About Police Now  

Our mission is to transform communities, reduce crime and anti-social behaviour, and increase the public’s confidence in the police service by recruiting, developing and inspiring outstanding and diverse leaders in society and on the policing frontline. 

We are working towards a day when every community, whatever the socio-economic background of its residents, can thrive without being fearful of crime. We are looking for talented, committed and mission-aligned individuals who will drive us towards achieving our ambitions.

Police Now recruits and trains graduates and career changers with leadership potential to become inspirational police officers and outstanding crime fighters on our National Graduate Leadership Programme and our National Detective Programme. Beyond these programmes, our officers may join our Frontline Leadership Programme and be further developed giving them the best possible chance to progress through the policing ranks and have a lifelong connection with us.

Our 115-strong not-for-profit organisation aims to create systemic change. We need highly capable impactful staff to support the recruitment and development of our officers and to cultivate strong relationships with partner forces and the wider sector.

The purpose of your role

Police Now seeks an exceptional individual to lead the delivery and future design iteration of our police officer training and promotion programmes. This role represents a genuine opportunity to influence the future of police training given Police Now’s role as a lead and innovator in this space.

The role comprises five main parts:

• Lead a team of c.50 individuals to successfully deliver our highly ambitious plans. You’ll set a vision for your team, creating a positive and cohesive team culture to enable all to thrive within their roles in our fast-paced environment, communicating internally and externally with passion and power.
• Deliver the National Graduate Leadership Programme (NGLP), the National Detective Programme (NDP) and Frontline Leadership Programme (FLP) to a standard of excellence as defined by Police Now, programme participants, partner forces and stakeholders. This includes delivery of our award-winning academies and subsequent participant development activities – for example, participant coaching and support and our partnership with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). It also includes oversight of our alumni strategy ready for once participants have completed their programme.
• Innovate, developing and iterating the design of the NGLP, NDP and FLP, and any future programmes, so that they advance Police Now’s mission, deliver an excellent participant experience, and meet the needs of partner forces and stakeholders, remaining always at the cutting edge of police officer training and continuous professional development. 
• Collaborate with colleagues across the organisation, to ensure that our programmes are attractive to the most talented and diverse graduates and effectively prepare programme participants for both Police Now’s vision of outstanding frontline police work and the realities of policing on the ground. 
• Role model, as a member of the four-person executive team you will have a share of the collective responsibility for the strategy and direction of the entire organisation, ensuring that we are a role model of leadership, integrity, wellbeing, efficiency and effectiveness, in policing and beyond. 
  
  

Key responsibilities

Leadership

• Provide inspirational leadership to your team of c.50 people within the Programmes Directorate and across the wider organisation of c.120. Lead with care and empathy, motivating and empowering your team to deliver to an exceptional level, supporting wellbeing and the maintenance of a positive culture.
• Direct line management of three Heads of Department, each accountable for delivering one of our three programmes. Ensure they are equipped and confident in their roles, including to lead their teams and achieve programme deliverables. 
• Act as the senior escalation point for each Police Now academy for both the NGLP and NDP. In doing so, you’ll effectively lead, motivate and empower team members to deliver excellent outcomes for participants, forces and stakeholders. 
• Confidently communicate with external partners and stakeholders more broadly, including of Police Now’s theory of change, mission and priorities, and those of UK policing more broadly. 
• Contribute as a member of the four-person executive team, setting the culture, strategic direction and priorities of the organisation, and making key decisions as a team; manage organisational resources and budgets to deliver the highest quality, difference and innovation, and value for money.

