Head of Legal Services
| Posting date: | 17 February 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | Competitive |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 19 March 2026 |
| Location: | Bury, BL9 0SW |
| Company: | inploi |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 75787252 |
Summary
Legal Services
About the role
Bury is a borough like no other in Greater Manchester. A place that blends rural character with a vibrant urban centre, shaped by exciting regeneration, diverse communities and a strong sense of identity. Our LET’s Do It approach underpins a practical, ambitious and focused drive to improve outcomes for our residents.
We are looking for an ambitious leader to join our high-performing Legal Services team, working closely with colleagues and engaging with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. As Head of Legal Services, you will be a key strategic voice within the departmental leadership team, overseeing the delivery of highquality legal advice at the heart of Council decision making. You will also deputise for the Borough Solicitor/Monitoring Officer, helping to shape the Council’s legal position, strengthen governance, and support confident and robust decisionmaking.
Leading a team of around 40 individuals, including qualified lawyers, legal executives and colleagues progressing through professional qualification routes, you will continue our commitment to developing talent and building a strong, supportive service. Your focus will be on developing people and ensuring a consistent, proactive and highquality legal offer, capable of responding to a fastpaced and varied workload. Whilst we are openminded about your specific areas of legal expertise, what matters most is your ability to lead, motivate and grow the team. You will champion strong practice in case management, time recording and responsiveness, while providing assured leadership to the Chief Executive, Directors and Members, ensuring legal advice is clearly heard and acted upon.
We are seeking a qualified solicitor or barrister with significant PQE and strong local government legal experience. You will bring credibility and confidence as a leader, able to manage workload pressures, handle escalation points effectively and know when to seek support. You will be proactive in supporting complex decision making, influencing outcomes and enabling sound governance. Importantly, you will bring fresh ideas and a commitment to our LET’s Do It approach, helping shape a legal service that delivers real impact for Bury’s residents and communities.
About Bury
The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. Appointment may be subject to a satisfactory disclosure at the appropriate level under the Disclosure and Barring Service.
In line with safer recruitment, please ensure that your application/CV covers your full employment history and there is a reason noted for any gaps in employment. Successful candidates will be asked to provide relevant references for the past ten years and character references will not be accepted.
Please note we are unable to support with sponsorship at this time.
As a Corporate Parent, ensure that the work and services you deliver considers our care experienced young people, promotes their life chances empowers them to influence the policies, services, and decisions that affect them, champions their rights, and ensure they grow up in the best possible way
Benefits of working for Bury Council
To hear about the benefits for working with Bury Council, please visit Bury - Home | greater.jobs
We support employees to work with agility, where appropriate for the post and service requirements.
We are committed to Bury being an equal society that recognises values and embraces all people, regardless of any difference, for the skills, abilities and experiences they bring into the workforce and the wider community. Therefore we guarantee an interview for disabled people, looked after children/ care leavers, armed forces personnel (including reservists and veterans) and carers of adults or disabled children if they meet the essential criteria.
If you have completed the GM Elevate (Leadership Development) Programme, please indicate this within the ‘About You’ or ‘Supporting Statement’ section of your application.
Next steps
For more information and to apply, please visit Bury Council | or contact Rachel Salvia (Gatenby Sanderson) on 07393 013067
Supporting Documents
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