The Guildhall Northampton
Head of Strategic Commissioning - Early Life and Living Well
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Head of Strategic Commissioning - Early Life and Living Well
Are you an experienced commissioning leader who can bring partners together, influence change and improve outcomes for residents?
This is an exciting opportunity to lead strategic commissioning across West Northamptonshire, shaping integrated, person-centred services that support people throughout their lives. You will play a key role in ensuring services respond to local needs, provide value for money and help residents live healthy, independent and fulfilling lives.
As our Head of Strategic Commissioning, you will lead the development and delivery of an all-age commissioning approach spanning early years through to older adulthood.
Working across Adult Social Care, Public Health, Education and Supported Housing, you will oversee complex commissioning programmes and help shape high-quality, sustainable services that achieve better outcomes for residents.
You will work closely with colleagues across the council, as well as partners in the NHS, education, housing, voluntary and community sectors and the wider provider market. You will bring people together around shared ambitions, influence system-wide transformation and ensure that residents’ voices are central to how services are designed and delivered.
The role reports to the Corporate Director of Integrated Commissioning and includes responsibility for leading and developing a team of strategic commissioning, market development and quality improvement professionals.
What will you be doing?
- Lead the development and delivery of an All-Age Commissioning Strategy, aligned with our corporate priorities and wider health and wellbeing ambitions.
- Work across different services and stages of life, overseeing the full commissioning cycle, from understanding local need and designing services through to procurement, contract management and review.
- Build strong strategic relationships with the NHS, education providers, housing associations, voluntary and community organisations and other partners, while supporting the development of a diverse, resilient and high-quality provider market.
- Champion co-production so residents’ experiences and views shape commissioning decisions, and use performance insight to drive innovation and continuous improvement.
- Manage commissioning budgets, support financial sustainability across the council and provider sector, and lead, support and develop a talented commissioning team.
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About You
You will be an experienced senior commissioning professional with the vision, credibility and leadership skills to work across complex organisations and partnerships.
- You will have a strong understanding of commissioning principles and the full commissioning cycle, alongside knowledge of relevant legislation and policy across areas such as adult social care, public health, education and housing.
- You will be confident working with senior leaders, elected members and external partners, bringing people together to navigate competing priorities and deliver meaningful change.
You Will Also Bring
- Experience of leading complex commissioning programmes across multiple service areas, managing significant budgets and delivering efficiencies.
- Strong partnership working, influencing and negotiation skills, with the ability to use evidence and insight to solve problems and shape better services.
- Understanding of provider markets, contract management and outcome-based commissioning, and experience of leading teams and developing commissioning capability.
- A commitment to inclusive practice, co-production and improving outcomes for residents is essential, alongside a degree or equivalent qualification, ideally in a relevant discipline, and evidence of continued professional development.
Our benefits
You can also see our full list of employee benefits on our careers site here: Why you should work for us | West Northamptonshire Council.
About Us
At West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.
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Our vision is ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services. Hear from our Chief Executive, Martin Henry, about building a career at WNC.
We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner.
The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.
If you need additional support or reasonable adjustments during the application process, including needing the job description in another format or language, please email careers@westnorthants.gov.uk for support.
Please note we reserve the right to close the advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications, so we recommend applying as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
West Northants Council, where careers thrive.
Job Details
- Salary: £86,944 - £93,422
- Salary Frequency: Annual
- Working Hours: 37
- Job Reference: Ref/56952/9469
- Contract Type: Full Time
- Closing Date: 1 November, 2026
- Job Category: Senior Management/Leadership
- Location: One Angel Square, 4 Angel Street, Northampton, United Kingdom
- Job Posted Date: 8 October, 2026
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