Secondment or Fixed Term Contract Opportunity - until March 2027

Grade D - £45,091 to £53,460

Full time - Hybrid

As the subject matter expert for Early Careers, you’ll take the lead in translating strategy into high‑quality operational delivery. You’ll work closely with Resourcing, Workforce Planning, senior HR colleagues and Directorate leaders to ensure our early careers programmes are well‑governed, effective, and aligned to workforce needs.

This is a hands‑on leadership role with real influence — balancing people leadership, programme delivery, data‑driven decision making and stakeholder management.

Operational leadership responsibilities

In this role, you will:

Lead and manage the Early Careers team, setting clear direction, managing performance, and creating a supportive and delivery‑focused culture
Oversee the full early careers lifecycle, ensuring programmes are well planned, monitored and delivered to agreed milestones and outcomes
Drive operational delivery of apprenticeship, graduate, intern and work placement programmes, ensuring quality, consistency and positive participant experiences
Embed clear processes, governance and controls, including stage gates, reviews, transition planning and continuous improvement
Use data and insight to monitor performance, identify risks, and inform evidence‑based decisions
Lead operational projects within Resourcing, managing scope, risks, timelines and reporting
Act as the operational link between strategy, planning and delivery — ensuring workforce plans are translated into practical, achievable solutions

Leadership & stakeholder impact

You’ll also:

Build and maintain strong partnerships with universities, colleges, schools and learning providers
Work collaboratively with Finance to maximise and govern apprenticeship levy usage
Coach and advise managers on early careers development, progression planning and talent pipelines
Champion equity, diversity and inclusion throughout all programmes and operational activity

What we’re looking for

We’re keen to hear from colleagues who:

Have strong operational leadership experience and enjoy managing teams, workflows and delivery
Are confident leading complex programmes with multiple stakeholders
Can balance strategic thinking with hands‑on operational execution
Are comfortable using data, insights and performance metrics to drive improvement
Have experience in early careers, learning & development, or workforce initiatives (or transferable operational leadership experience)

You don’t need to tick every box — if you’re a capable operational leader with the appetite to learn and grow, we’d encourage you to apply.

Why consider this role?

A visible leadership role with real organisational impact
Opportunity to shape and improve council‑wide early careers delivery
Exposure to strategic workforce planning and senior stakeholders
A chance to lead people, programmes and change — end to end

Please upload your up-to-date CV via the attachments part of your application, this is required for shortlisting.

Unfortunately, we cannot consider any applications without a CV attached

Birmingham City Council is an accredited Disability Confident Leader employer, and we are committed to employing, retaining and developing all of our people.

We want to ensure your recruitment journey with us is a positive and equitable one, so please let us know if there are any reasonable adjustments, additional support, accessibility needs, or if there is any way in which we can support you through your application.

For any informal enquires please contact: Resourcing@birmingham.gov.uk quoting ref 4032

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be undertaken.

Sponsorship is not available for this post. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK that does not require employer sponsorship for the duration of the appointment.

Proof of Right to work in the UK will be required for all applicants in accordance with UK Home Office requirements, before any employment offer can be confirmed.

Job Description and Person Specification - rm00044770early-careers-officerjob-description.pdf

We strive to advertise all roles for a minimum of two weeks. However, due to high application volumes vacancies may close earlier than the stated deadline. We encourage you to submit your application without delay to ensure consideration.

Birmingham City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our citizens and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. You can view our Corporate Safeguarding Policy | Birmingham City Council here

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