About the job

Job summary

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) seeks an exceptional leader as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

As Britain’s national equality body and a United Nations-accredited National Human Rights Institution, the EHRC protects and promotes equality and human rights across England, Scotland, and Wales. It was set up by the Equality Act 2006 as a statutory non-departmental public body and operates independently of governments.

Our role is to make these rights and freedoms a reality for everyone. We use a range of powers to do so, including providing advice and guidance to individuals, employers, and other organisations, reviewing the effectiveness of the law, and taking legal enforcement action to clarify the law and address significant breaches of rights. We are an expert and authoritative organisation recognised as a centre of excellence for equality and human rights law, evidence, and analysis.

There are exciting challenges ahead as we reach the final year of our current strategic plan and begin scoping our work for the next strategic plan period. Our new CEO will be responsible for the success of the EHRC, with delegated responsibility from the Board for leadership, management, and day-to-day operations. They will embrace the Board’s vision for challenge and change and be a more effective regulator. They will lead and develop the Senior Leadership team and act as the primary advisor to the Chair and Board to ensure that it delivers its statutory duties.

Job description

The successful candidate will need a track record of operational leadership experience at a senior level, either as a CEO in the Public, Private, or Not-for-profit sectors or working in a senior leadership role within a larger organisation, with accountability for leading a significant function. 

You will need to be an impactful, resilient, and determined leader, with experience of building, leading, and managing senior teams through periods of transformational change, and be able to work collaboratively with the Board to make difficult decisions to secure the Commission's future.

As Accounting Officer for the Commission, you will be able to demonstrate strong financial and planning leadership skills and experience in delivering high-quality financial, risk and operational management in line with public sector accounting standards.

Policy experience within the field of equality and human rights is not essential, but an understanding of the political environment within which the EHRC operates will be an advantage.

Person specification

The full list of Knowledge, Skills and Experience required for the role are noted in the Appointment Brief, found at the bottom of this advert.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £135,000, Equality and Human Rights Commission contributes £36,450 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

For further enquiries, view the Appointment Brief or apply with a CV, a statement of suitability and completed recruitment information pack to Kerry Lucas, Head of People, at Kerry.Lucas@equalityhumanrights.com

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.