Head of Partnerships and Investments (Leisure and Environment)

Do you have a passion for continual improvement? Do you thrive on developing and delivering first-class services for Medway’s residents? Do you have the drive and determination to implement new initiatives, and recruit and nurture a highly-skilled and motivated team?

The successful candidate in this exciting new role will provide strategic leadership for the management of key leisure and environment partnerships, investments and contracts, including the Council’s joint venture partnership with Medway Norse.

The role is responsible for overseeing strong contract performance, developing effective external partnerships and securing capital and revenue investment of improve service quality and outcome for residents, while ensuring effective financial management and alignment with the Council’s priorities.

The successful candidate will:

• Act as the Council’s client manager for the greenspaces and grounds maintenance contract of the Medway Norse joint venture, ensuring effective contract, management, performance oversight and delivery of agree outcomes.
• Provide strategic leadership in developing and maintaining effective external partnerships that support service objectives and improvement.
• Lead on the successful attainment of capital and revenue investment to enhance leisure end environment services for residents.
• Maintain effective budgetary control, managing income and expenditure to achieve financial and value-for-money objectives.
• Provide management oversight for the successful delivery of leisure and environment capital projects, ensuring they are completed to agreed scope, timescales and budgets.
• Lead and manage relevant procurement activity for the service, ensuring compliance with Council procedures and best practice.
• Demonstrate a clear understanding of Council priorities and ensure the service contributes effectively to corporate and strategic objectives.
• Support and develop staff through effective leadership, performance management and opportunities for learning and professional development.

No candidate will meet every single requirement - if your experience looks a little different from what we've identified and you think you can bring value to the role, we'd love to learn more about you.

Interviews will be held Friday 17 April 2026

If you would like to have an informal discussion with the recruiting manager please call Bob Dimond, Chief Leisure and Environment Officer on 07525 801081.

In return we offer you:

• Generous annual leave entitlement
• Generous local government pension scheme package
• Access to wider training and development qualifications
• Flexible working scheme
• Travel plan discounts
• Car Benefit Scheme from Tusker
• Access to CAREFIRST advice & counselling service
• Employee discount scheme for national and local retailers
• The Government has introduced new ways of supporting parents with childcare costs. Further details are available here: - https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

We're committed to making Medway carbon neutral by 2050. We have developed an action plan to ensure we play our part in addressing the climate emergency. Our declaration fits into our Council Plan priority of making Medway a place to be proud of. The main outcome being a 'clean and green environment'. All Medway Council staff can access an additional day’s paid leave to undertake a volunteering activity which supports climate change.

Our organisation:

Medway is a unitary authority in the South East of England, made up of the towns of Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and Rainham and more rural areas, including the Hoo Peninsula.

Situated in Kent in the South-East of England, the area has plenty of green spaces, excellent facilities and easy access to the national motorway and rail networks, facilitating superb transport links to London.

We provide all local Government services for a quarter of a million people, looking after education, environment, social care, housing, planning, business and much more - everything from frontline services such as rubbish collection and events like the Dickens Festival to work that goes on behind the scenes to ensure services in Medway run smoothly and cost effectively.

Working at Medway Council means that you get to be part of this journey working alongside talented, professional colleagues to drive forward change to transform the lives of our residents and the communities they live in.

Important Information-

• Applicants must be able to demonstrate all criteria at level A which are essential for appointment to the role.

• Medway Council is not able to provide a Certificate of Sponsorship, so candidates must already possess the right to work in the UK.

• For further information, and for details of the benefits of working for Medway Council, please refer to the Medway information pack available as a download or to view online.

• Please be advised that if you are not contacted within 3 weeks of the advert closing date then you have not been shortlisted. All recruitment correspondence, including interview letters and contracts of employment will usually be sent out via email.

• We reserve the right to close this vacancy at any time prior to the closing date.

Please visit http://www.mindfulemployer.net/ for information on how Medway Council put good practices in place to ensure employees and job applicants who declare mental health issues receive the right level of support.