About the job

Job summary

We recognise the challenges that people with protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities.

Are you an experienced HR professional who would like the opportunity to make a real difference to business delivery?

Do you enjoy being an empowering team leader?

Can you build strong and collaborative relationships across organisations?

If so, then we would love for you to apply!

Job description

The DfTc HRBPs are part of the Deputy Director’s team that ensures the effective delivery of key services to the core Department through a professional business partnering function. They work alongside the provision of an expert service, for our Senior Civil Service (SCS) community throughout their employee lifecycle.

As one of three Senior HRBPs for the central department, your focus will be on managing a Director General Group business partnering portfolio with members of the HRBP team and working closely with our other Senior HRBPs to lead the wider team. You will also be expected to play a visible and active role across the whole HR community; working on cross-cutting functional and corporate issues and working closely with the Deputy Director to form a senior leadership team (SLT).  

Your role as a Senior HRBP will focus on empowering the HRBPs under your line management to build strong working relationships with their Director General’s (DG’s) and their SLTs. You will work closely with your team to ensure you have visibility of key issues in each group, help knit together where there are cross-cutting issues and provide a point of escalation and strategic direction to resolve these issues in the spirit of continuous improvement.

Transformation is a key part of the role and affecting many parts of the department so you will be expected to confidently operate in a change management capacity; supporting Subject Matter Experts to deliver high profile transformation projects.

You will need to be able to confidently deploy organisational design and development techniques and interventions, as well as understanding when and how to draw in the expert function to support. This involves direct input to business planning processes from the start, and coaching and navigating groups to effectively plan for the workforce required to deliver their strategic objectives.

As well as working with key stakeholders across the business, you will also be a valued member of the HR directorate and need to collaborate with all the teams within.

Responsibilities

Key accountabilities of the role include:

• Working closely with the other Senior HRBPs to lead and build capability across the HRBP team.
• You share leadership responsibility for the HRBP team with the other Senior HRBPs and will have direct line management responsibility for a team of  HRBPs facing off to various Director General Groups and Senior Leadership Teams.
• Working with colleagues across HR to ensure the effective development, implementation and embedding of new HR strategies and interventions in the business.
• Provide strategic leadership for the development of complex organisational design, structures, and resource plans. We have a dedicated Organisation Design Expert Service embedded within the HR Directorate, you will have a key role in building links between their team and the HRBP team and working together on particularly substantial change programs in the department. 
• Providing oversight and input on serious and complex casework as and when this arises, working closely with the new casework model being established in DfT.

For an in-depth insight into the role please refer to the Role Profile.

Person specification

You are an empowering leader and manager. You are able to navigate the nuance between coaching and empowering your team to own complex situations but also to be able to recognise when it is right to step in and work alongside them with their stakeholders.  

You are confident at engaging a wide variety of stakeholders at various levels, and the ability to build successful relationships. You have excellent communication skills and have the ability to make effective and well-balanced decisions using smart situational judgement and know when to reach out for further expertise. 

As well as a leader you can also operate as a team player; you will work closely with two other Senior HRBPs therefore will be able to work well together to deliver a shared vision and leadership for the HRBP team.

Additional Information

A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace, although requirements to attend other locations for official business, or carry out detached duty in another DfT workplace, will also count towards this level of attendance. 

Occasional travel to other DfT offices will be required.

Benefits

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits. We offer generous annual leave, attractive pension options, flexible working, inclusive working environments and much more to support a healthy work/life balance. 

Find out more about what it's like working at the Department for Transport

Things you need to know

Selection process details

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

How to apply

When considering applying please look at how your experience relates to the role, and within your CV and Personal Statement please provide detailed evidence of your experience of the following:

• Experience of being an HR Business Partner or Senior HR Business partner and strong track record of building strong relationships at senior level to influence and challenge.
• Proven ability to deliver through others and empowering them to do this.
• Demonstrable capacity for leading a business group through organisational change with excellent communication skills.

Your Personal Statement will be limited to a maximum of 1000 words.

The sift is due to take place week commencing 13th May 2024.

Interviews/assessments are likely to be held from 22nd May 2024.

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

The selection process will be designed specifically for the role. As a result, your assessment will include:

• An interview.
• A presentation.

This interview could be conducted online via Teams or face to face at one of our offices. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You’re encouraged to become familiar with the role profile, as you may be assessed against any of the criteria recorded within.

The Department for Transport alongside other Government Departments recruit using Success Profiles. This means for each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate in order to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

Please see attached candidate notes for further information about our recruitment process.

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you cannot access the information on our website for any reason, please email DRGComms@dft.gov.uk for assistance.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit the How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

Pre-employment Checking

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

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.