We are looking for an experienced senior manager to lead and manage the in-house school catering service in Tower Hamlets. You will have extensive experience of providing operational catering management to a large workforce (325 staff) in a multi- site schools environment consisting of 57 Primary Secondary Nursery and Special schools. You will also manage a team based at the Professional Development Centre (PDC). You will be a strategic leader and influential manager able to motivate individuals and teams to achieve objectives.

You will have a strong strategic vision for improving and developing the school meals service and the PDC by successfully managing change and ensuring an ongoing excellent standard of service delivery. This will involve implementing innovative marketing & promotional ideas to grow and improve the services ensuring that they are rated as professional and first class.

You will have experience of working cooperatively with stakeholders and managing client relationships at all levels generating confidence, respect and trust. A key focus of the role will be to lead and engage on the Councils School Food Improvement Programme in Primary Schools. The aim of the Programme is to improve school meals provision across the Borough so all children can eat healthy and nutritious food and enjoy a good school food experience. The Programme will combine support and expertise from across the Council, including the Public health and Healthy Lives teams. It will involve engaging school leadership teams to adopt a whole school approach to school food and the environment in which they are served.

As a traded catering service, you will have strong financial management skills, responsible for a c£8million turnover budget. You will be experienced at procuring contracts to achieve best value for the council and will be responsible for monthly budget forecasting and ensuring that the service is managed effectively and efficiently to deliver a balance budget.

Tower Hamlets is a leading innovative council, and this role will play a key part in supporting and shaping the successful delivery of one of the mayors key strategic priorities for Universal Free School Meals in Secondary schools. Tower Hamlets will be the first Council to deliver such an exciting programme and your input will require you to be results driven with the ability to cope with pressure and deadlines to achieve the project deliverables.

The role also requires excellent communication and writing skills. You will be expected to produce reports and briefings and work closely with elected members, chief officers, council staff, external agencies, community groups and individuals across service sectors to promote the service and engage others in the wider strategic agenda.

This post will report directly to the Director of Commissioning & Culture.

This is a permanent full-time post.

If you wish to discuss this opportunity please contact Matthew Eady to arrange a call with 0207 364 4056.

Tower Hamlets vision for our borough is that: people are aspirational, independent and have equal access to opportunities; we are a borough that our residents are proud of and love to live in; and we are a dynamic, outcomes-based council using digital innovation and partnership working to respond to the changing needs of our borough. We want people who aspire to our TOWER values: Together; Open; Willing; Excellent; Respect.

Tower Hamlets has a zero-tolerance approach to, and works to eradicate, all forms of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital status, status as a civil partner, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and maternity and looks to employ a diverse workforce representative of those groups. We recognise that people can also be disadvantaged by their social and economic circumstances, so we will work to eliminate discrimination and disadvantage caused by social class.

We welcome applicants interested in flexible working arrangements and also applicants who live in the borough

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