Head of Leadership

**About us***:
The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local authorities. We work on behalf of our member councils to support, promote and improve local government.

We are a politically led, cross-party organisation that works on behalf of councils to ensure local government has a strong, credible voice with national government. We influence and set the political agenda on the issues that matter to councils to help them deliver local solutions to national problems.

We also provide councils with the tools and resources to respond to challenges present and emerging, and support improvement across the sector.

**About the role**

The Head of Leadership is a senior role, reporting directly into the Assistant Chief Executive, and is responsible for leading the ‘Leadership’ strand of the LGA’s Sector Support Offer. Our leadership offer supports councils to attract new talent and develop greater skills and capability to deliver impact and change. The programmes reflect and respond to the strategic issues facing local government - supporting councillors and officers to build the knowledge and experience needed to deliver the outcomes that their communities deserve.

The Head of Leadership works at a national level, providing a vision for local government leadership, working with the sector to deliver practical programmes of support to local authorities, underpinned by the principles of sector led improvement. Our leadership work is crucial for helping local authorities tackle their capacity challenges by bringing in new talent through programmes such as Impact: the Local Government Graduate Programme, Pathways to Planning, the ‘make a Difference: work for your local council’ and Be a Councillor.

Local government is full of talented, ambitious officers and councillors who are dedicated to improving their places. Our leadership development programmes nurture and grow that pipeline of talent through to the most senior roles including Chief Executive and Council Leader. As Head of Leadership you will oversee the commissioning of our flagship programmes, ensuring they are leading edge, innovative and respond to what our sector needs.

**About you**

You will be an experienced senior leader, with a strong understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing local government and the wider public sector. An experienced manager, you will have leadership qualities that inspire and motivate your teams to provide quality leadership development outcomes for the sector. You will have a good understanding of leadership styles and leadership development options, and demonstrable experience of leading large-scale, complex programmes for a variety of audiences.

You should be familiar with a range of training techniques, leadership theory and practice, but it is not crucial that you are a learning and development practitioner by background. You will, however, be equipped to take ideas and initiatives and, working with practitioners and partners, turn them into practical learning and development programmes for councillors and officers at all stages of their career.

Relationships are key to this role and you will be experienced at handling a range of stakeholder scenarios, including working with politicians, senior officers and central government. Political astuteness is core to the role, and you will understand the complexities of working in a high-profile, politically sensitive environment.

As a senior officer at the LGA, you will be responsible for managing budgets and resources and will have a track record of leading efficient and high quality service areas, within budget, that provide value for money. Your leadership will demonstrate a drive and commitment to the LGA priorities, along with a commitment to our values.

**_You must have the right to work in the UK, the LGA are unfortunately unable to offer sponsorship visas. Evidence for the right to work in the UK will be requested at the interview stage. _**

**To apply**

If you would like to be considered for the role, please complete the online form and include a supporting statement detailing how you meet the criteria of the role before the closing date.
- Strong and varied record of achievement at a senior level in complex political environments, preferably in local or central government
- Significant and in depth experience of leadership theory and practical delivery of leadership programmes
- High level of political awareness and sensitivity
- Proven ability to lead, inspire and motivate others
- Proven ability to negotiate with and influence a wide range of stakeholders
- Highly developed business and financial acumen

**Closing Date**:5pm, 29 December 2024
**Interview Date**: TBC

**Our benefits**
- LGA annual leave entitlement is 29 days, rising to 31 days after three years’ service and to 33 days after five years’ service, plus all UK public holidays (pro rata for fixed term and part time contracts).*
- Future development - f