Job responsibilities
Leadership and Strategic Oversight
Accountable for the development and delivery of the People and Workplace strategy for UKHSA, ensuring we provide a great people experience and a safe and compliant workplace. for the overall delivery of the People and Workplace function for UKHSA, serving as the Provide strategic oversight for workplace future strategy, facilities management, and workplace governance, including Health & Safety requirements.
Talent Management & Development
Lead efforts to attract, retain, and develop top talent, ensuring a seamless onboarding process and effective succession planning. Oversee a well-functioning performance management system that fosters clear goal setting, constructive feedback, and forward-looking individual development plans. Ensure managers are trained and capable of conducting effective performance conversations, contributing to a high-performance culture aligned with core values. Head of Profession for HR and accountable for ensuring we have the appropriate leads in place for all the relevant streams of People and Workplace.Reward Strategy & People Operations
Develop and oversee a competitive reward and benefits program tailored to attract and retain top talent, ensuring alignment with public sector requirements and the organisation's purpose. Provide strategic oversight to ensure the competitiveness of the reward offering through research, benchmarking, and alignment with equality and diversity considerations.
Culture & Collaboration
Shape and foster a collaborative, high-performance culture that reflects core values throughout the people team, its processes, policies, and practices, including recruitment and rewards. Build and model candid, respectful, and trusting relationships across the leadership team, promoting open communication and mutual respect working in partnership with our staff representatives. Lead the organisation in meeting D&I recruitment and retention targets, ensuring diverse talent is effectively integrated and retained across the organisation. Serve as a trusted coach and mentor on all D&I issues, driving initiatives that promote an inclusive workplace culture. transforming HR, by driving efficiencies into our processes, supporting the implementation technology enabling people processes for our employees, line managers and HR colleagues. Building the capability of the wider People and Workplace team by ensuring we have the right specialist expertise to lead and advise the business.
Workplace and Security
Creating and leading on a Sustainability Strategy for the Agency and being accountable for sustainability reporting. Maximising the use of our estates, facilities and service management to ensure we provide engaging, fit for purpose workplaces that suit the diverse nature of our business activity and reflect future location strategies. Overseeing statutory compliance, contract management, procurement, and site access within our national office estate. Accountable for UKHSA's security ensuring everyone is responsible for taking preventative measures to protect our assets, people, information, and operations in line with the Gov007 functional standards (on GOV.UK). Promote a healthy security culture, whilst making UKHSA more resilient, and less vulnerable to security threats. Oversee security services including personnel and physical security, vetting, threat analysis, security risk management and security education and awareness.
Health and Safety
Lead cross-organisational regulatory compliance and assurance activities, ensuring that the requirements of regulators such as the Health and Safety Executive are met. Ensuring our three lines of defence model is robust, providing advice and collaborating with colleagues managing our operational Health and Safety processes and risks. Lead the delivery of an organisation-wide incident and risk reporting, ensuring trends and themes are identified are acted on and lessons learnt disseminated to avoid future problems, and promote an open and transparent safety culture across the organisation. The postholder will lead on the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of Health & Safety polices and processes, driving a best practice culture for health, safety and wellbeing throughout the UKHSA estate. Ability to interpret human factors data and translate them into actionable strategies. Leading initiatives that incorporate human factors that enhance productivity, safety, and well-being.
Please see candidate pack for more details.
Person Specification:
Essential Criteria:
Chartered Fellow/fully qualified member (Level 7) of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) or equivalent professional qualification or HR knowledge. A change-centric, innovative People leader with extensive experience driving transformational strategies across complex organisations, underpinned by strong financial acumen and budget management. Proven track record of aligning People and Workplace strategies to business priorities, leading high-performing teams, and delivering with excellenceeven under sustained pressure, scrutiny, and ambiguity. Demonstrates significant leadership in Health & Safety, facilities, and security governance, with deep experience in organisational risk management, compliance, and incident response. Possesses a broad technical understanding of People and Workplace functions, using this knowledge to enhance organisational performance, culture, and long-term capability. A consistent advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion, with a successful track record of fostering a cohesive, customer-focused, and values-led culture across diverse workforces.
Security Clearance Level Requirement
If successful you must hold, or be willing and able to obtain, security clearance (SC) level.
For meaningful National Security Vetting checks to be carried out individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 5 years as the role requires Security Check (SC) clearance. UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder / Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.
Stage 1: Application & Sift
This vacancy will useSuccess Profiles.
At sift stage you will be assessed against theessential criteriawithin the Person Specification section listed.
You will be required to complete the following:
- AnApplication formsetting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements and relevant professional qualifications. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years. The application form needs the same information as a standard CV.
- A Supporting Statement (up to 1000 words) 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.
Please Note: Healthjobs UK has a word limit in the Supporting Statement section of 1500 words but we kindly ask you to remain with 1000 word limit.
You will receive a joint score for your application form and statement.
If we receive a large number of applications an initial sift, against thelead criteria Leadership,will be conducted.
Please note feedback will not be provided at this stage.
Stage 2: Assessments
If you are shortlisted, you will be asked to take part in an Independent Leadership Assessment (ILA) which will include psychometric tests. An ILA is a 90-minute session with an occupational psychologist aimed at gaining an understanding of your preferred behavioural style in the workplace. The assessment will be informed by online psychometric assessments you will have completed beforehand, the results of which will be explored as a part of the discussion during the session. After the ILA is completed, the assessor will formulate a narrative report which is given to the panel prior to your formal interview. The assessment will take place online between the sift stage and interview. These assessments will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panels decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.
Stage 3:Interview(Success Profiles)
You will be invited to aface-to-faceinterview.
Interviews to be held at UK Health Security Agency, 10 South Colonnade, London E14 4PU.
In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to offer a remote interview.
Interviews will be held week commencing the 20/10/2025 please note these dates are subject to change.
This vacancy is being assessed using Success Profiles. During the interview we will assess you against the below:
Behaviours:
- Leadership Lead Behaviour
- Delivering at Pace
- Managing a Quality Service
- Communicating and Influencing
Candidates may be required to give a presentation at the interview as part of the assessment.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
External
Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants).
