Senior Advisor - Democratic Services

West Sussex County Council; Chichester; Hybrid; GBP 57,000 - 62,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working options

Job summary

West Sussex County Council is seeking a permanent Senior Advisor to support councillors and the Head of Democratic Services. The role involves advising on democratic processes, political management, and leading on high-profile issues within a political environment.

You will manage end-to-end democratic processes, build relationships, and work collaboratively with the Democratic Services team while also performing independently at a senior level.

Qualifications

• Demonstrable awareness and experience of political management arrangements and the democratic process.
• The ability to provide advice and guidance at a senior level with confidence, tact and discretion.
• Significant working knowledge of the law and practice of local authority meetings, specifically the decision-making process and the roles of elected members.
• Experience of managing or leading colleagues and effective people and performance management skills.
• Sound IT skills and ability to produce reports and presentations using Microsoft Office.
• Ability to apply project management principles and make pragmatic decisions within the service.
• Excellent communication skills to influence outcomes and negotiate solutions.
• Research and knowledge management skills to analyse and judge appropriately.
• Ability to set timescales, review performance and identify innovative solutions.
• Ability to travel independently to meetings across the county and engage with public meetings.

Responsibilities

• Deliver an effective, customer-focused service to deliver defined performance indicators and business strategies.
• Manage or contribute to specific projects and reviews of service provision.
• Provide constitutional and procedural advice to county councillors, senior officers and others involved in the democratic process.
• Take a lead on advising on decision-making and political management of very high-profile issues.
• Advise and support scrutiny committee chairs and members in carrying out their role and identifying priority issues.
• Be part of the Democratic Service management team, supporting the Head of Service in all aspects of management of the Service.

Skills

Political management

Senior level advisory

Local government meetings

People management

IT skills (MS Office)

Project management

Communication

Research and knowledge management

Time management

Public speaking at meetings

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Salary: £56,874 to £62,022 per annum

Working Pattern: Full time - 37 hours per week

Location: Based at County Hall, Chichester - hybrid working options

Interview date: 12th & 13th of November 2026

The Democratic Services team is looking for a permanent Senior Advisor to take on this exciting and challenging opportunity. This role will enable you to work directly with councillors and support the Head of Democratic Services, as well as other senior officers, to support the democratic process at the County Council.

Are you highly organised, with excellent communication, influencing and interpersonal skills with an aptitude for project management? Can you manage a busy workload and provide advice on democratic processes to ensure the political management of sensitive and high-profile issues? Do you understand how local government works?

If the answer is yes to all the above, this opportunity could be for you.

In This Role, You Will

• Deliver an effective, customer focused service to deliver defined performance indicators and business strategies.
• Manage or contribute to specific projects and reviews of service provision.
• Provide constitutional and procedural advice to county councillors, senior officers and others involved in the democratic process.
• Take a lead on advising on decision-making and political management of very high-profile issues.
• Advise and support scrutiny committee chairs and members in carrying out their role and identifying priority issues for consideration.
• Be part of the Democratic Service management team, supporting the Head of Service in all aspects of management of the Service.

The role will shape democratic processes that underpin our services and enable councillors to carry out their roles confidently and effectively. You will manage the end-to-end democratic process, ensuring we maximise the effective use of resources throughout. You will need to have a flexible approach and be committed to be building and maintaining working relationships within a political environment. You will need to work well as part of the team but also be able to operate independently at a senior level.

Benefits

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do. Upon joining us you will have access to a range of benefits including the following:

For a full list, please visit our Rewards and Benefits page.

About You

Some of the key skills and experience required to be successful in this role include:

• Demonstratable awareness and experience of political management arrangements and the democratic process.
• The ability to provide advice and guidance at a senior level with a significant degree of confidence, tact and discretion.
• Significant working knowledge of the law and practice of local authority meetings, specifically the decision-making procession and the roles of elected members.
• Experience of managing or leading colleagues and the effective people and performance management skills to support the team accordingly.
• Sound and accurate IT skills, keyboard skills and experience of Microsoft Office to enable you to produce reports, presentations and completing research.
• Ability to apply project management principles and practices and make pragmatic problem-solving decisions, whilst appreciating the wider service impact. You will be able to tackle difficult problems of a technical, professional, resource or people related nature within your service specialism.
• Excellent communication skills which will enable you to influence the actions of others to negotiate effective business solutions.
• Research and knowledge management skills with the ability to analyse and make judgements where appropriate.
• Ability to set time scales and review effectiveness of service delivery and be able to challenge existing practices and identify innovative solutions within our framework.
• Ability to travel independently to various meeting venues across the county and be able to demonstrate emotional resilience at public meetings.

For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description。

About Us

Democratic Services is part of the Law, Assurance and Insight Directorate and provides support to the County Council’s democratic and decision-making processes. It supports all formal member meetings, oversees the production and publication of reports to members for discussion and decision, advises on practice and procedures and produces records of meetings and decisions.

Further information

The reference number for this role is 175.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Helen Kenny (Head of Democratic Services) at [e-mail] or Ninesh Edwards (Senior Advisor) at [e-mail]

For issues or queries regarding your application please contact [e-mail].

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to 3 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.