Job Advertisement titleHead of Economic Growth and Strategic Regeneration

Job number LBC03891
Contract Type: Fixed Term / Secondment
Posting End Date: 18 May 2025
Job Area: Regeneration and Economic Development

About The Job

Salary: £67,406 - £74,667 a year plus £3,203 car benefit allowance
Hours per week: 37
Contract type: FTC/Secondment till 31st March 2028

This position is available as a secondment opportunity until 31st March 2028. If you are a permanent LBC employee, you must have written approval (an email will suffice) from your manager prior to applying and a copy will need to be submitted with your application. Please note: we will not be able to proceed with your application form without your manager’s permission.

Role Overview

Are you a visionary leader with a passion for place-shaping and driving economic transformation? This is an exciting opportunity to act as the Council’s lead expert on economic growth and regeneration – guiding both the strategic vision and operational delivery of our economic ambitions.

As the Head of Economic Growth and Strategic Regeneration, you will lead, influence, and co-ordinate the Council’s approach to fostering sustainable economic growth and delivering transformative regeneration across the Borough. You’ll be the key force behind shaping our place – bringing together internal teams and a wide range of external partners to create and implement forward-thinking strategies that drive prosperity and resilience.

Key Responsibilities

1. Lead major programmes and projects, ensuring they are effectively managed and delivered in partnership with stakeholders.
2. Act as a connector and catalyst, engaging senior leaders from the public and private sectors locally, regionally, and nationally.
3. Promote and unlock investment opportunities, bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to the identification and development of growth initiatives.

About You

You’ll bring a strong track record of successfully leading strategic regeneration and economic growth initiatives, with a proven ability to secure substantial grant funding from central government or equivalent bodies. With deep experience of working collaboratively across sectors—including community groups, government agencies, and the business world—you’ll be a natural relationship builder and an effective senior-level communicator.

Your leadership credentials will include the ability to manage and inspire multidisciplinary teams, supported by sound supervision, negotiation, and change management skills. You’ll have a flair for innovative problem-solving and a strong grasp of how to deliver complex programmes with real impact. A confident manager of significant capital budgets, you’ll also be experienced in developing credible viability and feasibility studies to underpin investment decisions.

Crucially, you’ll possess an in-depth understanding of both economic growth and regeneration best practice, alongside a clear grasp of national policy in economic and skills development, and how this connects with local government strategy. A relevant professional qualification—or equivalent, recent and verified experience—will underpin your technical credibility in this important leadership role.

About Us

Our ambitious Luton 2040 Vision – that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty – is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.

The people of Luton depend heavily on this council – and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?

We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to developing a workforce that reflects the diversity of our borough.

Application Process

On occasions, we may close a vacancy early due to a very high number of applications being received.

Benefits

• From 25 to 32 days’ annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
• Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
• Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
• Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
• Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
• Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
• Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
• Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
• Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
• Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel

How to Apply

We understand that job applications take time and effort, but a high-quality application shows that you are professional with a good attention to detail. The recruiting manager may receive a number of applications for each job advertised so you want yours to stand out!

Our ‘How to apply' page has more tips to help with your application: How to apply

Available Documents

Attached documents are available under links. Clicking a document link will initialize its download.

• download: PREF104391 M8 202312 Head of Economic Growth Strategic Regeneration - JD.pdf
• download: Luton_Values_Flyer.pdf