Deputy Director – HR Employee Experience and Culture

Our HR directorate is about enabling our teams to thrive and deliver DBT's core mission: economic growth.
We launched our People Strategy in April 2024, setting out how we will enable a highly skilled, productive and happy workforce, and a more effective Department. Our people are instrumental in transforming business and international trade and driving economic growth. The strategy recognises the importance of our people, details our commitments and priorities, aligning with the Civil Service People Plan. DBT HR is a place where we want everyone to thrive and we try to have an open and supportive culture. We are a fantastic team and would love you to get in touch and find out more about us., The HR Deputy Director for Employee Experience and culture will have a varied and demanding but highly engaging portfolio. Your responsibilities will include:
+ Provide strong and visible leadership for the HR Directorate, supporting engagement and capability building across the team and organisation.
+ Be responsible for developing organisational culture that also enables the effective delivery of strategic aims
+ Oversee Employee Relations and build effective and collaborative relationships with recognised Trade Unions.
+ Lead employee engagement, through proactive people survey response planning and maintaining an equitable, diverse and inclusive environment.
+ Ensure that HR polices are regularly reviewed and refreshed, so that we not only keep up with legislative changes but that we use insight from our wider HR services to prioritise and continuously improve our offer.
+ Oversee all Pay and Reward initiatives and activity for the organisation, including the delegated grade and Senior Civil Service pay awards
+ Lead HR transformation, and the management of unforeseen HR change management work
+ Ensure the effective delivery of the ED&I Framework and Gender Pay Gap Action Plan, and contributing to the successful delivery of the wider People Strategy
+ Provide regular engagement with the DBT Executive Committee, People Committee and senior colleagues on a range of issues relating to the portfolio.
Rebecca Woodward, HR and Organisational Design Director and the hiring manager for this role, will be hosting an open information session via MS teams to answer questions about this role on Wednesday 4th December 15:00 – 16:00 – we encourage interested candidates to join. Please click here for the meeting link., You will be asked to upload the two documents outlined below. It is essential you add your full name to both documents:
1. A CV setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role. Please provide reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
2. A Supporting Statement of around two pages of A4, providing examples of how your experience meets the essential criteria.
Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.
If you encounter any issues or are unable to apply online, please contact Andrew.Timlin@Hays.com in the first instance .
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.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
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.

Diversity and Inclusion
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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

The successful candidate will be able to evidence the following skills and experience throughout the application and interview process:
+ Experience of role inspiring and approachable leadership, with a proven track record driving the delivery of complex policies and initiatives that impact organisational behaviour and culture through teams
+ Able to lead the organisation’s response to the handling of sensitive people issues, with experience working with Trade Unions or equivalent industrial associations
+ Experience of building strong and influential relationships to drive HR initiatives through at a senior level, generating confidence, and providing personal coaching and trusted advice to Board level stakeholders.
+ The ability to confidently take informed decisions and recommend productive actions, using analysis, insight and data to engage stakeholders and make persuasive arguments which will support the DBT strategic objectives.
+ Strong personal credibility and resilience, and the enthusiasm and commitment to deliver and personally respond quickly to changing situations in complex high-profile contexts to create a culture of flexibility, responsiveness and creativity.
+ The successful candidate will be CIPD qualified to Chartered member level or demonstrate a significant track record of successfully delivery at a senior HR level, and willing to work towards Chartered Fellow level.

Alongside your salary of £76,000, Department for Business and Trade contributes £22,017 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
+ Learning and development tailored to your role
+ An environment with flexible working options
+ A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
+ A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%