Shop Fronts Service Officer

Hackney Borough Council; Greater London; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 32,000; Part time

Job summary

Hackney Borough Council is seeking two Shop Front Services Officers on a 12-month fixed-term contract for 22 hours per week, with regular Saturday shifts and evening/late-night hours in borough markets and street sites.

You will work across Hackney’s high streets, helping businesses thrive while ensuring public spaces remain safe, inclusive and well managed.

Qualifications

• Experience in licensing, enforcement, business engagement, retail, hospitality, markets, or public realm.
• Frontline leadership experience in public services.
• Excellent communication and digital skills.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the rollout of Hackney’s new A-board licensing scheme, inspections, compliance, business support and day-to-day management.
• Support the launch and expansion of Business Parklets and enhanced outdoor trading areas.
• Manage and enforce pavement licences, shop front trading, al fresco dining, and licensed premises activity.
• Resolve issues on the street with confidence, fairness, and professionalism.
• Carry out inspections, measurements and compliance checks across the borough.
• Work directly with hundreds of local businesses from cafés and restaurants to retailers and creative independents.
• Support sustainability, accessibility and zero-waste initiatives through practical and consistent street management.
• Play a key role in Hackney’s environmental and inclusive-economy goals.

Skills

Frontline leadership

Public service ethos

Communication

Digital literacy

Driving licence

Job description

12 Months Fixed Term Contract / Secondment, Part time opportunity (22 hours per week)

Borough-wide | Every Saturday & Regular Evenings / Late NightsLocation: Borough-Wide Markets & Street Trading Sites | Outdoors | Evenings & Weekends

Join one of the UK’s Most Award-Winning Public Realm Teams

Hackney’s Markets, Shop Fronts & Street Trading Service has become one of the most celebrated local authority teams in the country with 24 national awards in seven years, pioneering digital licensing, leading London-wide reforms, and launching some of the boldest public-realm projects in the UK.

We keep Hackney’s streets vibrant, safe and buzzing from bustling restaurant terraces to beautifully managed shopfronts, thriving al fresco dining spaces, London’s first Zero Plastic Markets, and now the introduction of licensed A-boards, Business Parklets, and expanded Al fresco dining zones and street eateries.

Now we’re growing.

We’re looking for two brilliant Shop Fronts Service Officers who want to be part of something genuinely special: people who thrive in fast-paced public spaces, enjoy building relationships with businesses, and want to shape how one of London’s most dynamic boroughs looks, feels, and trades.

About the Role

As a Shop Front Services Officer, you’ll be the friendly, knowledgeable and authoritative presence on Hackney’s high streets, helping businesses thrive while ensuring our public spaces remain safe, inclusive and beautifully managed.

You will:

• Contribute to the rollout of Hackney’s new A-board licensing scheme, inspections, compliance, business support and day-to-day management.
• Support the launch and expansion of Business Parklets and enhanced outdoor trading areas.
• Manage and enforce pavement licences, shop front trading, al fresco dining, and licensed premises activity.
• Resolve issues on the street with confidence, fairness, and professionalism.
• Carry out inspections, measurements and compliance checks across the borough
• Work directly with hundreds of local businesses from cafés and restaurants to retailers and creative independents.
• Support sustainability, accessibility and zero-waste initiatives through practical and consistent street management.
• Play a key role in Hackney’s ambitious environmental and inclusive-economy goals.

You will work a rota pattern that includes weekends, evenings and late nights, ensuring Hackney is thriving when the borough is busiest.

You’ll be great in this role if you are:

• A confident communicator who loves working with people
• Calm, practical and diplomatic — even during challenging situations
• Someone who enjoys outdoor, hands-on work across different sites
• Strong on fairness, consistency and public service
• Happy balancing advisory support with firm, clear enforcement
• Organised, digitally confident and able to manage your own workload
• Excited to help shape the future of Hackney’s streets

Experience in licensing, enforcement, business engagement, retail, hospitality, markets, public realm or similar environments is welcome but attitude, judgement, values and presence matter most.

You’re a trusted presence in public space, a relationship-builder, and a driver of positive outcomes.

You will bring:

• Proven frontline or operational leadership experience, ideally in public services, markets, retail, events, hospitality, or enforcement
• Strong commercial awareness and confidence to grow income.
• A commitment to fairness, sustainability and public service
• Ability to manage licensing, inspections, business engagement and on-site resolution
• Excellent communication skills, both face-to-face and in writing
• Digital literacy, confident using Microsoft Office, Google Suites, CRM systems and tablets
• Comfort with outdoor working, manual handling, and physical movement around the borough.
• A full and clean driving licence.

Why Join Us?

24 national awards — LGC, NABMA, APSE, ENGAGE, Hackney Stars and more

• Part of London’s most innovative and forward-looking Shop Fronts Team.
• A service known for fairness, inclusivity, sustainability and excellence
• Work that directly shapes public space, community life and business success
• A highly supportive team culture with real progression opportunities

You’ll be joining the service behind:

• The expansion of al fresco dining post-pandemic
• Borough-wide public realm improvements and business engagement programmes
• London’s only digital Open Markets platform
• Award-winning licensing and public-space management

This is a role with real purpose, a blend of public service, commercial awareness, and frontline leadership

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds — we are a proudly inclusive and anti-racist employer.

Hackney Shop Fronts: Where streets, small businesses and community life thrive. Join us.

As a Council, our most outstanding asset is our staff, who are highly dedicated to serving our residents and committed to our goals as an organisation.

Closing date for applications: 20 September 2026 (22:59)

Interview date: W/c 12 October 2026

Please note if we receive a high number of applications we reserve the right to close applications early.

We are also working towards our vision, which is to be a place for everyone; where residents and staff can be proud; a place that celebrates diversity and where everyone can feel valued, included and involved. In order to achieve this, we look for people who are: Proud; Ambitious; Pioneering; Open; Proactive; Inclusive.

Hackney Council works to eradicate discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. We also recognise that people can be disadvantaged by their social and economic circumstances, so we will also work to eliminate discrimination and disadvantage caused by social class. We also welcome those interested in flexible working. We particularly welcome applications from disabled people, as this group is currently under represented in our workforce.

The Council has a dedicated employment support service (Hackney Works), which offers Hackney residents guidance in relation to applying for jobs. If you are thinking about applying for a job, please contact the Hackney Works team to find out what support is available: [e-mail]