Director of Legal & Governance (Monitoring Officer)

Some career opportunities stand out from the crowd: offering greater scope and challenge and a wider remit where your skills can flourish. This role presents the opportunity to draw on your professional expertise and take on a wider corporate perspective as part of Reading’s leadership team.

This is a great opportunity for an experienced and accomplished legal / governance professional to play an influential role in Reading’s corporate team, and beyond. As a member of our senior leadership team, you will help shape the organisation's strategic direction, providing trusted advice and challenge whilst enabling the Council to deliver its ambitions for residents, communities and businesses.

You’ll provide overall strategic direction and professional leadership to our Legal and Democratic Services team – ensuring a high-quality, customer focused approach defines how we work. You’ll ensure accurate and timely legal advice underpins key political decisions and delivery across a range of programmes, acting as an enabling function while supporting informed and proportionate management of risk.

As the Council’s statutory Monitoring Officer you will ensure that sound governance principles and systems support the political process. By fostering strong professional relationships across all political parties, you’ll be able to present impartial advice to elected members, and ensure clarity on roles and accountabilities, and that political debate and discourse is managed appropriately.

Reading BC hosts the Joint Legal Team that provides Children’s and Adults’ Social Care legal service to the six unitary authorities in Berkshire. You’ll oversee this provision, paying close attention to quality assurance and building positive relationships with stakeholders across the county.

It’s likely that you are a qualified legal professional – though practical experience as a Monitoring Officer could be considered as equivalent to this. Whatever your background, it’s essential that you have an excellent understanding of how local authorities operate, the role of effective governance in supporting effective decision-making, and expert knowledge of the legislative framework that applies to councils.

Success in this role will require the ability to offer direct and impartial legal advice, while working as an enabler to the Council’s strategic ambitions. That means an emphasis on outcomes rather than process, while being clear on where to draw the line in terms of risk.

You should have the ability to see issues ‘in the round’ and collaborate with different stakeholders to agree the best way forward. Equally important is your ability to lead people. You will create a culture of high performance, learning and professional excellence, developing capability within the team and empowering colleagues to thrive.

Through visible and authentic leadership, you will help shape not only the future of Legal and Democratic Services, but also the wider culture and success of the Council.

Visit www.team-reading.co.uk or contact Steve Guest at Solace in Business on 020 7976 3311 for a confidential discussion.

Closing date: 21st September 2026