Welcome from the Leader and Chief Executive

We are delighted that you are considering joining our team at North Northamptonshire Council.

The role of Executive Director of Children’s Services (DCS) is a key role for the council and our corporate priorities. It is also an exciting opportunity to work alongside a passionate and ambitious corporate leadership team, playing a vital role in delivering a bold and prosperous future for North Northamptonshire and making a difference in our children’s lives.

We recognise that children, young people and their families may need help at different stages in their lives and we aim to provide the right support, at the right time in the right way to ensure that children are safeguarded and get the best start in life. We also work closely with and support our partners, such as the Children’s Trust, and other education providers to help us achieve this.

We want North Northamptonshire to be a place where everybody can live an active and fulfilled life from childhood onwards, and where our children and young people are cared for, provided with a high-quality education, training and other learning opportunities so that they can flourish to reach their full potential. Our priorities are therefore, to build early resilience by supporting families and provide equal access to a high standard of education. We also want to promote better training, further education and employment opportunities for young people.

We have very high aspirations and plans for North Northamptonshire, and since the council’s creation in April 2021, have been fully committed to delivering our corporate plan. We have developed a strong focus on financial and performance management and our transformation programme has delivered both improvements to services and reductions in cost.

By recognising that our employees are our greatest asset, we invest in, value and develop them to progress our ambition to be an employer of choice. Our corporate values and behaviours also encourage customer focus, efficiency and support our employees to achieve.

Of course, we know that there is much more we need to do. As well as continuing to deliver our corporate plan, we need to develop our role as community leader and place shaper. We understand that by working alongside others as equal partners to deliver a shared future vision, the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts. North Northamptonshire’s emerging bold vision for 2050, known as BIG50, has got us off to a great start. We want to continue this work and harness the energy of our local communities to achieve great things in the future, both near and far.

We know that to achieve our future ambitions and respond to the challenges we face; we are going to have to be bolder and do things differently. The challenges and opportunities of this role are significant, however, both North Northamptonshire, the area and council, are in good shape. The building blocks are in place, and a bold, broader vision for the area is emerging.

We are looking for an Executive Director of Children’s Services (DCS) to work collaboratively and boldly to deliver our future ambitions. It couldn’t be a better time to join us and great opportunity not to be missed!

If you feel you have what it takes, then we would very much like to hear from you and welcome your application.