This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced, passionate and committed leader to work in Dorset Council, a forward -thinking local authority at the forefront of innovation in local government. As part of our Dorset Children Thrive Model and Partnership’s ten- year plan Children Young People and Families Plan 2023-2033, we are enhancing our senior leadership and aligning Heads of Service alongside our challenges and priorities. Our Commissioning & Partnerships function is key to our continued success, enabling us to respond effectively and reflect our ambition for children, young people and families. You will provide inspirational, inclusive and engaging leadership, ensuring best value and have a drive for continuous improvement and excellence. You’ll provide strategic direction to Best Start in Life, young and thriving team and contracting team, leading the development of our Early years and Early Help strategies. You’ll find dedicated and like-minded colleagues across directorates and our partners; colleagues who care deeply about providing and continuously improving the best outcomes possible to enable every child and young person to reach their full potential. To succeed in this role, you will: Have proven leadership experience in commissioning children’s services Strong understanding of the commissioning cycle, strategic planning and procurement A commitment to improving outcomes from early years to settled adulthood and engagement with families and young people in service design Strong knowledge of contracting, legislation and relevant guidance and regulatory landscape A passion for a collaborative approach with an established reputation in building and maintaining effective partnerships. Further Information We are excited to get to work on this next phase, if this sounds like something you would like to hear more about and you would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact Alice Deacon, Corp Director - Commissioning & Partnerships: [email protected]. Interviews to take place during the week of 4 November. This is a full time role at 37 hours per week. This post involves working with children and/or vulnerable adults and/or having access to significant information about them. It will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check. See our policy on the employment of ex-offenders. About Us We’re passionate about making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. Working for us should be no exception. At Dorset Council we: provide more than 450 services to over 300,000 residents have ambitious aspirations are excited about our future care about Dorset and all the people who live here know that all roles make a difference and that our employees are key to our success You will: have access to a range of employee benefits be part of an organisation that supports each other to grow and succeed have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression We are challenging ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation. We recognise that recruitment and inclusion of individuals with diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds will bring real strength to the council and our communities. We have a commitment to equality and welcome applications from everyone. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role. We are keen to make our interviews accessible. Let us know on your job application if you have a disability and need any reasonable adjustments. We also look for applicants who share our commitment to our behaviours. We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process. If appointed, the personal information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found at https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn. This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process. We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant. Find out more about how to apply .