In Sutton, there is much for us to be proud of both as a council and as a borough. This includes high levels of resident satisfaction, the quality of our services, our success in addressing our financial challenges to date, the way that we involve and engage with residents on key issues facing the borough, and the enthusiastic and motivated staff that we employ.

Looking ahead, there are plans for the delivery of new homes and new schools and the London Cancer Hub is being developed, while the Council is also seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment.

All of this demonstrates a good track record and an authority that is ambitious and set to deliver more improvements for the borough. We've set out our vision for the future of Sutton in our corporate plan - Ambitious for Sutton. This strategic plan will shape the outcomes we achieve, the services we provide, and the impact we have on residents, to make Sutton a great place to live, work and raise a family.

Situated in Zone 5, Sutton is less than 30 minutes by train from central London, and south and south west London are easily accessible by public transport. There are 10 train stations which serve key neighbourhoods within the borough providing direct connections to London Victoria, London Bridge, London Blackfriars and St Pancras International. Sutton also has direct rail connections with Epsom, Dorking, Guildford and Horsham, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and West Croydon for the London Overground. There’s also an extensive road network which provides close and easy access to the M25 and M23.

We are looking for a Development Manager who will be responsible for developing, coordinating and delivering Cultural Services’ offers across libraries and heritage sites.

As Development Manager you will have experience of managing large scale contracts for library related services including bookstock and digital services. You will play a key role in The Libraries Consortium, across 23 authorities, including leading and developing library offers, including bookstock. You need to be a strong collaborative team player and have:

• excellent communication skills.
• a proven track record of promoting services and developing activities programmes meeting the needs of people in Sutton.
• the ability to manage a large number of competing priorities
• experience able to motivate and develop colleagues at all levels

Cultural Services oversees eight libraries and three historic houses. Our art gallery provides facilities for artists to showcase their work and for community events to take place in the heart of the Borough.The service supports active communities, from under 5’s rhyme times, to book clubs, dementia cafes, job clubs, coding clubs, inclusive music, and a multitude of volunteering opportunities. Sutton has an emerging arts scene, including events such as the Wallington Music festival, Carshalton Open Arts Studios festival, and St Helier Festival, with considerable community and voluntary activity. During 2023, this is being further developed through our exciting Sutton STEAMs Ahead programme.

Library services provided in the London Borough of Sutton have been at the forefront of innovative and customer focused service for many years. Sutton was the first to offer Sunday opening, the first to use self-service technology and radio frequency identification technology for the management of library book stocks, ahead in its provision of free Wi-Fi, and a Beacon award winner for libraries as a community resource.

The Libraries Consortium led by Sutton’s Council’s Cultural Services has demonstrated great determination and the ability to innovate – qualities key in forging a community driven library service that our customers deserve. Whilst some members report making savings as a result of being part of the consortium, for others, the consortium enables them to do more with less – providing access to facilities that they could not afford on their own; to the expertise and resources of all its members; and to savings each year. The Libraries Consortium provides shared technology and joint working across London, Essex, Luton and Surrey. The Consortium offers one library card to all members to access services across 23 authorities with over 300 libraries.

Sutton has a strong commitment to its heritage and the role it does and can play for inspiring the future. The Council’s Cultural Services manages three historic buildings: Honeywood Museum; Little Holland House and Whitehall Museum are open to the public with support from active Friends groups and volunteers.

This is an exciting time for the service as it designs and delivers its Transformation Plan. You will have an opportunity to shape and deliver services and look to the future to ensure library services remain relevant meeting the needs of people in Sutton. We are proud of our achievements, and have a team of excellent professionals working across agile multi-disciplinary teams to deliver services.

You will lead digital engagement developing responsive, exciting and diverse offers to meet the needs of customers whilst attracting and retaining new customers.

You will be an excellent networker, exploiting opportunities to work with internal services, partners, and external organisations to enrich the lives of our residents. This will include building relationships with relevant stakeholders and service providers to link residents into Cultural Services.

With a background in delivering events and activities alongside an understanding of the public sector, you will support national initiatives including the National Libraries Connected Universal Offers. Your natural problem-solving skills and keen eye for detail will identify inequalities and issues and bring together research and interventions to improve access to services for our residents.

The Development Manager is part of the senior libraries management team and contributes to the development of annual business plans, performance indicators and service targets whilst advising on potential service improvements. Beneficial to the role will be experience of writing successful funding bids.

If you are an innovative and collaborative leader with excellent communication skills, this role can offer you the opportunity to make a real difference towards removing barriers, developing and promoting services for the people of Sutton.

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across - however big or small - will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

In addition, we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff, supported by our IT infrastructure, including Google Chromebooks and Google Apps.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Flexi-time (Please note, this applies to roles at grades 1-9 only)
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Local and national discounts for shopping, eating out and leisure activities
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Car parking scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.

To support our diversity agenda and reduce the risk of bias in our recruitment activities, our short listing process completely anonymises personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc. Our hiring managers review and short list applications based on the information provided as part of your application as to how well you meet the requirements and criteria for the role, as outlined in the job profile.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

We pride ourselves on being a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve - the key highlights from our recent Equalities Workforce Report can be seen here. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce. As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.

We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.