Corporate Head of Service

**Employer**
- Kingston Council

**Location(s)**
- Kingston, Sutton

**Contract Type**
- Permanent

**Working Hours**
- Full Time

**Grade**
- M+3

**Hours Per Week**
- 36

**Salary Range**
- £71,850 - £79,446

**Salary Basis**
- Per annum

**Leave Entitlement**
- 30 days

**Application Deadline**

13/07/2025, 23:55

**Anticipated Interview Date(s)**
- Monday 21 July 2025 (second interviews if required on Thurs 24 July or Friday 25 July)

**About the Borough**

The Royal Borough of Kingston and The London Borough of Sutton operate a shared Highways and Transport service and this role covers delivery across both boroughs.

Located in South West London Kingston's riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of the district town centres have something unique to offer. In Sutton looking ahead, there are plans for the delivery of new homes and new schools and the London Cancer Hub is being developed. Both councils are seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment.

Both councils are ambitious for their future and it is an exciting time to join our Highways and Transport team as we lead the way in South-west London in delivering sustainable transport infrastructure, regeneration and rise to the net zero challenge.

**About the role**

The role is the operational lead for the Highways and Transport Shared Service between The Royal Borough of Kingston and The London Borough of Sutton, The post holder will be the interface with senior leaders and councillors in both boroughs and the service. The role combines change management, and the need to embed change, with ensuring effective capital programme delivery and developing excellence in asset management and operations, and inspirational people leadership
The team provides the full range of Highways and Transport functions across both boroughs. The post holder will be managing around 90 staff, with 5 direct reports; 4 Team Managers and a Programme Manager.

The postholder will have to attend the office 'as required' - the current expectation is around 2-3 days a week across both boroughs
If you wish to have an informal discussion about this role, please contact:
To be successful in this role, essential skills, knowledge and competencies include:

- Degree in Highways, Transport, Engineering or other relevant discipline, or equivalent experience
- Leadership experience which promotes distributed leadership,empowering others to take ownership and accountability of outcomes
- Is competent with IT and Digital processes, seeking to drive digitisation
- Ability to analyse data and intelligence to drive improvements and collaborate with partners and communities
- Excellent in project and programme management
- Excellent knowledge of the latest thinking in the field of H&T
- Experience of driving a service to deliver the net zero agenda
- Clear and thorough understanding of legal framework the service is operating in
- Creates a learning environment where innovation and creativity is celebrated and risks are managed
- Works collaboratively with others, leading by example

**About Us**

The service has a vision to be an exemplar shared service locally and nationally, striving for excellence in delivering the corporate aims of both Sutton and Kingston, tackling the climate emergency and ensuring a high quality environment for our residents.

We have ambitious plans and are looking for ambitious people to embody our high performing inclusive organisational culture, where everyone can thrive and be their authentic self whilst making a real difference to our local communities. We want to nurture all our people in their professional development and we will empower everyone to work in a distributed leadership model giving individuals ownership, responsibility and accountability.

**Our Offer To You**

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

In addition we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff supported by our IT infrastructure, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. The COVID-19 pandemic has required us to be even more flexible in how we work and manage staff workloads, ensuring they have the correct equipment and resources to be able to maximise their talents and looking after their wellbeing.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

- Gen