Head of Enterprise - Kilkenny County Council

Head of Enterprise - Kilkenny County Council

The closing date for this vacancy is 19/11/2026, 15:00

Job summary

A vacancy currently exists in Kilkenny County Council for Head of Enterprise. Reporting to the Director of Service, this is a senior role within the broad Economic Development function of the Local Authority. Kilkenny has a rich culture of entrepreneurship and a thriving business community with key strengths in agri-food, creative industries, engineering, financial services, tourism and retail industries locally.

The Head of Enterprise will work to ensure an 'enterprise-friendly' county for companies and individuals setting up or expanding their businesses and will lead a team to support enterprise and economic development. The Head of Enterprise will lead a team charged with delivering a high standard quality system of coordinated and cohesive State support to small business sector.

A full Job Summary/Description is available in the Information Booklet.

Main Duties of the Job

Lead the development and implementation of Kilkenny County Council's Local Enterprise Development Plan for the Local Authority (LA) to support enterprise at local level in line with national Government policy objectives and commitments on enterprise, entrepreneurship and job creation.

Lead a team to achieve key enterprise and economic development objectives in the Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP) and support the on-going implementation monitoring and review of LECP.

Manage the day-to-day operations of the LEO to deliver all commitments between Enterprise Ireland and the Local Authority and any Protocols with other Government Departments and State Agencies.

A full list of main duties is available in the Information Booklet.

Information about the organisation

Kilkenny County Council provides services to a population of over 103,000 citizens in County Kilkenny in areas of housing, roads, transportation, planning, environment, economic and community development, tourism, libraries, fire and emergency response, parks, amenities, heritage, arts and water services.

We have over 750 employees and can offer exciting careers across our services in various roles such as engineering, technical, financial, management, administration, library services, fire services and general services. Our headquarters are in Kilkenny City and we have area offices throughout the county.

The Council operates within an annual revenue budget of €129.4 million and a
multi-annual six-year capital budget of €1,015 million. The Local Authority has a broad remit in the business and economic development area with a focus on supporting and encouraging economic activity and jobs growth in the County.

An opportunity now exists in Kilkenny County Council for the position of Head of Enterprise.

Salary Scale effective from 1st June 2026:

Hours of attendance will be fixed from time to time but will amount to not less than 35 hours gross per week

The annual leave allowance for the position of Head of Enterpriseis 30 days.

Selection Process Details

A ranking and or shortlisting exercise may be carried out on the basis of information supplied in your application form. The criteria for ranking and or shortlisting are based on the requirements of the post as outlined in the eligibility criteria and skills, competencies and/or knowledge section of this job specification. Therefore it is very important that you think about your experience in light of those requirements.

Failure to include information regarding these requirements may result in you not being called forward to the next stage of the selection process.

Local authorities are committed equal opportunities employers.