We have an exciting opportunity for a permanent, full-time Principal Specialist to join Southampton City Council's Strategy, Insight & Performance team.
Housing has designed a new operating model that strengthens accountability, clarifies responsibilities and places customer insight, performance and continuous improvement at the heart of decision-making. We are now looking for an experienced professional to help embed the governance arrangements, disciplines and standards that will bring that model to life and support better outcomes for residents.
This is not simply a reporting or meeting-management role. The successful candidate will help develop and maintain the frameworks, standards and disciplines that enable Housing leaders and teams to make effective decisions, manage risk, and ensure performance information, customer insight and assurance evidence are used effectively to drive service improvement and better outcomes for residents.
You will help translate Housing's operating model into day-to-day practice, ensuring accountability, performance, customer insight and governance work together as intended. You will support Housing leaders to be accountable for delivery, improvement commitments and resident outcomes, ensuring decisions, actions and responsibilities are clearly owned and effectively managed through governance arrangements. Working closely with senior leaders across Housing, you will play a key role in establishing a culture of clear accountability, evidence-based decision-making, constructive challenge and continuous improvement. You will help ensure governance forums operate effectively, responsibilities are clear, and decisions, actions and learning are translated into meaningful service improvement.
This role is ideally suited to someone who enjoys bringing structure and clarity to complex organisations, strengthening governance arrangements, improving organisational performance, and helping leaders focus on what matters most. You will be comfortable working across organisational boundaries, building credibility with senior stakeholders, and helping to create the conditions for effective decision-making, accountability and continuous improvement. Experience of governance, assurance, organisational improvement, performance management, programme leadership or related disciplines would be highly valued.
As Housing embeds its new operating model, the role will help shape the future maturity of governance, assurance and accountability across the service. Working with senior leaders, you will identify opportunities to strengthen organisational learning, improve the quality of decision-making and embed a culture of ownership, challenge and continuous improvement. You will help ensure that performance information, customer insight, risk and assurance are brought together in a way that drives action and delivers measurable improvement for residents.
This is a rare opportunity to help shape how one of the Council's largest and most important services governs itself, learns, improves and delivers better outcomes for residents. You will play a pivotal role in establishing and maintaining the governance and accountability arrangements that underpin Housing's future success, ensuring that performance, customer insight, assurance and good decision-making translate into better outcomes for residents and communities across Southampton.
If you are passionate about governance, accountability, organisational improvement and helping services perform at their best, we would love to hear from you.
What we can offer you:
Salary: The salary band for this role is £52,413 - £58,865 per annum. The starting salary is £52,413 with annual progression through the salary bands.
Here at SCC we have a range of different benefits, a few examples can be found below.
- Excellent local government pension with 15.2% employer contribution
- Death in service benefit of x3 salary, and optional salary sacrifice shared cost AVC (additional voluntary contribution)
- Generous holiday 25–31 days, based on role and service
- Flexible working options (role-dependent)
- Family-friendly policies - Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Shared/Unpaid Parental Leave, Time off for Dependents
- Training and development, including coaching and mentoring
- Health and wellbeing support - Employee Assistance Programme, Menopause Pledge, Mental Health First Aiders and access to a variety of staff networks
- Veteran-friendly employer with the Armed Forces Covenant
- Retail discounts and savings through the Southampton City Council benefits platform
- Discounted memberships at local sports and fitness centres
- Sustainable travel benefits - low emission car scheme, cycle to work, season ticket loans
- Employee volunteering scheme with 2 paid days leave to volunteer
For further information on our benefits package please visit: Employee benefits (southampton.gov.uk)
If you feel you have the necessary background, experience, and skills to undertake this role we would like to hear from you.
Contact details for informal discussion:
For an informal chat about the roles, please contact Matt Luik, Principal Specialist Housing Planning, Performance and Governance via email to arrange a Teams call, [email protected].
Recruitment contact details:
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 023 8083 4033
For more information about SCC please visit Southampton City Council
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