Principal Service Lead - Education

Job Introduction

Salary: Grade 16 - £79,125 - £84,055

Location: Dudley, West Midlands – hybrid
Contract: Permanent, full time

Are you an inspirational, values‑driven professional with a passion for improving the life chances for children and young people? Dudley Council is embarking on a bold and ambitious transformation journey, and we are seeking an exceptional and visionary Principal Lead – Education to play a vital role in driving outstanding outcomes and shaping the future of education and inclusion across our borough.

This is a pivotal position at the heart of our Children and Young People service. It is an opportunity for a strategic leader with a passion for education, inclusion and partnership working to influence educational excellence. With your Associate Director and colleagues, you will drive Dudley’s strategic approach to education, providing high-quality leadership across the portfolio alongside inclusion and SEND, ensuring the delivery of statutory education functions while ensuring that every child and young person, whatever their needs or background can access high‑quality education, support and opportunity.

In this strategic leadership role, you will:

• Provide high quality strategic and operational leadership and management across a broad portfolio of education functions, ensuring high-quality, inclusive and compliant services that improve outcomes for children, young people and families through the Education Strategy.
• Lead and manage inclusive teams fostering high performance and ensuring services are compliant, meet legal, statutory and governance requirements, including Safeguarding.
• Translate strategic intent into effective operational delivery across a diverse education system, working collaboratively with schools, partners, and stakeholders.
• To support the development and delivery of the Children & Young People Services Improvement Plan embedding a culture of financial responsibility, a children and family focus and service excellence.

Who we are looking for:
A strategic, politically astute leader with a track record of delivering transformation in complex organisations. Someone who inspires teams, builds strong partnerships, understands education legislation and policy, and brings energy, integrity, and ambition.

If you are driven to make a real impact for children, families, and schools across Dudley, we want to hear from you.

For an informal discussion please contact Matthew Mynott, Associate Director for Education, Inclusion and SEND within the Children & Young People Services, via Neal Balfour – neal.balfour@dudley.gov.uk

Applications close: Midnight Sunday 4th October 2026

Please submit your CV and supporting statement with your application. Your supporting statement should be arial 12 and no more than 4 pages.

The recruitment process consists of a technical interview with longlisted applicants to confirm the shortlist. Short listed candidates will be invited to stakeholder panels and attend final interviews. The final stage will be held w/c 20th July 2026. Please indicate any periods you are unavailable.

Please do visit Dudley Councils Children and Young People recruitment site for more information:-https://www.childrenfirstdudley.org.uk/Jobs

Workplace Attendance: Working in the office 3+ days a week (pro-rata) or Onsite full time

So that we can demonstrate Dudley’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and to improve bias in the recruitment process that could create barriers for candidates. Your personal data will be anonymised when you apply, to ensure that you comply with our anonymisation process, please ensure you have removed your name and date of birth from any attachments prior to uploading them to your application.

Online application forms will only be accepted for this vacancy, online facilities for jobs are available at public libraries within the Dudley Borough.

All applicants must be able to provide documentation to prove their right to work in the UK.

Please note: Dudley MBC does not currently offer sponsorship for candidates without the Right to Work in the UK.

If you require support completing an online or paper application form and or interview techniques, please contact Dudley Adult and Community Learning on 01384 818 143 or acl@dudley.gov.uk who can support with Digital Skills and Job Applications.

If you have a disability and require assistance in making an application please contact the HR Resourcing Team via HR.Resourcing@dudley.gov.uk

If you are experiencing a problem whilst applying for a position, please follow the link below to the WM Jobs Help Page in the first instance https://help.wmjobs.co.uk/

If the WM Jobs Help Page does not resolve your issue then please contact the HR Resourcing Team via HR.Resourcing@dudley.gov.uk

Dudley Council will check the information that you have provided against any details already held for accuracy and completeness. The Council will check, share and cross match your information both internally within the council and with external organisations to protect public funds and prevent or detect crime, only where the law allows us to do so.

The Council’s full Privacy and Disclaimer Statement can be accessed on the website at https://www.dudley.gov.uk/privacy-disclaimer-statement/

N.B. We reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the advertised date should we receive a large number of applications

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