Thank you for your interest in being part of our leadership team at Thurrock Council. We’ve faced significant and well publicised challenges that led us into intervention, and onwards on an improvement and recovery journey.

We’ve dedicated considerable capacity and energy to change our Council. We have engaged in the development of a new enabling operating model. We have balanced our budget and our governance arrangements are under review and improving rapidly. We have achieved significant change in a short amount of time. Yet we know there is so much more to do over the next few years.  

There is no shortage of ambition and commitment among us and our recently established leadership team are in place driving our improvement journey and bringing stability to the council.

Thurrock is in a much stronger place on its wider improvement journey and this sets us up well for the next two years as we undergo Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) across the Greater Essex Footprint forming new larger Unitary Authorities, as well as seeing the creation of a Mayoral Combined Authority for the region in May 2026.

Our children’s services continue to flourish, as demonstrated by the recent Outstanding Ofsted judgement, which means we are only the sixth local authority nationally to have achieved the highest grade across all areas under the current framework. Following a permanent appointment of our current Director of Children’s Social and Early Help to a brand new role focussed on LGR and the social care reforms, we are now on a quest to find their replacement. The incoming individual will work closely with their predecessor and the Executive Director to help define the future of children’s services in Thurrock.

This is an opportunity to be a leader at the heart of a service and organisation that is changing at pace, one where you can make a real difference in the lives of the people we serve. We are looking for a driven and motivated individual to realise our ambitions for the organisation and the borough.   

We want a leader who understands how to make change happen, who recognises and values political leadership, and who wants to help shape and achieve the best future for Thurrock and its children and young people. Collaboration between a high-performing managerial leadership team working in partnership with Elected Members is our formula for success.  

This is a brilliant opportunity for someone who is ambitious, resilient and motivated by working with a corporate management team who are all driven to make positive change, who lead with autonomy and make a real difference.  

We actively welcome innovation and new ideas and you will need to demonstrate that you understand what makes our people tick.

We are asking a great deal of those who come to join us, and this will be matched by the rewards you will see as we make changes for the better. We will support you to succeed, celebrate your accomplishments, and work together to address our challenges.  

We hope you will join us here in Thurrock, just half an hour’s journey away from the centre of London, at this time of fascinating change and improvement for our Council.  

We look forward to hearing from you,

Dave Smith
Chief Executive