26.67 Associate Director of People Services

Job summary

The Associate Director HR People Services is primarily responsible for leading the operational HR people services team within the People & Inclusion Directorate (P&I). As a key member of the P&I management team, the post holder will work collaboratively with colleagues and the Executive Director People & Inclusion to develop and embed new organisational structures and ways of working and to position HR as a strategic and value adding function.

The post holder will be responsible for expert, professional Human Resources service including recruitment; employee relations; employee engagement, payroll and strategic and operational employment advice. The post will manage a team of 12 FTE including a People Services Manager, HR Business Partners, HR Advisors and HR Services Officers.

Job description

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the delivery of the People business plan aligned to DBS’ strategic objectives, delivering reliable, high-quality people services and set clear performance indicators to foster ongoing improvement.
• Lead on the implementation of people-led change, advising on employment law, structural changes, and people-related risks, ensuing effective engagement with Trade Union.
• Build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including the Home Office, Cabinet Office, Trade Unions, and supporting DBS Board and its committees to provide assurance on effective service delivery.
• Lead, motivate and engage the HR People services Team; managing performance and development, providing expertise, coaching, and ensuring the delivery of a high quality service that meets business requirements.
• Contribute to the development of the DBS Workforce Operational Plan and ensure the effective implementation, adoption and embedding of all people initiatives, through the HRBP relationships.
• Build robust relationships with Executive Directors and Corporate Leadership Teams to ensure awareness of future operational HR demands, workforce planning needs and actively elicit service feedback.
• As the senior escalation route, resolve complex employee relation issues involving and engaging with key stakeholders, considering the wider business context and external factors.
• In collaboration with People Experience Lead, enhance the outcomes and impact of our services through review of all end to end HR processes to drive efficiencies and quality improvements with the employee lifecycle as a central focus and embed a continuous improvement approach within the HR People Services Team.
• Lead DBS in building and maintaining an effective and productive employee relations climate by creating the conditions for corporate leaders to meaningfully and proactively engage with the Trade Union to inform, consult or negotiate.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Experienced leading operational and strategic HR service delivery including first line advice, business partnering, recruitment services, HR systems, data management, and HRMI.
• Demonstrable experience of successfully improving services, processes and service standards.
• Demonstrable experience of producing clear, well-structured reports for senior leadership teams, including Board level.
• Detailed understanding of risk management and compliance within a HR context.
• Commercially aware with experience of successfully managing budgets adhering to strict financial protocols.
• Experience of effective senior stakeholder management, both internal and external, including the ability to deliver through others and successfully influence at all levels.
• Experienced in overseeing relationship management and evaluating service provision delivered through 3rd party suppliers, for example payroll, and pension provisions.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of operating in a regulatory agency or non-departmental public body (NDPB) preferred but not essential.

Qualifications

The successful candidate must be qualified to level 7 of Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) and it is expected that you have or are working towards Chartered member status.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £74,061, Disclosure & Barring Service contributes £21,455 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The DBS offers a number of excellent benefits for its employees. These can include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement
• Excellent maternity, paternity and adoption schemes (after a qualifying period)
• Commitment to the health and wellbeing of our employees
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Flexible working opportunities
• Eyecare voucher scheme
• Occupational Health Service including referrals for counselling and physiotherapy
• 24/7 Counselling and Wellbeing Service
• A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

The DBS vision and purpose is to make people safer by being a visible, trusted and influential organisation, providing an outstanding quality of service to all our customers and partners, where our people understand the important safeguarding contributions they make and feel proud to work here. To do this, the DBS is committed to being an employer that is able to attract, develop, retain and engage diverse talent that is representative of the communities we serve, and to be an organisation providing outstanding service to all our existing and new customers, who are diverse and have a range of different needs. We want all our staff to be able to bring their ‘whole self’ to work.

Further Information:

To view the DBS Recruitment and On-boarding Privacy Notice, please click the link below:

DBS Recruitment and On-boarding Privacy Notice - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

To apply for this role, please provide a CV along with a Personal Statement of no more than 500 words outlining how your skills, experience and qualifications meet the requirements of the role, including all essential criteria and the key responsibilities.

You will also be required to provide behaviour statements (maximum 250 words each) using evidence‑based examples that demonstrate the following Civil Service behaviours:

• Leadership
• Managing a quality service

Should a large number of applications be received, the sift may be conducted on the lead behaviour, Leadership.

Candidates successful at the sift stage will be invited to attend an interview which will include a presentation and will assess the following behaviours:

• Leadership
• Seeing the bigger picture
• Communicating and influencing
• Delivering at pace
• Managing a quality service

The presentation will be measured against the following behaviour - Communicating and Influencing. Further details on the presentation topic will be provided to shortlisted candidates invited to interview.

Interviews will be held virtually via MS Teams.

The following timetable outlines indicative dates. Please note, these dates may be subject to change without prior notice.

Advert closing date: Friday, 26 June 2026 at 10am.

The initial candidate sift is due to take place week commencing 29 June 2026.

Interviews are due to take place week commencing 13 July 2026.

Whilst we will endeavour to provide some flexibility with regards to dates wherever possible, it is unlikely that we will be able to offer an alternative date once an appointment has been scheduled.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil 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

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 : DBS People Support Team
• Email : DBSPeopleSupportTeam@dbs.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : DBSPeopleSupportTeam@dbs.gov.uk

Attachments

AD People Services - Job Description Opens in new window (pdf, 366kB)