Somerset Council
Senior Link Officer
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Senior Link Officer
Closing date for applications 21st June
Salary: Grade £41,771 per annum
Location: Taunton or Shape Mendip
Are you passionate about making a real difference in your community? We’re working to improve lives across Somerset, and you could be part of that. As a Senior Link Officer, you’ll work with partners including Town and Parish Councils, Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise Groups, local businesses, the Police and the NHS to understand local priorities and turn them into practical action. You’ll play a key role in bringing people together, strengthening partnerships and delivering better outcomes for residents. This is an opportunity to play a central role in improving outcomes for local people while working at the heart of Somerset’s community development approach.
Role Summary
As a Senior Link Officer, you will play a key role in delivering a locally driven approach to community development across Somerset. You’ll lead Local Community Networks (LCNs), working with partners and communities to identify priorities and turn them into action.
Alongside managing LCN areas, you will support and mentor a team of Link Officers, helping to build strong partnerships and ensure effective engagement at a local level. By bringing together services, stakeholders and residents, you’ll help create a more connected and responsive system that delivers meaningful improvements for communities across Somerset.
What you'll do - Key Responsibilities
- Leading the delivery of Local Community Networks within a defined area
- Supporting and mentoring a team of LCN Link Officers
- Building and maintaining strong partnerships with stakeholders including councils, public services, businesses, and community organisations
- Working with LCN Chairs and Vice Chairs to drive participative decision-making and delivery of local priorities
- Supporting communities to identify needs, develop action plans, and deliver projects
- Using data, insight, and engagement techniques to inform place-based approaches
- Coordinating stakeholders to address local challenges and deliver shared outcomes
- Acting as a local ambassador for Somerset Council, strengthening relationships and engagement
- Supporting the planning, delivery, and evaluation of projects and initiatives
- Facilitating meetings, working groups, and local engagement activity
- Managing competing priorities and navigating complex stakeholder environments
- Identifying and supporting funding opportunities to enable delivery of local priorities
- Ensuring effective communication, reporting, and coordination across LCNs and Council services
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What We’re Looking For – Knowledge, Experience and Skills
Essential
- Understanding of community development principles and practices.
- Understanding of how Council and partners work at both strategic and operational level and the changing face of the public and VCFSE sector landscape.
- Knowledge of the Town and Parish Councils and of voluntary and community sector and the business sector, how they work, and the challenges they face.
- Financial awareness and ability to manage budgets at a service and project level.
- Significant community development experience gained through working directly with a range of stakeholders including residents, Voluntary, Community, Faith, and Social Enterprises, businesses.
- Convening and facilitating meetings in a way which is participative and consensus building.
- Experience of delivering or contributing to cross agency projects.
- Experience of resolving conflict priorities and goals from experience of managing conflicting stakeholder expectations.
- Educated to degree level in a relevant discipline or with relevant professional qualification.
- Evidence of continuing professional development in a related field.
- Ability to engage with and influence a wide range of colleagues, partners, and stakeholders to achieve the objectives of the role.
- Ability to analyse /interpret and present complex data.
- Expert communication/presentation skills to include presentations at a senior level and in public on contentious issues.
- Ability to identify local assets and work within an asset-based community development approach.
- Ability to use existing knowledge and contacts to identify key partners and stakeholders relevant to any topic and ensure their participation where appropriate and the capability to build new relationships.
- Ability to share knowledge and provide continuity across LCN areas, working with colleagues across the Council and other statutory, VCFSE, and local services.
- A skilled communicator who can provide support for Somerset Council members to take a leading role in the development of LCNs in their area.
- Team worker who will work closely with the wider Localities team and other colleagues across all departments/services to ensure a coordinated approach to development of local priorities and commitments and areas of focus.
- High levels of resilience, tenacity, tact, and diplomacy.
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Desirable
- Knowledge of project management methodologies.
- Political awareness and understanding of the Council’s decision-making processes.
- In-depth knowledge of local government and local democracy with a working knowledge of public sector functional structures, services, and statutory responsibilities.
- Working in partnerships, with both internal and external stakeholders, building strong and lasting relationships.
- Experience of resident engagement and translating needs into deliverable options.
- Experience of developing action plans based on a participative approach to identifying priorities, using data, perception, and lived experience to agree priorities.
- Supervisory or/and managerial experience.
Additional Information
- 30 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays
- Fixed Term until March 2027 – 37 hours per week
- Flexible hybrid working, with a choice of work base in Taunton, Glastonbury, or Shape Mendip, and travel required across Somerset, to include travel at weekends (access to a car is required)
- Interviews will take place in the week beginning 29th June.
Regretfully, we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.
For an informal chat about the role, you can contact Kate Hellard LCN Development Lead kate.hellard@somerset.gov.uk
A full job description will be provided to shortlisted candidates or on request.
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