Culture and Reading Manager

Overview

We’re pleased to offer an exciting opportunity for a Culture and Reading Manager to lead and shape our culture and reading offer across Buckinghamshire Libraries. This role is central to how we inspire a love of reading, develop creative programmes, and position our libraries as vibrant cultural spaces for our communities.

About us

Buckinghamshire Libraries is a dynamic service at the heart of our communities, supporting reading, creativity and connection across the county.

This role sits within the Culture and Outreach Services team, which includes culture and
reading, prison libraries, the delivery service and health and wellbeing. Together, the team ensures our services are inclusive, far-reaching and responsive to local need, working closely with our operational library teams and digital services team.

You’ll be joining a supportive, creative and proactive team with a practical, can-do
approach—working collaboratively to develop ideas and deliver activity that makes a real difference.

About the role

This is a key role leading the development and delivery of culture and reading across
Buckinghamshire Libraries. You’ll shape a joined-up, high-quality offer that inspires reading, supports creativity and positions libraries as vibrant cultural spaces.

You’ll take the lead on building partnerships, securing funding and developing programmes, from author events and performances to reading initiatives and community activity. Working closely with colleagues across the service, you’ll ensure culture and reading are embedded in day-to-day delivery across our libraries.

The role combines strategic thinking with hands-on delivery—developing new ideas,
supporting teams to bring them to life, and using insight and evaluation to strengthen and grow the offer.

This is a great opportunity to influence the future direction of the service, working with a wide range of partners and colleagues to deliver meaningful, visible impact across our communities.

Mobile:

A ‘mobile’ role gives you the flexibility to schedule your own diary, so you can meet with colleagues and clients in a variety of locations. You’ll access digital folders and resources on your laptop and be able to use the network wherever you are based. Working from home will be common, as well as meeting your team in the office where necessary.

About you

We’re looking for someone who is passionate about culture, creativity and reading, and the role libraries play in bringing communities together.

You’ll be confident building relationships and working collaboratively, with experience of
developing partnerships and delivering projects or programmes. You’ll bring creativity,
initiative and a practical approach to turning ideas into delivery.

You’ll also be comfortable using insight and feedback to shape and improve what you do, and able to manage a varied workload while supporting others to deliver high-quality activity.

Other information

Please see the attached job summary for further information on this role and the person specification.

This role offers a hybrid working arrangement, with a mix of office, library locations and home working, depending on service need.

Number of positions available: 1
Interview date: Tuesday 14th July 2026
Interview-type: In person

If you would like to have an informal conversation with the recruiting manager, please
contact: [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.

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/