Group Head of HR Policy and Employee Relations

Employer:

Government Recruitment Service

Location:

Birmingham

Pay:

Contract Type:

Temporary

Hours:

Full time

Disability Confident:

Yes

Closing Date:

18/03/2026

Do you want to take the lead and strategically partner with an organisation that is passionate about the delivery of a high quality, strategic people agenda overseeing the vital areas of HR Policy and Employee Relations?

Are you looking for a role where you can make a real difference to the performance and people agenda of a high-profile government department?

Do you pride yourself on your excellent communication skills and the ability to work in with senior leaders & stakeholders?

We are recruiting for a fixed-term maternity cover for the role of Group Head of HR Policy and Employee Relations, and we'd love to hear from you This is a unique opportunity as it has two parts: Firstly, operating as part of a job-share with another Grade 6 covering the core business as usual elements of the role, including management of the wider team.

Secondly, we are looking for the post-holder to take responsibility for leading a temporary project, and discrete small team, to refresh and simplify our People Policies.

The goal is to partner them with an AI tool to improve how our policies are presented and help our colleagues navigate them more effectively.

DfT is a high-profile department at the heart of UK government.

We work with agencies and partners to support the transport network that helps businesses and gets people and goods travelling around the country.

We plan and invest to make journeys better.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including: Employer pension contribution of
28.97% of your salary.

Read more about Civil Service Pensions here 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King's birthday Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below Find out more about what it's like working at Department for Transport Central

• Department for Transport Careers As part of the Department for Transport Group HR function, our team is committed to providing expert HR and employee relations guidance.

We take a business-oriented approach to developing effective solutions across the DfT Group.

The Group HR team leads on HR policy and employee relations within the central department, as well as supporting five executive agencies: Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA), and Active Travel England (ATE). You and your job-share partner will:

• Lead a team of HR professionals to build flexible and integrated HR policy and employee relations strategies/plans to support departmental strategy.
• Manage the relationship with the Departmental Trade Union side and build strong and trusted relationships with key stakeholders across the DfT Group.
• Manage the work of the team using project techniques to enable effective tracking, monitoring, and reporting of workstreams and support prioritisation.
• Ensure the team act as a centre of expertise, providing professional advice and guidance to HR colleagues, shared services and key stakeholders that enable and support the successful implementation of our people policies.
• Act as the lead contact/s for the relationship with Civil Service HR Expert Services, feeding into central people policy development so that the specific requirements of DfT people are captured and that we can influence Civil Service wide approaches.
• Manage a temporary project team that will focus on reviewing, evaluating and delivering a complete refresh of our existing HR Policies.
• Work with our HR Data, Technology & AI Lab to implement an AI solution that will support staff self-service and navigability of our policies.
• It is anticipated that this will be a 12-month project to match the length of the appointment.
• Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need.
• We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

For further information on the role, please read the attached Role Profile.

Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only.

• Whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process.

This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme.

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