Operational Hub Lead,

Overview

Our Benefits

You can also see our full list of employee benefits on our careers site here: Why you should work for us | West Northamptonshire Council.

About the role

We are seeking an enthusiastic and self motivated Operational Hub Lead for the South Midlands Careers Hub to lead the team in improving the careers outcomes for young people in the region.

Our role is to connect together local employers with careers leaders in schools, colleges and training providers to coordinate careers education and enhance each student’s early experiences of the work place. The South Midlands Careers Hub supports around 150 schools, colleges and providers across Bedfordshire and Luton, Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire.

Hub supported programmes bring partners together, to act with the shared aims of inspiring young people, and giving students the knowledge and practical skills to make decisions about their next steps.

The South Midlands Careers Hub has a focus on tackling disadvantage, with three priority areas: 

1.    Continuous improvement of careers provision in schools and colleges against the Gatsby Benchmarks through support, training for the education workforce and quality assurance.

2.    Increasing the number of high-quality work experience opportunities available for young people 

3.    Boosting apprenticeships and technical pathways, including supporting the implementation of the Provider Access Legislation (PAL)

Interviews for this role are expected to be on 17 or 20 October 2025.

What will you be doing?

Working as part of the Careers Hub Team, you will have a fast pace and varied role by:

• Driving sustainable system change in careers provision within the hub and as part of the national network of Careers Hubs across England by ensuring the hub is at the centre of local careers provision and policy making decisions.
• Leading and managing a high-performing team of Enterprise Coordinators, focusing on professional growth and alignment with strategic goals.
• Leading and driving cross sector engagement and collaboration to ensure all young people can access high quality careers and enterprise education that aligns with the local Employment and Skills Strategy and Local Authorities economic and skills priorities, ensures improved career outcomes and achieves sustainable change in careers provision at a local and national level.
• Leading, managing and developing a team of delivery professionals and volunteers to provide high quality careers provision following the best practice outlined in Gatsby Benchmarks, the Government’s Careers Strategy and the Grant Funding Agreement with the Careers and Enterprise Company.

About you

You will have excellent communication skills and experience of working collaboratively with partner organisations, developing strong links with internal colleagues and external partners.

You will be able to demonstrate specialist knowledge of a subject relevant to the role, such as a strong understanding of local and national policy relating to skills and economic development, issues and barriers to employment faced by young people, and understanding of post-16 landscape.

You’ll use your professional expertise and knowledge to support the delivery of the Careers Hub programme so that it is efficient and suitable to meet the needs of schools, partners, businesses and providers in line with the funding agreement requirements and strong project management skills.

You will need to have a solutions driven and adaptable approach to working, thrive in a busy environment and have a positive approach to challenges.

You will be able to smoothly manage processes whilst being able use your own initiative to ‘think outside of the box’ whilst having strong leadership and line management skills to lead the team with a full complex workload.

About us

We’re a new council, following one of the largest shake-ups in local government
reform in recent history. As a new authority, we’re embarking on an exciting journey
to deliver exceptional services for our residents, customers and
communities.  

Our vision at West Northamptonshire Council is ‘to make West Northants a great
place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to
make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance,
Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver
services. 

At West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with
ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail,
and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A
place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-
minded people.

When potential is unlocked, talent thrives.

Choose a career that offers you a true sense of achievement, fills you with pride and
challenges you in a positive way, every day.

West Northants Council, where careers thrive.