Head of Strategy and Innovation

The starting salary for this role is £45,734 per annum for working 36 hours per week.

Though this role is based in Woking, there will be the option for both flexible and home working.

Active Surrey is looking for a Head of Strategy and Innovation to join the dynamic and driven Active Surrey team. The successful candidate will engage with senior stakeholders nationally and locally in order to provide strategic direction, build advocacy, and develop innovative solutions which contribute to tackling inactivity and inequality in Surrey.   

About Active Surrey

As the Active Partnership for Surrey, we believe that movement matters. It matters to our health, our schools, our communities and our environments. 

Focused on tackling inactivity and inequality, we work together to help everyone in Surrey realise the benefits of a more active way of life by influencing systems, removing barriers and creating opportunities to get people moving more.  

Our vision is that everyone in Surrey, but with a particular focus on those who need it most, embrace moving more, to improve health and wellbeing and to thrive as an active community.  

About the role

This is a very exciting time to join the Active Surrey team. We have just launched Surrey’s 10 year physical activity strategy, Movement for Change, and secured the long term funding to deliver it. The successful post holder will play a vital role in delivering the aims of the strategy with a particular focus on digital transformation and embedding a philosophy of curiosity, discovery and learning across the organisation and beyond. 

Reporting into the Managing Director, this role will sit on the Active Surrey Senior Leadership Team and will report into the Board. You will also work closely with local and national partners including Sport England and the wider Active Partnerships network. 

You’ll love this job if you: 

• Are interested in working across several fields including marketing, digital, insight, data management and learning 
• Are self-starting, curious, eager to learn and share learning both internally and across local and national platforms 
• Enjoy a role which is fluid and responsive to the needs of the organisation, partners, and the wider systems in which we operate  
• Have good communication and relationship management skills  
• Can work comfortably across multiple inter-connected strategies, partners, and programmes 
• Can balance creativity with organisational skills, innovation with collaboration, strategy with practicality 
• Have a passion for the role that sport, physical activity and movement can play in building stronger, healthier, and more connected communities. 

As the Head of Strategy and Innovation, you will lead the Active Surrey Marketing, Insight and Support Team. You will work together to improve our digital and data management practices to enhance both audience engagement and access to opportunities to be active. As well as this, you will explore how we can better understand and articulate our impact and create a learning culture as we find new and innovative ways of working. As part of the organisation’s leadership team, you will have opportunities to present to our board and shape how we work. 

To be shortlisted to interview for this position your application will clearly evidence:

• Ambition to inspire change and seek out opportunities 
• A strategic approach and an understanding of systems leadership 
• A good knowledge of marketing, digital, and innovation with the right connectivity to draw in specialists as needed
• Experience of and enthusiasm for managing a team and developing people
• An understanding of the value of data and the ability to use it to influence and inform our investments and strategy. 

We are open to the background and experience that the right candidate can bring. We are particularly interested in hearing from people with additional needs and disabilities and people from ethnically diverse communities who are currently under-represented in our workforce. 

At Surrey, our values and behaviours are just as important as our skills and abilities. They shape who we are as an organisation. Find out more about the values we follow.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 26/06/2022.

Interviews will take place week commencing 04/07/2022.

Contact Details

For an informal discussion please contact Elizabeth Duggan on 07970 257412  or by e-mail at elizabeth.duggan@surreycc.gov.uk.

Benefits

From flexible working to job sharing (where possible) we are committed to providing a healthy work life balance. A laptop and mobile will be supplied if applicable to your role. You will benefit from 26 days annual leave, rising to 28 days after 2 years' service, a generous local government salary related pension, as well as the option to join our car lease scheme. For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit MyBenefits for Surrey County Council staff.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer of first choice reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all under represented groups.