*** Fixed term until 31 March 2026***

Location: Westminster or home-based

About us

The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local authorities. We work on behalf of our member councils to strengthen local government, so communities thrive and to ensure local government has a strong, credible voice with national government

We are a politically led, cross-party organisation that works on behalf of councils to champion and be the voice of local government, ensuring it has the resources, powers and support to deliver the best possible outcomes. We build strong partnerships and networks to provide support, helping local authorities improve through a peer-based, sector-led approach.

We inspire and promote innovation in local government. We celebrate and accelerate the development and adaptation of new ideas that help local government continue to lead the way in public service excellence.

We influence and set the political agenda on the issues that matter to councils to help them deliver local solutions to national problems.

The LGA’s Values are: Collaboration, Inclusion, Ambition, and Respect. We value diversity and encourage applications from all sections of the community to this high-profile role.

About the role

This role is an exciting opportunity to be a part of our graduate programme, Pathways to Planning, at a time of expansion and growth. This autumn, we will be recruiting graduates into planning, surveying and construction project management roles within local councils. Our mission is to recruit graduates from a wide range of backgrounds into local councils where they can shape the environment around them for everyone’s benefit: from planning what gets built, to determining how it gets built, and ensuring the quality of what is built can serve local communities for generations.

This Assistant Programme Manager role involves supporting key aspects of our programme delivery, from managing relationships with over 100 participating councils to overseeing recruitment and marketing processes. Working with other external stakeholders, managing procurement processes, and providing budget management support will also be core aspects of the role. This role is expected to line manage 2-4 members of staff but will support a range of other team members across the graduate programmes as part of programme delivery.

About you

To thrive in this role you’ll have a strong record of partnership working and delivering large projects and processes at pace. You’ll be confident managing a busy, complex workload and working effectively across a team to deliver key deadlines on time and budget. You’ll share our team’s strong commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and have an interest in supporting local councils as they address capacity gaps. With experience of line management, you’ll have a strong interest in actively supporting your direct reports and other team members to achieve their full potential.

You must have the right to work in the UK, the LGA are unfortunately unable to offer sponsorship visas. Evidence for the right to work in the UK will be requested at the interview stage.

If you would like an informal conversation about the role, please contact Programme Manager Anna Buttenshaw: anna.buttenshaw@local.gov.uk.

To apply

If you would like to be considered for the role, please complete the online form and include a supporting statement detailing how you meet the criteria for the role before the closing date.

We are specifically assessing candidates against the following criteria:

Good understanding of local and central government and how they work.
Experience of managing a complex workload, individually and across a team.
Experience of successfully delivering multi-stage projects on time and budget.
Experience of building and maintaining effective relationships and partnerships, internally and externally.
Experience working with senior managers and senior officers.
Experience of effective line management.

Assistant Programme Manager - Pathways to Planning - Job Description

Closing Date: 5pm, 11 July 2025

Interview Date: 4-6 August, interviews will be held virtually. There could be availability for interview on 30-31 July if any applicants are on annual leave 4-6 August. Please note there is a larger than usual gap between shortlisting and interview due to annual leave within the team – apologies.

We use anonymous recruitment, which is the practice of hiding candidates’ identities. This process involves removing any identifying information from candidates’ applications which includes names.

At the LGA we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. Our recruitment decisions are based on fair, open competition, with appointment on merit.

The LGA are proud to be awarded a “Disability Confident Leader”. Please contact us via Recruitment@local.gov.uk if you require a reasonable adjustment, which is a change to the format or conditions of the recruitment process to accommodate any disability-related needs you may have.

Our benefits

LGA annual leave entitlement is 29 days, rising to 31 days after three years’ service and to 33 days after five years’ service, plus all UK public holidays (pro rata for fixed term and part time contracts).*
Flexible & agile working – office-based staff are required to work in the LGA’s London office two days per week as a minimum, subject to business need and this may vary significantly between different roles and from week to week.
Future development – face-to-face and virtual courses are scheduled in line with developmental goals
The LGA offers 24/7 access to a free, confidential employee assistance programme managed by Health Assured. This service is also available for Dependants.
Family friendly policies

For more of LGA’s benefits and working with us, please view our webpage https://www.local.gov.uk/benefits-and-working-lga

Our values & behaviours

Our Values and Behaviours are there to give us an understanding of who we are as an organisation and who we want to be. They are a framework to help us understand:

how we work with each other
how we work with our members and stakeholders
our expectations for ourselves and each other

Our values are:

Collaboration – We value collaboration, to pursue shared goals by encouraging and utilising diverse perspectives and working with internal and external colleagues across the organisation.

Inclusion – We value inclusion, where everyone feels valued, understood, and supported to contribute meaningfully.

Ambition – We value ambition, reflecting our desire to achieve best possible outcomes for local government, communities, and individuals.

Respect – We value respect, to ensure fairness, recognition, and shared accountability.