Principal Service Lead - Education

WMJobs; Brierley Hill; Hybrid; GBP 79,000 - 84,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee Benefits List.pdf

Job summary

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council is seeking a Principal Lead – Education in a hybrid role based in the West Midlands. The post is permanent and full-time, with a Grade 16 salary (£79,125–£84,055).

You will drive educational inclusion and statutory functions within the Children and Young People service. The role demands strategic leadership, political astuteness, and a track record of transformation in complex organisations, with a strong focus on partnerships, safeguarding and policy

Qualifications

• Strategic and politically astute leader with transformation experience.
• Inspires teams, builds partnerships, and understands education policy.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership across education functions.
• Lead inclusive teams, ensuring compliance and safeguarding.
• Translate strategy into delivery across schools, partners and stakeholders.
• Support improvement plans with a focus on financial responsibility and service excellence.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Education policy knowledge

Partnership development

Job description

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council

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.

Applications close: Midnight Sunday 4th October 2026

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.

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.

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.

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

Attached documents

JD and PS

Employee Benefits List.pdf