Deputy Director - Head of HR

Job summary

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) will become Government Commercial Agency (GCA) on 1 April 2026. Please visit our website for further details.

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Do you want to be an integral part of the GCA HR team and drive the success of the HR/People Strategy through its people.

Are you ready for a strategic leadership challenge that will shape the future of our HR profession and the entire organisation?

Job Summary

The Head of HR plays a central and pivotal role as member of the HR Senior Leadership Team (SLT), reporting directly to the HR Director.

This role is critical in shaping the future of the GCA organisation and the HR profession

This role will be responsible for leading and line managing the Head of HR Services, Head of HR Operations, Head of HR Strategy, Reward and Policy and Head of Resourcing and Talent.

The post holder will also be responsible for leading the functional delivery of HR services; driving the people agenda, coaching senior leaders through complex people challenges, and supporting effective business delivery through the HR/People plan.

In addition to the above, the post holder will be responsible for the strategic oversight for developing and running the ERP, the Trade Union relationships/consultation, contract management of HR related services e.g Ministry of Justice, Employee assistance programme, Occupational health, Enterprise Resource Planning, Strategic Workforce Planning and pay award.

The role will manage circa c18 FTE, with the majority of the team being based in Liverpool. To support the continued engagement of the team, there is a minimum requirement of 2 days per week in the Liverpool office, along with other adhoc travel to other GCA locations as and when required.

Job description

Key Accountabilities:

Strategic People Leadership

• Strategy Design: Lead the design and delivery of a customer-centric People Strategy, aligning enterprise priorities with wider Civil Service objectives and evidence-based insights.

• Digital Roadmap: Own the long-term HR Information Systems (HRIS) and digital data strategy to enhance user experience and enable data-driven decision-making.

Operational Excellence & Governance

• Functional Oversight: Direct the delivery of all HR service lines (Ops, Resourcing, L&D, Talent) ensuring they meet quality standards and functional benchmarks.

• Financial Stewardship: Manage the HR budget and resource allocation to ensure value for money and strategic ROI.

• Risk & Compliance: Lead organisational people risk management, architecting mitigation strategies for systemic workforce risks and ensuring alignment with cross-government standards.

Talent, Capability & Performance

• Workforce Planning: Drive strategic workforce planning and capability development to ensure the organisation remains an "Employer of Choice."

• Performance Culture: Develop and implement model performance policies that drive agility, continuous improvement, and high-performance outcomes.

• Executive Coaching: Provide high-level insight and challenge to business leaders on complex, strategic people-related subjects.

Reward & Employee Relations

• Industrial Relations: Serve as the primary strategic interface with Trade Unions and Staff Associations, leading formal negotiations and collective consultations.

• Reward Framework: Oversee the annual pay award process and ensure reward packages remain competitive and aligned with Civil Service principles.

Leadership & Culture

• Team Leadership: Manage and coach the HR team to foster a high-performance culture and internal talent pipeline.

• Cultural Stewardship: Champion inclusion, diversity, and engagement initiatives to align the internal culture with organizational values.

Person specification

Essential Criteria (to be assessed at application stage):

• The successful candidate will be required to be a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD or demonstrate equivalent Senior HR experience and professional qualifications.

• Proven track record of successful leadership experience at Senior HR level and ability to lead strategic HR initiatives and transformational change programmes.

• Ability to interpret and use complex workforce data to inform strategic decisions.

• Proven ability to influence and build credible relationships with colleagues, external partners, and senior stakeholders with ability to influence at executive level.

• Evidence of delivering continuous improvement and digital transformation in HR service.

• The successful candidate will bring cross-disciplinary HR expertise to the GCA during this high-growth formation phase. You will be instrumental in shaping our systems, policies, and culture as we build the new organisation at pace.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, Crown Commercial Service 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.

Valuing our people:

• Competitive salary

• Generous pension scheme

• A discretionary non-contractual performance related bonus

• Working remotely in addition to working in advertised office location

• Minimum 25 days annual leave to a maximum service related 30 days excluding bank holidays

Explore fully how we will rewardyour work.

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 and theCivil Service D&I Strategy.

We want to make our recruitment process accessible to everyone, so if there is any way that we can support you, please contact recruitment@crowncommercial.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.

Working flexibly, delivering outcomes

CCS operates a smarter working model that balances flexibility with meaningful collaboration. Successful candidates will spend at least 26 days per quarter (approximately 2 days per week, pro-rata) working from either their contracted office, another CCS site, or off-site for meetings and events. For the remainder of the time, you have the flexibility to work from home or another suitable location that meets the needs of your role and the business—an approach designed to support your work-life balance while fostering team connection

Selection Process

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months, which the Civil Service may use to fill future suitably similar vacancies across government for candidates who are considered appointable following interview. Should you be placed on a reserve list and want to be removed please contact recruitment@crowncommercial.gov.uk.

Please note that as part of this recruitment process, if you are unsuccessful at the interview stage but are close to the benchmark score you may be considered for and offered a role at a lower pay band within the same job family.

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 counter-terrorist 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.

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 : The recruitment team
• Email : recruitment@crowncommercial.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@crowncommercial.gov.uk

Further information

Our recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles details of which can be found at http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact recruitment@crowncommercial.gov.uk in the first instance.

#CCS26

https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/careers-with-ccs

Attachments

7990-26 Deputy Director HR candidate pack_v4 (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 1900kB)