Birmingham City Council
Strategy and Business Planning Lead
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Permanent
Grade 6 - £54,495 - £64,811
Consultation grade - subject to formal evaluation under the Pay Equity Review
Working 36.5 hours per week
Sponsorship is not available for this post. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK that does not require employer sponsorship for the duration of the appointment.
Shape the future of commercial and procurement strategy for Birmingham
Are you a strategic leader with experience developing business plans, driving organisational improvement and influencing change across complex organisations? Birmingham City Council is looking for a Strategy and Business Planning Lead to join our newly established Commercial and Procurement Services.
This is a unique opportunity to help shape the future direction of one of the UK's largest local authority procurement functions. You'll lead strategic planning, performance management and continuous improvement, ensuring Commercial and Procurement Services delivers against the Council's priorities while strengthening commercial capability across the organisation.
About The Role
As the Strategy and Business Planning Lead, you'll provide strategic leadership by:
- Leading the development and delivery of Commercial and Procurement Services' business plans and strategic priorities, ensuring alignment with wider Council and Directorate objectives.
- Translating organisational strategy into clear, measurable operational plans, performance frameworks and improvement programmes.
- Using market intelligence, legislative developments, economic trends and supply chain insight to shape future commercial and procurement strategy.
- Leading business planning cycles, developing meaningful performance measures and monitoring progress against strategic objectives.
- Providing high-quality strategic reporting and recommendations to senior leadership, supporting informed decision-making and effective governance.
- Championing commercial excellence, innovation and continuous improvement across the Council, embedding a culture that recognises the strategic value of procurement.
- Leading programmes that strengthen commercial capability, professional development and organisational maturity across Commercial and Procurement Services.
- Developing and leading a high-performing team, supporting performance, capability and professional growth while building strong collaborative relationships across the Council and wider public sector.
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About You
We're looking for an experienced strategic leader who combines commercial awareness with exceptional planning, analytical and stakeholder management skills. You'll bring:
- Significant experience developing organisational strategy, business plans and performance frameworks within a complex organisation.
- Experience preparing business cases, undertaking options appraisals and leading organisational improvement initiatives.
- Strong understanding of commercial and procurement principles, governance and the wider policy landscape.
- Excellent analytical skills, interpreting complex information and translating strategic objectives into practical, measurable delivery plans.
- Outstanding communication and influencing skills, with the ability to build confidence, secure buy-in and engage effectively with senior leaders and a wide range of stakeholders.
- Proven experience leading teams, developing talent and creating a culture of continuous improvement and high performance.
- A relevant professional qualification in management, strategy, programme delivery or a related discipline (or equivalent professional experience).
Why Join Us?
Role
At Birmingham City Council, you'll play a leading role in shaping the future of Commercial and Procurement Services, helping deliver better commercial outcomes for one of Europe's largest local authorities. In return, we offer:
- The opportunity to influence organisational strategy and drive transformational change across a high-profile service.
- A senior leadership role within an ambitious Commercial and Procurement Service committed to innovation, collaboration and continuous improvement.
- Opportunities to further develop your strategic leadership, organisational development and commercial expertise through ongoing professional development.
- Flexible and hybrid working opportunities where service needs allow.
- A competitive Local Government Pension Scheme and generous annual leave entitlement.
- Access to a wide range of employee wellbeing initiatives and staff benefits.
- A rewarding career where your leadership will strengthen commercial capability, improve organisational performance and help deliver lasting benefits for the people of Birmingham.
Get help with your application
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Please upload your up-to-date CV via the attachments part of your application, this is required for shortlisting. Unfortunately, we cannot consider any applications without a CV attached
We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the communities we serve. Our data tells us that for this level of role, ethnic minorities are underrepresented and therefore we will use positive action to support us to achieve diverse shortlists. This may mean that recruitment times are a little longer, but we think this is worth it to achieve our aim.
Birmingham City Council is an accredited Disability Confident Leader employer, and we are committed to employing, retaining and developing all of our people.
We want to ensure your recruitment journey with us is a positive and equitable one, so please let us know if there are any reasonable adjustments, additional support, accessibility needs, or if there is any way in which we can support you through your application.
For any informal enquiries please contact: Resourcing@birmingham.gov.uk
A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be undertaken.
Proof of Right to work in the UK will be required for all applicants in accordance with UK Home Office requirements, before any employment offer can be confirmed.
Job Description and Person Specification - RM-00137179-Strategy and Business Planning Lead-Job Description.pdf
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