Sustainable Schools Manager

Leicester Bus Partnership; Leicester; Hybrid; GBP 49,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

LGPS

Annual leave

Travel discounts

Training opportunities

Job summary

Leicester City Council is seeking a dedicated leader to head the Sustainable Schools programme. You will guide the team, develop the offer to primary, secondary and special schools, and ensure delivery to high standards within a flexible hybrid work model.

Based in the Energy and Sustainability service, you will build partnerships with schools, academies and external partners, drive funding bids, and expand services while monitoring impact.

Qualifications

• Strong leadership experience managing people and programmes.
• Ability to develop services and turn ideas into deliverable projects.
• Excellent relationship-building with schools, partners and internal teams.
• Experience in financial management and developing funding bids or business cases.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Sustainable Schools team with clear priorities.
• Deliver and expand programmes across Leicester schools while tracking impact.
• Develop funding bids, partnerships and traded-service opportunities.
• Monitor participation and outcomes to continually improve the offer.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Budget management

Funding bids

Strategic planning

Job description

The job requirements are detailed below. Where applicable the skills, qualifications and memberships required for this job have also been included.

Job details

Job reference REQ8147 Date posted 10/09/2026 Application closing date 24/09/2026 Location Hybrid working - Home and Leicester City Offices Salary £48,738 - £51,928 Per Year Package Total benefit value (includes pension contribution and full holiday entitlement):£70,547 Contractual hours 37 Basis Full time Job category/type City Services Attachments Job Specification.pdf

Full Time / 37 Hours Per Week / Permanent

Play a leading role in shaping and growing Leicester’s Sustainable Schools programme, helping schools take practical action on climate change, energy, sustainability and environmental education.

Based within our Energy and Sustainability service, you’ll lead the Sustainable Schools team and take responsibility for the successful delivery and continued development of our offer to primary, secondary and special schools across Leicester.

This is an opportunity for someone who can combine strong programme and people management with the ability to build relationships, develop new ideas and secure opportunities. As well as ensuring our existing programmes are delivered to a high standard, you’ll help refresh and expand the service, increase participation and demonstrate its value to schools and the Council.

This is a full time, permanent position working 37 hours per week, Monday to Friday. You’ll have flexibility in hybrid working being both office based, at City Hall or working remotely from home to suit the needs of the service. However, under our New Ways of Working policy you’ll be required to work from a non-home location a minimum of 2 days per week.

What you’ll be doing

You’ll lead and develop the Sustainable Schools team, setting clear priorities and ensuring existing programmes and projects are delivered effectively while creating the capacity to develop new opportunities.

Working closely with schools, academies and multi-academy trusts, you’ll understand their priorities and barriers to participation and use this insight to strengthen and develop our Sustainable Schools offer. This will include environmental education, whole-school sustainability planning, energy and carbon reduction, pupil engagement, training and practical support.

A key part of the role will be developing the future sustainability of the service. You’ll identify and progress external funding, partnership, sponsorship and traded-service opportunities; develop high-quality funding bids and business cases; and ensure funding secured is effectively managed and delivers the intended outcomes.

You’ll also build strong partnerships across the Council and with external organisations including education partners, universities, businesses, community organisations and funders, identifying opportunities to bring additional expertise, resources and investment into Leicester schools.

You’ll monitor participation, performance, customer feedback and outcomes, using evidence to continually improve the programme, demonstrate impact and identify opportunities to expand successful initiatives.

What you’ll need

You’ll have a strong commitment to sustainability and environmental education and an understanding of the opportunities and pressures facing schools.

You’ll be an effective leader with experience of managing people, programmes and competing priorities, together with the ability to develop services and turn ideas into deliverable projects.

Strong relationship-building and influencing skills will be essential. You’ll be comfortable working with headteachers, school business managers, senior Council colleagues and external partners, and able to confidently promote the Sustainable Schools offer and encourage schools and partners to participate.

You’ll also bring experience of financial management and ideally of developing funding bids, business cases, partnerships or income-generating opportunities.

Above all, we’re looking for someone who can combine strong delivery with creativity and initiative — maintaining what works well while helping us develop a refreshed, ambitious and sustainable offer for Leicester’s schools.

What we can offer you

As well as the satisfaction of helping to improve thousands of lives across Leicester, you can look forward to a work environment that encourages a healthy work/life balance. You’ll enjoy generous annual leave, membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme and the option of flexible working. We’ll also give you the chance to develop your skills and expertise with a variety of training and development opportunities. In addition, you can choose from a number of flexible benefits, including discounts on city buses and trains. For an illustrative value of your benefits package, take a look at our benefits calculator.

We’re committed to recruiting a diverse and highly-talented workforce as we continue to build a council that is fitting and representative of our great city. That’s why we’ve designed our recruitment process to put you at your ease, make you feel welcome and bring the best out of you. We’ll do all we can to make our recruitment process as fair as possible. To help you with your application, take a look at the ‘our approach to recruitment’ page.

Interviews will take place from Wednesday 20th September to Tuesday 6th October 2026.