Principal Service Lead – SEND

Principal Lead – SEND

Salary: £76,597 - £81,370 (pay award pending)

Location: Dudley, West Midlands – hybrid
Contract: Permanent, full time

Are you an inspirational, values‑driven professional with a passion for improving the life chances for children and young people? Dudley Council is embarking on a bold and ambitious transformation journey, and we are seeking an exceptional Principal Lead – SEND to play a vital role in shaping the future of education and inclusion across our borough.

This is a pivotal position at the heart of our Children and Young People service. With your Associate Director and colleagues, you will drive Dudley’s strategic approach to education inclusion and SEND, ensuring that every child and young person, whatever their needs or background can access high‑quality education, support, and opportunity.

In this strategic leadership role, you will:

• Provide high quality strategic and operational leadership and management to Special Educational Need and Disabilities (SEND) services.
• Lead and manage inclusive teams fostering high performance and ensuring services are compliant, meet legal, statutory and governance requirements.
• Translate strategic intent into effective and high-quality operational delivery, either through direct delivery or through robust commissioning arrangements across Education, Health and Social Care and in partnership with relevant services
• To support the development and delivery of the Children’s Services Improvement Plan and the SEND Improvement Plan, embedding a culture of financial responsibility, a children and family focus and service excellence.

Who we are looking for:

A strategic, politically astute leader with a track record of delivering transformation in complex organisations. Someone who inspires teams, builds strong partnerships, understands education/SEND legislation, and brings energy, integrity, and ambition.

If you are driven to make a real impact for children, families, and schools across Dudley, we want to hear from you.

For an informal discussion please contact John Macilwraith, Director of Children & Young People, via Alia Siddique – Alia.Siddique@dudley.gov.uk

Applications close: Midnight Sunday 7th June 2026

Please submit your CV and supporting statement with your application. Your supporting statement should be arial 12 and no more than 4 pages.

The recruitment process consists of technical interviews with longlisted applicants to confirm the shortlist. Short listed candidates will be invited to assessment centres, stakeholder panels and attend final interviews. The final stage will be held w/c 20th July 2026. Please indicate any periods you are unavailable.

Please do visit Dudley Councils Children and Young People recruitment site for more information:-https://www.childrenfirstdudley.org.uk/Jobs

Workplace Attendance: Working in the office 3+ days a week (pro-rata) or Onsite full time

So that we can demonstrate Dudley’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and to improve bias in the recruitment process that could create barriers for candidates. Your personal data will be anonymised when you apply, to ensure that you comply with our anonymisation process, please ensure you have removed your name and date of birth from any attachments prior to uploading them to your application.

Online application forms will only be accepted for this vacancy, online facilities for jobs are available at public libraries within the Dudley Borough.

All applicants must be able to provide documentation to prove their right to work in the UK.

Please note: Dudley MBC does not currently offer sponsorship for candidates without the Right to Work in the UK.

If you require support completing an online or paper application form and or interview techniques, please contact Dudley Adult and Community Learning on 01384 818 143 or acl@dudley.gov.uk who can support with Digital Skills and Job Applications.

If you have a disability and require assistance in making an application please contact the HR Resourcing Team via HR.Resourcing@dudley.gov.uk

If you are experiencing a problem whilst applying for a position, please follow the link below to the WM Jobs Help Page in the first instance https://help.wmjobs.co.uk/

If the WM Jobs Help Page does not resolve your issue then please contact the HR Resourcing Team via HR.Resourcing@dudley.gov.uk

Dudley Council will check the information that you have provided against any details already held for accuracy and completeness. The Council will check, share and cross match your information both internally within the council and with external organisations to protect public funds and prevent or detect crime, only where the law allows us to do so.

The Council’s full Privacy and Disclaimer Statement can be accessed on the website at https://www.dudley.gov.uk/privacy-disclaimer-statement/

N.B. We reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the advertised date should we receive a large number of applications

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