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Executive Director of Resources, Penna Executive Search
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Executive Director of Resources
Oldham Council | c. £150,000
Help shape the organisation that will deliver Oldham's ambitions.
The opportunity
Oldham Council is looking for an exceptional Executive Director of Resources to join our Executive Management Team at an important point in our development.
Reporting directly to the Chief Executive, you will lead a broad portfolio encompassing Finance, Legal, Digital & IT, HR & Organisational Development, Democratic Services, Internal Audit, Risk & Assurance, Governance, Performance, Transformation, Customer Experience, Procurement, and Revenues & Benefits.
But this is about much more than leading corporate services.
We want our enabling functions to become the organisational capability that drives transformation across the Council – bringing together our people, technology, resources, governance and performance to enable innovation, accelerate improvement and deliver better outcomes for residents.
As one of the Chief Executive's principal strategic advisers, you will work collaboratively across the Executive Management Team, helping shape organisational strategy, strengthen financial and corporate resilience, accelerate digital innovation and ensure we have the capacity and capability to deliver our ambitions.
Oldham and our organisation
Oldham is an ambitious metropolitan borough of almost a quarter of a million people, with one of the youngest populations in Greater Manchester and enormous potential for the future.
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Our ambitions are significant. Through our Corporate Plan, we are focused on three core missions: creating Healthier, Happier Lives, making Oldham a Great Place to Live, and building a Green and Growing economy.
We are investing in our town centres, creating new homes, jobs and public spaces, and working with our communities to improve services, reduce inequalities and create opportunities for everyone who calls Oldham home.
We are also part of something bigger. As one of Greater Manchester's ten local authorities, we are working within one of the country's most developed models of regional collaboration and devolution, creating opportunities to influence public service reform well beyond Oldham.
Our organisation has made considerable progress in recent years, strengthening leadership, rebuilding corporate capacity and improving resilience. Our next challenge is to build on that progress and accelerate the pace of transformation.
About You
We are deliberately keeping an open mind about where our next Executive Director comes from.
You may already be an Executive Director of Resources, Corporate Services Director, Chief Operating Officer or Deputy Chief Executive. Alternatively, you could be an exceptional director ready to take the next step in your career, with a background in transformation, digital, organisational development, finance, governance or another relevant corporate discipline.
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Your professional background matters less to us than what you have achieved and how you lead.
You will bring a track record of leading significant organisational improvement and transformation within a complex environment, together with the strategic judgement to bring multiple professional disciplines together behind a common purpose.
You will be an outstanding relationship builder: credible with senior colleagues, elected members and partners; comfortable influencing through collaboration rather than hierarchy; politically aware; resilient; and confident operating through complexity and change.
Above all, you will be ambitious for Oldham and excited by the opportunity to create a high-performing Resources Directorate that becomes a catalyst for transformation across the whole organisation.
Next steps
If you are excited by the opportunity to help shape the future of Oldham Council, we would be delighted to hear from you.
For a confidential discussion about the role and your suitability, please contact Andrew Tromans at Penna on 07805 226301 or Kelly Ridley on 07709 512415.
To find out more about the opportunity and to apply, click the apply link
Closing date: 20 September 2026
Oldham Council is committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation and welcomes applications from candidates from all backgrounds.
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