Project Officer
Safer Sustainable School Journeys
Sheffield is a growing and ambitious city. We are not like everywhere else; we do things differently and we are fiercely proud of that. The city we call home is beautiful, vibrant, and independent. At the same time, the city we work in is an industrial city, a producer, a maker. Sheffield has seen significant renewal over recent years, constantly reinventing itself and changing almost beyond recognition in the past three decades.
The City Transport team is looking to recruit a Project Officer to lead the next phase of Safer Sustainable School Journeys (SSSJ). The project has completed its main insight-gathering work in Darnall and is now moving from research and engagement into coordinated delivery, testing and evaluation.
Working with three partner schools in Darnall, the successful candidate will help finalise, mobilise and evaluate school-specific packages that bring together road safety, active travel, education, behavioural science, community participation and opportunities for infrastructure improvement.
A central part of the role will be to turn the learning from Darnall into a clear, repeatable process for future work elsewhere. This will include using data and local insight to identify priority areas and schools; understanding barriers and enablers to safer travel; involving children, families and communities in co-design; developing proportionate interventions; and building evaluation into delivery from the outset.
The postholder will work across the Council and with schools, communities, voluntary, community and faith organisations, academic partners, delivery teams and regional partners. They will coordinate activity, clarify ownership, develop sustainable delivery arrangements and ensure that insight informs road safety, Modeshift STARS, walking, wheeling and cycling programmes, infrastructure planning and future funding decisions.
This work will create a phased programme that extends learning from Darnall to other evidence-led priority areas. Aligned with Sheffield City Council and South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority strategies, it will support a longer-term cycle of engagement, insight gathering, intervention planning, youth co-design, delivery and evaluation. This will enable us to design appropriate practical measures that motivate and enable people, which align where possible with the Sheffield's Walking Wheeling and Cycling Investment plan and wider physical infrastructure work to improve safety and give people choices about how they make local journeys.
We are looking for someone who can translate evidence into practical delivery, communicate clearly with different audiences and build effective, trusting relationships. You will be confident working within a complex and political organisation, managing multiple partners and priorities, resolving challenging project issues and maintaining momentum from design through to delivery and evaluation. Experience of project or programme delivery and knowledge of road safety, transport planning, active travel, behavioural insight, community engagement or evaluation would be particularly valuable.
If the above appeals to you and you meet the qualification requirements, then we want to hear from you!
If you have any questions or want to discuss this opportunity, please contact Tracy Hendry, Road Safety Manager at tracy.hendry2@sheffield.gov.uk
We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.
It is a great time to join us and we welcome your application.
Under the Guaranteed Interview scheme, applicants who are disabled, care leavers, or armed forces veterans will be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria and indicate their eligibility on the application form. Sometimes, if lots of people apply, we might not be able to interview everyone who qualifies for the Guarantee. In these cases, we’ll interview the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job.
Full-time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share.
If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade.
Equality of pay is extremely important to us. All roles at Sheffield City Council are going through an evaluation process which may result in changes to some pay arrangements from 2026. Read about the new job evaluation process to be introduced at Sheffield City Council.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all individuals, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for everyone and where appropriate to the role the successful applicant will be required to undertake relevant safeguarding checks.
