Development Manager

About the Borough

The London Borough of Sutton is situated less than 30 minutes by train from Central London, with direct connections to London Victoria and London Bridge. Found in zone 5 with good transport links in and out of London, Sutton boasts award winning parks and open spaces, low crime rates, affordable housing and great schools. As well as high levels of resident engagement and satisfaction, providing quality services and success in addressing our financial challenges, whilst involving residents in key issues and high street changes.

Sutton is continuously investing in the health, wellbeing and education of our residents and the future generation, as set out in the “Ambitious for Sutton” corporate plan. We are home to the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together with the development of the London Cancer Hub, Sutton will be the world’s leading life-science district, specialising in cancer research and treatment. Our vision will create around 13,000 jobs while contributing £1.2bn to the UK economy each year, a vibrant community of scientists, doctors and innovative companies intended to deliver real benefits for cancer patients and drive economic growth. With the regeneration of the local areas with new homes and schools, Sutton is passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

The Council is seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment. As we strive to improve our services and spaces for our residents as set out in the ‘Ambitious for Sutton’ corporate plan, Sutton aims to shape the future of the borough and adapt to the needs of its residents to make our Borough a great place to live, work and raise a family.

About the Service and Team

Sutton Council’s Cultural Services oversees eight libraries which are welcoming, creative and safe spaces supporting everything from early years development, digital literacy, community activities, study spaces, cultural celebrations and access to council services. Our Local Archives capture the stories that have shaped Sutton. Sutton has a strong commitment to its heritage and the role it does and can play for inspiring the future.The Council’s Cultural Services manages three historic buildings: Honeywood Museum; Little Holland House and Whitehall Museum are open to the public with support from active Friends groups and volunteers.

Library services provided in the London Borough of Sutton lead the way for public libraries as an innovative and customer focused service for many years. Sutton was the first to offer Sunday opening, the first to use self-service technology and radio frequency identification technology for the management of library book stocks, ahead in its provision of free Wi-Fi and has increased library opening with the implementation of self access technology, whilst other councils are faced with closing libraries.

Sutton’s success continues with The Libraries Consortium led by Sutton’s Council’s Cultural Services demonstrating great determination and the ability to innovate – qualities key in forging a community driven library service that our customers deserve. This is an exciting time for the service and you will have an opportunity to shape and deliver services and look to the future to ensure library services remain relevant meeting the needs of people in Sutton. We are proud of our achievements, and have a team of excellent professionals working across agile multi-disciplinary teams to deliver services.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

We are looking for a Development Manager who will be responsible for developing, coordinating and delivering Cultural Services’ offers across libraries, local archives and heritage sites.

You will lead digital engagement developing responsive, exciting and diverse offers to meet the needs of customers whilst attracting and retaining new customers. You will deliver Sutton’s Cultural Strategy 2024-2027 continuing to secure external resources to support cultural development and activity in Sutton to:

• Strengthen partnerships
• Connect Sutton’s communities together
• Promote access

You will be an excellent networker, exploiting opportunities to work with internal services, partners, and external organisations to enrich the lives of our residents. This will include building relationships with relevant stakeholders and service providers to link residents into Cultural Services.

As Development Manager you will have experience of managing cultural activities and library related services including events, books and digital services. You will play a key role in The Libraries Consortium, across 23 authorities, including leading and developing library offers.

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 26-31 days plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade
• Enhanced Maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Two volunteering days per year
• Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role)
• Adjustable and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.