Planning service career opportunities

Join our new planning service, one of the largest in the country.

Shape our place, shape our service, shape your career.

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Planning opportunities at North Yorkshire Council

This is an extremely exciting time to join us as we are now well established and into the second year of the unified North Yorkshire Council. We are now reaping the benefits of the newly integrated services that service the whole of the region and we are investing in and expanding our planning service.

Planning is at the heart of change and development within communities across our vast and varied county, making it one of the largest planning services in the country. We tackle diverse projects from domestic through to national infrastructure – offering opportunities for staff to develop expertise and contribute to projects that shape our county. If you are ambitious about your future in planning services this is a great time to join us as we invest in building a world-class planning service, whilst being community focussed on a local level.

You will be inspired by new opportunities and the exposure and experience to develop your skills. You will join a highly experienced and friendly team who have a vision to embrace the exciting challenges that lay ahead including growth ambitions for North Yorkshire and a new local plan. Working with us, you will have the opportunity to make a real difference for our communities, securing ‘growth’ with new housing projects and regenerating our town centres, leading on major commercial, leisure developments and infrastructure projects. We also offer the unique opportunity to deliver these projects alongside shaping and protecting our thriving towns and rural areas set within the North Yorkshire countryside. If you are looking for a new challenge, career progression and a modern working culture, come and join us on our journey, and shape our place and our service.

North Yorkshire is a special place. It is a great county with people and businesses who are proud to live here, proud of what they do and of who they are. We are passionate about the place that we work in and the communities of which we serve. We are proud of what we have achieved; confident about the services that we provide and ambitious for the future even through challenging times.

Through local delivery hubs situated across the county, we can offer staff increased flexibility as to how and where they work, for some roles the freedom to work anywhere across the county. In North Yorkshire, we are extremely well connected, with great road and rail links across the country. We are also within easy reach of some of the UK’s leading cities including Newcastle, Leeds and York.

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The roles

Planning and development play a fundamental role in improving the lives of residents, businesses and visitors across North Yorkshire. Managing the natural and built environment, ensuring that the future development needs of the county can be accommodated to make it a better place in which to live and work. Whether it be business development or residential, minerals or waste, collectively we strive to deliver the best services we can for the communities we serve. This also provides opportunities for you to work across a wide variety of interesting projects.

We operate a hybrid model of working, offering the opportunity for our staff to work from home, but also from a base within your chosen ‘patch’ to enable you to be fully immersed within the community in which you will provide your skills and expertise. Bases of work include Harrogate, Malton, Northallerton, Richmond, Scarborough, Selby and Skipton.

As we invest in our new planning service, we are currently recruiting for a number of opportunities.

Our current opportunities

We are always keen to speak to professionals interested in joining North Yorkshire Council. To stay informed, please register for a Vacancy Alert or join our Talent Pool.

Planning opportunities

Planning Policy and Place Manager - Northallerton

Salary: £53,051 to £57,372
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time, 37 hrs per week
Closing date: 22 November 2026
Location: Northallerton, hybrid

Principal Planner - Scarborough

Salary: £48,738 to £53,051
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time, 37 hours
Closing date: 18 November 2026
Location: Scarborough

Development Management Team Manager - Selby

Salary: £53,051 to £57,372 (plus a relocation allowance and up to 10% one-off recruitment payment)
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full Time
Closing date: 18 November 2026
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire

Principal Planner - Harrogate

Salary: £48,738 to £53,051
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time, 37 hours
Closing date: 18 November 2026
Location: Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Principal Planner - Northallerton

Salary: £48,738 to £53,051
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time, 37 hours
Closing date: 18 November 2026
Location: Northallerton, North Yorkshire

Planning Assistant - Harrogate

Salary: £27,709 to £30,023 per year
Contract: Fixed term (one with an end date of 31 March 2027, one with an end date of December 2027)
Hours: 37 per week
Closing date: 6 November 2026
Location: Harrogate, North Yorkshire

What you will bring

We are always keen to hear from planning professionals at all stages of their careers. We are looking for people who are strong communicators, adopt a conscientious approach to their work and have the ability to work well under pressure with conflicting demands/challenges. You will have a passion for having a positive impact on local communities, that will be central to your approach and will enable you to gain job satisfaction.

Hear from our team

Planning Assistant with Building Control and Land Charges

"When I came into this job in January 2026, I had no experience whatsoever of planning. I was pleased to discover, in both Building Control and Land Charges, a great, supportive team environment which provided all the training I need to become a well-versed Planning Assistant, as well as good, approachable management that is responsive to my needs and supportive of my career development efforts.

It is very satisfying to reflect on how much I have learned in the last nine months, and it is humbling and exciting to consider how much there still is to be learned."

