Head of Parks & Open Spaces

Southend-on-Sea City Council is seeking a dynamic, ambitious and experienced professional to lead our award-winning Parks & Open Spaces Services, which received 9 Green Flags at this year’s East of England awards. We are not resting on our laurels, we want to showcase the benefits our Parks and Open Spaces, bring to major events such as City Jam, where Southend celebrated its first anniversary as one of the country’s newest cities. This vibrant city is a fantastic place to live, work, and study.

With beaches and coastline and all the biodiversity this brings, we are seeking a head of service to look forward with us and ensure that our service is fit for the future. This includes real opportunities to innovate and automate, making our service more responsive and customer focussed. You will act as a custodian for future generations, maximising the sustainable delivery of Parks Services for the benefit of all users, leading and progressing important initiatives in sustainability, climate change, and community safety within the service area.

To succeed here, you will be a progressive alliance builder, forging strong, collaborative links with other service areas across the council, the wider Essex system and external partners. As a natural mentor you will develop your teams creating a culture of learning and professional development to enhance succession planning, service delivery organisational resilience through your service managers and wider teams. You will shape our offer to the public through this portfolio, ensuring our service is responsive and customer focussed. You will act as a key contact for elected Members, providing proactive support to the Portfolio Holder and wider Administration.

If you are a motivated leader with a passion for parks and open spaces, we would love to hear from you. Join us and shape the delivery of services that make a real difference to the lives of residents and wider Southend community.

For further information, contact Simon Winspear at our recruitment partners at Hays Executive using 07525 466 357 / simon.winspear@hays.com

Salary £75,445 & generous pension and benefits

Closing date 23.55 14th October

Southend-on-Sea City Council is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in employment, and we welcome applications from all members of the community.

We would particularly like to encourage applications from female leaders and individuals from a multi-ethnic background, who are currently under-represented at a senior level within our organisation. At Southend, we strive to create a workplace that reflects our city, where everyone is valued and empowered to be themselves.