Senior Policy, Projects and Improvement Officer
£47,354 - £57,381 per annum
Permanent
Full Time (36 hours)
Wandsworth, London
Hybrid working: 2-3 days per week
Are you an experienced, proactive and highly organised professional who is passionate about making an impact on the services delivered to children and families?
Message from Ana Popovici, Executive Director Children’s Services
Wandsworth is not just a place I work; it’s a vibrant community that I deeply love.Here, in the heart of one of the world’s most amazing capitals, we're committed to fostering kindness, compassion, and community spirit in everything we do.
You will be a crucial part of a cross-functional Policy, Projects and Improvement Team working closely with services such as education, social care and early help.You will be delivering against key Council priorities including the Youth Strategy, SEND strategy, service reform and upcoming inspections.
You will be joining us at an exciting time as we develop our offer to children and families as the London Borough of Culture, 2025.Our focus on empowering communities and reducing inequalities, and ensuring our young people are supported, happy and thriving is the thread through all our work to which you will have a central role to play.
About the role
Children’s and Family’s needs are ever changing.To ensure that our services are adapting and evolving, your role will be crucial to provide essential creative, project management and delivery capacity to help meet that challenge.
Excellent organisational, verbal and written communication skills are a must. You will be required to scope, develop and support delivery of policy and transformation projects, including writing associated papers and project plans. Key to this role will be using your strong skillset in prioritising tasks amongst competing demands, analysing and interpreting information and data and translating this into evidence-based solutions. You will remain up-to-date of any national, regional, and local policy developments to ensure senior leaders are confident and informed in decision making and service planning and development.
Being a team player is at your core. Relationships matter. Positive attitudes spread and inspire. Your relational approach will help advance our strong relationships with colleagues, stakeholders, and the public, all of whom are integral to our mission.
Essential Qualifications, Skills and Experience
* A range of knowledge and understanding of policy developments in Children’s and related services, including the wider context in which local government operates.
* A track record of working as part of cross-functional project teams, delivering effective outputs and outcomes.
* Evidence of excellent interpersonal negotiation and influencing skills with the ability to establish positive working relationships with staff at all levels, corporate colleagues, elected members and external organisations.
* Proven strong ability to absorb, interpret and adapt different sources of information to develop credible proposals and solutions.
* Ability to work at pace, juggle priorities, and assimilate new information quickly, and the ability to make sound decision and judgements under pressure.
* Experience of managing a complex workload, achieving targets and responding flexibly to changing needs and priorities, with limited supervision.
If you meet the above criteria and would like to contribute to how we empower communities, support children and families in Wandsworth – we encourage you to apply for this opportunity.
For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Elaine Smith by emailing elaine.smith@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk
Closing Date: 16th February 2025
Shortlisting Date: w/c 17th February 2025
Interview Date: w/c 24th February 2025
A written test will form part of the interview process.
We may close this vacancy early once a sufficient number of applications has been received.Please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Richmond & Wandsworth Better Service Partnership are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone.We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer. If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment and selection process, please let us know.
We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.Some posts may be exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to these posts will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
We offer a wide range of benefits designed to attract, develop, and reward our employees such as 40 days annual leave (including Bank Holidays), flexible working and a generous pension plan.