Civic and Member Services Manager
Join us to support Brent’s councillors in an exciting, high profile role at an innovative local authority.
Brent is a tremendously vibrant London borough where the iconic arch of Wembley Stadium dominates the skyline. Spanning both inner and outer London, it is a borough of huge contrasts in terms of its economic, environmental, ethnic and social make up. Brent’s diversity is evident to all who visit our borough and our long history of ethnic and cultural diversity has created a place that is truly unique and valued by those who live and work here.
The council is pursuing a far-reaching transformation agenda that better meets the needs of our community so it is an exciting time to join us.
The Post
This is a new role managing a small and high performing team supporting democracy in Brent. You will be providing services to the Council’s elected members and the Mayor to support them in carrying out their duties and representing their constituents.
You will be joining at an exciting time as councillors prepare for a borough election in May 2022: one of your key roles will be devising and delivering an induction programme for the new members.
Other key projects include supporting the civic team to run events for the new Mayor and deputy Mayor, and devising and implementing the member training programme, for which the Borough has been awarded the Charter Plus standard for Elected Member Development. The post holder will work closely with members to ensure that our approach to their training is councillor-led, takes on board good practice elsewhere and responds to emerging priorities.
The member services manager will also work closely with all Group Offices, line managing staff, ensuring the provision of effective administrative support to the leadership of the controlling and opposition group(s). The role has budgetary responsibility for Members’ Allowances, Member Learning and Development, and the Council’s Civic support function and group support/Leader’s office budgets.
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The Person
The ideal candidate has extensive experience of working with elected members at any level of government and an ability to gain trust of people at all levels and from different political parties.
The role will have line management responsibility for six officers so experience of managing and motivating teams to deliver high quality services and change priorities at speed is necessary. As we have moved much of our member training to a virtual platform, a creative approach and experience of organising training using Teams, Zoom, etc would be a benefit.
You will need to demonstrate awareness of what local government is and does, and the financial, political, and legislative context in which it operates. The postholder should also have excellent written and spoken communication skills.
Closing Date: 25 July 2021 (23:00)
Assessment & Interview Date: We anticipate interviews taking place on Wednesday 18 August.
Additional Information
Brent Council values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this and therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community. We positively encourage all applicants to self-identify their characteristics in the diversity survey section in the application.
We are committed to safer recruitment and safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Applicants should be aware that posts working with children, young people and vulnerable adults are subject to an Enhanced DBS check as well as other employment clearances.
Brent has a positive approach to flexible working.
As a disability confident employer Brent welcomes applications from people with all disabilities, including hidden disabilities and mental health conditions. We will interview any disabled applicant who meets the essential criteria. If you require reasonable adjustments to be made to any part of the recruitment process due to your disability, please contact us on recruitment@brent.gov.uk. Please note the information you provide will be treated fairly and confidentially.
Please note CVs will not be considered as part of your application for this position.