Improvement Officer

Overview

Are you passionate about driving positive change and improving services for communities? We’re looking for an Improvement Officer to join our Waste Team within the Communities Directorate. This is an exciting opportunity to make a real impact by enhancing customer experience, streamlining processes, and improving contract performance. Based at Pembroke Road Depot, you’ll play a key role in shaping the future of waste services across Buckinghamshire.

About us

The contract serves 235,000 properties across Buckinghamshire for waste collection and street cleansing services. The successful candidate will develop internal improvement and optimisation activities to ultimately support efficiencies within the Waste Team. The Waste Improvement Officer will review internal processes, use of data and IT to identify quick wins and strategic improvements. The wider waste team comprises Data, Communications and Business Administration sub-teams.

The environment is fast paced and commercially astute to ensure all areas of the contract are applied.

About the role

As an Improvement Officer, you’ll lead on identifying, planning, and delivering operational and policy improvements that make a tangible difference. Your work will focus on:

• Enhancing customer experience and complaints handling processes.
• Driving efficiencies across systems, data management, and operational practices.
• Improving contract performance, reducing missed bins, and lowering complaints.
• Managing improvement projects from concept to delivery, ensuring they meet stakeholder needs and deliver measurable outcomes.
• Collaborating with internal teams and external stakeholders to achieve service excellence.

You’ll also monitor progress, track savings, and report on outcomes, ensuring improvements are sustainable and aligned with organisational goals.

Fixed
As a ‘fixed’ worker, you’ll spend most of your time in the same location, which will likely be a fixed office or location where your role is performed. Typically, you’ll be based in the same location as the rest of your team, because you provide a particular service from that fixed location or need access to information there.

About you

We’re looking for someone who is:

• Experienced in project management and process improvement, with a proven track record of delivering efficiencies and service enhancements.
• Analytical and strategic, able to review systems and identify innovative solutions.
• Collaborative and influential, with excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Resilient and proactive, capable of working under your own initiative and managing multiple priorities.
• Knowledgeable about the waste industry and passionate about making services better for residents.

If you’re ambitious, solution-focused, and ready to make a difference, we’d love to hear from you.

Please refer to the job summary attached for further details about the role.

Other information

To find out more information about this position, please contact: John Mooteealoo [email protected]

This post is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent cautions and/or unspent convictions

For further information on how long it takes for cautions and convictions cautions to become spent, please refer to our guide on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (updated 2023) | Nacro

We understand that candidates may use AI tools to assist with their applications. While we welcome innovation, we expect all submissions to reflect your own experience, skills, and achievements accurately. Please ensure your application is truthful and demonstrates your personal capabilities, as this will be assessed during the selection process.

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Our Communities directorate works across the county to deliver a number of the key customer-facing services that our residents, businesses and visitors rely on every day. 

This directorate includes a wide range of services, including:

• collecting and disposing of waste and recycling
• maintaining our roads and Rights of Way network and parking
• ensuring the delivery of school transport, and supporting sustainable travel including public bus services and School Crossing Patrollers
• managing Country Parks
• leisure facilities, museums, theatres and libraries, as well as developing our Cultural Strategy
• Licensing, Environmental Health and Trading Standards
• Cemeteries and Crematoria

The customer is central to how we develop and deliver all of these services, which help promote our rich and vibrant culture and special environment. 

We are looking for enthusiastic, ambitious and committed individuals to join our team and help us to continue to make Buckinghamshire a great place to live, work and visit. This is an exciting time for us as we bring together the services previously run by five separate councils before Buckinghamshire Council was created. Whilst making major changes to contracts affecting residents across Bucks, we continue to focus on delivering great customer service. You will join us on our journey of continuous improvement - whether that’s through developing strategies and ways of working or delivering services on the ground, every person in Communities is a valued member of the team.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.

https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/