The Director of People & Culture is the senior lead for the organisations people, workforce and organisational development agenda, ensuring that the organisation attracts, develops and retains the talent required to deliver high-quality, safe and sustainable patient care.
The postholder will play a key strategic role in organisational growth and service development, including shaping workforce proposals for NHS procurement processes and leading workforce mobilisation for new contracts.
They will act as a trusted adviser to the CEO, Senior Team and Board on all people-related matters, ensuring strong governance, regulatory compliance and a positive, values-led staff experience.
Main duties of the job
Key Responsibilities
Strategic People & Culture Leadership
Workforce Strategy for Growth & NHS Contract Bids
Talent Management and Leadership Development
Organisational Development and Change
Employee Relations, Engagement and Staff Experience
Staff Satisfaction & Workforce Insight
Recruitment, Reward and Workforce Information
Training and Development
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Leadership and System Working
About us
The organisation is a large-scale GP provider employing over 300 staff, delivering core GP services to approximately 60,000 registered patients and Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) services supporting a population of over 1,000,000 across the county.
The organisationoperateswithin a complex NHS system environment, working closely with commissioners, provider partners, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), NHSEnglandand procurement teams. It is actively involved in bidding for, mobilising and delivering new service contracts.
Job responsibilities
Key Responsibilities
Strategic People and Culture Leadership
Develop and deliver a comprehensive People and Workforce Strategy aligned to organisational objectives, clinical priorities and service growth ambitions.
Provide expert, evidence-based advice to the CEO, Senior Team and Board on workforce strategy, culture, organisational design and people-related risk.
Shape and embed a high-performing, inclusive and compassionate organisational culture that supports patient care, staff wellbeing and retention.
Lead long-term workforce and succession planning across GP, UEC and corporate services.
Workforce Strategy for Growth and NHS Contract Bids
Lead the people and workforce components of bids for new NHS service contracts, working in close partnership with clinical, operational and finance leads.
Develop robust and deliverable workforce models for procurement submissions, including skill mix, rota design, recruitment pipelines, affordability and TUPE considerations.
Advise on workforce mobilisation, onboarding and integration for new services and contracts.
Ensure workforce proposals meet commissioner expectations for quality, resilience, sustainability and value for money.
Talent Management and Leadership Development
Design and lead an organisation-wide talent management strategy, including identification and development of high-potential staff.
Oversee leadership development frameworks for clinical, operational and corporate leaders.
Ensure clear career pathways, succession planning and development opportunities across the organisation.
Promote continuous learning, professional development and capability-building aligned to service needs and future workforce requirements.
Organisational Development and Change
Lead organisational development and change programmes, including service transformation, restructuring and growth initiatives.
Support leaders to design effective team structures, roles and governance arrangements that enable high-quality delivery.
Embed effective performance management, feedback and accountability frameworks.
Employee Relations, Engagement and Staff Experience
Provide senior leadership on employee relations, ensuring fair, consistent and legally compliant practice.
Lead engagement with staff representatives and trade unions where applicable.
Oversee complex and sensitive casework, ensuring risks to quality, reputation and staff experience are effectively managed.
Champion staff wellbeing, inclusion, engagement and retention across the organisation.
Staff Satisfaction and Workforce Insight
Hold responsibility for the design, administration and oversight of staff satisfaction and engagement measurement (e.g. surveys, pulse checks and feedback mechanisms).
Ensure robust analysis, reporting and presentation of staff satisfaction data to the Senior Team and Board.
Translate staff feedback into clear, prioritised action plans and monitor delivery and impact.
Use workforce insight to identify trends, risks and opportunities and inform strategic decision-making.
Recruitment, Reward and Workforce Information
Lead recruitment and retention strategies in a competitive labour market, including hard-to-fill clinical roles.
Oversee pay, reward and job evaluation frameworks, ensuring equity, affordability and alignment with organisational objectives.
Ensure high-quality workforce data, analytics and reporting, including KPIs on vacancies, turnover, sickness and agency use.
Training and Development
Lead the organisations approach to workforce training, professional development and continuous learning across clinical, operational and corporate teams.
Oversee the design and delivery of structured training programmes, including leadership development, professional education and mandatory training requirements.
Work with clinical and operational leaders to identify workforce capability needs and ensure staff have the skills required to deliver high-quality patient care and organisational performance.
Develop clear career pathways and development opportunities to support talent progression, retention and succession planning.
Ensure training and development activity aligns with workforce planning, service requirements and organisational growth, including the mobilisation of new services and contracts.
Monitor training compliance, participation and effectiveness, providing regular reporting to the Senior Team and Board.
Evaluate the impact of training and development programmes to ensure learning translates into improved staff capability, engagement and service quality.
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Ensure compliance with employment law, NHS contractual requirements and best-practice HR standards.
Lead workforce-related risk management, assurance and policy development.
Contribute to organisational quality, safety and governance arrangements.
Leadership and System Working
Lead, develop and inspire a high-performing People / HR team.
Build strong relationships with commissioners, procurement teams and system partners.
Represent the organisation credibly at system-level forums on people, workforce and culture.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Level 5 People Management
* Significant senior People / HR leadership experience, operating at director or equivalent level.
* Proven experience of workforce strategy, organisational development and talent management in a complex organisation.
* Demonstrable experience contributing to business cases, bids or growth initiatives requiring credible workforce planning.
* Strong knowledge of employment law and employee relations.
* Experience of working closely with Boards and senior leadership teams.
* Highly credible, resilient and commercially aware, with strong influencing and communication skills.
* Experience of working within, or alongside, the NHS or other large service systems.
* Experience of service mobilisation, TUPE or workforce integration.
* Chartered Member or Fellow of the CIPD.
* Experience in healthcare, regulated services or other people-intensive sectors.
Experience
* Strong commitment to high-quality, patient-centred services.
* Inclusive, visible and authentic leadership style.
* Calm and confident under pressure.
* Collaborative, pragmatic and outcomes-focused
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
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