Senior OD Lead

Job Information

[Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] is undergoing a major transformation to modernise how we work, strengthen leadership, and create a modern, inclusive and high‑performing organisation that puts residents first. As part of this, we are redesigning our Organisational Development & Culture (OD&C) service and we are now recruiting a Senior OD Lead (Engagement, Culture & Insight) to play a pivotal role in shaping how the organisation listens, learns and acts.

This is a senior specialist OD role within our Culture, Leadership & Engagement practice, with a particular focus on organisational listening, engagement strategy and cultural insight and will shape how insight informs cultural action and behavioural change at scale.

About the Role

Reporting to the OD&C Senior Manager (Practice Lead: Culture, Leadership & Engagement), you will:

• Take a portfolio view of engagement, listening and culture insight work across the organisation
• Lead the design and delivery of organisational listening approaches, including staff surveys, pulse activity, qualitative research, listening cycles and feedback loops
• Synthesise complex organisational signals - such as survey data, lived‑experience insight, engagement patterns and narrative feedback – into clear themes, insight and recommendations
• Influence leaders using evidence, storytelling and sense‑making
• Lead or co‑lead OD squads on high‑priority cultural and engagement themes
• Support and enable OD colleagues to deliver high‑quality, insight‑led OD work

This role is ideal for a senior OD practitioner with deep expertise in engagement, insight and organisational narrative, who is comfortable contracting and collaborating at senior level and translating data into meaningful cultural action and behavioural change.

Embedding Agile OD & New Ways of Working

From June 2026, OD&C will move to a new operating model based on agile OD, including a single intake route, triage, backlog prioritisation and cross‑practice OD squads delivering short cycles of work. You will play a central role in leading and co‑lead squads on significant priorities.

About You

We are looking for a senior OD generalist with deep specialist expertise in engagement and insight, who brings:

• Significant experience in organisational listening, engagement and culture insight
• Strong qualitative and quantitative insight capability
• Confidence influencing senior leaders using evidence and narrative
• Ability to diagnose patterns and root causes, not just report data
• Experience leading OD work in complex organisations
• A collaborative, enabling approach to developing other OD practitioners
• A mindset aligned to agile, iterative OD

You may come from an OD, organisational psychology, research, engagement, culture/change or related background. We are interested in the quality of your OD judgement and insight practice, not a specific job title.

Why Join [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal]?

• A rare opportunity to shape how an organisation listens and learns
• A senior OD role with real influence and visibility
• The chance to build organisational‑level engagement and insight capability
• An OD&C service with strong senior sponsorship
• Attractive local government benefits including generous leave, pension, agile working and wellbeing support
• 26 days annual leave plus public/bank holidays, rising to 31 days after 5 years of service (pro rata for part-time employees)
• Automatic enrolment into the Local Government Pension Scheme
• Flexi scheme (if applicable) – up to 2 days flexible leave available per month (pro rata for part-time employees)

Whilst we offer hybrid working, there is a requirement to attend County Hall on a regular basis, along with a need to support services areas in person as required.

For further information about working with [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal], please visit our website here.

How to Apply

Please submit your application and a supporting statement outlining how your experience and OD practice align with the role. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a selection event exploring OD judgement, insight capability, organisational sense‑making and your ability to influence through evidence.

The candidate pack provides further detail to support your application. If you would like to arrange an informal discussion, please email [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal].

Closing date for applications is midnight on 20th May 2026, and an assessment centre will take place on 29th May & 1st June 2026.