Group Director, Social Affairs and Safety

As a Group Director, you’ll work in an environment where entrepreneurship, community spirit, and a down-to-earth approach are deeply ingrained. You’ll navigate seamlessly between administrative goals and operational implementation, with the aim of creating a safe, inclusive, and resilient society. In Zaanstad, we are building a vibrant city—with character—where engaged residents and entrepreneurs actively contribute ideas about the future. We are guided by our core values:courage, freedom, appreciation, andtrust.

What will you be doing?

Together with your fellow group director and the municipal secretary, you form the Zaanstad Group Executive Board. The group controller serves as an advisory member of this team. You are jointly responsible for the functioning of the organization as a whole and set the strategic direction, culture, and collaboration within the civil service.

You do this by, among other things:

• Together with fellow executive board members, lead the organization, set the direction for policy and implementation, and guide the organization’s ongoing development.
• Further shaping the shift toward task-based, area-based, and assignment-based work.
• Providing hierarchical leadership to task, area, and cluster managers.
• Serving as a liaison between the executive board, the council, and the administrative staff, ensuring clear coordination and collaboration.
• Working together to ensure effectiveness and collaboration within the organization.
• Breaking through deadlocks and providing guidance on dilemmas between program, regional, and cluster managers.
• Building and maintaining a meaningful network at the local, regional, and national levels.
• Working closely with internal and external partners, including the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (MRA), Zaanstreek-Waterland, and the national government.

Your area of focus is theSocial Domain & Safety, with responsibilities in areas such as equal opportunity, health, safety, youth, healthcare, and inclusion. In this role, you will play both a strategic and a substantive role.

In addition to this coordinating and steering role, you will also have substantive responsibility for themes such as youth, healthcare, safety, and social services. Only through this substantive involvement can you fulfill the civil service’s commissioning role across multiple tasks, inspire members of the Municipal Management Team (GMT), and provide administrators with the support they need.

It's you

Just be yourself. You also recognize yourself in the following competencies: 

• Vision – Youanalyze social and security trends, such as developments in the areas of health, subversion, or equal opportunity. Based on your analysis, you develop a strategic vision for Zaanstad. You know how to communicate your vision within the organization. 
• Leadership skills –You know how to adapt your leadership style to the colleagues you are working with. You focus on results and take action when necessary. As a Group Director, you directly supervise the task, area, and cluster managers and steer the organization toward social and safety goals. 
• Empowering others –You delegate complex tasks, such as addressing youth crime or improving neighborhood safety. In doing so, you give others the freedom and trust to act independently. You work to foster an environment where both expertise and learning are central.
• Connecting –You link strategic objectives to area-based work. You bring internal and external stakeholders together and build lasting partnerships. This includes collaboration between and with residents, businesses, and the municipality (participation), as well as local (internal and external), regional, and national networks. 
• Political and administrative sensitivity – Youhave a keen sense of where administrative sensitivities lie, for example when making decisions in the social sphere. You provide reassurance to administrators, contribute ideas to potential scenarios, and are not afraid to offer critical feedback when necessary.
• Zaans leadership – Youdemonstrate curiosity by asking questions and listening actively. You are open to different perspectives. You take responsibility by discussing dilemmas constructively, even when it feels uncomfortable.

You should also bring:

• Proven experience in thesocial sector, and preferably also insecurity.
• Proven leadership experience: for example, experience as a member of the executive board, as a manager overseeing multiple departments, or as a program manager for large organization-wide programs. 

What you get

We are looking to fill this position on a permanent basis, but we are open to a temporary arrangement, subject to mutual agreement.

These are the terms of employment that apply (based on a 36-hour workweek):

• Between €7,680 and €10,875 gross per month (pay grade 17). Your exact salary will depend on your knowledge and experience.
• 17.05% individual choice budget (ICB). This amounts to a maximum of €1,854 gross per month, including vacation pay. How do you use it? That’s up to you. For example, you could choose to use it for extra vacation days, training, a bicycle, or a pay raise.
• Your workplace? At our unique city hall, right next to the train station in Zaandam. Or partly from home.  
• Travel expenses of €0.23 per kilometer. It doesn't matter how you travel.  
• A pension through ABP, a group discount on health insurance, and (partially) paid parental leave. These benefits are clearly outlined in the collective bargaining agreement. 

There’s more. You can find the complete overview at:Terms of Employment – Working at the Municipality of Zaanstad.

City of Zaanstad. Work with character

Did you know that Zaanstad is one of the 20 largest municipalities in the Netherlands? By 2040, our municipality will have over 200,000 residents. With 1,800 colleagues, we’re making Zaanstad a better and stronger place. We want to be a dynamic andinclusiveorganization—a place where you can be yourself and feel valued.

Zaanstad is constantly evolving and has a unique character, culture, and flavor. Working in such an environment requires courage, a pioneering spirit, and a proactive approach. And we’re proud of that! Together, we build bridges between cultures and living environments, heritage and the future, craftsmanship and industry, people and nature.

Interested?

Can you see yourself working as a Group Director? It all starts with your application.

You can apply until Sunday, September 28. What happens next? We always respond to every application. You can expect to hear from us after the application deadline.

After that, we’ll take the following steps:

• First interviews: Tuesday, October 7 (afternoon)
• Second interviews: Thursday, October 9 (afternoon)

Please keep this in mind when planning your schedule.
An assessment and a reference check may be part of the selection process.

Questions?

We understand that you may still have questions. We’d be happy to answer them! Please call Lennart Graaff, Group Director, at 06-52361799Do you have any questions about the process? Call or text Ramona Iannotti, senior corporate recruiter, at: 06-58002221.