Sheffield is a brilliant city – resourceful, inventive, welcoming – a place rooted in its history and ambitious for the future. Sheffield City Council is committed to making Sheffield a flourishing, sustainable and inclusive city, creating opportunity and great jobs for people who live and work in the city. We are committed to sustainable growth and aim to be net zero carbon by 2030. We have ambitious plans for further regeneration of the city and are working towards adoption of a new Local Plan in mid-2026.

The successful candidate will be working in the Strategic Planning Team in one of the country’s largest planning authorities. The post will suit a new planning graduate or a planner with less than 3 years’ experience. You will assist with the monitoring and delivery of the Local Plan following its adoption, as well as developing the evidence base and policies for the first review of the plan. You will also be involved in production of supplementary planning guidance, as well as providing input to corporate policies and programmes.

The role involves monitoring and helping to deliver planning policies for housing and other planning issues and will include providing policy input into key regeneration schemes, planning applications and masterplans. You may also work with neighbourhood planning groups to help them progress their neighbourhood plans. You will also help research and develop policies for specific topics. Development of relationships with colleagues elsewhere in the Council and external stakeholders is an important part of the role.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills are required for this post. Good negotiation and time management skills are also essential qualities. You should be customer focussed and work positively as part of a team. You will need knowledge of current planning legislation and be able to demonstrate an awareness of ongoing legislative changes and their implications, particularly for Local Plan preparation. You should possess excellent ICT skills and a working knowledge of GIS would be an advantage. Analysis and evaluation of planning information will be an important part of the role and you should be able to produce work that demonstrates a good attention to detail. The ability to manage a high workload to achieve specific deadlines is essential.

The Council has a hybrid working arrangement with officers spending at least 40% of their time in the office and the remainder working from home.

We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.

It is a great time to join us and we welcome your application.

Under the Guaranteed Interview scheme, applicants who are disabled, care leavers, or armed forces veterans will be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria and indicate their eligibility on the application form.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all individuals, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for everyone and where appropriate to the role the successful applicant will be required to undertake relevant safeguarding checks.

Full-time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share.

If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade.

Equality of pay is extremely important to us. All roles at Sheffield City Council are going through an evaluation process which may result in changes to some pay arrangements from 2026. Find out more on our Sheff news page.