The role
Southwark Council seek to appoint a highly skilled and experienced leisure professional to the newly created position of Head of Leisure. In June 2023 they were one of the first boroughs in the country to have moved from fully outsourced to fully insourced leisure provision and this crucial role is a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of reshaping public sector, post pandemic leisure service delivery for Southwark’s diverse community ensuring that the benefits of insourcing are fully exploited. Southwark Council operate 8 community-based leisure and sports facilities, employ 350 staff and have close to 3 million visits per annum with a gross budget in excess of £15m. There are exciting plans to open a new state of the art leisure centre in Canada Water by 2025. The Council are fully committed to providing a truly accessible, high quality excellent value leisure service that will positively impact on the quality of life and create a fairer future for all in Southwark in accordance with the relevant Council Strategies.
Key responsibilities include:
• Manage, inspire, coach and guide the Senior Leisure Leadership team, General Managers and team members, ensuring they are embedded into the Southwark Council family, including addressing any remaining training and harmonisation issues.
• Balancing the need to drive commercial growth against the need to provide targeted and affordable access and programmes to maximise targeted intervention.
• Collaborate across the wider health and well-being system, working with multiple partners to address health inequalities in the community and assist inactive adults to become more active.
• Work to maintain, develop and improve the overall customer service and operational provision across all the centres with a view to achieving excellence.
• Overseeing a multi-million-pound capital investment programme in accordance with Council governance and procurement processes.
• Ensure all legal and regulatory documents are filed and monitor compliance with laws and regulations.
• Developing, implementing, and managing a significant and comprehensive internal and external stakeholder management strategy.
We are keen to talk to candidates who can demonstrate:
• A proven track record of strategic leadership within a senior Board or Group level position managing multiple leisure centres/contracts.
• Significant experience managing and delivering either a significant insourcing or outsourcing of local authority leisure facilities.
• Possess an in-depth knowledge of leisure centre operations and managing Central Support functions.
• Outstanding leadership and relationship building skills, including being an authentic and values-led leader.
• Evidence of positively influencing decisions through working collaboratively and strategically with key partners and stakeholders.
• A genuine passion and belief in equal access to sport, health, cultural and physical activity for all.
This retained search is being managed on our behalf by David Peacock, Director at Leisure People. dp@leisurepeople.com
Please do not click on the apply button below.
Additional salary details
In addition to a basic salary of £81,915- £102,531 dependent on experience, plus the JNC benefit of £3,503pa.
Benefits and more information:
In your role, we want you to feel supported, challenged and rewarded. You will benefit from our family-friendly policies including flexible working, home working, and a local government pension scheme, plus many other staff benefits. You will join a motivated, driven and supportive team that strives for excellence and values its members. You will also be part of a successful and high-achieving development team that is making a real difference to the lives of residents in the borough. For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit our Staff Benefits page.
Recruitment timetable
The candidate briefing pack including job description, person specification and full details on how to apply please email an expression of interest and (optional but appreciated) CV to David at dp@leisurepeople.com
For an informal and confidential conversation about this position, please call David on 07974 313421 or email the above address with suitable times to talk.
Closing date for applications midnight Sunday 5th November 2023.
Final interviews will take place on Friday 8th December 2023.
We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together programme. We particularly welcome applications from members of the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.
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