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Job Title: Improvement Manager
Starting Salary: £61,443 progressing to £68,775 per annum (pro rata for part time) - Pay award pending
Hours: 37
Base Location: Farnham House, Stevenage -Hybrid Working. The role is expected to be present in the office 3-4 days a month. Ability to travel across Hertfordshire required, but driving licence not essential.
Contract Type: Fixed Term/Secondment 2 years
Directorate: Childrens Service

About the team

The Improvement & Transformation Team work across the Inclusion & Skills and Education Directorates within Children’s Services, delivering projects and programmes that support the continuous improvement of services. In particular, we focus on Special Education Needs & Disabilities (SEND) and Inclusion, driving improvement work that leads to better outcomes for children and young people.

This is an exciting time to join the team, we are recruiting various project and programme roles to support delivery of the Hertfordshire SEND Reform Plan. You will work with partners across the SEND Local Area Partnership including local authority services, health, education, and parent carer representatives, delivering elements of the plan, enabling the partnership to deliver its commitments to reform the local SEND system, improve experiences for children and young people, and prepare for wider national reforms.

You will be joining a well-established and supportive team with a track record of forging partnerships and delivering high impact within SEND and Inclusion.

About the role

We are seeking an experienced Improvement Manager to lead delivery of various projects and programmes within the SEND Reform Plan. This is a senior role within the Improvement and Transformation Service and is expected to work at a high level with stakeholders across the SEND Local Area Partnership, providing leadership to project staff within the service.

You’ll work closely with the SEND Reform Plan Strategic Programme Lead, Project Managers and SEND partnership stakeholders to keep delivery on track, prepare high quality updates, support delivery boards, and maintain excellent communication with the wider SEND partnership.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in complex, fast moving environments, and enjoys problem solving. If you’re motivated by meaningful change and want to help shape the future of local services that support children and young people, we’d love to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and deliver complex service redesign and change programmes within the SEND Reform Plan, applying a range of business improvement methodologies alongside structured programme and project management approaches.
• Establish and maintain robust programme infrastructure, including governance, reporting, risk, issue and assurance frameworks to support effective end-to-end delivery.
• Accountable for programme and project delivery, ensuring outcomes are achieved to agreed quality standards, timescales and budgets, with clear oversight of risks, dependencies and critical paths.
• Lead process mapping activities to support effective service design, ensuring current and future state processes are clearly defined, optimised, and aligned to organisational objectives.
• Drive benefits realisation, including identification, tracking and delivery of financial and non-financial benefits, ensuring alignment to SEND improvement and reform outcomes.
• Work with Programme Sponsors and stakeholders to define scope, outcomes, success measures, resource requirements and governance arrangements.
• Provide line and matrix management to Project Managers and Project Officers, enabling good practice of project management and supporting professional development.
• Performance management of projects and programmes, using data to inform decision-making, challenge progress and drive continuous improvement.
• Develop and maintain strong partnerships across the local authority, NHS, schools, settings, parent carer forums and wider stakeholders to enable delivery and system-wide change.
• Lead stakeholder engagement and communications strategies, ensuring clear, consistent and effective communication across all levels of the system.
• Champion co-production and lived experience, ensuring children, young people, parent carers and the workforce meaningfully shape design, delivery and evaluation of services.
• Preparation and presentation of high-quality reports on SEND Reform progress and impact

About you

Essential:

• Significant experience in programme and project management, including leading complex, multi‑stakeholder transformation and service improvement initiatives end‑to‑end.
• Experience delivering improvements across organisations within partnership contexts
• Strong expertise in process mapping, applying it to inform and enhance service design through insight-led, end-to-end process thinking.
• Highly developed stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to build credibility and maintain effective relationships with senior leaders, sponsors, partners, staff and service users.
• Experience of operating within and contributing to robust governance and assurance frameworks, including reporting, risk management and escalation to senior boards.
• Strong service design and problem-solving capability, able to diagnose complex issues, co-create evidence-based solutions and drive implementation through to measurable outcomes.
• Matrix management and leadership skills, with the ability to lead without direct authority, negotiate competing priorities and influence decision-making to achieve results across services.
• Resilience and emotional intelligence to thrive in a complex, fast-paced and dynamic environment whilst navigating ambiguity
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate complex information clearly and persuasively for a range of audiences

Desirable

• Relevant Project or Programme Management qualification
• Knowledge of national SEND policy, inclusion, and/or support for children with additional learning needs

This role will be at the centre of SEND reform and improvement in Hertfordshire, as part of a growing team. It is a fast-paced area but very rewarding. This is a great opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of children and young people with SEND in Hertfordshire

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is Level 14. Please locate the job profile here: Job profiles: Project & programme

To hear more about this opportunity please contact erin.bradley1@hertfordshire.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.

Interview Date: 24th August - Face to Face, Stevenage

Benefits of working for us

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Secondment
This role is open to secondments for eligible employees who work for HCC. If you wish to apply on a secondment basis, you must have your line manager’s approval before submitting your application. You will be asked to confirm this within your application form. If you are not eligible for a secondment (e.g., you are currently on a fixed‑term contract that would end before this positions ends) or you indicate that your manager cannot support a secondment, your application will be considered on a fixed‑term contract basis instead.

Additional information

We are changing
Hertfordshire County Councilis undergoing Local Government Reorganisation (LGR). If you are employed by Hertfordshire County on 1 April 2028, it is expected that most roles will transfer to the newly-created unitary councils on existing terms and conditions under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings – Protection of Employment) principles.

LGR is one of the biggest changes we will face in a generation. It will reshape how we work and how services are organised and gives us a real opportunity to build something better. To find out more, visit https://www.hertfordshire-lgr.co.uk/

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Driving required
You’ll need to have the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.