Max started his career in Local Government in 1972, inspecting London’s brick sewers from the inside. He has remained up to his neck in it ever since. He qualified as a Chartered Civil Engineer by producing the first feasibility study for an intercepting sewer to prevent raw sewage flowing into the Thames, which is now under construction, only 45 years later.

As Chief Executive of LB Hackney, Max managed the transition of the authority from the worst in the country and the first to be subject to the Best Value Direction regime to one of the fastest improving.  As Chief Executive of Barnet he introduced a cabinet form of governance and an effective scrutiny system, which was one of the models for subsequent legislation.

Max was appointed an Electoral Commissioner and Chaired the Local Government Boundary Commission for England and, for an interim period, the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales.

Max was appointed the first Regional Returning Officer for London region for the 1999 European elections, was Deputy Chief Counting Officer for the UK wide Alternative Vote referendum and has been involved in electoral pilot arrangements on an all-postal/electronic counting system for borough and mayoral elections.

He has also served as a short term observer for OSCE overseen elections in Albania and Montenegro and as a Commonwealth observer for elections in Kenya and Ghana.

He has led two Best Value Inspections, Northamptonshire County Council and Liverpool City Council, a non-statutory Best Value rapid review at Nottingham City Council and served as a Best Value Intervention Commissioner at LB Tower Hamlets.