Principal Service Lead - Education

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

Job summary

Dudley Council is seeking a visionary Principal Lead – Education to drive outstanding outcomes for children and young people across the borough. This strategic role sits within the Children and Young People service and partners closely with schools and families to deliver high‑quality education, inclusion and SEND services.

You will provide multi‑disciplinary leadership, translate strategy into delivery, ensure safeguarding and governance, and shape the Education Strategy with a focus on equity

Qualifications

• Strategic leadership experience in education or public sector.

Responsibilities

• Provide high quality strategic and operational leadership across education functions to improve outcomes for children, young people and families.
• Lead inclusive teams, ensuring services comply with legal, statutory and governance requirements including Safeguarding.
• Translate strategic intent into effective operational delivery across schools, partners and stakeholders.
• Support the development and delivery of improvement plans with a focus on financial responsibility and service excellence.

Job description

The following content displays a map of the jobs location - Cable Plaza, Waterfront West, Brierley Hill, West Midlands

£79,125 to £84,055 per annum (salary subject to experience)

£79,125 - £84,055 per annum (salary subject to experience)

Working Hours:

37

Location:

Cable Plaza, Waterfront West, Brierley Hill, West Midlands

Closing Date:

04/10/2026

Job Type:

Social Care – Children

Sector:

Local Councils

Business Unit:

Children's Services

Job Introduction

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.

Whowe arelooking 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.

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 .

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