Head of Strategy & Design

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO- 85677

Contract Type: Full-time Permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 09/02/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC

Reference:1982

About Us:

Bursting with culture energy and opportunity the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused insight-led digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of Londons Good Work Standardemployers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions workplace well-being skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Councils preference is for online application. However if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application please emailrecruitment@ so we can arrange an alternative application method.

About the role:

The Head of Strategy & Design plays a vital leadership role at the heart of Mission Waltham Forest our plan for a more equal borough. The postholder will provide clear strategic direction insight and design leadership to help the organisation make informed choices in a challenging context and deliver meaningful measurable improvements for residents.

Leading an expert Strategy and Design service the postholder will ensure strategy insight and service design are practical tools driving delivery and transformation through the next phase of Mission Waltham Forest.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage the strategic and operational activities of Strategy and Design teams to deliver good quality and reliable insight strategy and service design
• Establish excellent relationships with the Senior Leadership Team Political Leadership staff at all levels peers external bodies and all stakeholders.
• Lead the use of Strategy Insight & Design across a wide range of complex change programmes & business critical projects
• Lead and manage the teams responsible for service delivery ensuring consistently high-quality outputs. To ensure the Council maximises service outcomes in relation to cost.
• Support the Cabinet Chief Executive and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to achieve the aims and desired outcomes of the Council by identifying structuring and solving their most critical strategic issues to improve outcomes for Waltham Forest and its residents.
• In all areas of work ensure effective and high-quality engagement and participatory processes are available and accessible for stakeholders across the borough and organisation such as community groups Waltham Forest residents Senior Officers and Members.

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the Apply button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore if you are interested please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair appropriate accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2 internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore wherever possible we will consider working arrangements that suit an individuals personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council please visit Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process please contact Dan Gardiner Assistant Director of Strategy & Design at @.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@.

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.