Economic Growth Programme Manager

About the Borough

In Sutton, there is much for us to be proud of both as a council and as a borough. This includes high levels of resident satisfaction, the quality of our services, our success in addressing our financial challenges to date, the way that we involve and engage with residents on key issues facing the borough, and the enthusiastic and motivated staff that we employ.

Looking ahead, there are plans for the delivery of new homes and new schools and the London Cancer Hub is being developed, while the Council is also seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment.

All of this demonstrates a good track record and an authority that is ambitious and set to deliver more improvements for the borough. We've set out our vision for the future of Sutton in our corporate plan - Ambitious for Sutton. This strategic plan will shape the outcomes we achieve, the services we provide, and the impact we have on residents, to make Sutton a great place to live, work and raise a family.

Situated in Zone 5, Sutton is less than 30 minutes by train from central London, and south and south west London are easily accessible by public transport. There are 10 train stations which serve key neighbourhoods within the borough providing direct connections to London Victoria, London Bridge, London Blackfriars and St Pancras International. Sutton also has direct rail connections with Epsom, Dorking, Guildford and Horsham, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and West Croydon for the London Overground. There’s also an extensive road network which provides close and easy access to the M25 and M23.

About the Service and Team

Sutton has taken a hugely ambitious and proactive approach to regenerating the borough, securing land, grant funding, and partnerships to deliver major transformation.

Sutton’s ambition is to be the global home for oncology through the growth of the London Cancer Hub where Aviva Capital Partners and Socius will be developing up to 1m sq ft space over the coming decade. In Sutton Town Centre, the Council’s regeneration programme has already brought vacant commercial space back into use. The town centre will continue to be transformed and diversified, through a new purpose-built location for Sutton College to enable residents to easily access high quality education and training; the remodelling of the St Nicholas centre to provide a new civic hub and retail/leisure offer; and thousands of new homes.

A new Economic Growth Plan is now being developed which sets out how the Council will support businesses already in Sutton; attract new businesses and further investment; build its life sciences ecosystem; support its district centres and leisure offer; and enable residents and businesses to access opportunities created.

This role will report to the Head of Inward Investment, and lead the development and delivery of projects through the Economic Growth Plan.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

An Economic Growth Plan is now being developed to support further economic growth over the coming decade. The ambition of this plan is to grow the number of businesses and jobs in Sutton, encourage ongoing investment, and help Sutton’s residents and businesses benefit from the growth underway.
To drive this vision forward, we are seeking a dynamic and experienced economic growth and regeneration expert to lead the development and delivery of projects to support the plan. This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of Sutton. You will form a key part of a small but high performing team. This role will be hybrid, with a minimum of two days per week in the office expected.

The ideal candidate will have significant experience and proven success in economic growth, regeneration, placemaking, inward investment, business support, skills, or related fields. They will be confident working with senior stakeholders across the public, private, and voluntary sectors, and able to build partnerships that deliver tangible outcomes. They will have a strong understanding of how to support economic growth through strategy, policy, regeneration, and investment, with excellent knowledge of the policy environment, funding landscape, and business context. The role requires experience in developing strategic plans, managing projects and programmes, securing and managing funding, commissioning services, overseeing contracts, and lobbying for support. We are seeking a proactive, innovative thinker with strong analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills, able to produce high-quality written materials and communicate effectively with a range of audiences. Knowledge of capital projects, planning, construction, and commercial property is desirable.

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.

In addition, we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff, supported by our IT infrastructure, including Google Chromebooks and Google Apps. Our Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme embraces new ways of working. It provides improved work life balance for our staff as it allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• General Council Flexi-time (Please note, this applies to roles at grades 1-9 only)
• Public Health Service Localised Flexi-time Scheme - accrual of up to 5 days per year
• Three volunteering days per year in Sutton
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Local and national discounts for shopping, eating out and leisure activities
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Car parking scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Application Process

Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.

To support our diversity agenda and reduce the risk of bias in our recruitment activities, our short listing process completely anonymises personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc. Our hiring managers review and short list applications based on the information provided as part of your application as to how well you meet the requirements and criteria for the role, as outlined in the job profile.

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. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Additional Information

We pride ourselves on being a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve - the key highlights from our recent Equalities Workforce Report can be seen here. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce. As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.

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.

The UK has introduced a new 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.