Senior Talent & Capability Adviser

Northumberland County Council; Morpeth; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days annual leave

Local Government Pension Scheme

Flexi scheme

Job summary

Northumberland County Council is redesigning its Organisational Development & Culture service and is recruiting Senior OD Advisers to build capability and support organisational change. This role focuses on designing talent, succession and capability interventions that translate priorities into practical actions.

You will work with leaders to diagnose challenges, shape evidence-led solutions, and support managers with delivery of development opportunities in practice, including on-site

Qualifications

• Strong experience in talent development and succession planning.
• Expertise in organisational development and change support.
• Ability to translate priorities into practical interventions for development.

Responsibilities

• Translate organisational priorities into practical development interventions.
• Build capability, strengthen talent pipelines and support change.
• Design and deliver OD interventions and create tools for managers.

Skills

Organisational development

Talent development

Succession planning

Change management

Job description

Northumberland County Council is undergoing a major transformation to modernise how we work, strengthen leadership, and create a modern, inclusive and high‑performing organisation that puts residents first.

As part of this, we are redesigning our Organisational Development & Culture (OD&C) service and are recruiting Senior OD Advisers to play a critical role in building capability and supporting organisational change.

For our Senior Talent & Capability Adviser role, we’re looking an experienced OD practitioner who can translate organisational priorities into practical interventions that build capability, strengthen talent pipelines and help managers lead change successfully.

This isn't just about designing frameworks. It's about working alongside managers, teams and services to develop talent, strengthen succession pipelines and respond to workforce capability and development needs, helping colleagues build confidence, develop capability and apply development opportunities in practice.

About the role

This role is for you if you bring:

• Strong experience in talent, capability or organisational development
• Experience designing and delivering talent, succession and capability interventions that support organisational change
• Confidence creating practical tools, interventions and manager support

About You – what we’re looking for

• Strong experience in talent development and succession planning
• Specialist knowledge of talent, career development or workforce capability approaches
• Experience of organisational capability and skills development
• Proven ability to support change readiness, adoption and reinforcement

OD Generalist Foundation

You will bring a strong organisational development foundation alongside your specialist expertise, using OD approaches to ensure talent, capability and change interventions lead to meaningful improvements in how people work and develop.

You’ll be confident diagnosing organisational and behavioural challenges and working with leaders to shape practical, evidence‑led solutions that build capability and support change.

You will move seamlessly between intervention design and delivery, creating practical tools, guidance and development approaches while also facilitating conversations, delivering interventions and supporting managers.

Why Join Northumberland?

• A rare opportunity to help build a modern, agile OD service from the ground up
• Visible, meaningful OD work with senior sponsorship
• Space to practise OD well – with clarity, boundaries and support
• Attractive local government benefits including generous leave, pension, agile working and wellbeing support

You’ll be confident diagnosing organisational and behavioural challenges and working with leaders to shape practical, evidence‑led solutions that build capability and support change.

You will move seamlessly between intervention design and delivery, creating practical tools, guidance and development approaches while also facilitating conversations, delivering interventions and supporting managers.

Why Choose Us

We have some outstanding benefits and perks to offer you, including:

• 26 days annual leave plus public/bank holidays, rising to 31 days after 5 years of service (pro rata for part-time employees)
• Automatic enrolment into the Local Government Pension Scheme
• Flexi scheme – up to 2 days flexible leave available per month (pro rata for part-time employees)

This role is based at County Hall, Morpeth, and requires regular on‑site attendance. A blended working approach is supported however our successful candidate will be expected to work in line with the Council’s WorkSmart principles, which guide how, when and where work is delivered based on organisational need.