Chief People Officer

• Proven Leadership: Demonstrated success in a senior HR leadership role, in a large, complex and geographically distributed organization.
• Strategic Vision: Based on previous experience, clear evidence of the ability to both shape, develop and deliver on the ground a clear, strategic vision for the future of the Cabinet Office workforce and department.
• Change Management: Demonstrable experience of having led large-scale transformation implementation, with a focus on maintaining delivery at pace, employee engagement and trust through significant change.
• Stakeholder Engagement: A track record of successfully influencing and building relationships and partnerships with senior leaders, stakeholders, staff representative groups and Trade Unions, as well as external partners.
• Cultural Sensitivity: A deep understanding of how to foster an inclusive and positive workplace culture across a diverse and highly geographically distributed organization.
• Operational Excellence: Expertise in the delivery and management of data and insight-led HR functions and services, supporting a distributed workforce.

Qualifications

• You must hold Fellowship of CIPD or an equivalent HR qualification, or be able to achieve that level within 6 months of appointment.

Selection process details

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process, outlined below.

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
• A Statement of Suitability (no longer than 2 pages) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification.

Note: Failure to submit both CV and Statement of Suitability will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

Full details of the assessment process will be made available to shortlisted candidates.

This is likely to include:

• a Staff Engagement Exercise (SEE), which does not result in a pass or fail decision but is designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview
• at least one, formal interview.

The interview(s) will provide the panel with the opportunity to have a more in-depth discussion with you about your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the essential criteria set out in the Person Specification.

If you are required to prepare a presentation for the final interview you will be given the subject in advance.

You may also have the opportunity to speak to Sarah Harrison prior to the final interview to learn more about the role and organisation. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process.

Should you encounter any issues with your online application please get in touch with us via: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Expected timeline (subject to change)

• Expected sift date – w/c 20 January 2025
• Expected SEE date – 28th January 2025
• Expected interview date/s – w/c 3 February 2025

Nationality requirements: This job is broadly open to the following groups:

Alongside your salary of £130,000, Cabinet Office contributes £37,661 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously, and want to enable you to build a really successful career with the Department and wider Civil Service. It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead. You’ll benefit from a wide range of training and development opportunities, regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits.

This includes:

• 25 days annual leave on entry, increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service. This is in addition to 8 public holidays and one privilege day to mark the King’s birthday.
• A competitive contributory pension scheme that you can enter as soon as you join where we will make a significant contribution to the cost of your pension; where your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken; and where your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire;
• Flexible working patterns including part-time or time-term working and access to Flexible Working Schemes allowing you to vary your working day as long as you work your total hours;
• Generous paid maternity and paternity leave which is notably more than the statutory minimum offered by many other employers;
• Interest-free loans allowing you to spread the cost of an annual travel season ticket or a new bicycle;
• The opportunity to use onsite facilities including fitness centres and staff canteens (where applicable); and
• Occupational sick pay.