Head of Department for Business Services & Unemployment Benefits

Head of Department for Company Services and Unemployment Benefits

Do you want to lead a new department and help shape the future of the company-focused effort? Are you passionate about stable operations, shared professional leadership, citizen involvement, and developing a common company-oriented culture across a job center? Then you could be our new head of the Department for Company Services and Unemployment Benefits.

A new department with an important task

At Jobcenter Varde we believe that businesses are a crucial part of the solution to the challenges of the labor market. Therefore, one of our guiding principles at Jobcenter Varde is to be a strong partner for companies, where workforce and education are central elements in the growth strategy of Varde Municipality. We therefore see great strength in consolidating the company-oriented service within one department in connection with the job center's new organization.

The job center has about 120 employees spread across six operating departments and a support function. You will report to the head of the labor market and will be part of the job center's management team, which contributes with high ambitions for the future and the realization of the job center's vision for 2030.

The department will consist of about 6 employees and will, among other things, be responsible for ensuring one entry point to companies via Hotline, recruitment and international recruitment, upskilling, Nordjobb, the disability compensation schemes, various cross-cutting company-oriented initiatives, IPS, and Job Development. In this context you will play a central role in ensuring that the regulatory framework in the employment area is translated into practice. You must also be able to support the authorities' advisers in translating legal requirements into a uniform and professionally grounded effort.

As department head you will help create the organizational framework that enables employees to help citizens find new opportunities in the labor market and create solutions that provide value for the individual citizen, the companies, and the local community.

You will also have an important task in creating a common professional direction for the company-oriented effort across Jobcenter Varde. This requires you to be able to create alignment through relationships, clear professional direction, and collaboration – even where you do not have formal supervisory responsibilities.

A department in development

The department, the work with citizen involvement, and the company-oriented effort must be developed in step with the employment reform, Vision 2030, and our experiences. You will therefore have the opportunity to shape the department's tasks, collaboration interfaces, and professional methods. You must both be able to create calm and direction in daily operations and be curious about how the task can be solved more effectively in the future.

Your main tasks include, among others, to

• Contribute to Jobcenter Varde's Vision 2030 and ensure stable operations, high professional quality, and good results.
• Exercise clear, present leadership and create a common identity in the new department.
• Translate legal requirements into practice and support the authorities' advisers in exercising a uniform, professionally grounded approach.
• Create a common professional direction for the company-oriented effort across the job center.
• Lead and further develop the cross-cutting company group.
• Have management responsibility for IPS, contribute to professional development and implementation of, for example, Job Development.
• Strengthen the collaboration with local companies and Jobcenter Varde's role as a visible and proactive partner.
• Contribute to integrating the citizen perspective and citizen involvement actively in collaboration with companies and the development of new initiatives.
• Support common methods, registration practices, and use of data.

We are looking for a leader who

• Has leadership experience, preferably from the employment area or a politically governed organization.
• Has experience with and can balance personnel leadership, professional leadership, operations, development, and strategy.
• Is strong in relationships and can create a common professional direction and rally employees across the organization.
• Understands the needs of businesses and the interplay between employment, education, and business development.
• Translates visions and strategies into practice and works systematically with quality, data, and results.
• Is clear, decisive, and inclusive.
• Thrives in developing a new department and can navigate confidently in a politically governed organization.

Experience with company services, unemployment benefits area, the disability compensation schemes, IPS or Job Development is an advantage, but the most important is that you can create direction, development, and results in your own department and across the job center.

Vision 2030 and CUBB

Jobcenter Varde works purposefully with Vision 2030 “from what works today to what reaches further” and has since 2022 collaborated with CUBB at Aalborg University as part of our work with citizen involvement. As department head you will become part of the continued development of this and the Future Job Center. You can read more about our vision here Vision 2030 - Future Job Center 2030 and about CUBB here: Center for Development of Citizen-Inclusive Employment Initiatives (CUBB) - Aalborg University .

Salary and terms of employment

The position is 37 hours per week with expected commencement January 1, 2027.

Salary and terms of employment are determined according to applicable collective agreement and principles for local pay formation.

The workplace is currently Frisvadvej 35, 6800 Varde

Want to know more?

If you have questions about the position, you are welcome to contact the Head of the Labor Market Kim Olesen at phone 24910655 .

The application deadline is 12 November 2026

Two interviews will be conducted for the position.

The first interview will be held on 19 November 2026 .

If you progress to the second interview, it will take place on 25 November 2026 .

You will receive a test between the first and second interview.