Head of Legal

About the role

Lead Legal Excellence at the Heart of Our Council

We are seeking an experienced and strategic leader to head the Council’s Legal Services function, overseeing both in-house provision and external legal support. Reporting to the Director of Law and Governance, you will play a key role in supporting the Monitoring Officer and providing professional leadership across the organisation.

This role is responsible for managing legal risk and delivering high-quality, strategic advice on complex, high-risk, and politically sensitive matters. You will ensure the Council operates lawfully and in line with constitutional, ethical, and governance standards, while supporting the identification and escalation of issues requiring formal statutory consideration.

This is a critical leadership role, offering the opportunity to influence decision-making and safeguard the Council’s legal and ethical integrity.

Interviews will take place on Thursday 21 May, and will include a presentation as part of the selection process.

What will you be doing?

• Lead and shape Legal Services, setting strategic direction, driving high performance, and ensuring the delivery of timely, solution-focused legal advice across the Council.
• Support the Monitoring Officer, ensuring strong governance, ethical standards, and that all Council decision-making is lawful and compliant.
• Provide expert advice to Members and senior leaders on complex, high-risk, and politically sensitive matters, helping to guide key corporate decisions.
• Manage legal risk, overseeing major casework, litigation, and ensuring robust risk identification, mitigation, and communication.
• Lead and develop a high-performing team, promoting professional excellence, continuous improvement, and a positive, values-driven culture.
• Oversee external legal providers, ensuring high-quality advice, effective partnerships, and value for money.
• Manage resources and budgets, contributing to financial planning, efficiency, and service sustainability.
• Drive service improvement and transformation, enhancing systems, processes, and digital capability to deliver modern, effective legal services.

About you

• Admitted Solicitor/Barrister/FCILEx with substantial experience in local government/public law.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• Extensive and authoritative knowledge of local government, public and administrative law and its application within complex political and statutory environments aswell as systems
• Strong expertise in governance, constitutional frameworks and ethical standards
• Experience as a Monitoring Officer or evidence of deputising for the Monitoring Officer within Local Government.
• Substantial experience in local government/public law and in leading multi‑disciplinary legal teams.
• Experience managing complex, high‑risk and politically sensitive matters.
• Experience advising Members, senior officers and corporate boards.
• Experience managing external legal providers and budgets.
• Clear, proportionate and solution‑focused legal advice.
• Excellent drafting, advocacy, negotiation and communication skills
• Ability to demonstrate awareness /understanding of equal opportunities and other people’s behaviour, physical, social and welfare needs.

Our Benefits

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.

You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us?

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a competitive salary
• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
• generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

About us

Our Values and Behaviours

Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:

Customer-focused
Respectful
Efficient
Supportive
Trustworthy

Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.

Disability Confident Employer

We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.

Our Employment and Disability Service provides bespoke support to individuals facing barriers to employment, helping them work towards their goals to start, stay and succeed in employment. For further information please click here The Employment and Disability Service (EADS) | North Northamptonshire Council

Armed Forces Community

The council obtained the Gold status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS).

Further information can be found at Jobs and careers | North Northamptonshire Council (northnorthants.gov.uk)