About the role
Situated in the southwest of the West Midlands region bordering Wales, Herefordshire has beautiful unspoilt countryside and a rich historical past, brought to life by a range of heritage attractions, castles, stately homes, museums and ancient, beautiful churches, including Hereford Cathedral. In addition to the university city of Hereford, the county is served by five distinctive market towns. Herefordshire offers a range of places to eat out and a host of festivals including the world-famous Hay Festival. We are exceptionally proud of our schools with some excellent primary schools in the villages and notable secondary schools offering an exciting educational experience. Our diverse communities thrive on their distinct and individual character to give Herefordshire a uniqueness which is valued by residents, visitors and those who work in the county.
Building on the council’s successes from working in partnership during the pandemic, we are aware that the least well-off have been hit hardest and it has worsened inequalities in people’s life chances. We are determined to make continuous improvements to our services, whilst developing an empowering and enterprising council that delivers great value for money.
Reporting to the Corporate Director, Community Wellbeing, the All Ages Commissioning role is responsible for commissioning and managing a range of services to meet the needs of all residents and communities, promoting wellbeing and independence and ensuring safeguarding responsibilities are met. It will seek to develop effective partnerships with local, regional and national stakeholders, ensuring that services are seamless, funding opportunities for Herefordshire are maximised and our children, families and communities thrive. This is a key leadership role within the wider health and social care partnership, driving integrated delivery of social care, health and wellbeing commissioning across Herefordshire and the ICS footprint. There is strong political and corporate leadership support for this significant role and we are seeking an innovative, forward thinking and strong leader who will seize the opportunities to make a difference to Herefordshire residents.
About you
You will be a collaborative, visionary leader and self-starter, with experience of all ages commissioning. Working with a variety of stakeholders, you will transform services and deliver positive outcomes for children and adults across Herefordshire. You will be encouraged to make a difference, understanding the broader sector and emerging trends, and achieving value for money through a commercial approach. You will have excellent professional, technical and developmental skills and experience of creating and delivering high quality services in partnership with key stakeholder and service users.
You will have:
- a good track record of delivering outcomes through directly managing staff, budgets and service areas;
- proven experience of leading in a commissioning role to successfully ensure the delivery of outcomes;
- demonstrable expertise and significant record of achievement across sizeable service areas;
- significant experience of medium term service planning and implementation;
- strong organisational/’political’ awareness and record of successfully delivering and influencing organisational change;
- a good understanding of broader sector and emerging trends;
- the ability to develop long-term relationships, create networks external to the council, including at a regional level;
- a track record of achieving value-for-money through a commercial approach; and
- an excellent professional, technical and developmental service delivery focused record, including relevant specialist knowledge over more than one discipline/function applied over a significant period, acquired through qualification to Qualifications & Curriculum Framework Level 7 for specialist knowledge and managerial knowledge or equivalent experience for both.
We are keen to work with exceptional individuals who have the experience, vision and ambition to help us create an improved and sustainable future for children, families and communities across Herefordshire. If this sounds like you, we would welcome your application.
Indicative timetable
Closing date for applications: Wednesday 14 September 2022
Final interviews (officer panel): Friday 30 September 2022
Download AAC Service Structure Chart
Contact
For a confidential discussion about the role please contact our retained consultants at Faerfield:
Dawn Faulkner
Tel: 0121 312 3755
Email: dfaulkner@faerfield.co.uk
Sarah Longbottom
Tel: 0121 312 3755
Email: slongbottom@faerfield.co.uk
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 herefordshirecouncil@faerfield.co.uk quoting: ‘Vacancy: Service Director All Ages Commissioning, Reference: A000231’.
Your supporting statement should express why you are interested in this role, the place 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.
Download candidate application form
Download equal opportunities form
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.
