Suffolk County Council

Senior Strategic Transport Planner
£34,373 - £40,455 (pro rata if part time)
37 hours per week
Permanent
Closing date: 11.30pm, 3 May 2022
Reference: 4436

We are committed to flexible working. To view the types of flexible or part time working available for this role, please see the Job and Person Profile.

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join Transport East as a Senior Strategic Transport Planner.

• Do you have recent experience of developing project plans and tackling strategic transport challenges?
• Can you work closely with a range of partners across the public and private sector to deliver results?
• Would you like to work in an incredibly varied, challenging and rewarding role?
• Are you passionate about making a difference to transport in the East region, developing and delivering strategies to a achieve the region’s strategic priorities?

Transport East is an independent partnership of local authorities and other bodies, covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock.

As one of seven Sub-national Transport Bodies in England, our role is to speak with a single voice on the region’s transport strategy and investment priorities.

The Transport East region is of huge importance to the UK. It is home to 3.5 million people and 1.7 million jobs. With a vibrant economy worth £73 billion, it is already one of the fastest growing regions in the UK outside of London.

The draft Transport East Strategy and supporting documentation can be found here, https://www.transporteast.org.uk/

The staff of Transport East are hosted by Suffolk County Council, on behalf of the wider partnership.

Your role

As the Senior Strategic Transport Planner, you will be an experienced, self-motivated, and strategically minded individual with experience in strategic transport planning or related area of work, with a track record of solving complex and unstructured problems.

You will work closely with other members of the Transport East team, senior officers from Local Authority partners, Sub-national Transport officers and partner organisations (Such as Local Enterprise Partnerships and Central Government) to develop and implement Transport East’s Strategy.

You will:
• Work with the Technical Programme Manager to develop key strategies for the East Region, to include; Decarbonisation to Net Zero, Connecting Growing Towns and Cities, Energising Rural and Coastal Communities and Unlocking International Gateways
• Work closely with regional partners, commissioning policy and design work and taking the overall lead for Transport East to ensure studies, strategies and plans are delivered in a timely manner. This will require experience and the ability to manage projects and budgets
• Manage activity that will develop the understanding of best practice and develop the Transport East strategies for the region
• Work with a variety of key stakeholders to help deliver sustainable growth in the East region.

You will be part of a dynamic and motivated team, operating in a high energy and professional environment: creativity and innovative thought are encouraged and allows the team to develop their own capabilities and ambitions.

Your responsibilities

The role will require close working and liaison with partners within the Transport East Region and nationally, including central government, businesses, transport operators and many other partners across the UK. You will also be required to work with County Councillors, district, town and parish council representatives.

Key responsibilities include:
• Working with the Technical Programme Manager to develop, monitor and evaluate the regional Investment and Delivery Programme
• Supporting the Transport East team and its partners to develop key strategic priorities for the region through the development of a regional evidence base and strategic plans for delivery.
• Regular assessment of highly complex factors and unstructured problems and the ability to develop innovative strategic solutions
• Undertakes research, maintains awareness and is familiar with new guidance, legislation, procedures to formulate new policies, practices, and solutions. In addition, analysing and preparing briefs on emerging government and regional transport issues and investigate and identify funding opportunities to support transport programmes
• Project management of studies, strategies, plans and business cases, working closely with the Sub-National Transport Bodies and consultants. To monitor budgets, certify claims to enable payments and negotiate compensation events.

You will need:
• Considerable professional experience in a relevant field of transport strategy or planning. With a high-level understanding of relevant policy, design, and procurement methods
• The ability to demonstrate experience of being creative and innovative in developing solutions to highly complex and wide-ranging problems. To analyse professional, technical and policy guidance as well as investigate and report on industry best practice
• Good social and listening skills and be able to develop successful relationships across the local authority partners, as well as with representatives of outside organisations
• Good project management skills with experience of managing individual projects and multiple projects simultaneously ranging in value from £20k to £500k
• Political awareness, including the role of Councillors and the relationship with District and Borough and Parish Councils, and government.

You can view a full list of requirements in the Job and Person Profile (link below). If you think you have what it takes to be successful in this role, even if you don’t meet all the requirements, please apply. We would appreciate the opportunity to consider your application.

We will offer you:
• Flexible working -?we currently operate digitally day-to-day, and whilst we anticipate returning to the office more frequently in the?future, we are likely to retain a hybrid working style. You will be expected to travel to the office in Ipswich Suffolk, a couple of times a week. Travel to London, across the East or to other regions will also be expected on an occasional basis.
• Career growth – a varied work profile across all areas of communications in collaboration with regional and national organisations.

Travelling requirements for your role
We positively encourage the use of technology to communicate, but in this role you will need to travel to locations away from your contractual base, so you must either hold a full and current driving licence and have access to personal transport or meet the mobility requirements of the role through other reasonable and suitable means. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability to meet the travel requirements of this role, please speak with the contact detailed below.

To find out more
For an informal discussion about this role, please contact Suzanne Buck on (01473) 260443.