Head of Transformation & Service Improvement

What will you be doing?

At West Northants Council, it's about our people and the difference they make. As Head of Transformation & Service Improvement, you'll play an important management role in supporting how the Council delivers its services for the future. You'll help lead the Council's transformation portfolio, turning strategic ambitions into deliverable programmes that improve outcomes for residents, modernise services and support long-term financial sustainability.

This is a senior management opportunity, offering the chance to support and influence change across one of England's largest unitary councils. Working closely with senior leaders, Finance and Digital, Data & Technology colleagues, you'll promote a culture of innovation, continuous improvement and evidence-based decision-making, ensuring transformation activity delivers meaningful and measurable benefits.

You’ll join us at an exciting time as we continue to strengthen our approach to transformation, harness digital opportunities and build the capability needed to deliver lasting organisational change across West Northamptonshire.

You’ll support the development and delivery of the Council's transformation strategy, roadmap and programme portfolio, helping to ensure resources, investment and delivery capacity are focused on the initiatives that create the greatest value for residents and services. Working across the organisation, you'll help shape and deliver service redesign, operating model transformation and technology-enabled change that improves productivity, efficiency and customer experience.

A key aspect of the role will be managing and developing the Programme Management Office, strengthening governance, assurance, prioritisation, reporting and benefits realisation across major programmes. You'll oversee a broad portfolio of transformation and service improvement activity, maintaining visibility of risks, dependencies, resources, financial outcomes and organisational impact while ensuring strong programme controls are in place.

You’ll champion innovation and the effective use of digital technology, including Microsoft 365, Power Platform, automation, AI and data-driven improvement. Working with senior leaders, partners and stakeholders, you'll help build organisational capability, develop transformation pipelines and ensure new ways of working are embedded successfully across the Council.

You bring strong experience of developing and delivering transformation, service improvement and organisational change programmes within a complex environment. You have a proven track record of leading programmes, establishing governance frameworks, developing PMOs and delivering measurable financial and non-financial benefits through successful transformation activity.

You're equally comfortable working at a strategic and operational level, ready to roll your sleeves up and use your strong skills in data, insight and business analysis to shape decisions while building effective relationships across the council. You have the management skills to support high-performing teams, navigate complexity and translate ambitious plans into practical, achievable outcomes.

Most importantly, you'll be passionate about public services and helping West Northamptonshire thrive. You'll share our THRIVE values and bring the ambition, innovation and practical delivery focus needed to help shape the future of West Northamptonshire Council.

At West Northants Council, it's about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.

Our vision is 'to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive'. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services.

We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner

The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.

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