Head of Service (Parks & Streetscene) - GLA16263

Job Description

This is an exciting opportunity to fulfil a strategic role within the senior management team of Neighbourhoods, Regeneration and Sustainability (NRS), in Scotland’s largest local authority which brings together a range of large-scale operational services that focus on parks, streetscene, bereavement services as well as greenspace and biodiversity and delivering essential city services. NRS is a large and diverse service that touches on all aspects of life within the city. We value our people and recognise these are our biggest asset in achieving our objectives.

Reporting to the Divisional Director of Neighbourhoods and Communities, you will play a key role in driving forward an ambitious transformation programme across these frontline operational areas, which received a significant investment in the recent budget of more than 200 posts, and will have responsibility for a budget of approximately £60m across a range of functions. You will have a focus on contributing to the council’s target of achieving net-zero by 2030 and this will be embedded in your approach.

The postholder will have direct responsibility for the management and delivery of the street cleansing function, as well as pest control for the authority together with directing and overseeing parks and greenspace management across approximately 90 parks across the City including Pollok Country Park and Glasgow Botanic Gardens.. The postholder will have responsibility for bereavement services, the food growing strategy, landscape design and other natural environment projects with a frontline and professional establishment of approximately 1000 staff.

You will play a key role in ensuring the highest standards of street cleansing and parks maintenance are consistently delivered across the City of Glasgow. Working closely with a range of City partners, from registered social landlords to Glasgow’s newly formed city-centre business improvement district. You will drive service performance, maintain clean, safe and welcoming public spaces, monitor quality standards, and lead continuous improvement initiatives to enhance the appearance and environmental quality of the city for residents, businesses and its many visitors.

You will be a first-class communicator and a natural relationship manager whilst demonstrating excellent leadership skills. You will have an appreciation and understanding of working within a political environment. You will have extensive experience in an operational environment at a senior management level.

A strategic approach and vision to deliver service improvements, financial planning, and people management skills together with substantial experience of developing and achieving organisational goals and targets is essential. Also, you can reference Glasgow City Council’s Strategic Plan for further information.

The post has not yet been fully evaluated, and the final evaluated Pay Level and total pay position will not be confirmed until Job Evaluation activity has been completed.

Under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, this post is politically restricted.

Further information will be provided to candidates during the recruitment process.

For further information or to arrange an informal discussion with Stevie Scott, Divisional Director for Neighbourhoods & Communities. Please contact Claire Owens, Business Advisor on 0141 276 5017 or by email at Claire.Owens@glasgow.gov.uk

Application Packs

We want everyone to be able to apply. If you need the Application Pack in another format, like Braille, large print, or another language, please call us on 0141 287 1054.

If we need to post it to you, we’ll send it by second-class mail within three working days. Please allow enough time to complete and return your application before the closing date. If you think you might need more time because of accessibility needs, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.

There are also a number of Accessibility Tools compatible with the myjobscotland website which may assist you with your application. More information on these can be found at https://myjobscotland.gov.uk/accessibility-statement.

Further Information

The Council promotes flexible working, we are happy to talk about flexible working options in relation to the role, to support your work-life balance.

We welcome applications from everyone and are committed to building a diverse workforce. We particularly encourage applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled people and women for senior roles, as these groups are currently underrepresented within our workforce.

As a Disability Confident Employer, Glasgow City Council aims to offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role, in line with the Disability Confident scheme.

Please note that Glasgow City Council is currently completing a Job Evaluation exercise and introducing a new pay and grading structure which may impact on current salaries quoted in job adverts, see

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