Director of Community Protection (& Chief Fire Officer)

Hertfordshire County Council is a well-regarded and innovative council. The Community Protection Directorate is a hugely valued and visible part of the council with a commitment to providing high quality operational and preventative services to help keep people healthy and safe. Services within Community Protection include the Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service, Trading Standards, Resilience and the County Community safety unit. The current Director recently announced his decision to retire in the summer of 2021. We are therefore now looking to continue our focus on quality and innovation by appointing a new Director to lead the Community Protection Directorate in its next stage of development. 

About this role

This is an exciting and critically important time to take up this role, as you will be working in partnership across the County and beyond, to ensure that Hertfordshire is a safe place to live, work and visit. You will lead and motivate a workforce of over 800 staff and play a pivotal role in developing our organisational capability to ensure we deliver safe and high-quality services.

Reporting directly to the council’s Chief Executive, you will be accountable for achieving the highest standards of service delivery, leadership and financial management. To achieve our ambitious plans for the development of the Directorate, you will be responsible for directing several complex projects, including the development of a Joint Emergency Services Academy (JESA) in Stevenage.

A critical part of this role will be the part you play as a member of the council’s Strategic Management Board, where you will work with fellow Chief Officers on a range of strategic service and organisational-wide initiatives. Providing advice and guidance to councillors and other stakeholders is also an important part of the role.

About the Person

You will be an inspirational, innovative leader with a demonstrable track record of motivating a diverse workforce to be the best that they can be.  Operating with integrity and openness, you will have the confidence and credibility to engage and lead colleagues, impacting positively on partners and wider stakeholders. As the current pandemic has shown, our environment is ever-changing, and this role will play a key part in responding to these, and future challenges.

This role is subject to a DBS check.

Diversity and Inclusion:

At Hertfordshire, D&I is in our DNA and we are fully committed to creating an inclusive environment, which promotes and supports inclusivity and respect with a culture that supports our communities and partners and celebrates all aspects of diversity.  We aim to create a working environment that is free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation.

Recruitment Timetable

Closing Date
9:00am Wednesday 5th May 2021

Shortlist Meeting
w/c 10th May 2021

Psychometric Assessments
w/c 10 May 2021

First Interviews
w/c 17th May 2021

Final Member interview
w/c 24th May 20921

How to Apply

Register your details and then submit the following to us no later than 09:00hrs on Wednesday 5 May 2021:

1. A CV setting out your career history, highlighting your key responsibilities and achievements in your current and previous roles. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps, especially within the last two years;

2. Answer the specific competency-based questions outlined at i. to iv. below (Written responses should be capped at 400 words per answer):

i. Performance improvement/accountability.

How would you describe the relationship you would strive to develop with the CEO and wider staff and how would you envisage fulfilling your accountability in terms of organisational performance and effectiveness to them and through them the public?

ii. Workforce engagement/motivating teams.

How do you ensure every member of your team is the best that they can be and feels recognised and valued?

iii. Partnership working.

What is your approach to fostering successful working partnerships?

iv. Managing operational incidents.

What is your experience of planning for, directing and responding to complex large scale emergency response matters?

3. Video submission.

Video conferencing and presentations have increasingly become an important part of the way we communicate with our citizens and staff. With this in mind, as part of the application process, please will you share a 2-minute video file outlining what your top four priorities would be if you got the job?

As you know, these files do tend to be large and if emailing them to mary.dempsey@gatenbysanderson.com is not possible, there is a range of software available online in order to share your file with us.  These include ‘We Transfer’ or ‘Dropbox’ which are free for this level of use, but please do feel free to explore an option that works best for you. 

Candidates who submit a CV and covering responses only, without a video, will not be considered further in this process.

​For an informal discussion, please contact our recruitment partner colleagues at GatenbySanderson:

Peter Guilder: peter.guilder@gatenbysanderson.com or 07545 441 127

Kate Merson: kate.merson@gatenbysanderson.com or 0207 426 3376