Location: County Hall, Northallerton

Salary: £49,764 to £53,817 per annum 

Grade: N 

Contract: Permanent 

Hours: Full Time

North Yorkshire Council is seeking an experienced and visionary Strategic Performance Lead, known internally as 'Corporate Strategy and Performance lead', to drive and oversee performance management across Children’s and Young People’s Services. This is an exciting opportunity to join a supportive, forward-thinking team, working in one of the most beautiful and diverse counties in the UK. As Strategic Performance Lead, you will play a pivotal role in improving the lives of children and families, and you will be supported by a collaborative team that is committed to making a real difference. 

Based within the central Strategy and Performance service, you will lead a team to oversee the performance framework for the Children and Young People Services directorate, delivering evidence-based recommendations to senior leadership. You will play a crucial role in supporting the identification and delivery of a wide range of initiatives designed to improve the lives of children, young people, and their families in North Yorkshire. You will also work alongside Corporate Leads for other directorates to support a clear corporate performance picture and drive consistency and development of the strategy and performance capabilities across the council. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Oversee performance management arrangements, ensuring that performance data is accurately collected, analysed, and reported to senior management and key stakeholders. 

• Lead and manage a high-performing team to monitor, evaluate, and drive continuous improvements in service delivery. 

• Provide expert strategic advice to senior leaders on children’s services, supporting decision-making with robust evidence and clear performance insights. 

• Collaborate with senior leaders to ensure that services for children and young people are effective, efficient, and meet statutory obligations and best practice standards. 

• Monitor and evaluate service performance, identifying opportunities for innovation and improvement, and leading projects to address service gaps or areas of underperformance. 

• Champion the voice and needs of children, young people, and families, ensuring they are central to strategic planning and service delivery. 

• Lead on inspection-readiness preparations and exercises. 

• Represent North Yorkshire Council at regional and national forums to promote best practice and share learning in children’s services. 

• Act as the research lead for the directorate, identifying opportunities to use academic research to support greater insight and improvement. 

Key Requirements: 

• Comprehensive experience in strategic performance management roles, with a strong understanding of children’s services, statutory requirements, and national standards that affect service delivery and outcomes. 

• Proven ability to lead and influence at a senior level, managing and delivering large-scale performance improvement initiatives. 

• Advanced analytical skills, with the ability to turn complex data into actionable insights and strategic recommendations. 

• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and influencing skills, with experience working with senior leaders, elected members and external partners. 

• A degree or professional qualification in a related field, along with a commitment to continuous professional development. 

You will bring in-depth knowledge of the legislative and policy context for children’s services and a history in delivering outcomes-based effective quality assurance and performance management, working closely with senior managers, stakeholders, partners and Elected Members. You will possess excellent analytical skills as well as the ability to lead successful projects and change programmes. 

This leadership role offers a unique opportunity to influence the direction of services for children and young people across the county, helping our services to develop and deliver the best possible outcomes. 

Why Join North Yorkshire Council?  

We offer a competitive salary, hybrid and flexible working arrangements, and generous annual leave allowance of up to 34 days. In addition, we offer a range of staff benefits such as Performance Related Pay, interest-free travel season ticket loan, membership of the Local Government contributory pension scheme, childcare vouchers, green car scheme, discounts at many leisure activities, restaurants, shops and other establishments. A wide range of developmental opportunities are also offered. 

For further information, or to discuss the role, please contact Will Boardman (will.boardman@northyorks.gov.uk)  

Key documents 

Job Description 

Total Rewards Brochure 

Key dates 

Closing Date: 5th May 2025

Interview Date:  TBC

Venue for Interview: County Hall, Northallerton 

 
This is a politically restricted post as defined by the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.  
 
 
NYC are committed to directly recruiting staff and will not accept applications nor services from agency suppliers in respect of our vacancies.  
 
We are committed to meeting the needs of our diverse community and aim to have a workforce reflecting this diversity. We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.  

North Yorkshire Councils’ purpose is to deliver services and facilities to the diverse residents and visitors of North Yorkshire. To ensure we deliver inclusive services we strive to have a diverse workforce where everybody can be themselves by respecting differences and embedding equality of opportunity. We celebrate diversity and recognise each other’s contributions; we therefore welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds. 
 
North Yorkshire Council (NYC) advertise vacancies on behalf of schools and external organisations (third parties) in North Yorkshire. NYC are not responsible for the recruitment/employment practices of third parties and accept no liability in relation to the vacancy and any subsequent recruitment/employment processes. Enquiries regarding the vacancy or practices should be made directly with the third party. 

North Yorkshire Council are committed to the health and safety of our employees and of others including the general public. It has a responsibility to ensure employees who hold a position that is deemed to be safety critical as it requires the performance of duties which are directly related to the safe operation or security of a facility, piece of equipment or vehicle, handling of chemicals or work at height or in confined spaces and which, if not performed properly, could result in a serious safety risk or environmental hazard to employees, a facility or the general public , do not attend work whilst under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Individuals offered employment with North Yorkshire Council will be subject to the Workplace Substance Misuse policy. For safety critical roles as detailed above, random alcohol and drug testing may take place during the course of employment. 

It is a criminal offence for people who are barred from working in Regulated Activity (under the Safeguarding and Vulnerable Groups Act 2006) to apply for roles that require them to work unsupervised with adults at risk. 

We are committed to the inclusion, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults at risk*