About the role
West Northamptonshire Council is proud to launch a new, purpose-built County Mortuary, opening early 2026. Designed to deliver the highest standards of care and compassion during some of life's most difficult moments, the facility will serve communities across Northamptonshire and surrounding areas. This modern facility offers dignified spaces for families, including private viewing and identification areas, ensuring a respectful and supportive experience for those dealing with the loss of a loved one.
Bringing key services under one roof, the facility simplifies processes, reduces delays, and improves efficiency for families, funeral directors, healthcare professionals, and other essential services. It also features advanced post-mortem capabilities, including a CT scanner for remote examination, setting a new standard in service delivery.
What will you be doing?
In this pivotal role, you will oversee both the Coroners Service and the County Mortuary, ensuring they operate to the highest professional and regulatory standards. You'll lead a multidisciplinary team, manage complex service operations, and act as the Designated Individual under the Human Tissue Authority.
You'll be responsible for ensuring compassionate care for bereaved families, while also driving service improvements, regulatory compliance, and emergency preparedness. Working closely with partners such as the NHS, Police, and Funeral Directors, you'll help shape a service that is both efficient and empathetic.
About you
You will be a confident and compassionate leader with:
* Extensive experience managing mortuary or coronial services.
* Strong knowledge of relevant legislation, including the Human Tissue Act and Coroners and Justice Act.
* Proven ability to lead teams, manage budgets, and deliver service transformation.
* Excellent communication skills, especially in sensitive and emotionally charged situations.
* A degree-level qualification in a relevant field and a full UK driving licence.
You thrive in a culture built on Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovation, Value, and Empowerment, and are ready to lead a service that truly makes a difference.
Our benefits
You can also see our full list of employee benefits on our careers site here: Why you should work for us | West Northamptonshire Council .
About us
At West Northants Council, it's about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.
Our vision is 'to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive'. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services.
Hear more from our Chief Executive, Anna Earnshaw, about what its like to work at West Northants Council.
We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner
The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us .
If you need additional support or reasonable adjustments during the application process, including needing the job description in another format or language, please email for support.
West Northants Council, where careers thrive.
Attached documents
* Coroners and The County Mortuary Service Manager JD and