

You should be a reflective and empathetic leader, enabling you to shape a learning culture in your teams. In this culture people should be encouraged to take balanced risks and test new ways of working, with the assurance that they will be supported in managing setbacks and challenges.

We expect that you will already have considerable senior leadership experience within a place-based role.

Additional information

Further information and how to apply

We are working with Solace in Business to support this appointment. You are encouraged to contact Steve Guest on to discuss the role in more detail.

To apply, you will need to submit:

• an up-to-date CV
• a personal statement (maximum of four A4 pages) detailing how your skills, knowledge, and experience align with the requirements of the role
• a covering letter outlining your motivation for applying, including your mobile number and personal email address. Please ensure your email address is one you check regularly, as we will use it to contact you regarding your application

Send these to by noon on Monday 10 March. You will receive an acknowledgement of safe receipt within 1 working day.

Key dates

• Closing date - noon Monday 10 March 2025
• Technical interviews - week commencing Monday 17 March 2025
• Final interviews - week commencing Monday 31 March 2025

Please note that dates are being finalised and may change. Prospective candidates will be kept updated through the recruitment process.

Solace in Business is an inclusive recruiter. If you need any reasonable adjustments to participate in the selection process, state this in your covering letter.

If you are applying for a role under an employer-specific commitment (for example Disability Confident, Armed Forces Covenant), please clearly state this in your covering letter.

This role is politically restricted. For further information on what this means for employees in post, please click on the document attachment below.

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us.

Company information

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce.