Head of Service - Highways Delivery

Job Description

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;

• A relevant degree-level qualification, or equivalent experience, in civil engineering, highways engineering or a related discipline, together with membership of a relevant professional body such as ICE or CIHT.
• Significant experience delivering highways maintenance, infrastructure or comparable large-scale operational services, including complex projects or programmes and multiple concurrent schemes.
• Proven leadership of large operational teams, with the ability to develop people, strengthen performance and create a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Strong experience of budget ownership, financial decision-making and programme delivery, including significant capital and revenue programmes.
• Experience working across multi-disciplinary teams, contractors and supply chain partners, with the ability to build productive relationships and achieve shared outcomes.
• A strong understanding of highways operations, maintenance and construction, relevant statutory duties and the importance of safe and compliant delivery, including CDM requirements.
• Excellent communication, influencing and stakeholder-management skills, with the confidence to operate effectively with senior leaders, elected members, partners and communities.
• Experience of health, safety and environmental leadership, alongside an understanding of quality management and continuous improvement within a large operational environment.
• Knowledge of contract…