Summary

We are the public body that looks after England’s historic environment. We champion historic places, helping people understand, value and care for them.

Historic England have a fantastic opportunity for you to join us as our Head of Planning within our Heritage Protection team.

This is a Full Time, Permanent post based nationally at one of our offices, with hybrid working.

The location of this role is National where we offer hybrid working, you will be based in one of our following offices and from home - Newcastle, York, Manchester, Birmingham, Swindon, Bristol, Portsmouth (Fort Cumberland) and Cambridge. 

Salary:

National - £54,876 per annum

Cambridge - £56,566 per annum

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive pension scheme starting at 28.97% employer contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

To view our full range of benefits please follow the link here.

What you will be doing

This is a specialist national planning post focused on leading Historic England’s advice to government on planning policy and legislation.  You will work closely with colleagues in the Policy and Evidence and Regions Groups.  

You will act as a powerful and public advocate for the importance of heritage in the planning system and the central place of planning in protecting heritage, as well as providing leadership within the sector and beyond.  You will take lead responsibility in Historic England for anticipating and influencing the fast moving national planning agenda, ensuring that heritage is both properly protected through England’s planning system and contributes positively to delivery of government missions.   

 A key part of this will be by working very closely with MHCLG officials, but you will also need to engage with other government departments on cross-cutting planning issues.  You will also collaborate with heritage sector partners, such as the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Local Government Association and the Institute of Historic Building Conservation, to help them maximise their opportunities for constructive involvement in the process. 

Who we are looking for

• A high-standard academic and/or professional qualification in planning, with heritage related or environmental knowledge 

• A thorough understanding of the national planning system

• Demonstrable negotiating and problem-solving skills

• Clear understanding of and commitment to the strategic purpose and direction of Historic England

• Demonstrable experience of successfully managing and motivating a team 

Please note your application will be scored and assessed against the above criteria.

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having just won the Gold Award from MIND, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Historic England want all of our candidates to shine in the recruitment process. Please tell us what we can do to make sure you can show us your very best self. You can contact us by email at recruitmentTeam@Historicengland.org.uk if you have any recruitment queries. 

At Historic England we use a hiring system called Applied. Applied is a behavioural science-backed recruitment platform that reduces bias, improves quality of hire and increases diversity. We do not use CV application for the majority of our hiring processes. You will answer a selection of questions that allow our hiring teams to test your skills and suitability for the role.

To ensure a fair and inclusive recruitment process for everyone the use of AI or automated tools is not permitted.

Provisional interview dates: 01st and 02nd September 2025

Please follow the link for a full copy of the Job Description –

https://cms.historicengland.org.uk/media/t45owpbg/zw-head-of-planning-jd-jul-2025.odt