About the role
Help shape the future of local government by leading our National Graduate Development Programme (NGDP) team. This is a fixed term or secondment opportunity to cover a period of maternity leave, until 31 December 2024. The role has strategic responsibility for leading the successful NGDP as well as overseeing the expansion of the programme including through the new Pathways to Planning programme and NGDP Finance Stream.
About you
We are looking for a committed Programme Manager to lead and manage the LGA’s flagship National Graduate Development Programme (NGDP). It's an excitement time to join the NGDP, which continues to attract new talent to local government and works with councils to develop the future leaders of our sector. In the last five years NGDP has grown from taking just over 100 graduates per year, to 270 in our most recent cohort. We work with over 100 local government organisations such as councils and combined authorities to grow the pool of talent across the sector.
You will be someone who relishes the challenges presented to them and has a solid track record of creative thinking and programme management. In this role you will lead and manage a team who run all aspects of the NGDP, including recruitment, marketing and council engagement. This role also involves line management of the Pathways to Planning graduate programme team and oversight of the new London-based offshoot, the NGDP Finance Stream.
You will be responsible for the NGDP budget, working closely with the Head of Leadership to exercise discretion and judgement to ensure value for money. The NGDP team and the LGA as a whole are committed to increasing the diversity of local government, so that it is more representative of the communities it serves. You will lead on ensuring that the NGDP’s processes, materials and programme content help us achieve our ambition to provide a diverse pipeline of talented future leaders for local government. You will be committed to and have a strong track record of continuous improvement with respect to equality, diversity and inclusion.
With a thorough understanding of the environment in which local and central government operate, you will be able to demonstrate that you can forge positive internal and external relationships with a range of stakeholders including chief executives, external partners and politicians to help grow NGDP and increase the councils that take part in the programme.
You will have excellent organisational skills, the ability to deliver under pressure, be politically sensitive, and have the ability to exercise appropriate discretion and judgement on issues of significance and importance, particularly when dealing with politicians and officials. Team management skills are essential as you will be providing leadership to the graduate recruitment team, with direct line management responsibility for 6 team members.
You will also have strong analytical skills and experience of evaluating the impact of projects with a particular focus on continuous improvement and sharing of best practice. Happy to take the initiative and comfortable working as part of a team or alone, you will have developed your own collaborative working and leadership qualities.
A background or experience in graduate recruitment is not essential, but you should be skilled at managing, overseeing and leading large-scale multi-stage programmes with a range of stakeholders.
You must have the right to work in the UK, the LGA are unfortunately unable to offer sponsorship visas. Evidence for the right to work in the UK will be requested at the interview stage.
To apply
If you would like to be considered for the role, please complete the online form and include a CV and supporting statement detailing how you meet the criteria of the role before the closing date. To help yo prepare your supporting statement, we have included the criteria from the person specification that will be used in shortlisting:
- Understanding of the key issues, priorities and pressures affecting local government including the policy and improvement agenda
- Demonstrable experience of leading successful projects/programmes
- Political sensitivity, and the ability to exercise appropriate discretion and judgement on issues of significance and importance, and when dealing with politicians and officials
- Proven credibility with politicians, senior managers, key stakeholders and staff
- Excellent organisational skills and the ability to deliver under pressure, prioritising work against competing demands to meet deadlines
- Strong influencing, negotiating and relation-building skills.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, with ability to present complex ideas in a clear and comprehensible way
- Confident and resilient with excellent people skills, able to develop positive internal and external relationships; Strong team player able to build alliances and lead from within
- Good financial and resource management skills.
- Demonstrable skills in leadership of project teams consisting of a diverse range of participants with a variety of skills/backgrounds
We use anonymous recruitment, which is the practice of hiding candidates’ identities. This process involves removing any identifying information from candidates’ applications which includes names. We are unable to remove candidate’s names from their CV’s. If you wish to remain anonymous, we ask that you take your name off your CV before submitting.
Closing Date: 5pm, Friday 24 November 2023
Interview Date: Wednesday 6 December 2023, virtual
At the LGA we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. Our recruitment decisions are based on fair, open competition, with appointment on merit. The LGA are proud to be awarded a “Disability Confident Leader”. If you are require an reasonable adjustment, which is a change to the format or conditions of the recruitment process to accommodate any disability-related needs you may have. Please contact us via HRandPayroll@local.gov.uk