Head of Economic Growth and Strategic Regeneration

**Job number**

LBC03891

**Contract Type**

Fixed Term / Secondment

**Posting End Date**

18 May 2025

**Job Area**

Regeneration and Economic Development

**About the job**:
**Salary: £67,406 - £74,667 a year plus £3,203 car benefit allowance**
**Hours per week: 37**
**Contract type: FTC/Secondment till**31st March 2028**

Are you a visionary leader with a passion for place-shaping and driving economic transformation?

This is an exciting opportunity to act as the Council’s lead expert on economic growth and regeneration - guiding both the strategic vision and operational delivery of our economic ambitions.
As the Head of Economic Growth and Strategic Regeneration, you will lead, influence, and co-ordinate the Council’s approach to fostering sustainable economic growth and delivering transformative regeneration across the Borough.

You’ll be the key force behind shaping our place - bringing together internal teams and a wide range of external partners to create and implement forward-thinking strategies that drive prosperity and resilience.

From high-level strategic planning to on-the-ground delivery, you will:

- Lead major programmes and projects, ensuring they are effectively managed and delivered in partnership with stakeholders.
- Act as a connector and catalyst, engaging senior leaders from the public and private sectors locally, regionally, and nationally.
- Promote and unlock investment opportunities, bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to the identification and development of growth initiatives.

**About you**:
You’ll bring a strong track record of successfully leading strategic regeneration and economic growth initiatives, with a proven ability to secure substantial grant funding from central government or equivalent bodies. With deep experience of working collaboratively across sectors—including community groups, government agencies, and the business world—you’ll be a natural relationship builder and an effective senior-level communicator.

Your leadership credentials will include the ability to manage and inspire multidisciplinary teams, supported by sound supervision, negotiation, and change management skills. You’ll have a flair for innovative problem-solving and a strong grasp of how to deliver complex programmes with real impact. A confident manager of significant capital budgets, you’ll also be experienced in developing credible viability and feasibility studies to underpin investment decisions.

Crucially, you’ll possess an in-depth understanding of both economic growth and regeneration best practice, alongside a clear grasp of national policy in economic and skills development, and how this connects with local government strategy. A relevant professional qualification—or equivalent, recent and verified experience—will underpin your technical credibility in this important leadership role.

**About us**:
Our ambitious **Luton 2040 Vision** - that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty - is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.

The people of Luton depend heavily on this council - and that means our workforce Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?

**Application Process**:
**Benefits**:
We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:

- From 25 to 32 days’ annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
- Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
- Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
- Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
- Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
- Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
- Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
- Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
- Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel

**How to apply**: