The HR Director has responsibility and accountability for: Partnering the Director General for Digital and Transformation Group and their Executive Team; coaching them to assess and improve the leadership capability, capacity and people management of the Group Setting direction and providing consultancy around organisational problem solving, providing an objective view and challenge to shape and steer business direction, performance and outcomes Building relationships and forming meaningful alliances with stakeholders, both internal and external, using these networks to scan for emerging demands, trends and innovations Developing the People Plan for Digital and Transformation Group that supports our departmental and transformation priorities Utilising business insight and robust people analytics to steer and direct organisational workforce strategies Working with senior leaders to assess the impact of change from a strategic perspective, identifying impacts such as capability, leadership, role design, behaviours, attitudes, culture, systems and communications Advocating and deploying organisational development interventions linked to the delivery and embedding of Digital and Transformation Group Acting as an intelligent customer into the wider People and Capability Function on behalf the business as well as identification of external providers where needed Developing and enabling a diverse team to become a high performing partner to Digital and Transformation Group. Delivering at pace against challenging requirements and being a visible, confident, inspiring and empowering leader in the People and Capability Group as a whole. Person specification The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their knowledge, experience and skills against the following essential criteria: Ability to see the big picture, making strategic connections across a complex landscape of people impacts from large-scale organisational change Track record of building highly effective and trusting relationships, particularly at a senior level, collaborating across a challenging agenda, using relationships and professional networks to add measurable value to the organisation Deep understanding and curiosity about current best practice on people issues, understanding the drivers and levers for people-related change and an understanding of the data and analytics that underpin effective decision making and risk management in people-related matters Success in translating Business Strategies and Plans into clear, understandable and deliverable people plans using business insight and acumen and then implementing people plans at scale and pace Excellent leadership skills with a track record of developing high-performing and diverse teams through effective leadership and role modelling You must have achieved CIPD Chartered Fellow membership or be willing to work towards this upon commencement of your role Behaviours We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: Seeing the Big Picture Changing and Improving Making Effective Decisions Leadership Communicating and Influencing Benefits Alongside your salary of 81,000, Department for Work and Pensions contributes 23,465 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes: Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, flexible working and compressed hours. Generous annual leave at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (prorata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave. Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme. Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly). Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 years continuous service. Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes. An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Womens Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more. Things you need to know Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Ability and Experience. 1. Application Process To apply for this post, all applications must be submitted using the link https://www.gatenbysanderson.com/job/GSe126739/ no later than 23:55pm on 7th November 2025. A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years; A personal statement (maximum 1250 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. 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. As part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say. All monitoring data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be provided to the selection panel. The information you provide when submitting your application will help us monitor our progress towards the Civil Service becoming the most inclusive employer. Should you encounter any issues with your online application or need support please contact mary.dempsey@gatenbysanderson.com Your application will be acknowledged when it is received. For a confidential initial discussion about the role, please get in touch with our recruitment advisers at GatenbySanderson: Khadeeja Khalid khadeeja.khalid@gatenbysanderson.com Julie Myers: julie.myers@gatenbysanderson.com Hilda Gjika: hilda.gjika@gatenbysanderson.com They will be available throughout the process to advise and support candidates. 2. Longlist A panel, including the hiring manager, will assess your application to select those demonstrating the best fit with the role by considering the evidence you have provided against the criteria set out in the person specification section of this pack. Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application. The timeline later in this pack indicates the date by which a decision is expected to be made, and all shortlisted candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter. Candidates selected for longlisting will be invited for a preliminary discussion with GatenbySanderson to further explore their skills and experience. Candidates applying under the Disability Confident, Redeployment or Veterans Scheme who meet the minimum selection criteria in the job specification are guaranteed an interview. Please complete the relevant parts in the application system if applying under these schemes. 3. Shortlist The panel will review reports on those longlisted and will select a shortlist of candidates whose applications best demonstrate suitability for the role, by considering the evidence provided against the essential criteria set out in the Personal Specification 4. Assessment If you are shortlisted, you will be asked to take part in a Stakeholder Engagement Exercise in advance of the interview. This assessment will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, it is designed to support the panels decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview. For further details about the role and the selection process please see the candidate pack attached this advert. Reasonable Adjustments At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, especially those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact senior.recruitment@dwp.gov.uk as soon as possible, before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the Reasonable Adjustments section in the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what additional support or adjustments you might need during the recruitment process. For further information regarding reasonable adjustments, please see following link: Reasonable Adjustments, Civil Service Careers Artificial Intelligence For further information regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within applications, please see following link: Artificial intelligence and recruitment, Civil Service Careers 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). Apply and further information This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative. Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records. Contact point for applicants Job contact : Name : Gatenby Sanderson Email : khadeeja.khalid@gatenbysanderson.com Recruitment team Email : khadeeja.khalid@gatenbysanderson.com Attachments HR Director Digital and Transformation Group Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 573kB) Apply at advertiser's site