Head of Practice

About us

New Local has a mission to transform public services and unlock community power. We publish research, lead peer learning, influence government and work with public sector organisations on some of today's most pressing issues, informed by our network of 50-plus local authority members.

All of our work is guided by a belief in community power - the principle that communities themselves have the best insight into their own circumstances and should be able to participate in shaping their places and services. We believe that active, empowered communities should be at the heart of a wider shift towards place-based public services and a system focused on prevention, which can lead to better outcomes and a more sustainable system for all.

Purpose

Our Head of Practice role sits within our Practice and Programmes team. You will lead the development and delivery of a portfolio of practice work whilst also contributing to New Local's policy and thought leadership work. We are committed to strengthening the feedback loops between practice and policy locally, regionally and nationally and this role is key to this.

In our practice work you will solve challenges alongside councils, other public sector partners and communities, supporting them to deepen the impact of innovative place-based approaches and to understand the conditions needed for them to grow. You will be leading projects, working alongside delivery partners where needed, managing other New Local team members, to deliver high-quality work and impact for our partners.

Our thought leadership and policy approach is deeply rooted in our practice and peer-learning networks. You will draw on the pioneering work we see in places, and with our members, to support New Local's work to inform the national policy conversation about the conditions and enablers needed for places to accelerate and grow innovation in place-based, preventative and relational working.

Key tasks and responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of practice projects, ensuring effective project management so that practice work is delivered within budget and to agreed timelines.
• Lead the delivery of projects within our practice portfolio, using a range of innovation and practice approaches including design, facilitation, strategy development, user-centred design, adaptive and collaborative learning, and approaches that enable partners to test, learn and adapt.
• Build and maintain excellent relationships with partners and clients for our practice work, across local government, the wider public sector and communities, placing an emphasis on collaborative working, co-design and building the relationships needed to support meaningful change.
• Develop and grow our practice work and generate revenues through deepening client relationships, creatively developing and responding to new partnership and business opportunities, including writing proposals and devising project budgets, aligned to our organisational purpose and vision.
• Lead effective project management of our activities, working with colleagues and partners to deliver high-quality work and impact within agreed budgets and timelines.
• Work with clients and the wider New Local team to connect practice, strategy and policy, drawing out learning from innovation and working with partners to translate this into changes in policy, strategy, systems and services, while contributing to wider thinking about the conditions needed to enable and scale change.
• Model and promote the integration of practice and policy, through testing and iterating New Local's integrated policy and practice model and proactively contributing to our thought leadership and policy work.
• Model and promote collaborative working across New Local, including with our network and communications teams, using your practice expertise and learning from projects to strengthen the wider impact of our work on community power and public service reform.

How to apply

For the full job description, person specification and details on how to apply, please visit New Local's website.