Principal Environmental Health Officer

Coventry is expanding with a growing population, a buoyant and increasing private rented sector. A key strategic priority for the Council is to therefore keep residents safe and tackle poor housing conditions.

The Council currently responds to complaints in the Private Rented Sector and implements the Mandatory and Additional HMO licensing schemes to deal with issues caused by the poor management of privately rented HMO properties. These services and schemes offer an opportunity to work in a busy high-profile environment dealing with the inspection and enforcement all private rented homes, HMOs and HMO licensing.

If you are motivated, professional in your approach and have adept organisational skills then Coventry could be the place for you!
Our ValuesIn line with our One Coventry Values we strive to have a workforce that reflects our local communities and welcome applicants from all sections of the community. We particularly welcome applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds, applicants who have a disability and applicants who are from the LGBTQ+ community to apply for our senior leadership roles. 

Our Values are:

Open and fair: We are fair, open, and transparent.
Nurture and develop: We help and encourage everyone to be their best and do their best.
Engage and empower: We talk and listen to others, working together as one.
Create and innovate: We embrace new ways of working to continuously improve.
Own and be accountable: We work together to deliver the best services for our residents.
Value and respect: We put diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do.

What is the job role?We are looking for a Principal Environmental Health Officer to join our Property Licensing team. You will be working under the general direction of the Head of Safer Housing and Communities and will be responsible for the day to day management of Environmental Health Officers delivering key services within the Property Licensing Team.

The full list of duties and responsibilities are in the Job description attached.
Who are we looking for?As the Principal Environmental Health Officer, leading a diverse team of Environmental Health Officers, it is essential that you have an understanding of the diverse communities and the various cultures that exist across our city as well as having substantial knowledge and understanding of Environmental Health legislation, particularly around private sector housing.

You will be an inclusive leader who values diversity and promotes a culture of respect, collaboration and continuous improvement. You will have experience in working in a political environment and a relevant Environmental Health environment.

As you will be leading a team of Environmental Health Officers you will need to demonstrate that you have supervisory/ management skills to manage, motivate and develop a team to achieve business goals. You will have experience in working in a political environment and a relevant Environmental Health environment.

We value and respect the diversity of our team and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects our diverse communities. Within our team people from minority ethnic backgrounds are currently under-represented across our middle-management team, as a result we would like to encourage people from minority ethnic backgrounds to apply for this post. We have policies and procedures in place to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process, including the consideration of reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or who are neuro diverse.

For an informal conversation about this challenging and rewarding role, please contact Adrian.Chowns@coventry.gov.uk

When applying for this role you will be asked to write a personal statement, please include the following information in this statement:

An example of when you have had to set stretching goals and challenge current performance levels;
Describe a situation when you have supported and enabled customers to understand their choices and make appropriate decisions even when this may be difficult to do so.
Provide an example of a situation or a project where you have worked strategically across services to provide an integrated and efficient service to customers.

For full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process' 

Interview date: w/c 27th May 2024

About CoventryCoventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.

We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.

At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/council-vacancies