Salary £80,401 - £87,928 Per annum | Permanent, Full Time, 37 hours per week | Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom
We're looking for a Head of Service with drive and passion to deliver an effective and very specialist service to our stakeholders at an incredibly exciting time for both the present and future of Lancashire County Council and the community we serve.
This is an opportunity to take a leading role in the delivery of highways services across Lancashire, with responsibility for turning plans, investment and priorities into safe, high-quality outcomes on the network.
Leading a diverse workforce of more than 300 colleagues, alongside contractors and supply chain partners, you’ll oversee a significant portfolio spanning capital works, maintenance and operational delivery, including winter service, emergency response and network resilience.
You’ll provide strategic leadership while remaining closely connected to operational delivery. From managing major capital and revenue programmes and acting as Senior Responsible Officer for designated schemes, to ensuring strong financial control, safety, quality, sustainability and value for money, you’ll have the scope to make a tangible difference to the services our communities rely on every day.
Collaboration will be central to your success. Working alongside other Heads of Service as well as senior leaders, elected members and partners, you’ll help ensure engineering standards, asset priorities and commercial governance translate into effective delivery.
You’ll also lead transformation and continuous improvement, creating resilient, customer-focused services that are equipped to respond to both today’s challenges and future needs.
You’ll be an accomplished senior leader with experience of delivering highways, infrastructure, maintenance or similarly complex operational services.
Comfortable leading at scale, you’ll bring the judgement to balance strategic priorities with operational demands, alongside the ability to manage significant programmes, budgets, assets, people and supply chains. You’ll understand what excellent delivery looks like and know how to create the conditions in which people and services can perform at their best.
Ideally, you'll bring;
At Lancashire County Council, we're committed to delivering services that make a real difference to the people and communities we serve. Our Highways Team is at the heart of that mission, helping ensure that customers are put first by delivering safe, reliable and accessible highways services that local communities can depend upon.
When you join us, you'll become part of a supportive and knowledgeable team where your expertise is valued, your development is encouraged and your contribution has a direct impact across the organisation.
In return, we offer:
Please refer to the job description and personal specification for further information regarding the scope of work and responsibilities for the post.
Please ensure you address and evidence all the essential criteria from the person specification at the application stage in your supporting evidence. Some criteria will also be addressed further at the interview stage.
Please take care to upload your supporting documentation before submitting your application. No additional documentation will be accepted after the closing date.
If you're already a Lancashire County Council employee, you must apply via the internal vacancies option on Oracle Fusion. You can do this by logging into Oracle Fusion and then going to Me - Current Jobs.
We reserve the right to close down a vacancy early, before the closing date, if we receive sufficient applications.
The Government has confirmed that local government across Lancashire will be reorganised, with the current 15 councils being replaced by four new unitary councils covering North, South, East and West Lancashire from April 2028.
If you are successful in your application, you will initially join Lancashire County Council. However, as part of the planned transition, your employment will transfer to one of the new unitary councils from April 2028, subject to the implementation of the reorganisation and relevant employment legislation.
Throughout this period, our focus remains on delivering excellent services to our communities. By joining us now, you'll play an important role in shaping the future of local government and helping to build a strong new organisation that will serve residents for years to come.
Lancashire County Council is committed to improving the quality of life for everyone in Lancashire. We believe that all our citizens have the right to be treated fairly. We recognise that some people do not get an equal chance in life.
For some of our children and young people this can have a lasting impact on their future. We will play our part in helping to narrow the gaps that exist between different parts our communities and improving the quality of life of those who have less advantages and are in danger of poor outcomes.
As a community leader, employer and provider of services we want to make sure that everyone in Lancashire has the opportunity to achieve their potential, no matter where they live or what their background, individual characteristics or personal circumstances might be.
