Norfolk County Council has announced an interim chief executive to take over after the shock resignation of its most senior officer.
Kat Hulatt, the authority's head of legal services, will step into the role following the departure of Tom McCabe last month.
She will fill the post on a temporary basis while the the authority seeks a £215,000-a-year permanent replacement to "drive improvements in productivity" of council staff.
Ms Hulatt has worked for the council for five and a half years and is also its monitoring officer, responsible for overseeing standards among councillors.
Before arriving at County Hall she worked at Milton Keynes Council, where she was also head of legal services.
She gained a first class degree in law at the University of Bedfordshire before going on to achieve a postgraduate diploma in local government management at Warwick University's business school.
She also completed a legal practice course at De Montfort University in Leicester.
Council leader David Bick said: “I have every confidence that Kat will help us to deliver our agenda in the next few months, until we have recruited to the permanent position.”
She takes up the role at a time of upheaval at Norfolk County Council.
Mr McCabe quit his £209,000 role a few weeks after Reform UK took control of the authority from the Conservatives. He had left the job within days of announcing his resignation.
Some staff at County Hall are known to be unhappy at changes introduced by the new Reform administration, including the removal of the Ukraine flag from County Hall and a ban on the flying of the Progress Pride one.
They are also understood to be concerned about the possibility of changes to working practices, including working from home.
The job description for Mr McCabe's replacement makes clear the Reform leadership wants somebody with business acumen, who will oversee "culture change" at the authority.
The job description states: "Key aspects of the role include leading culture change at scale and providing strong commercial judgement and business acumen.
"You will create the conditions for a confident, accountable and productive workforce, embedding a customer-focused, can-do approach to public service delivery."
The description outlines the need for a "strong emphasis on the importance of organisational culture being the key change agent and the necessity of driving improvements in productivity".
The council faces a £36m funding gap for next year and Mr Bick has said he wants to see a culture change across the council, with increased productivity and income generation.
The 39-strong Reform group recently announced reviews of the authority's working from home policy and spending on net zero projects.
He said: "We need someone who understands the culture and culture change, because the council needs it.
"We have got to find the right individual for that. We are looking for someone with a real breadth of experience."
Under Labour's reorganisation plans, the county council - along with all the others in Norfolk - is due to be axed in 2028, to be replaced by three new unitary authorities.
The county council hopes to challenge that in court, but Mr Bick said he was confident the job would still have appeal despite the uncertainty.
He said: "I am very confident we will get the right person. It is a big job and we should attract some quality candidates."
The council anticipates interviewing candidates in August with an appointment in early autumn.
