Senior Commissioner - Children Southampton is a city of hope, history and diversity. The city is located on the South Coast within an hour of London, twenty minutes to the beautiful New Forest and only 30 minutes to the fabulous beaches of Bournemouth and Poole. Southampton is a city of culture, with a diverse population, vibrant arts and music scene, a premiership football club and a busy international port. Southampton’s community is exciting eclectic. Southampton, like many cities in the UK, has its challenges austerity and the cost-of-living crisis is affecting many families. The city has a high volume of need and risk and needs the very best from its children’s services partnership. We have an exciting opportunity for a permanent full time Senior Commissioner to join Southampton City Council (SCC) to head up the new commissioning team for Children’s Services. About the team: You will be joining a new children’s commissioning team within Southampton’s Children and Learning Service to deliver transformational change and service improvement for the benefit of our local children and families. Southampton City Council is on a journey of significant transformation and Southampton’s Children’s Services have been on an amazing transformation journey. In 2023 children’s Services were assessed by Ofsted to be Good in all areas, with Outstanding Leadership, after many challenging years. The role of Senior Commissioner for Children offers the opportunity to be at the forefront of our ongoing transformation journey and provides significant opportunities for professional development within a supportive and collaborative culture. About the role: The Senior Commissioner for Children will have a broad and varied portfolio including leadership and delivery of transformational change and performance management of commissioned services for prevention and early intervention, including public health nursing services, young people’s services, children looked after and SEND provision. You will play a key role in transforming commissioned services to improve outcomes for children and their families, delivering our Building for Brilliance strategy for children and young people. The role will be responsible for managing a small team of commissioning staff and overseeing the whole commissioning cycle including planning and service redesign, overseeing procurement, contract management and performance. This will also include market development for example working with the new Young Southampton Alliance of youth sector providers to develop new and innovative provider models. For further information about this role please view the job description. About you : We are looking for a highly motivated individual, with a strong track record of success at a senior level in commissioning children’s services and the ability to maintain a substantial and varied workload. You will be educated to post graduate level (or have equivalent experience of working at a senior level in a specialist area) and have an excellent working knowledge of relevant government policy in relation to the areas covered by the role. You will have experience of leading complex service development and system wide change with a proven record of working collaboratively with and the ability to build trusting relationships with a range of stakeholders. You will also have highly developed negotiation skills. As Senior Commissioner you will be responsible for managing a small team and will therefore also need to have experience of managing staff and leadership in building and motivating a team. If you feel you have the necessary background, experience, and skills to undertake this role we would like to hear from you. W hat we can offer you : Here at SCC we have a range of different perks and benefits, a few examples can be found below. A generous local government pension scheme. Flexible working (role dependant). Up to 13 days of Flexi Leave. Hybrid working arrangements (role dependant). From 28 days annual leave (pro rata), plus bank holidays. Online Benefits – salary sacrifice schemes, benefits and discounts. Great local transport links. Employee assistance programme with access to our health wellbeing and support. F or further information on our benefits package please visit : Employee benefits (southampton.gov.uk) Contact details for informal discussion: For further information and details regarding the post of Senior Commissioner, Children, please contact Donna Chapman, Head of Service, Commissioning on 07885 537691 or donna.chapman2southampton.gov.uk Interview Information: To be confirmed Recruitment contact details: Email: recruitmentsouthampton.gov.uk Tel: 023 8083 4033 For more information about SCC please visit Southampton City Council Follow us on social media for regular updates on our featured jobs and latest news. Twitter Facebook YouTube