Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO6 £54,267-£57,402

Contract Type: Full time, permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 22/10/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC

Reference: 2243

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:

We are seeking a highly motivated individual with project management experience through working in SEND. This is an exciting opportunity to lead the delivery of Waltham Forest’s SEND Reform Plan for the next 3 years. This role will be pivotal in transforming council services, embedding strong partnership working across the council, health services and education settings and improving outcomes for children and young people.

In this role, you will lead complex projects to deliver on national reforms and improve inclusion, which will include implementing and delivering a neighbourhood-based Experts at Hand model. You will ensure projects are co-designed with parents / carers, children and young people and professionals across the SEND system and provide strategic project leadership to ensure successful programme delivery.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

Drive the implementation of the Experts at Hand (EAH) Delivery Model.
Formulate and manage project plans, milestones, risks, dependencies, and reporting systems.
Ensure robust programme governance and reporting structures are established.
Cultivate and sustain strong relationships with schools, educational settings, parents / carers, NHS partners, and other SEND stakeholders.
Coordinate programme communications, engagement activities, evaluation, and performance reporting.
Track project progress and identify opportunities for enhancement and service development.
Collaborate with and report back to the SEND Reform Programme Board and other governance structures.
Where necessary, handle procurement, commissioning, contract management and recruitment tasks to ensure timely programme delivery.

Essential requirements:

Demonstrated project management experience within complex public sector programmes.
Relevant Project Management qualification or equivalent experience.
Strong skills in delivering co-production, co-design and stakeholder engagement.
Experience in partnership collaboration and working across multi-agency environments, including education, health, and local government partners.
Proven experience in delivering SEND Improvement or SEND Reform projects.
Proficiency in managing programme governance, reporting, risks, and delivery plans.
Excellent communication, facilitation, and influencing abilities.
Capability to manage multiple priorities and deliver results within tight deadlines

Desirable requirements:

Experience working with Local Authority SEND Services.
Knowledge of current SEND legislation, reforms, and improvement programmes.
Understanding of partnership-based programme delivery models.
Proven experience in delivering co-production with parents / carers and children and young people.

Qualifications and Requirements:

You will bring:

Experience of leading complex projects in a large, fast‑paced organisation.
Strong understanding of agile and traditional project management methodologies, tools and techniques.
Excellent report writing and communication skills, with the ability to present clearly to audiences.
Strong partnership working skills and the ability to develop and manage diverse partnerships.
Exceptional planning, organisational and problem‑solving skills, with a proactive, solution‑focused approach.
Educated to degree level or equivalent experience.
A recognised project management qualification (e.g. MSP, PRINCE2, Agile certification) or equivalent professional experience.

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
Satisfactory declaration of interest;
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 Ellie Miller, Programme Manager at ellie.miller@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.

Fraud Awareness Notice
The London Borough of Waltham Forest only advertises vacancies via our official website and approved recruitment platforms (e.g. Jobsgopublic).

We will never ask for payment or request sensitive personal or financial information as part of our recruitment process.

If you are contacted by a third party claiming to represent the Council, please verify the vacancy via our official careers website before sharing any information.

If you have concerns about a job advert or communication, please report it to:
fraud@walthamforest.gov.uk