Planning Technical Team Leader

"I initially joined the service in November 2025 as a Planning Assistant before progressing to Planning Technical Team Leader in January 2026.

What attracted me to North Yorkshire Council was the opportunity to be part of a service that makes a real difference to local communities. What keeps me here is the people. Since joining, I have been given opportunities to develop, take on new challenges and help shape services during a period of significant change following Local Government Reorganisation.

No two days are the same in my role. A typical day can involve supporting the operations team, working with inspectors and customers, reviewing processes, resolving issues and identifying opportunities to improve the service we provide. The part I enjoy most is working with people and helping colleagues develop and succeed in their roles.

The support, flexibility and teamwork across Planning have been fantastic. Everyone brings different skills and experience, but there is a real willingness to help one another and work towards a common goal.

I would recommend North Yorkshire Council Planning as a great place to work because there are genuine opportunities to learn, develop and progress. Next week I will begin a two-year secondment as Planning Service Improvement Manager.

The support and encouragement I've received from managers and colleagues has played a huge part in that journey and is one of the reasons I enjoy working here. There is a real willingness to support people to develop, try new things and achieve their goals."

More opportunities

These immediate opportunities not quite what you are looking for? As a large service we will have future opportunities that might be just what you are looking for. If you are an experienced planning professional please send our resourcing professionals your CV to resourcing solutions. Alternatively, please look out for future opportunities within our growing and ambitious planning service.

What we can offer you

We are offering a unique professional development opportunity. Colleagues will be provided with comprehensive levels of professional development, alongside the opportunity to work with experienced colleagues in our planning teams.

We have embraced modern work practices, enabling colleagues to work from home or their chosen base, with offices across the geography of North Yorkshire to choose from. We regularly come together as a team for development, connection and collaboration, otherwise, we work where it is most productive to do so. You will be provided with technology to enable efficient and effective work, ensuring that you are connected and well-supported. You are provided with a comprehensive benefits package with an excellent employer-defined pension scheme, enhanced holidays and flexible working to help you thrive at home as well as work.

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Key documents

Why work for us

We are a strong performing authority, with supportive political leadership and talented teams providing the platform to have a fulfilling, challenging and successful career in a truly stunning place.

A recent peer challenge found that the council is a good place to work, with strong leadership and a loyal and committed workforce who have access to well-regarded training and development.

We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice, offering a range of training and development opportunities and career progression allowing you to manage your own development journey and empowering you to control your career. Your career can change with your life here in North Yorkshire.

We positively encourage flexible working and we provide you with the technology you need to work from a wide variety of locations.

We believe in the importance of inclusion, which is why we are always working towards being a more diverse, equitable and inclusive employer. Find out more about our equality, diversity and inclusion work on our working for us page. You can bring your whole self to work, and we will support you to be the best that you can be.

Our values, behaviours and ambitions underpin everything we do.

In addition to your salary, we offer a range of great benefits to help you financially make life a bit easier. These include:

a local government, career average employer contribution pension scheme
family friendly leave
salary sacrifice schemes
modern flexible working practices
learning and development packages
career advancement opportunities
employee discount benefits including shopping and gym discounts
green car and cycle schemes
travel loans

You can find more information on the range of benefits we offer on our total rewards page.

Watch this video to find out about our employee networks.

Living and working in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a thriving county that adapts to a changing world and remains a special place to live and work.

North Yorkshire's natural beauty is captured in its three areas of outstanding natural parks, national nature reserves, stunning coastlines, scenic rural villages, vibrant cities and market towns. North Yorkshire really is a beautiful, thriving and special place to live and work, rich in heritage and culture.

North Yorkshire features significantly in the ten best places to live in the UK in Halifax Quality of Life Survey. The Quality of Life index aims to quantify where living standards are highest in the UK by ranking local performance across a range of indicators. Local areas featured in the top ten included Richmond, Selby and Malton.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics bulletin positions North Yorkshire as the safest place in England with extremely low crime rates.

In addition, the county benefits from excellent road and rail links, with easy access via the East Coast mainline, the A1(M) and A19. Leeds, York, Newcastle, Durham and Teesside are all easily commutable, and London and Edinburgh are just two hours away by train.

From its lively cities to pretty villages, rolling countryside and grand coastline, Yorkshire has so much to offer including great employment opportunities for your family members, along with a higher proportion of schools which are good or outstanding compared to national figures.

You can find out more about what North Yorkshire has to offer on the Visit North Yorkshire website.

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Application tips

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Contact us and apply

If you feel you have the skills, passion, and drive that we are seeking, we want to hear from you.

For an informal conversation about this opportunity, please email Sophia Pawson.

To apply please submit your application via our jobs and careers site.

We will not accept applications from agencies.