Local Growth and Visitor Economy Manager

Salary

£57,755 - £63,123

Contractual hours

37

Basis

Flexi Hours

Date posted

01/06/2026

Job reference

REQ0001026

• Would you like to lead a high performing local growth and visitor economy team to benefit communities and businesses across Brighton and Hove?
• Do you thrive on delivering a varied portfolio of projects and priorities in a dynamic and challenging environment?
• Are you committed to driving meaningful change through collaboration and partnership? If so, we would like to hear from you.

Brighton & Hove is a city of creativity, innovation and ambition, with a diverse economy and a visitor offer that is nationally recognised. We are looking for a Local Growth and Visitor Economy Manager to help shape a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient local economy that works for all our communities
This is a high-profile role in the Cabinet Office, leading work that connects economic growth, partnership working, place leadership and the visitor economy. You will work across the council and with partners across the city and wider region to turn strategy into delivery, helping ensure that growth creates benefits for residents, businesses and communities alike
We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and particularly encourage applications from candidates who are underrepresented in local government leadership. We are committed to creating an inclusive working environment where different perspectives are valued and where everyone can thrive
For more information about this opportunity, please contact: [email protected]
Interviews to be held: w/c 20 July 2026
This role is about leading the council’s work to support inclusive local growth and a strong, sustainable visitor economy. You will help deliver the city’s economic priorities, coordinate key partnerships, and develop programmes that attract investment, support businesses, strengthen the city’s destination offer and create opportunities for residents across Brighton & Hove
Your day-to-day work will involve leading major pieces of cross-council and partnership work, bringing together colleagues, senior leaders, elected members, businesses and external organisations around shared priorities. You will manage programmes and projects linked to local growth and the visitor economy, ensuring that work is well governed, evidence-led and focused on outcomes
You will play a central role in supporting delivery of the Brighton & Hove Economic Plan 2024 to 2027, including work to build a stronger, more inclusive labour market, celebrate the city, welcome investment and strengthen the city’s wider economic identity. You will also help lead the council’s contribution to the visitor economy agenda, working with Visit Brighton, partners across the city and the wider Sussex Local Visitor Economy Partnership to support sustainable growth, improve the city’s offer and ensure that tourism benefits residents and businesses as well as visitors
The role includes representing the council in senior partnership settings, including work linked to the Brighton and Hove Economic Growth Board. You will need to be comfortable operating in a politically sensitive environment, providing clear advice, managing competing priorities, and building consensus across organisations with different interests. A core part of the role is making sure economic and visitor economy strategies are inclusive in practice informed by evidence, shaped by local insight, and focused on fair outcomes for different communities
As Local Growth and Visitor Economy Manager you will need

• strong experience of leading complex programmes, partnerships or policy work in local government, economic development, regeneration, destination management or a similarly complex public sector setting. You will move confidently between strategy and delivery: understanding the big picture while also making sure that plans translate into practical action.
• effective communication skills, as you will need to explain complex issues clearly, prepare briefings, and represent the council in meetings and public-facing settings.
• strong analytical and organisational skills. You will be confident using evidence, policy insight and performance information to shape decisions, identify opportunities and monitor impact.
• experience of programme or project management is important, alongside the ability to establish effective governance and keep work moving in a fast-paced environment.
• strong partnership and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build trust, influence senior audiences and work productively with elected members, officers, businesses and external partners.
• an understanding of the importance of inclusive growth and can demonstrate a genuine commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in the way they lead, collaborate and deliver outcomes. That may include experience of working with diverse communities, using insight about inequality and disadvantage to shape services, or ensuring that economic and visitor economy initiatives create opportunities for a broad range of residents and businesses.
• knowledge of local government and the wider policy environment will be important, as will an understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing Brighton & Hove as a place.
• experience of economic partnerships, inward investment, place leadership, visitor economy development or devolution-related work would be especially valuable.

This is a unique opportunity to take on a visible and influential role at the heart of a city that is ambitious about its future. You will have the chance to shape work that matters supporting jobs, business growth, investment, culture, tourism and inclusive economic outcomes in one of the UK’s most distinctive urban economies. You will work on strategic priorities that span Brighton & Hove and the wider Sussex geography, including emerging partnership and growth opportunities linked to the visitor economy and devolution
You will be given significant professional development through exposure to senior leadership, partnership boards, major programmes and complex policy challenges. Brighton & Hove City Council provides a wide range of learning and development support, including face-to-face, online and on-demand training, specialist development, management development and apprenticeship opportunities to help staff deepen expertise and progress their careers. Brighton & Hove City Council highlights training in equality and diversity, communication, management and specialist skills, alongside opportunities to gain relevant qualifications while in post
As an employer, Brighton & Hove City Council offers a range of benefits including a generous pension scheme, staff discounts, travel and cycle schemes, and support for wellbeing and financial security. We are committed to being a fair and inclusive employer, creating an environment where colleagues feel supported, respected and able to develop. For the right candidate, this role offers both immediate impact and longer-term career development, with opportunities to contribute to major corporate priorities, lead high-value partnership work and build a strong profile across the council and beyond
Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled or male
Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:

• Be connected
• Be confident
• Be innovative and creative
• Be diverse and inclusive
• Be healthy and psychologically safe

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including generous leave entitlement, excellent pension as well as details of our training and development.

How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview
As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application
We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert
All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only
Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check
We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense