Chief People Officer

Job summary

We are running an information session where prospective applicants can find out more about the role. This will be hosted by Andrew Pattison, Chief Operating Officer and will take place on:

• Wednesday 4th March at 12:00

The session will be an opportunity to hear more about the role, the team and wider directorate and the department.

It will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have about the application, and the interview and assessment process.

Please register your interest by filling out this form and you will be sent an invitation.

This will take place virtually, via Google Meets.

If you wish to attend the session anonymously, and you are using a google email address to join, please ensure that you have changed how your name appears before joining the call.

Please note that the session will not be recorded.

Job description

As the Chief People Officer you will provide strategic leadership for a diverse portfolio encompassing HR, Workplace, and Security during a period of significant departmental evolution. Reporting to the Executive Board and advising Ministers, you will lead the People and Workplace (P&W) directorate of circa 65 to deliver a high-quality, agile HR service. You will be the architect of our future workforce and driving the DCMS People Strategy. You will also be key in ensuring the department delivers the landmark implementation of the NEO systems transformation in Summer 2026. This brings together five departments on one system as part of the Government Shared Services strategy. A further key priority will be strengthening our dual-headquarters model, ensuring visible leadership and increased representation across our London and Manchester offices.

Key responsibilities include:

• Driving the delivery of high-quality, professional HR services, ensuring senior leadership and line managers receive the expert guidance and streamlined support needed to lead their teams effectively.
• Acting as a core member of the executive board, providing expert counsel to Ministers and NEDs on complex people, property, and security matters.
• Leading the people-side of the HR/Finance system migration. This involves ensuring people, place and security processes utilise the new technology, redesigning P&W teams to maximise the benefits of the new NEO platform and supporting wider corporate transformation.
• Orchestrating the departmental workforce management strategy, focusing on organisational design, capability building, and regional growth in Manchester.
• Championing a values-led culture that prioritises equity and diversity, maintaining DCMS’s ambition to be an inclusive employer of choice.
• Providing engaging workplaces by leading our dual-location strategy, collaborating with the Government Property Agency to meet official standards while actively relocating roles to our Northern HQ in Manchester.
• Prioritising the safety and security of DCMS staff and information, ensuring effective policies and governance are in place to meet Government Security standards.
• Overseeing the delivery of Government HR, Property, and Security standards across DCMS and its 42 Arms-Length Bodies.

About the Team

You will lead the friendly and dedicated People and Workplace (P&W) Directorate which comprises of circa 65 staff. You will be responsible for the HR, security, and property functions for DCMS, and will frequently collaborate with our family of 42 public bodies. The directorate also houses our people-centered change management team. Our mission is to create an inspiring, productive, and safe workplace where everyone belongs and thrives.

We are proud of our high people engagement score of 74% and run various activities throughout the year to maintain our strong team culture. Our team is regionally dispersed, with approximately 40% of members based outside of London.

The directorate is structured into two core Deputy Director teams:

• Human Resources: follows a comprehensive operating model covering strategy, expert services, people development, business partnering, resourcing, and operations.
• Property, Workplace Services and Security: manages our office portfolio (in partnership with the GPA), physical and personal security, and business continuity.

We are currently embedding the DCMS People Strategy, focusing on building a future-ready, agile workforce and empowering staff through digital and AI skill development.

Person specification

The ideal candidate would have the following key skills and experience, please note that desirable skills will only be used in the event of tied candidates:

Essential Requirement

• Must have achieved CIPD Chartered Fellow membership (FCIPD) or be willing to work towards an experience assessment of this qualification upon commencement.
• Leadership: an authentic and visible leader with a proven track record of building, inspiring, and developing diverse, high-performing teams. You must demonstrate the ability to lead through ambiguity and foster a cohesive, values-led culture across a geographically dispersed workforce. You should demonstrate the acumen to add value to the organisation’s senior management boards.
• Communicating and Influencing: outstanding interpersonal and political acumen, with the ability to establish immediate credibility and build trusting relationships at the highest levels. You must be able to navigate a complex landscape to facilitate senior decision-making and deliver successful outcomes.
• Seeing the Big Picture: translating overarching business strategies and departmental priorities into clear, deliverable people plans. You should have a track record of aligning people strategies to organisational goals using business insight, data analytics, and financial acumen.
• Changing and Improving: proven ability to lead organisational transformation by critically reviewing and reshaping organisational design and workforce planning, implementing innovative solutions that improve capability and prepare the department for the future. The capacity to lead large-scale transformational change across workplace systems, processes, and culture.
• Managing a Quality Service: a proven track record of delivering excellent HR, workforce, or OD services within an organisation of comparable scale and complexity. This includes a deep understanding of current best practices, managing organisational risk, and ensuring professional excellence in service delivery to meet customer demands.

Desirable Skills

• Experience or technical understanding of managing physical workplace functions, including facilities, security governance, or health and safety, particularly across multiple sites.

Qualifications

Must have achieved CIPD Chartered Fellow membership (FCIPD) or be willing to work towards an experience assessment of this qualification upon commencement.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £100,000, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £28,970 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

DCMS values its staff and offers a wide range of benefits to everyone who works here. We’re committed to developing talent, and supporting colleagues to have great careers in our department. To support with that, some of the benefits we offer include:

• Flexible working arrangements and hybrid working - DCMS staff work on a flexible basis with time spent in offices, and time spent working from home

• 25 days annual leave on entry, increasing to 30 days after 5 years’ service

• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

• Access to the Edenred employee benefits system which offers discounts to popular retailers and access to various useful resources such as financial and savings advice

• 3 days of paid volunteering leave

• Up to 9 months maternity leave on full pay + generous paternity and adoption leave

• Staff reward and recognition bonuses that operate throughout the year

• Occupational sick pay

• Access to the Employee Assistance Programme which offers staff 24/7 confidential support and resources such as counselling, debt guidance and management advice

• Active and engaged staff networks to join including the LGBT+, Ethnic Diversity, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Gender Equality Networks

• Exceptional learning and development opportunities that you can explore alongside your day to day work

• Season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme and much more!

Terms and conditions at SCS grades will vary. Those applying for SCS roles should refer to the candidate information pack for more information on terms and conditions.

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 vacancy, you will need to submit the following documents which will assessed against the essential requirements for the role:

➔A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages and you should insert your CV into the "Job History" section on Civil Service Jobs on the Civil Service Jobs application form.

➔A Statement of Suitability (max 1000 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted.

For the shortlist, we will select applicants who demonstrate the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application and how this meets the essential requirements.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

Should you encounter any issues with your online application please get in touch with: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Shortlist

The panel 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 ‘essential requirements’ section of this pack. Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application.

Meeting with Permanent Secretary

Before the interview stage, shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an informal meeting with our Permanent Secretary, Susannah Storey.

Feedback

Please note you will only receive feedback if you complete the interview stage. Following interview, all shortlisted candidates will receive their outcome along with some short written feedback on performance at interview.

Assessment

If shortlisted you will be invited to undertake an assessment as part of the recruitment process, prior to your final interview panel:

• A staff engagement exercise: a structured exercise which involves shortlisted candidates facilitating a discussion with a selection of staff from the Department on a given topic.

This exercise will take place remotely via Google Meet. This will not result in a “pass” or “fail” decision. It is designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

Interview

The interview process will assess behaviours andexperience and will include a scenario based task.

The behaviours tested during the interview are listed in the essential requirements.

As part of your interview, you will be asked to deliver a short scenario based presentation. The scenario topic will be provided on the day of your interview.

Your interview will take place, in person, at DCMS’ London office: 100 Parliament Street.

If you are shortlisted, you will also be offered an informal conversation with Andrew Pattison, ahead of the final panel interview. This does not form part of the assessment process and is merely an opportunity for you to find out more about the role.

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 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

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 : SCS Recruitment
• Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact the Head of Resourcing at recruitment.team@dcms.gov.uk, in the first instance.

Attachments

Chief People Officer - DCMS SCS Candidate Information Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 4807kB)