Police Now seeks an exceptional individual to lead the delivery and future design iteration of our police officer training programmes.  The role comprises five main parts:

Deliver the National Graduate Leadership Programme (NGLP) and the National Detective Programme (NDP) 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). 

Innovate, developing and iterating the design of the NGLP and NDP, 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, especially with those in our Recruitment and Marketing and Policing and Home Affairs directorates, 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. 

Communicate, internally and externally, and with power and passion, Police Now’s mission, theory of change and vision for policing and the policing workforce, so that colleagues, participants, partners and stakeholders understand what we do, how we do it, and why. 

Role model, as a member of the five-person executive team, you will have a share of the collective responsibility for the strategy and direction of the entire organisation, ensuring that it is a role model of leadership, integrity, wellbeing, efficiency and effectiveness, in policing and beyond.  Key responsibilities

 

Programme delivery 

Ensure that every Police Now academy is considered outstanding, measured against our mission, theory of change and priorities, and the perception of programme participants, partner forces and stakeholders. 

Achieve the primary aims of each Police Now academy, 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 that is organisationally just inside the police station and procedurally just out on the street, and that act as a foundation for leadership with and without rank. 

Oversee the planning and delivery of all other programme events beyond the academies, including large-scale events at which all participants come together to demonstrate the impact that they have made in their communities and teams, to network and share best practice.

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, and the Police Superintendent’s Association) to support excellent programme design and delivery, and to swiftly resolve any problems that arise. 

Ensure that all Police Now programmes are validated by our university partner, LJMU, and quality assured by the College of Policing, in line with the core requirements of the Degree Holder Entry Programme (DHEP) route of the Policing Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF). 

Deliver high quality participant support, development and coaching. Our performance and development coaches provide tailored practical support and impactful coaching so that participants are continuously learning, developing, and becoming self-sufficient high-performing officers. 

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. 

Utilise the right balance of physical and digital delivery methods and use the right channels and systems. We place great value on inspiring and impactful in-person interactions, supported by excellent learning technology.  

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, and the burning desire to deliver an outstanding participant experience, meet the needs of our partner forces and stakeholders, and ensure that Police Now is a great place to work for colleagues. 

Oversee and quality assure the end-to-end design and development of the NGLP and NDP 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 PEQF and our university partner, LJMU. 

Grip and understand 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.

Collaborate with colleagues, including the Impact and 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. 

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. 

Role modelling and executive leadership

Provide inspirational leadership, both within the Programmes Directorate and across the organisation and its partners and stakeholders more broadly, through clear and confident communication of Police Now’s theory of change, mission and priorities, and those of UK policing more broadly. 

Perform the role of gold commander for each Police Now academy, across both the NGLP and NDP. In doing so, you’ll effectively lead, motivate and coach team members to deliver excellent – indeed, the very best – outcomes for participants, forces and stakeholders.

Contribute as a member of the 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.

​​​​​​What you’ll need 

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. You should be prepared to explain this in some detail if invited to interview. 

Extensive and direct policing experience, either as a police officer or working within a policing organisation in a managerial or senior capacity as police staff, with a deep understanding of frontline policing delivery. This will include an understanding of how operational activity on the street (for example, tactical policing activity, prioritisation of some crime types for action over others, resource allocation, public confidence and satisfaction) links to and is driven by strategic imperatives facing police forces (for example, political direction, budget and resource availability, talent and skill availability). 

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.

Demonstrable experience of authentically and successfully leading teams – and almost certainly large, multi-disciplinary teams – ideally for a mission-driven purpose and involving delivery through multiple organisational layers, to create outstanding results, at speed, involving complexity, and against adversity. It may be an advantage to be able to demonstrate this experience in a policing workforce and/or learning and development context. 

Intellectual ability, including 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 feed back accordingly, and to critically analyse and problem solve logically and effectively. 

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, business cases, long-form prose and letters.

Willingness to spend considerable time travelling and away from home if required by programme delivery excellence. For example, the role holder is expected to have a significant (albeit not continuous) presence at Police Now’s training academies, which run for approximately seven weeks in summer (NGLP) and fourteen weeks in spring (NDP), and are currently based in the midlands. 

Existing possession of, or willingness to undergo, an appropriate level of National Security Vetting (likely to be commensurate with police recruit vetting plus counter-terrorism check). 

An excellent academic background. You will, for example, almost certainly possess a bachelor’s degree. 

A firm commitment to organisational justice and the value and ethical imperative of diverse teams and organisations. 

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 and operating within a sector of similar complexity.

Experience in leading large multi-disciplinary teams of 30+ on a day-to-day basis, including effective recruitment, resourcing and management. 

Experience of leading very large 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. 

Demonstrable experience of leading and developing large learning and education programmes and/or large-scale national delivery programmes with complex logistics.

Experience in managing large budgets and negotiating contractual terms and pricing with customers or suppliers. 

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 for these groups. 

Experience of working with or within a police workforce and/or learning and development function. 

Strong numerical problem solving skills. 

Proficiency in use of the Microsoft Office suite of IT applications. 

What you'll get from us

A bright, airy and modern office in Zone 1. 

A supported working from home set-up with the technology and certain equipment required.

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 3% employee contributions)

Please note

This role will be based in London 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).

 

We are looking for someone to start this role before January 2023.