About the job

Job summary

The Head of People is an influential role within the People Division Senior Leadership team, sitting at the heart of people and organisational change and development. Responsible for supporting the Chief People Officer, you will play a key role in driving the delivery of the UKHO’s Corporate plan, in particular leading on and implementing all aspects of the People Strategy. This will include overall operational management while ensuring alignment with the long-term strategic vision of the UKHO and its transformation. 

It will be an exciting time for you to join, as you will be able to contribute to our new People Strategy and its three significant pillars ‘Valuing our People’, ‘Developing our Culture’ and ‘Building our Organisation’. 

Working as a strategic partner for the business, with the support from your senior leadership team you will drive transformation strategies and people priorities to deliver high-value, strategic people insight and collaboratively drive organisational success. 

Leading a multi-disciplinary team of professionals in HR Delivery (including our HR Shared Services), Pay and Reward, Policy, Employee Relations, Organisation and Learning and Development, and Resourcing, you will build trusting relationships. Working together, you will provide frameworks, tools and processes to ensure HR is managed effectively across UKHO, supporting our customers. 

Please see the attached candidate pack for further information from the Chief People Officer and about UKHO.

This role will be based at our offices in Taunton, Somerset, we offer hybrid working in line with the needs of the business.

Please note our Policy on informal hybrid working (arrangements available as agreed with the line manager) applies within the UK, and does not extend to working overseas.

Job description

1.  As the voice of the People Division, you will be central to the strategic planning and implementation of organisational transformation as part of the core senior leadership team. 
2. You be responsible for driving the UKHO People strategy, working closely with the Chief People Officer. 
3. You will lead the culture change programme and development of the strategic workforce plan across the organisation, working collaboratively with the executive leadership team.
4. You will lead, motivate, and develop a multidisciplinary team of senior HR subject matter experts and their teams to develop, iterate, implement, and evaluate the UKHO’s People strategy. 
5. You will lead a high quality and customer focused HR service, inclusive of business partnering, talent management, pay and policy, and shared services. The HR service will be aligned with UKHO’s strategic objectives and priorities.  
6. You will influence and coach senior managers across UKHO in their people related decision making. 
7. You act as a focal point for all compliance information requests, ensuring that all governance requirements are adhered to. This will include but is not limited to resourcing delegations, employment law, equality and diversity, risk management and GDPR.

Person specification

1. Must be a Chartered Member of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD) or have an equivalent Level 7 qualification or equivalent professional experience.
2. Significant experience operating at a senior level of a complex organisation as a People professional with proven experience supporting and coaching senior executives.
3. Demonstrable experience in designing, initiating, and implementing people strategy in alignment with organisational strategy and ensuring effective delivery and evaluation of the outcomes required, taking a continuous improvement approach.
4. Evidence of leading & managing multi-disciplinary teams to deliver a customer focused HR service that is in line with organisation’s strategic aims.
5. Evidence of building, and motivating high-performing teams particularly through transformational or significant organisational change.
6. Experience of developing an inclusive culture that drives business performance.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £71,339, UK Hydrographic Office contributes £19,261 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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

How to Apply:

Please send a copy of your anonymised CV demonstrating your relevant experience and qualifications for the role (see below) by clicking "Apply Now" at the bottom of this page.  You will also be asked to submit a statement of suitability of up to 1000 words which will be used alongside your CV to assess you against the sift criteria below. 

Timeline:

• Advert Closes for applications: Monday 4th March 2024
• Shortlisting: week commencing 11th March 2024
• Interviews: Tuesday 19th March 2024 

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates. 

Sift/Shortlist Criteria: 

All applications are processed anonymously.

Should we receive a high volume of applications they will first be assessed against the lead criteria as shown below.  Only those that score highly enough against that criteria will have their applications considered against the other criteria listed.

Your CV will be used to assess the below criteria:

• Chartered Member of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD) or have an equivalent Level 7 qualification or equivalent professional experience

Both your CV and Statement of Suitability will be short-listed against the following criteria: 

• Significant experience operating at a senior level of a complex organisation as a People professional with proven experience supporting and coaching senior executives. (Lead criteria)
• Demonstrable experience in designing, initiating, and implementing people strategy in alignment with organisational strategy and ensuring effective delivery and evaluation of the outcomes required, taking a continuous improvement approach.
• Evidence of leading & managing multi-disciplinary teams to deliver a customer focused HR service that is in line with organisation’s strategic aims.
• Evidence of building, and motivating high-performing teams particularly through transformational or significant organisational change.
• Experience of developing an inclusive culture that drives business performance

 Interview Criteria: 

The interview will involve a presentation, details of which will be supplied to those invited to interview. This will be assessed against the criteria below:

• Demonstrable experience in designing, initiating, and implementing people strategy in alignment with organisational strategy and ensuring effective delivery and evaluation of the outcomes required, taking a continuous improvement approach.

You will then be interviewed against the following criteria: 

Civil Service Behaviours (Level 4):

• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture 

See here for further information: Success Profiles - Civil Service Behaviours (publishing.service.gov.uk)

 Process:  

• Single Stage Interview in person at our offices in Taunton. You will be contacted to book a suitable slot if you are shortlisted (see our Candidate Pack for further information)
• Interview will be with a panel of no more than 3 people and will last approx. 45 mins 

Onboarding Checks:

In the event you are offered a role with us, you will be required to go through Basic Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks which will include Employment and Right to Work Checks. Please see our attached Candidate Pack for further details and Terms.

Please note, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship.

BPSS – non reserved
This is a Ministry of Defence non-reserved post and is open to UK, British Commonwealth, and European Economic Area nationals. Successful applicants will be required to pass the Basic Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) and will therefore need to provide evidence if they have resided outside of the UK for a period of 6 months or longer within the last 3 years. This is not a bar to employment, but a successful applicant will be required to provide sufficient evidence to allow the UKHO to conduct meaningful background checks. Please contact the recruitment team on the email address below if you have any concerns regarding this.

Eligibility

Due to the secure nature of our work, there may be eligibility restrictions if you hold dual nationality or are not a British Citizen. We will consider each application on a case-by-case basis. We will ask you in our application form to confirm your place of birth and details of any dual or previous nationalities.

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. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.