Assistant Director of Education

What will you be doing?

As an Assistant Director of Education, you will:

• Lead the development of a supportive and effective learning context for all children and young people, ensuring their progress within that framework.
• Develop and implement the Council’s School Improvement Strategy, informed by performance monitoring and feedback, to ensure continuous improvement.
• Drive the strategy, development, and delivery of Special and Additional Educational Needs (SEN) and Pupil Referral services to narrow the achievement gap for vulnerable young people.
• Establish and oversee a robust and secure Quality Assurance framework across all service delivery areas.
• Lead the development and implementation of the Council’s strategy, ensuring access to Education and Employment Training (EET) to meet corporate priorities and national targets.
• Facilitate wide-ranging consultation and dialogue with stakeholder organisations, governing bodies, children, and young people to ensure services meet community needs.
• Deliver and monitor the school reorganisation strategy, including closures, mergers, and re-sitings, to optimize school placements and enhance sustainability across the Council.
• Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with health, social care, and community-based services to support the Children’s Trust, Local Area Agreement, and Community Strategy.
• Contribute to the strategic planning and implementation of a Children and Young People’s Area-Based Strategy, focusing on prevention, early intervention, and individual needs.
• Establish positive, influential relationships with school Heads and Academy Trusts to improve outcomes for children and support vulnerable groups.
• Manage legislative changes impacting education, achievement, and school-related services.
• Deputise for the Director when required, providing leadership and strategic guidance across the department

About you

• To succeed in this role, you will need a degree-level qualification (or equivalent) in a relevant subject and experience with a deep understanding of primary, secondary, special schools, and 14-19 education agendas.
• Proven ability to translate education agendas into local solutions, with experience in the preventative agenda in children’s education.
• Demonstrated success at senior management level in complex environments, leading teams to deliver sustainable improvements and outstanding results.
• Strong leadership skills with experience in creating a high-performing, customer-focused culture.
• Expertise in service planning, performance appraisal, and staff management.
• Experience building successful partnerships with internal and external bodies, including governmental, non-governmental, private, and voluntary sectors.
• Ability to motivate teams and individuals to enhance performance and service standards.
• Excellent communication skills (verbal and written), with the ability to present complex issues to diverse audiences.
• Skilled at working under pressure, solving complex issues, and driving performance management.
• Strong leadership and management skills, with a focus on flexibility, creativity, and business acumen.

Our benefits

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.

You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us?

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a competitive salary
• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
• generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

About us

Our Values and Behaviours

Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:

Customer-focused
Respectful
Efficient
Supportive
Trustworthy

Our Key Commitments

Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.

We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.

North Northamptonshire Council re-signed the Armed Forces Covenant in June 2024 which highlights the Council’s pledge to support the Armed Forces community. The council obtained the silver status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) and we are now currently working towards achieving Gold status. 

We aim to be a carbon neutral Council by 2030.

Further information can be found at Jobs and careers | North Northamptonshire Council (northnorthants.gov.uk)