HR Director for Business Partnering

at  Department for Work and Pensions

JOB SUMMARY

Are you a confident leader who is passionate about providing high quality user-focused partnering services?
If so, come join us as the new HR Director for Business Partnering.
In DWP, we care about making a real difference. This is a fantastic opportunity to work in the largest Civil Service Department that touches the lives of citizens the length and breadth of the UK. What we do matters. We serve over 22 million customers a year - we keep children out of poverty; we help people without jobs to find work so that they can support themselves and their families; we ensure the most vulnerable in society are protected. Now more than ever, the role that DWP plays in supporting society is vital.
There’s never been a more important time to work in People and Capability in DWP. We are a critical function as DWP delivers both scaling up and transformation to support the biggest welfare reform in a generation.
This Director leads a team of 225 people to provide partnering and casework services in support of our 85,000 colleagues. This is a critical role and provides a challenge with both scale and scope. The challenges are unprecedented, and teams have been delivering at pace across our Group. You will be ambitious - and share our ambition – to build a reputation as an organisation where colleagues thrive.

JOB DESCRIPTION

You will lead and work with multiple senior stakeholders to design people strategies and implement people related change in business areas engaging across the whole system and the full multi-disciplinary expertise of the Department. You will also have a partnering relationship with a member of the DWP Executive Team.
You will be required to advise and influence across the Government People Group and as such, you will be required to sit on several cross-Government and Departmental decision making and assurance groups and be accountable for ensuring future design and delivery plans are fit for purpose.
You will lead the HR Business Partner and HR Advice Guidance Community (HR Casework) of over 225 colleagues within DWP and ensure they have the skills and capabilities to deliver timely, high-quality, user-focussed services across the Department.
The Director for HR Business Partnering has responsibility for driving, developing, and delivering of local people strategies and plans, and end-to-end HR services to enable the transformation of the Department. This includes aspects such as strategic workforce planning, TUPE, building capability, diversity, inclusion, talent management and reward. Given the remit of this role there is also an emphasis on SCS resourcing and talent across 15 professions.

You and your teams will partner Business Groups to influence and deliver the following requirements in respect of:

• Workforce plans, resourcing and HR Transformation
• Pay, reward and employee relations
• Operational delivery and change management
• Localised learning and transformation
• Equality Diversity Inclusion and Wellbeing
• Localised leadership, talent and Senior Civil Service

Key Accountabilities:

• Ensure effective service and user design is embedded in the continuous improvement and professionalisation of HR Partnering and HR Advice and Guidance Services
• Set vision and direction for a highly effective team of HR Business Partners and HR Advisors providing, motivation, and leadership to ensure they reach their maximum potential and deliver timely, high-quality, user-focussed services
• Set direction and provide consultancy around organisational problem solving, providing an objective view and challenge to shape and steer business direction, performance and outcomes
• Build relationships and form meaningful alliances with stakeholders, both internal and external, using these networks to scan for emerging demands, trends and innovations
• Work with senior leaders to assess the impact of business change, identifying impacts such as capability, role design, culture, and communications and, embed the DWP Values creating an inclusive culture and a focus on colleagues achieving their full potential through leadership, engagement, People Performance, talent management, recruitment, and learning & development
• Ensure clear business adoption plans to adopt new processes, technology, and services
• Utilise business insight and robust people analytics to steer and direct organisational workforce strategies
• Deliver workforce plans across business areas that reflect agreed priorities and affordability across business areas and underpin future capability needs.
• Act as an intelligent customer into the wider People and Capability Function on behalf the business.

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)

TO FIND OUR MORE ABOUT THIS ROLE AND THE APPLICATION PROCESS, PLEASE SEE THE CANDIDATE PACK AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS ADVERT.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.
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.