Job Description

As Head of People & Culture, you’ll shape and deliver the employee experience across CMS, bringing together culture, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB), wellbeing, engagement, employee voice and people communications.

You’ll work closely with the Director of Talent, Learning and Culture, Chief People Officer, People Leadership Team and senior stakeholders to turn people priorities into practical and measurable initiatives. Your focus will be on creating a consistent and inclusive employee experience that reflects our values, strengthens belonging and engagement, and supports organisational performance.

You’ll also lead and develop the People & Culture team, setting clear priorities and bringing together activity across this broad remit.

What you’ll do

• Shape the employee experience: Lead the design and delivery of the employee experience across the employee lifecycle, identifying opportunities to make it more consistent, inclusive and engaging.
• Strengthen culture and engagement: Develop and deliver initiatives that support our organisational culture, employee engagement and alignment with our values and behaviours.
• Lead our DEIB agenda: Translate diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging priorities into practical programmes and measurable outcomes. Work with leaders and colleagues to identify and address barriers, strengthen belonging and embed inclusion across our people practices and ways of working.
• Develop our approach to wellbeing: Lead the wellbeing agenda, using colleague insight to understand pressures and shape practical responses. Work with leaders to support sustainable ways of working, resilience and healthy boundaries.
• Bring employee voice into decision-making: Help develop effective ways to listen to colleagues and turn their feedback and insight into meaningful action.
• Lead employee experience communications and engagement: Shape communications that help colleagues understand, access and contribute to initiatives covering culture, DEIB, wellbeing and the wider employee experience.
• Support culture change: Work with leaders and the wider People function to translate organisational values and culture priorities into practical activity across the employee experience.
• Use insight to measure impact: Use relevant people data, employee feedback and engagement measures to understand what is working, identify priorities and assess the impact of initiatives.
• Work across the organisation: Build effective relationships across HR, communications, DEIB, wellbeing and business leadership, connecting related activity and creating a more coherent employee experience.
• Lead and develop the team: Set clear priorities and objectives for the People & Culture team, supporting effective delivery while maintaining momentum through change.

What you’ll bring

Essential experience and capabilities

We’re looking for someone who can bring:

• Senior HR or People experience with a strong focus on areas such as employee experience, culture, engagement, DEIB, wellbeing or people communications.
• Experience designing and delivering organisation-wide people initiatives that support employee experience, inclusion, engagement and organisational performance.
• A strong understanding of the employee lifecycle and how different policies, programmes and interactions collectively shape the employee experience.
• Experience leading culture, engagement or organisational change activity in partnership with senior leaders and business stakeholders.
• Strong knowledge of DEIB principles and experience translating them into practical approaches across people programmes and ways of working.
• Experience developing or leading wellbeing approaches that consider both employee experience and organisational needs.
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to make complex people priorities clear, relevant and accessible to different audiences.
• The credibility and influencing skills to work effectively with senior leaders and stakeholders in a complex organisation.
• An understanding of people policy principles and how policies and frameworks can support a fair, consistent and values-led employee experience.
• The ability to turn organisational priorities, employee insight and data into practical actions and measurable outcomes.
• Experience leading and developing teams, setting clear priorities and maintaining effective delivery through periods of change.

Desirable experience

It would be useful, but is not essential, to bring some of the following:

• A CIPD qualification, relevant postgraduate qualification, or equivalent professional experience in areas such as HR, organisational development, culture, DEIB, wellbeing or communications.
• Experience working within professional services, a partnership, matrix organisation or another complex organisational environment.
• Experience developing employee listening, employee voice, engagement survey or culture-measurement approaches.
• Experience using people data, employee insight or engagement measures to inform priorities and evaluate impact.
• Experience developing people communications, leadership messaging or engagement campaigns.
• Experience reviewing or developing people policies to support organisational values and employee experience.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives involving HR, communications, DEIB, wellbeing, engagement and business stakeholders.

What’s in it for you?

We want to reward you today and help you plan for tomorrow. We appreciate that everyone is different, therefore we have designed a benefits system that offers choice and flexibility based on individual needs and lifestyles. To name a few, these include:

• Competitive basic salary (reviewed annually)
• Flexible, hybrid working policy
• Generous bonus scheme
• Up to 25 days holiday (rising to 28 days with service)
• Holiday exchange scheme
• Private medical insurance
• Enhanced parental leave
• Reasonable adjustments and accommodation for disabled talent in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

If you would like to read more information regarding our range of benefits, please visit our Rewards & Benefits page on our website.

Please note that we have a preferred agency panel in place. Only applications submitted via the portal at the point of instruction will be accepted.