Director of City Growth and Vibrancy

With Derby revealed as the national HQ for Great British Railways, £1.4bn city centre investment in the last 10 years and a further £594m in the pipeline, as well as the establishment of Culture Derby, all the ingredients for the city’s renaissance are in place.

In this new role, you’ll make it come to life; you’ll bring together resources, relationships, and our new city story into a single integrated whole. You’ll be deeply, passionately ambitious for Derby, and will see the extraordinary potential of this once-in-a-generation moment. 

Exceptional professional skills in regeneration (ideally culture-led) will make you the go-to person for developers, entrepreneurs and creators alike; and you’ll have the commercial, personal and strategic skills to match.

About the Role

Core Work Responsibilities

Our new Director of City Growth and Vibrancy will:

• be ambitious for Derby
• develop and continuously review customer-orientated and cost-effective service strategies
• establish and deliver a culture that delivers results though continual improvement and organisational development
• develop and sustain links with members to ensure that:
  • service standards and their delivery are consistent across the city. 
  • members are aware of the service costs and the resource implications of existing and new initiatives
• establish and develop a positive climate for partnership working and, where appropriate, commissioning
• be accountable, for all aspects of service design and performance management, for the allocated group of services, commissioned services and strategic priorities, through clearly defined outcomes and key objectives.  This will include setting short-, medium- and long-term performance and quality targets
• develop and build an excellent reputation for Derby and the City Council by:
  • acting corporately; ensuring that all action within the allocated group of services and strategy accords with Council policies, strategic priorities and relevant statutory and governance requirements
  • demonstrating strategic leadership through partnership building
  • supporting the Council’s emergency planning, critical incident and service response arrangements through participation in out of hours call out and management cover.

Service Responsibilities

• Overall responsibility for promoting & co-ordinating the city council’s role in driving a successful economy. 
• Building on the city’s strong economic base to support further diversification , employment opportunities and skills development to tackle social inequality. 
• Leadership in delivering  a successful partnership with the public, private and cultural sectors to support the regeneration of Derby City Centre.
• Lead for the Local Planning Authority ensuring that planning policy and the determination of applications is designed to support regenerative outcomes.
• To be the city council’s lead in working with the Transition Team at Network Rail on the creation of the national HQ for Great British Rail.
• Overall responsibility for culture working with Culture Derby to further the quantity, diversity and vibrancy of the sector - including direct delivery of venues, the development of the Local Visitor Economic Partnership and events throughout the city.
• Working alongside partners across the East Midlands in the development of the County Combined Mayoral Authority – to ensure its overall success at attracting new funds and additional powers to further develop the regional economy to support outcomes for citizens.
• To work with partners, internally to the local authority, external in the city and across all sectors and with wider regional players to support economic and cultural outcomes.

About you

You will be able to demonstrate the leadership behaviours and possess the experience, skills and qualifications outlined in the Person Specification (page 7 of the Candidate Pack).  You will understand the benefits of diversity and be able to demonstrate how to promote equality of opportunity.

If you believe you're the right person to help us build the Derby we're dreaming of - we would welcome your application.

Applications

To apply for this job please submit your CV, a Supporting Statement (no more than four sides of A4), a completed Candidate Application Form and a completed Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form to derbycc@faerfield.co.uk quoting: ‘Vacancy: Director of City Growth and Vibrancy, Reference: A000370’.

Your supporting statement should express why you are interested in this role and what experience you can bring to the organisation. The statement should tackle the specific requirements of the role; outlining examples and outcomes showing how you meet those requirements.

Please also provide the names and contact details of two referees, one of whom should be your current or most recent employer. If you do not wish us to approach your referees without your prior permission, then you should state this clearly.

Indicative Timetable

Closing date for applications: Thursday 6 July 2023
Shortlist meeting: w/c 10 July 2023
Technical Interviews: 16 August 2023
Members Panel: 17 August 2023

Contact

Dawn Faulkner
Email: dfaulkner@faerfield.co.uk
Phone: 0121 312 3755

Sarah Longbottom
Email: slongbottom@faerfield.co.uk
Phone: 0121 312 3755