What is the job role?
This is a fantastic opportunity for a visionary leader in Environmental Health. We’re offering a career-defining chance to shape and lead Coventry’s Food and Safety service, driving high performance and excellence in everything we do. As Food and Safety Manager, you will be at the forefront of delivering a high-quality, customer-focused service that ensures Coventry’s compliance with food hygiene, health and safety, and public health regulations. You will set the strategic direction for the Food and Safety team, aligning our work with the City Council’s vision for a growing and sustainable city. In this role, you act as the Council’s principal technical expert on food safety, occupational health and safety, and safety at sports grounds and events. Your remit also includes leading our response to public safety incidents (food safety incidents, infectious disease outbreaks, etc.) and acting decisively to protect the community when urgent issues arise.
A key aspect of this role is providing leadership beyond the office: you will chair the Council’s Event Safety Advisory Group and the Safety at Sports Grounds Advisory Group, coordinating multi-agency partners to ensure a coordinated approach to crowd and spectator safety and wellbeing at events. From city centre festivals to major sports fixtures, you’ll bring agencies and event organisers together to make sure every event in Coventry is safe, successful, and enjoyable for all.
In this strategic role, you will provide expert advice to senior colleagues and elected members. You’ll develop and review policies, ensure we meet our statutory obligations, and represent Coventry in regional and national forums on emerging public safety issues. Your leadership will inspire a team of professional Environmental Health Officers and Technical Officers, and you will foster a culture of excellence, continuous improvement, and a passion for public service. This includes managing resources and budgets, and promoting innovation to keep our services efficient and future-ready.
All candidates must have the Right to Work in the UK. We are currently not offering sponsorship for this role.
This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, and as such, appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
Who are we looking for?
We are seeking an inspirational, experienced Environmental Health professional with a strong background in food safety and health & safety regulation. The ideal candidate will have substantial experience in a local authority or similar setting enforcing food hygiene and health & safety law, including handling complex or sensitive cases and making robust, defensible decisions. Strong leadership and management skills are a must; you should be able to motivate and guide a team, manage performance, and drive service improvements. Experience in chairing or working closely with multi-agency groups (such as Safety Advisory Groups) would be a distinct advantage, as would experience of successful partnership working with businesses, community groups, and other stakeholders.
You will be a confident advisor and communicator, capable of presenting to committees and working with elected officials with tact and professionalism. We’re looking for someone who can influence and challenge respectfully to ensure the right outcomes, an individual who “can effectively engage others, with a proven track record in forging successful partnerships and developing innovative approaches”.
You should be up to date with current and upcoming legislation in food safety and public safety, and have the vision to innovate in service delivery as regulations and best practices evolve.
Essential qualifications include a Degree or Diploma in Environmental Health and a certificate of registration with the Environmental Health Officers Registration Board (EHORB). You should also have a management qualification or equivalent leadership experience. A commitment to ongoing professional development is expected, and you must be willing to work flexibly (the role may occasionally require work outside normal office hours).
Within our team, people from minority ethnic backgrounds are currently under-represented across our middle-management team; as a result, we would like to encourage people from minority ethnic backgrounds to apply for this post. This does not prevent any other applicants with a protected characteristic or a non-protected characteristic from applying.
For an informal conversation about this challenging and rewarding role, please contact Davina Blackburn, Strategic Lead – Regulation and Communities:
If you need help or support to complete your application, please visit our accessibility page to see how we can assist you.
Guaranteed Interview Scheme - As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role and identify with one of the below criteria:
1. Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
2. Are currently in care or have previously been in care
3. If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition
For full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'. If there is any evidence of a candidate using AI to complete their application, then the application will be rejected unless the candidate can provide a justification which the Council considers to be reasonable.
Interview date: 24th March
The interview process will consist of two stages: an initial panel interview, followed by a work‑based assessment for successful applicants.
About Coventry
Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.
We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.
At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.
To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.