Wirral Council is a place where you can genuinely make a difference, guided by strong organisational values that shape everything we do. Our values—ambitious, professional, resident‑focused and accountable—act as our organisational DNA, influencing how we work, lead and support one another every day. We take pride in delivering great services, acting with integrity, building positive relationships, and always putting residents first, creating a supportive and inclusive culture where everyone can “be the best we can be”. With our beautiful surroundings, ambitious future plans, and a commitment to empowering staff to #BeTheDifference, Wirral Council offers an inspiring environment to grow your career and make a lasting impact.

Highway Inspection Manager

Are you an experienced highways professional ready to lead a high-performing inspection service and make a real impact on Wirral’s highway network? We’re looking for a motivated and skilled Highways Inspection Manager to join our team and play a vital role in maintaining safe, efficient, and high‑quality infrastructure across the borough.

About the Role

As our Highways Inspection Manager, you will take operational responsibility for the management of the Council’s highway inspection service, overseeing strategic highways contracts and leading a dedicated team of Apprentices, Inspectors and Team Leaders.

You’ll ensure that inspection programmes are delivered on time, to budget, and in line with statutory requirements—including Section 41/58 Highways Act duties—and you will act as the Council’s lead officer for third‑party highway claims, representing Wirral Council in court where required.

This role also carries special responsibility for managing the Council’s Highways Winter Service, including decision‑making on forecast data, directing operational responses, and acting as Senior Duty Officer on a rotational basis.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Leading and developing a proactive, high-performing inspection team.
• Managing the delivery of highway safety, serviceability and compliance inspections.
• Ensuring all contractor activity is monitored, meets standards, and delivers value for money.
• Coordinating responses to customer enquiries and supporting neighbourhood‑based working.
• Overseeing training, competence and development of inspection staff.
• Providing robust evidence to support the Council’s Section 58 defence against claims.
• Working closely with internal and external partners, including utility companies, tree management teams, and contractors.
• Managing operational data to support asset planning and strategic decisions.
• Leading the Winter Service operations, including directing treatments and managing budgets.
• Ensuring strict compliance with health and safety, GDPR, corporate governance and all relevant legislation.

About You

We’re looking for someone who brings strong leadership, technical expertise, and confidence in decision‑making. You will thrive in a fast-paced environment, often dealing with competing priorities and high levels of responsibility.

You will have:

• HNC/HND in Highway or Civil Engineering (or equivalent).
• ILM Level 3 or similar leadership qualification.
• Street Works and Health & Safety qualifications.
• Strong understanding of highway legislation, inspections, materials and maintenance practices.
• Experience overseeing highway inspection teams and working with term maintenance contractors.
• Knowledge of Winter Service operations and interpreting complex weather data.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to influence, collaborate and negotiate.

Desirable qualifications include degree-level technical study, professional membership (CIHT/ICE), and IT-related credentials.

Interviews to be held on Thursday 14^th May 2026.

If you wish to discuss this role or require further information, please contact Linda Summers on email  lindasummers@wirral.gov.uk

Please be advised it is our understanding that this role does not meet the requirements of a skilled worker visa as set out by UK Visa and Immigration  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-eligible-occupations/skilled-worker-visa-eligible-occupations-and-codes . For details regarding the salary of a skilled worker visa please visit Home Office:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-immigration-salary-list/skilled-worker-visa-immigration-salary-list

If you are a Wirral resident, are unemployed or out of work, and require help with your application, please contact Involve Northwest’s employment and skills team on info@involvenorthwest.org.uk or contact 0151 644 4500 or 0151 652 4349.

If you’re already a Wirral Council employee, as part of our Talent Strategy, we’re committed to strengthening opportunities for our people to learn, grow, progress and thrive. For many of you, this may be preparing and applying for your next role with us, and we're passionate about ensuring you feel supported throughout your internal recruitment experience. Please get in touch if you want to know more about some of the ways in which we could support you by emailing recruitment@wirral.gov.uk

Working at Wirral

You’ll also want to know what it’s like to work here so, as a start:

Our values are more than just pieces of paper on our walls! We’ve all played a role in developing these, so they reflect the immense pride we have in what we do, what matters to us, what inspires us and inform how we think, approach things and behave.

We believe in ensuring staff are well looked after, staff wellbeing is a priority for us. We’re serious about recognising and rewarding people for the great things they do. You’ll benefit from our track record of developing, growing and investing in our people.

We have a range of staff benefits including staff discounts, an excellent pension scheme which includes a generous employer contribution rate, immediate life cover and ill-health protection. We have a strong flexible working approach, hybrid working, family-friendly employment initiatives and an annual leave package starting with 28 days leave plus public holidays.

We have an inclusive, engaged culture, everyone has a voice, everyone is valued for their contribution and understands the role they play in delivering our strategic priorities.

Each voice is heard, each contribution valued. We embrace diversity in our workforce and recognise it is critical to our success. We support an inclusive culture that champions differences and nurtures a sense of belonging. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds, who share our values and our commitment to inclusion to apply for roles with us.

We want you to be your best at work, we create the conditions to help you thrive and we mirror this in our recruitment process. If you’d like us to do anything differently during the recruitment process to make it barrier-free and as accessible as possible please contact recruitment@wirral.gov.uk

^{Please note that in accordance with the Council’s policy, employees who are in a formal redeployment situation will be considered in the first instance for all vacancies.}

^{It is Council policy not to re-appoint any employee who has left under the terms of the Council's Early Voluntary Retirement (EVR) scheme or who have left with a voluntary severance (VS) package, unless in exceptional circumstances.}

^{Applications will be accepted until midnight on the closing date.}

^{We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications.}

^{Applications can only be accepted through the Jobs page following registration.  Forms received via the post will not be processed.}

^{All applicants invited to interview must evidence their right to work in the UK.  Details of required documents can be found by clicking the link at the bottom of the Jobs page.}

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^{We do not accept applications or CV’s from recruitment agencies, unless otherwise stated. Therefore, any candidates submitted via a recruitment agency will not be considered for this role.}