Performance and Relationship Lead

Join our new organisation as a Performance and Relationship Lead to help make a region-wide impact through Skills Bootcamps and other devolved adult skills programmes.

Welcome to EMCCA

EMCCA is the UK’s first mayor-led combined county authority. The East Midlands is a great region. But it deserves to be better. Better connected, better funded and better prepared for a future of opportunity, growth, and hope. EMCCA will oversee devolved powers around transport, housing, skills and adult education, economic development, and net zero. We will conceive the strategies and create the connections that will empower local partners, people and businesses – maximising the impact of billions of pounds of funding. Together, our new EMCCA team can put the East Midlands on the map as a place to live, work and study.

Your role in elevating the East Midlands

As Performance and Relationship Lead, you will prepare the Combined Authority to manage the devolved Adult Skills Fund and other adult programmes. This role involves leading and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders, both internally and externally, including other Mayoral Combined Authorities. You will develop processes to ensure EMCCA meets its targets, funding allocations, and outcomes, while also creating new programmes aligned with EMCCA’s Skills Plan and focusing support where needed.

You will lead, manage, and develop a team of three delivery professionals to drive performance and relationship management. Strong analytical, written, and verbal communication skills, along with project management, partnership working, and negotiation skills, are essential. You must have experience with current funding arrangements in the Further Education and Adult Skills sector, as well as in developing, implementing, coordinating, monitoring, and reviewing commissioning and procurement activities.

This challenging role requires excellent interpersonal skills and a strategic approach.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading and managing the performance of learning organisations for Skills Bootcamps and other skills provision, ensuring funds are effectively deployed based on demand and EMCCA’s and its partners’ strategic goals.
• Developing, deploying, and managing EMCCA’s grant allocation and commissioned provision methodology, including reviewing and implementing appropriate procurement routes.
• Reviewing the effectiveness of deploying £10 million Skills Bootcamps, and other skills funding as needed.
• Leading and making recommendations to committees, including Technical Officer Groups (TOGs), for adult skills commissioning priorities based on the Strategic Skills Plan, wider employment and skills strategy, future Local Skills Improvement Plans and other evidence.
• Developing a comprehensive view of Skills Bootcamps provision within each area of the East Midlands and promote collaborative efforts to support learner progression.
• Proactively managing key stakeholder relationships with adult skills teams in EMCCA’s grant and procured funded learning organisations, identifying barriers to delivery and gaps in provision, and developing solutions or sharing best practices.
• Lead the development of specifications for procured and grant funded provision to ensure high-quality contracts that meet regional needs and add social value.
• Analyse data and produce management reports for senior leaders, making recommendations on learning organisation performance and funding reallocation during the academic year.
• Liaising, negotiating, and collaborating with internal and external stakeholders, including managers, employees, Councillors, businesses, Board Members, partnership agencies, and other MCA/GLA regions, to inform strategy, planning, and delivery.

Your profile:

• Significant experience either within, or managing learning organisation performance, including MCA.
• Good understanding of the employment and skills landscape, such as Skills Bootcamps, AEB/ASF, Apprenticeships, and DFE provisions.
• Experience of managing multiple priorities, supporting large-scale contracts with tight deadlines.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with experience of building positive working relationships with colleagues and partner agencies.
• Commitment to effective customer and community engagement.
• Awareness of frontline staff issues impacting service delivery.
• Understanding of effective financial management.
• Analytical skills to understand and communicate project phases.
• Desire to drive and encourage innovation and new ways of working.

To apply:

For more details on EMCCA, our rewards and benefits, and to apply, please visit: https://eastmidscareers.co.uk