Career opportunities Principal Highways Officer

Team: Highways – Sustainable Transport  

Job Family: CBG12 - Enabling 
Salary: £45,326 - 50,436 per annum pro rata
Hours: 37 hours per week

Base Location: You will be expected to attend a CBC office location as often as needed to carry out your role, which will be no less than once per month.

Contract Type: Hybrid - Fixed Term -  until 30th June 2028

Closing Date: 17th July 2026
Interview Date: w/c 3rd August 2026

 About the role

An exciting opportunity to join Public Transport and Highways colleagues in delivering Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) schemes over the next few years. The role is to deliver a wide range of capital and revenue initiatives to revitalise the public transport network as part of the Bus Service Improvement Plan.

As the BSIP lead, you will be responsible for the end-to-end coordination of this extensive programme of works, including targeted highway improvements to reduce journey times, and a variety of schemes designed to promote and increase bus usage across Central Bedfordshire. 

This role sits within the Council's Highways team and will be working closely with Public Transport and Transport Strategy teams and will be central to ensuring delivery is effective, accountable, and aligned with both local needs and national objectives. 

The successful candidate will;

• Develop, manage and deliver BSIP programme as part of a wider transport programme


• Develop methodology to appraise and prioritise BSIP schemes


• Manage internal and external engagement and consultations  


• Lead on development and implementation of BSIP schemes


• Contribute towards development of a wider Public Transport strategy/vision.

The role will involve;

• Multiple complex casework, processes or projects that are underpinned by policy and law are effectively developed, organised and delivered


• Supporting customers through the interpretation and guidance of complicated information


• Coordinating and delivering processes, policies and plans with a high level of influencing, advising and negotiating on the achievement of their outcome


• Identifying evidence-based recommendations and day to day decisions (including risks) and communicated to customers.


• Utilising a range of fact finding and evaluation techniques to support outcomes.


• Achieving objectives by reviewing and adhering to preventative or resilience measures, which may involve partnership working.  


• Preparing high level documentation and information for a variety of customers and identifying & implementing recommendations by monitoring and reviewing contract/ customer outcomes.

Essential experience and qualifications :

We are seeking a proactive professional with a strong background in public sector project delivery-ideally in transport, infrastructure, or place-based services.

You will bring:

• Highway projects development and delivery including technical experience


• Experience in managing or coordinating transport programmes


• A solid understanding of local transport policy, funding, or service improvement


• Previous Local Authority experience within a similar role (desired)


• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement abilities


• Experience project managing several schemes and projects with ability to apply critical thinking to prioritise workloads


• Stakeholder engagement experience

Our Offer

We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page

Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer.  We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.

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You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies in this Recruitment Pack.

Our Competency Framework and Qualification Guidance are to be read in conjunction with our Recruitment Pack.

For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Victoria Jersova at [email protected] or call 0300 300 4902

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To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.

Our National Careers Service team offer a free monthly workshop covering CV writing and how to complete the statement sections of the Central Bedfordshire Council online application form. This MS Teams workshop is open to anyone from the UK and lasts around 1.5 hours.   Please book your place here.

More information about this service can be found here: Support getting into work or learning | Central Bedfordshire Council