Learning Infrastructure Manager - REQ004311

INTERNAL ONLY VACANCY. This post is open to existing Leeds City Council employees only. Applications will not be considered from external candidates

Job Title: Learning Infrastructure Manager (PO6)
Salary: PO6 £51,356 - £54,495
Hours: 37 per week
Contract: Permanent
Location: Leeds City Centre (with flexible and hybrid working arrangements)

Introduction

As a Learning Infrastructure Manager, you’ll thrive on leading change, shaping strategy, and making a real difference for children and young people across Leeds. You’ll play a pivotal role in ensuring every child has access to high-quality learning places and safe, effective transport, while supporting the council’s ambition to be the best city for children to grow up in.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About you

As a Learning Infrastructure Manager, you will bring to the role:

Substantial experience of leading teams and managing complex programmes in the education sector.
Strong understanding of statutory duties relating to education transport, school place planning, and children’s services.
Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills.
Proven ability to manage budgets, deliver savings, and drive continuous improvement.
Analytical skills to interpret data, develop business cases, and present complex information clearly.

About the role

As our next Learning Infrastructure Manager, you’ll provide strategic and operational leadership across the Learning Infrastructure service, including education transport, sufficiency of learning places, asset management, and traded services. You’ll deputise for the Head of Learning Infrastructure, lead a talented team, and work closely with partners to deliver statutory duties and service improvements.

This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of learning infrastructure in Leeds, drive transformation, and ensure the council delivers on its ambitions for children and young people. You’ll be integral to implementing policy, managing budgets, and reporting to senior leaders and elected members.

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

A competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
Membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
Flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
A clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
A range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

How to apply

Please complete the online application form.

Read our guidance for further advice on completing your application.

If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role, please contact Sally Lowe, Head of Learning Infrastructure. Call 0113 378 7233 or email sally.lowe@leeds.gov.uk

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visaroute before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Please ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job Description

Job Purpose:

Working as an integral part of the Learning Infrastructure Senior Management Team within the Children & Families Directorate you will model values and behaviours to help us to achieve our ambition to become the best city council in the country, and our partnership aspiration of being a child friendly city. You will develop and deliver our strategy and statutory responsibilities to provide sufficient good quality learning places, the Learning capital strategy, the Council’s Education Transport offer, the wider Children and Families’ Asset Management Plan and our Traded Offer to Schools to ensure all children and young people are able to achieve their best outcomes and to keep them safe.

You will be responsible for the development and delivery of the service plan and continuous improvement initiatives through contributing to cross Council priorities and collaborative working across Directorates and with external partners across the education sector.

Responsibilities:

Lead and manage a significant programme of statutory duties in relation to the learning estate, Children and Families assets, and education transport, ensuring successful delivery.
Work with a range of colleagues from across the directorate, Council and partners to ensure the right support for teams, managers and senior leaders, that create the required conditions for successful delivery.
Line management and development of staff, including supporting them to be their best and reflect the organisation’s values.
Provide strategic and operational leadership across the service with high-support, high-challenge.
Manage competing priorities, ensuring consistency of approach, with a key focus on delivery and quality.
To provide written and verbal reports on activity to the directorate’s senior leadership team, transformation delivery board, Finance Task & Finish Board, Children and Families Asset Management Board and other stakeholders, as required.
To oversee budgets aligned to the service supporting delivery, including planning and monitoring spend and working with finance colleagues to provide monitoring reports as required.
Engage with partners and other stakeholders to gain agreement to, and ensure ongoing commitment to, delivering the service plan.
To be an active participant in the Learning Infrastructure Service leadership team.
Advise senior leaders, executive and elected members as required on matters of policy and strategy.
Chair and manage meetings as required, including agenda planning and preparation.
Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities as necessary to ensure up to date knowledge and skills
To work collaboratively with colleagues, knowing when to seek help and advice.
Contribute to the overall ethos, work, and aims of the service by helping devise and through attending relevant meetings, training days/events as requested.
Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures e.g., child protection, health, safety and security, confidentiality, and data protection, reporting all concerns to an appropriate person
Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, and promoting the values, standards, and equality and diversity policies opportunities of Leeds City Council.
Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse of equality and diversity, ensuring compliance with relevant policies and procedures.
The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome for this post.
The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and this role will be expected to work within these parameters.

Qualifications

Appropriate professional qualification or equivalent substantial knowledge gained through significant managerial experience across the service area.

PERSONAL SPECIFICATION

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS: It is essential that the Candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post within the context of the specific role duties and responsibilities: Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate on the application form that they meet all the essential requirements

Method of Assessment will be through one or more of the following Application Form, Test, Interview, and Certificate

Skills Required

Strong leaderships skills in the context of managing staff and service delivery.
Ability to review current processes and delivery models, identify areas for improvement develop business cases, seeking required approvals for implementation to meet agreed outcomes.
Undertaking of options appraisals, with robust evaluation of risks and benefits and clear rationale for mitigations and recommendations.
Ability to manage budgets and identify targeted savings and resource management.
Excellent report writing skills, with the ability to present complex information succinctly, to effectively achieve the intended purpose of the report.
Strong presentation skills, both written and verbal, to a range of audience including to senior leaders, boards, and Elected Members.
Strong communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across team and organisational boundaries.
Highly effective inter-personal skills with the ability to lead, influence, establish and maintain positive working relationships across a range of stakeholders.
Strong analytical skills, including the ability to gather, interpret, present data from a range of sources, as well as produce recommendations aligned to achieving objectives.
Effective chairing of meetings, keeping to agenda and required outcomes.
Effective budget management, including developing cost plans to support effective project delivery, monitoring and reporting.

Knowledge Required

Strong understanding and demonstrable working knowledge of education statutory duties in relation to school organisational change, education building regulations and home to school transport policy.
Good understanding of current challenges being faced by local government and the wider public sector.
Understanding of the current challenges facing children’s services, both locally and nationally.
Wider knowledge of legislation, policies and statutory duties that local government carry in relation to children and family services.

Experience Required

Substantial experience of working with partners in the education sector.
Experience of working across complex programmes supporting successful delivery of statutory duties.
Leading and managing priorities involving partnership working across a variety of disciplines and professions.
Experience of line management and supporting teams through both cultural and operational change to ensure effective service delivery.
Experience in identifying roles and resources needed to deliver statutory duties and project plans.
Experience of managing budgets and finances and generating traded incomes.
Experience in compiling and delivering service and communications plans and strategies within the context of working with children and families.

Behavioural & other Characteristics required

Able to understand and abide by Council’s Equalities and Diversity Policy.
Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health & Safety Policies.
Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities to ensure up to date knowledge, skills, and continuous professional development.
Able to work flexibly across different work locations and areas as appropriate.

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