Programme delivery 

• Ensure that every Police Now programme is considered outstanding, measured against our mission, theory of change, strategy and priorities, and the perception of programme participants, partner forces and stakeholders. 
• Achieve the primary aims of each Police Now training academy for the NGLP and NDP, which are to equip programme participants with the core policing skills (‘gateway skills’) that they require to be efficient and effective police constables or detective constables as appropriate, and instil in them the knowledge, understanding and ability to use those skills in a manner according to our mission and values. 
• Oversee the planning and delivery of all other programme activities, including participant coaching and support, the delivery of large-scale events at which all participants come together to demonstrate their impact, to network and share best practice and FLP taught days.
• Collaborate with colleagues across Police Now and its partners and stakeholders (especially partner police forces, the College of Policing, Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), the Police Federation of England and Wales) to support excellent programme design and delivery, and to swiftly resolve any problems that arise. 
• Maintain and iterate our participant risk, data and progress tracking systems so that we know when participants are on course to complete our programmes and when they are not and can act accordingly. Retain a focus on participant and alumni retention and how issues can be resolved to reduce retention risks.
• Ensure value for money and highly professional procurement with suppliers and venues so that the practical and operational components of Police Now programmes support and enable delivery excellence, and especially the creation of a positive culture and an effective and operationally realistic learning environment.

Programme design, development and iteration 

• Ensure that the driving force behind the design of Police Now’s programmes is the achievement of our mission and programme aims, a focus on delivering an outstanding participant experience, meeting the needs of our partner forces and stakeholders, and ensuring that Police Now is a great place to work. 
• Oversee and quality assure the end-to-end design and development of the NGLP, NDP and FLP so that each programme achieves a standard of excellence as defined by Police Now, programme participants, partner forces and stakeholders, and meets the requirements of the College of Policing.
• Ensure that the NGLP and NDP remain aligned to College of Policing requirements, including the Police Education Qualification Framework for current cohorts. Effectively manage the transition of future NGLP and NDP cohorts to the Police Constable Entry Programme pathway from 2024 onwards.
• Understand and develop the participant journey through each programme and implement purposeful teaching, learning and operational interventions across the length and breadth of each programme to maximise participant performance, development, wellbeing and impact in their communities and teams. This also involves co-designing enabling activities for the programme, carried out by other teams. Forge links between the NGLP and NDP and the FLP to enhance our progression offer over time.
• Oversee the scoping and implementation of future programmes as required by the organisation, including additional promotion opportunities as well as specialisms within our current programmes.
• Collaborate with colleagues, including the Impact & Insights team, to gather, interpret and utilise data from a wide variety of sources, internal and external, to continuously improve our programmes and how they connect with other parts of the organisation and its partners, so that Police Now operates as one cohesive system. 
• Ensure cohesion and strong working relationships are in place with our Recruitment & Marketing team and Force Partnerships team so that the end-to-end participant experience and force experience remains aligned and to an excellent standard.
• Connect training, assessment, performance, development and wellbeing to impact in communities and policing teams in a way that works, and is straightforward for colleagues, programme participants, partner forces and stakeholders to understand and act upon. 

Please note, you may, on occasions, be required to undertake additional or other duties within the context of this job description and according to the needs of the organisation.

