Strategic Workforce Planning Lead - Edinburgh
6-Month Contract | Inside IR35
£350-£400 per day
Edinburgh | Hybrid (2 days on site)
We are supporting a leading Scottish public-sector organisation in the recruitment of an experienced Strategic Workforce Planning Lead. This is a key role responsible for shaping the organisation's workforce strategy through to 2030, ensuring alignment with corporate priorities, financial planning, and future operational needs.
This assignment offers the opportunity to influence senior decision-makers, lead cross-functional collaboration, and be the principal author of a high-impact workforce plan for a nationally significant organisation.
The Role
Working closely with the Head of People (HR, Learning & Skills Development), you will lead the creation of a comprehensive Strategic Workforce Plan for the period. You'll engage senior leaders to understand business priorities, analyse workforce MI and financial data, and translate organisational strategy into clear, evidence-based workforce requirements.
You will also identify gaps in current workforce planning activity, source missing data, and coordinate inputs from People, Finance, Cost Centres, Corporate Affairs and Communications teams.
Key Responsibilities
* Develop a clear, robust and future-focused workforce plan mapping the current workforce and defining the route to 2030.
* Engage senior leaders to understand directorate challenges, strategic objectives, and anticipated workforce demand.
* Analyse staffing MI, multi-year financial plans, budgets and corporate goals to predict workforce impacts across .
* Lead scenario planning and workforce modelling to test different strategic, operational and financial outcomes.
* Assess the organisation's culture, resourcing approach, development pathways and retention challenges to inform workforce strategy.
* Identify information gaps and coordinate data gathering from key internal stakeholders.
* Act as the lead author of the Strategic Workforce Plan, producing clear, well-structured documentation for senior approval.
* Work collaboratively across HR, L&D, Finance, and Corporate teams to ensure alignment with policy, operations and budget planning.
Skills & Experience Required
* Proven experience developing and delivering strategic workforce plans (public sector experience highly desirable).
* Strong ability to quickly interpret and align work to organisational strategy, corporate plans and long-term objectives.
* Skilled in analysing and interpreting financial data relating to workforce planning and future workforce cost modelling.
* Excellent communication and influencing skills, particularly when engaging senior staff and cross-functional leaders.
* Confident in scenario planning and modelling techniques.
* Strong understanding of the public sector, Scottish Government bodies or Arms-Length Agencies.
* Ability to work effectively across diverse professional teams, bringing clarity, structure and leadership to complex planning work.
Guidant, Carbon60, Lorien & SRG - The Impellam Group Portfolio are acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.