Deputy Director Human Resources

Diverse Perspectives and experiences are critical to our success, and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role. We look forward to receiving your application.

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 HR Division (HRD) is a strategic, corporate, expert division which provides services to the organisation. Therefore, its role is to meet the needs of the organisation by developing, promoting, implementing and embedding best practice in people leadership and management, enabling people to develop and grow and fulfil their potential at work and by ensuring that the organisation is successful. HRD supports the organisation to deliver its priorities.

Upcoming Priorities

• Delivering recruitment remains HR’s number one priority, ensuring we can meet the demands of the organisation whilst continually improving our approach. Supporting this with a structured approach to talent through quality development activity.
• Aligning our reward strategies with our business aims to deliver appropriate pay structures and frameworks.
• Improving diversity and inclusion as well as reducing bullying, harassment and discrimination is key. We are focused on increasing representation from underrepresented groups in our workforce as well as growing the number of women in senior roles.
• Focus on strengthening our health safety and wellbeing arrangements to support and enable colleagues to work in a healthy environment in important to us, no more so than in current times.
• Continue to invest in raising the skills and professionalism of our corporate HR capability.

Key Responsibilities:

• Deliver high quality, cost effective and business focused HR, organisational development, training and Health and Safety services to ensure the HR provision for HSE is fit for purpose, legally compliant, customer centric and aligned to strategic business requirements.
• Direct line management responsibility for a number Grade 6 equivalents. The HR Division has approximately 120 HR professionals.
• Develop and deliver both strategic and tactical workforce plans to support delivery of business objectives, working closely with directors and Finance colleagues. Ensure talent pools and succession plans are in place, recruitment effectively delivers the numbers and quality of employees required and retention policies ensure key people and talent stay within HSE.
• Lead our HR transformation journey, including embedding our new ways of working, and our services and processes.
• Lead the delivery of HR people plans and priorities, ensuring policies, processes and management data is in place to creatively and effectively deliver people interventions.
• Lead, manage or advise on People Groups and Employee Relations acting as a strong role model and ensuring effective development of the team to continue to deliver a high quality and professional service.
• Ensure that HSE has HR policies, frameworks and procedures that protect its interests, meet legal requirements, reflect good HR practice, and promote sound, fair and consistent management practices.
• As a proactive member of the People Senior Leadership Team within HSE, you will influence and contribute to the delivery of the wider HR, and Civil Service priorities, representing HSE professionally and in line with our organisational values.
• Understand the organisational change impacts of HSE priorities, supporting and leading on the people aspect of organisational design and development so that change is embedded successfully and leaders, line managers and employees are engaged and supported.

Essential Criteria:

The role requires the post-holder to have the experience and interpersonal skills to establish professional credibility and authority. The following is sought:

• Experience in senior level generalist HR, HR change, transformation or Organisational Development, with specialist expertise, practical understanding and business insight to support advice on key areas of HR;
• Experience of successfully leading and managing transformation and change. In particular, experience of creating a team-wide culture of continuous improvement and challenging the status quo, transforming processes to deliver in radically different ways and ensuring that employees are engaged in the changes;
• Confident, empowering, insightful and inspirational leadership of a high performing diverse workforce who is visible and approachable to all colleagues and stakeholders; With a commitment to continuing personal and professional development;
• The ability to develop strong partnership-based employee relations, ideally including experience of leading on internal communications and engagement;
• Demonstrating understanding of and commitment to diversity, inclusion, equality of opportunity and positive working relationships.

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension

We invest in our people with;   

• Competitive rates of pay 
• Access to the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme to which HSE contribute 27.9% far more than in the private sector. 
• Family friendly policies and working hours to help balance your home life and career
• Carer friendly policies to help create a supportive working culture
• 25 days annual holiday increasing to 30 days after 5 years’ service, plus bank holidays and 1-day Civil Service privilege leave
• Parental leave benefits

This post is eligible for Excess Fares Allowance. A successful internal candidate currently based at another office may be entitled to Excess Fares Allowance in line with HSE policy (http://intranet/finance/expenses/excess-fares-allowance-policy.htm)

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above.
This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions.
Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and
conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your
personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any
absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you
to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Job contact :

• Name : Scott Medlin
• Email : scott.medlin@hse.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : hr.resourcing-team@hse.gov.uk