THE chief executive of Southampton City Council is stepping down from her six-figure post.

Dawn Baxendale has decided to leave after more than four-and-a-half years in the role to join the biggest local authority in the country.

Ms Baxendale is expected to become the chief executive of Birmingham City Council subject to its full council approval, which will be sought on Monday.

The role has been dubbed as the top local government job in the country by Southampton civic chiefs.

Councillor Simon Letts, leader of Southampton City Council, said: “It shows the strides Southampton City Council has made over the last few years.

“The largest local authority in western Europe has come to headhunt our own chief executive.

“Dawn is leaving for professional development reasons and we wish her the best of luck.

“We hope to appoint a new chief executive in due course.”

Ms Baxendale was promoted to the chief executive position at the council in 2013 from her role as director of environment and economy, a position she held for four years.

She draws on 20 years’ public sector experience – 14 serving as a senior manager delivering multi-million pound capital programmes and revenue services.

It is not known how much Ms Baxendale is paid.

However, according to Southampton City Council’s pay policy, it states that the chief executive receives a pay grade of between £148,272 and £176,087.

She will leave on April 1, 2018 but currently it’s not known when she will take over the Birmingham job.

The appointment comes after the union Unite called on Birmingham’s interim chief executive Stella Manzie to resign over the city’s bin strike which left residents with overflowing dustbins for several weeks.