Business Operations & Corporate Support Lead
Salary: Grade 14Location: Dudley, West MidlandsContract: Full-time | Permanent
Dudley Council is seeking an outstanding senior leader to shape and lead our new Corporate Business Operations & Support function at an important point in the Council’s improvement and transformation journey.
This is a significant corporate leadership role with visibility across the organisation, working closely with senior officers, elected members and services. You will lead a large and diverse function responsible for providing the organisational infrastructure, coordination and support that enables the Council to operate effectively.
You will have responsibility for a broad portfolio spanning executive and business support, corporate governance and forward planning, member and mayoral support, Freedom of Information coordination, organisational processes, records and information management, corporate events and wider organisational coordination.
The Opportunity
As Business Operations & Corporate Support Lead, you will:
- Lead the Council’s Corporate Business Operations & Support function, providing visible leadership to a large corporate service managing resources of around £5m.
- Develop and embed a modern corporate business support operating model, creating clear standards, consistent ways of working and a flexible approach to deploying resources where they are needed most.
- Strengthen corporate coordination and governance – ensuring key meetings, decisions, forward plans, actions and organisational activity are effectively managed and visible.
- Lead high-quality support arrangements for senior leaders and elected members, including executive support, member enquiries, mayoral and civic activity and wider corporate requirements.
- Oversee the Council’s arrangements for Freedom of Information requests, ensuring effective coordination, statutory compliance and strong corporate standards.
- Drive process and systems improvement – simplifying activity, removing duplication and identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and customer experience.
- Champion digital technology, automation, data and emerging solutions to improve productivity, collaboration and the quality of management information.
- Build a resilient, professional and customer-focused function that can flex capacity in response to changing organisational priorities.
- Provide authoritative advice and constructive challenge on corporate business operations, organisational processes and support arrangements.
- Embed strong performance, risk, governance and assurance arrangements, ensuring the function delivers demonstrable quality, value for money and organisational impact.
About You
We are seeking a high-calibre senior leader with:
- Significant leadership experience within a large, complex public sector or similarly complex organisation.
- A strong track record of leading large, diverse operational or corporate support functions and delivering high-quality services at scale.
- Experience of designing and implementing modern operating models, standardising services and improving organisational ways of working.
- Strong knowledge of corporate governance, business operations, organisational processes and regulatory or statutory requirements.
- Demonstrable experience of leading service transformation, process improvement and the effective use of digital technology and automation.
- The credibility and judgement to influence senior officers, elected members and a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
- Strong commercial and financial awareness, with experience of managing significant budgets, resources and organisational capacity.
- A clear commitment to developing high-performing teams, strengthening accountability and creating a professional, responsive and customer-focused culture.
You will combine strategic leadership with strong operational grip – able to see the organisation as a whole while ensuring the corporate processes, systems and support arrangements underpinning it work effectively every day.
Why Join Dudley?
This role offers a rare opportunity to shape a significant part of the Council’s corporate infrastructure and establish a modern, resilient and high-performing business operations and support function.
Your leadership will directly influence how effectively the organisation operates – strengthening corporate coordination, improving the experience of senior leaders, elected members, services and colleagues, and ensuring our resources are deployed effectively against the Council’s priorities.
You will also have the opportunity to modernise the service, making better use of technology, data and automation while developing a more flexible and consistent One Council approach to business operations and support.
For an informal discussion please contact Alex Thorogood, Programme Director (alex.thorogood@dudley.gov.uk)
Closing date for applications is 5th November 2026
Workplace Attendance: Working in the office 3+ days a week (pro-rata)
So that we can demonstrate Dudley’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and to improve bias in the recruitment process that could create barriers for candidates. Your personal data will be anonymised when you apply, to ensure that you comply with our anonymisation process, please ensure you have removed your name and date of birth from any attachments prior to uploading them to your application.
All applicants must be able to provide documentation to prove their right to work in the UK.
Please note: Dudley MBC does not currently offer sponsorship for candidates without the Right to Work in the UK.
Dudley Council will check the information that you have provided against any details already held for accuracy and completeness. The Council will check, share and cross match your information both internally within the council and with external organisations to protect public funds and prevent or detect crime, only where the law allows us to do so.
Attached documents
- Business Operations and Corporate Support Lead JD 150926.docx
- Employee Benefits List.pdf
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