Chief Operating Officer Full Time

Active Travel England (ATE) works to transform the role that cycling and walking plays in our transport system.

Increasing cycling and walking can help tackle some of the most challenging issues we face as a society – improving air quality, combatting climate change, improving health and wellbeing, addressing inequalities and tackling congestion on our roads.

As an Executive Agency, commissioning body and inspectorate, ATE’s role is to improve the planning, design and quality of walking and cycling schemes, ensuring they are accessible for all.

As the Chief Operating Officer (COO) you will be a key member of the agency’s Senior Leadership Team. This is an exciting challenge for someone with excellent project delivery skills and a proven track-record of highly effective, strategic and inspiring leadership.

We are committed to ensuring that we draw candidates from a variety of backgrounds and that the department’s appointments are open to fresh talent, experience and perspectives. That means we need greater diversity in our candidates – whether in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability or background.

Active Travel England is now entering a new phase, one that will see it strengthen and grow. As COO you will have a key role to play in this, ensuring the frameworks are there to succeed. It is a demanding role, but your impact will be transformational; now and in the years to come. We need to get England moving differently and this is your opportunity to lead this transformation.

Job description

The COO is a critical leadership role and, along with the Chief Executive and other Executive Committee colleagues, will have responsibility for leading ATE and its people, performance, and overall budget (approx. £250m). More specifically, this role will be accountable for financial oversight, operational excellence and corporate governance and will oversee ATE’s corporate functions, including Finance, Performance, Risk & Assurance, Communications & Estates and Programme Management Office.

We are looking for an outstanding person to lead these functions. The successful candidate will have to be someone with proven experience of providing leadership within a fast-paced and ambitious organisation whilst also managing organisational complexities.

The roles and responsibilities for this position include:

• Serve as the principal advisor to the CEO on financial matters. Oversee the agency’s budget, manage finances, and safeguard public funds.
• Lead corporate services, driving efficiency and effectiveness across Finance, Governance, People, Communications, Commercial and performance. Lead change where required and drive continuous improvement.
• Drive the development of ATE’s future people and estates strategy, ensuring the right people are in place and ensuring the capability and capacity to deliver.
• Uphold and oversee appropriate governance arrangements and internal controls, ensuring compliance with legal, regulatory, and financial standards.
• Manage ATE’s day-to-day budget and ensure robust financial systems are in place.
• Credibly and clearly represent ATE’s interests in discussion with the wider department.

Person specification

You will need to be able to show, through your application, that you have the professional skills, breadth of experience and personal qualities for this post, as well as the leadership skills to succeed at Deputy Director level in the Senior Civil Service.

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their experience and skills against the following essential criteria:

• Proven people leadership skills, with experience of setting the direction of an organisation, building and leading high performing teams, and with a strong background in effective governance, decision-making, internal control, and risk management.
• Proven leader in formulating, developing, and executing corporate strategy, with expertise in analysing the strategic economic and political landscape to translate complex objectives into actionable plans that drive long-term success.
• Skilled in leading corporate functions, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and achieving operational excellence through innovative solutions and strategic alignment.
• Strong experience of managing operational services at pace with an ability to work with stakeholders to make connections between policy intent and real-world situations.
• Experience of managing large budgets including forecasting, monitoring spend and delivering value for money.
• Excellent communicator with the ability to challenge and change the way things have been done in the past, take managed risks and drive a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
• Awareness of project and programme management tools and techniques to deliver desired outcomes

Qualifications

• Candidates will need a Finance qualification (CCAB, CIMA or equivalent) and/or HR qualification (CIPD or equivalent)

Qualifications

Candidates will need a Finance qualification (CCAB, CIMA or equivalent) and/or HR qualification (CIPD or equivalent)

Benefits
Alongside your salary of £85,000, Department for Transport contributes £24,624 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously, and want to enable you to build a really successful career with the Department and wider Civil Service.

It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead. You’ll benefit from a wide range of training and development opportunities, regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits.

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