Key requirements

Essential

• Experience leading and motivating large teams: You’ll genuinely enjoy working with people, for people. You’ll be a highly authentic leader, able to build relationships quickly and with a deep understanding of the importance of creating and maintaining a positive team culture especially in a complex and fast paced environment. Staff wellbeing and morale will be important to you, and you’ll always role model our values and leadership principles, empowering your team to confidently deliver within their roles. Manging through layers to create results at speed, including effective change management, will be key, alongside effective risk management.
• Strategic thinking and innovation: the ability to think strategically, grasping the bigger picture and acting on it, to reflect honestly on the performance of self and others and to alter own behaviour and feedback accordingly. You’ll be able to critically analyse information and data and problem solve logically and effectively, using decision making processes to implement next steps.
• Programme management: the ability to oversee large and complex programmes of work with project principles, including management of decisions, timelines, interdependencies and risks, coordinating your team and working closely with others across the organisation to ensure that programme deliverables are achieved on time and to the required standard.
• Understanding of Police Now’s mission: Genuine emotional and intellectual connection with, belief in and understanding of, Police Now’s mission, theory of change, leadership principles and strategy of quality, differentiation and sustainability. 
• An understanding of the strategic policing landscape, including how policing nationally comprises a blend of the 43 territorial police forces, several thematic forces, and national institutions, and how this differs from policing locally and regionally.
• Diversity & Inclusion: Experience of leading and positively influencing a diverse and inclusive workplace, with a particularly strong understanding and expertise regarding underrepresented groups within policing and the barriers faced by these groups. 
• Budget oversight with skills gleaned from a complex delivery environment involving large budgets, high-value procurement, scrutiny and the need to make difficult choices so that every pound counts.  Experience of negotiating contractual terms and pricing with customers or suppliers at high-value and involving complex contracts. 
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills, including the ability to convey complex concepts in a simple and compelling manner appropriately to a range of audiences via large scale public speaking engagements, briefing notes and business cases in senior forums.
• Integrity: A firm commitment to organisational justice and the value and ethical imperative of diverse teams and organisations, acting with integrity at the heart of decision making and communication.
• Willingness to  travel: the ability to attend regular nationwide programme events which will likely include overnight stays. You will also spend regular time onsite at our two annual training academies, approximately seven weeks in summer (NGLP) and thirteen weeks in spring (NDP), which are currently based in the midlands. 

Desirable

• Senior leadership: Experience for at least five years or more within a senior leadership role, or two years as a director, in an organisation of similar size (c.120 staff) and operating within a sector of similar complexity, potentially a similar charity or public sector environment.
• An understanding of the policing sector is beneficial, either as a police officer or working within a policing organisation in a leadership capacity, with a strong understanding of the requirements of the frontline policing roles.  Experience of a similar public sector frontline role could also be advantageous. However, ultimately a desire to quickly learn about policing and the sector Police Now operates in to ensure credibility in the role can be sufficient.
• Matrix team leadership: Experience of leading matrix and virtual teams of 250+ on a temporary or event basis, especially if gained in a public order or similar operational policing environment. This is because Police Now’s academies are run as large-scale policing operations utilising similar command structures. 
• Experience in learning and development: Demonstrable experience of leading and developing large learning and education programmes with an overarching curriculum and/or large-scale national delivery programmes with complex logistics.
• IT Skills: Proficiency in use of the Microsoft Office suite of IT applications, project management platforms such as Asana, and CRM software such as Salesforce. 
  
  

What you'll get from us

• A bright, airy and modern office in Zone 1. 
• Competitive salary of £85,000 - £95,000 per annum, dependent on experience 
• Flexible working
• 27 days holiday each year, plus bank holidays 
• Access to a benefit platform, which includes salary sacrifice schemes such as cycle to work and smart tech as well as access to over 750 retailers and discounts.
• Sanctus coaching (private mental health coaching for the workplace)
• Access to the Vitality programme which includes healthcare benefits, an Employee Assistance Programme and discounts
• Training opportunities for personal development. 
• Participation in a pension scheme (with 6% employer contributions and 2% employee contributions)
  
  

Please note

The closing date for this role is 10am on Monday 4th March.

This role is London based (at least two days per week) plus travel within the United Kingdom and extended overnight stays during key programme delivery periods (for example, our residential training academies). 

Applications will be screened as they are received and invited to interview accordingly.  Police Now reserves the right to close the advert prior to the advertised date, early applications are therefore encouraged.  We strongly encourage candidates to look through our Leadership Principles included in the job pack as these underpin our culture and values, and feature heavily in our recruitment process

This job description is issued as a guideline. It is not exhaustive, and we would be pleased to discuss any constructive comments you may have. Due to the evolving nature and changing demands of our business this job description may be subject to change. You may, on occasions, be required to undertake additional or other duties within the context of this job description and according to the needs of the organisation.

Please note that some roles within Police Now require certain levels of National Security Vetting or screening in order to effectively work with our partners. Therefore, we may ask you to complete this if you are successful.