***Internal Applicants Only***

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: £49,056-£52,194

Contract Type: Full time - Permanent

Working hours per week: 36 including some evenings

Application Deadline: 15/05/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC

Reference: 2095

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

About the role:

This role sits within Democratic Services team and works at the heart of the council’s decision-making process supporting our committees, Councillors, and residents.

We are looking for a confident and motivational team leader, who is proactive, adaptable and is focused on delivering the highest quality service. With a record of successfully supporting committee meetings, backed by a strong knowledge of relevant legislation, and a proven ability to provide authoritative advice to others officers in the Council and Councillors.

The successful candidate will have strong leadership skills and a proven ability to problem solve in a high pressure political environment.

Maintaining oversight of the Democratic Services function, the successful candidate will ensure the Council's decision making arrangements are effective, operating efficiently and compliant with statute and Council's Constitution.

This is a fantastic opportunity to bring your experience, skills and ideas to support the political governance of the Council and make a real difference to people’s lives.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

To co-ordinate, manage and develop a team of Democratic Services Officers, ensuring meetings comply with statutory and best practice requirements.

To ensure the highest quality clerking service and procedural advice to all meetings serviced by the Democratic Services Team.

To maintain oversight of Democratic Services function, to provide or ensure provision of appropriate support to all committees, including but not limited to Cabinet, Council and Audit and Governance Committee.

To provide or ensure provision of appropriate support and guidance to Overview and Scrutiny Committees, leading on Coordinating Scrutiny Committee.

To draft committee, Cabinet, Council, Scrutiny or other working group reports as appropriate.

Qualifications and Requirements:

Minimum 3 years experience of either committee management, scrutiny or policy work in a public sector of similar organisation.

Understanding of committee procedures, scrutiny and regulatory functions within a local authority setting.

Knowledge of local government law, decision-making processes and governance best practice, including Council, Cabinet and Committee functions and the role of members.

Knowledge of the Modern.gov Committee Software System.

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
Satisfactory declaration of interest;
This post is politically restricted therefore the post holder is disqualified from undertaking certain political activities under the Local Government Officers (Political Restrictions) Regulations 1990.
As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Emily Wood, Head of Democratic Services at emily.wood@walthamforest.gov.uk

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.