Future Humber, Managing Director

This position is to join the Future Humber Team. As a member of the Bondholder network, Sewell Group Ltd is supporting the recruitment process for this position. All candidate applications and information stored and shared during the process will remain confidential and shared no further than the Future Humber recruitment panel and the Sewell HR Team.

Please click the link above to learn more about Future Humber. A more detailed overview of the business is also included at the end of this vacancy.

As we prepare for our next chapter, we are seeking an exceptional leader to provide strategic direction, stability and momentum through a period of opportunity and change. With its future operating model still emerging, Future Humber aims to become a strategic delivery partner for pan-Humber place promotion and regional alignment, while strengthening its private sector-led role in convening and influence.

This is a rare opportunity to lead with purpose, navigate complexity and help define Future Humber’s role. Working with the Board, team, Bondholders and regional partners, the successful candidate will shape a clear, credible and sustainable direction for the organisation and the wider Humber.

This position is the Executive Lead for Future Humber, and encompasses the role of Director of Marketing.

As the organisation’s senior leader, the successful candidate will provide visible strategic and operational leadership, maintain existing commitments, strengthen relationships, bring together public and private sector partners, oversee strategic programmes and give a capable, committed team clarity and confidence. A more detailed overview of the role is summarised below.

• Lead Future Humber with clarity, confidence and purpose through a period of change.
• Work with the Board and team to shape, test and refine the organisation’s future operating model and proposition.
• Translate strategic priorities into a focused and deliverable plan.
• Build support for Future Humber’s future direction among Bondholders, partners and regional stakeholders.
• Maintain momentum across existing commitments while creating the space and capacity for change.
• Ensure Future Humber’s place-first purpose remains central to its decisions, relationships and delivery.

• Act as a visible and trusted leader for Future Humber and a confident advocate for Humber.
• Build strong relationships across business, local and combined authorities, education, anchor institutions and government.
• Navigate political, commercial and institutional complexity with credibility, diplomacy and sound judgement.
• Create the conditions for open dialogue, stronger alignment and collective action.
• Strengthen Future Humber’s regional and national relationships, reach and influence.
• Identify opportunities where Future Humber can connect ambition to opportunity and enable collaboration that may not otherwise happen.

• Provide executive oversight of key commissions and strategic programmes, including work connected to Humber Freeport and Humber Economic Board priorities.
• Ensure programmes are purposeful, well managed and aligned with Future Humber’s strategic direction.
• Connect regional priorities across place, investment and talent.
• Turn strategic ambition into focused activity, meaningful partnerships and practical outcomes.
• Recognise emerging opportunities and bring together the right people and organisations to respond.

• Lead, support and inspire a small, high-performing team.
• Set clear priorities and ensure people understand how their work contributes to the wider ambition for Humber.
• Create stability and confidence during transition through open, honest and consistent leadership.
• Support the team’s continued development, wellbeing and ability to deliver.
• Strengthen a culture built on trust, ambition, collaboration and accountability.

• Work closely with the Board to maintain strong governance, effective decision-making and clear accountability.
• Provide timely and transparent reporting on organisational performance, finances, opportunities and risks.
• Lead with commercial awareness, ensuring resources are focused where they can create the greatest value and impact.
• Explore future income, partnership and delivery opportunities that support the organisation’s long-term sustainability.
• Balance ambition with financial responsibility and operational reality.

Humber is at a defining moment. With nationally and internationally significant strengths in energy, ports and logistics, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, food, digital innovation and global trade, the region has a unique opportunity to translate its assets and ambition into lasting prosperity for its businesses, communities and people. Realising that opportunity will require more than individual success. It demands strong place leadership, greater alignment between public and private ambition, and the ability to build partnerships that turn shared priorities into meaningful action. This is where Future Humber matters.

Future Humber is an independent, business-led organisation that brings together major international businesses, anchor institutions, ambitious SMEs and growing organisations, united by a shared belief in Humber's potential. We put place before organisation, acting as a connector, convener and champion for the region. Our role is to bring together the people and organisations with the influence, expertise and ambition to drive Humber forward.

Our vision is for Humber to be recognised as a place of global significance. We strengthen the region's reputation, champion its successes and create opportunities by connecting businesses, institutions, investors, policymakers and partners. Through our growing network, we help ensure that Humber's strengths are understood, celebrated and translated into investment, business growth, talent attraction and wider economic impact.

Increasingly, our work focuses on three interconnected priorities: Place, Investment and Talent. Across all three, we tell Humber's story, support collaboration, amplify regional strengths and help our network become effective advocates for the region.

As Humber navigates evolving governance arrangements, the emergence of two Combined Authorities, competing economic priorities and increasing competition for investment, influence and talent, the need for a trusted pan-Humber voice has never been greater. Future Humber operates across these complex institutional and geographic boundaries, providing independent leadership and bringing together partners around a shared regional agenda.

The successful candidate will:

• Bring significant strategic leadership experience, with the credibility and confidence to operate effectively at executive level.
• Lead confidently through uncertainty, transition and organisational change.
• Combine strategic thinking and commercial awareness with a strong focus on practical delivery.
• Deliver with pace and impact, motivated by the opportunity to make a meaningful difference to people and place.
• Influence senior leaders, navigate complex regional issues and support a small team through change.
• Communicate with clarity, confidence and authenticity, positively influencing those around them.
• Bring people together around a shared ambition while remaining focused on practical outcomes.
• Build trusted relationships and purposeful networks across sectors, organisations and perspectives.
• Demonstrate credibility and experience across both public and private sector environments.
• Navigate political and institutional complexity with respect, diplomacy and sound judgement.
• Understand regional growth, place leadership, economic development or a closely related field.
• Bring experience of partnership-led, membership-based or purpose-led organisations.
• Demonstrate how effective place leadership is built through trust, relationships and shared purpose.
• Demonstrate a genuine commitment to Humber and its long-term success.

• Experience of working across multiple local authority or Combined Authority areas.
• Experience in place promotion, inward investment, regional economic development or business membership.
• Experience of shaping an organisational strategy, operating model or proposition.
• Established networks and credibility at regional and national level.
• Experience of leading strategic commissions, partnerships or multi-stakeholder programmes.

Future Humber is an equal opportunities employer, recruiting within the guidelines of the Equality Act. We are committed to the promotion of diversity and equal opportunity, as an employer and in the delivery of our products and services. As a committed safe employer, an enhanced DBS (criminal record) check will be carried out for the successful candidate of this role.