Head of Business Partnering and Workforce Planning

Job summary

Do you want to work on one of the most exciting transformation projects in the public sector?

The Defence Housing Service (DHS) is being created through the Armed Forces Bill to deliver a step-change in housing for the UK’s Armed Forces and their families following the publication of the Defence Housing Strategy on 3 November 2025, which marked the most significant change to Armed Forces housing in over 50 years. DHS will bring a dedicated focus to improving the homes, communities and lived experience of Service personnel, placing families firmly at the heart of everything it does.

This is one of the most ambitious housing transformation programmes in the UK today. Backed by a £9.2 billion investment, DHS will modernise tens of thousands of homes, introduce a more proactive and customer-focused approach to maintenance, and unlock new opportunities to develop housing on Defence land. DHS will have the focus and agility to deliver change at pace, combining public service values with greater flexibility to build the skills, systems and partnerships needed for the future.

This is a rare opportunity to be part of shaping its culture, influencing how it works, and helping deliver lasting improvements for Service families across the UK.

The Defence Housing team is currently part of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), who respond to the evolving needs of our military personnel, and the ways in which they live, work, train and deploy. We are proud to be the expert partner Defence needs for all their infrastructure requirements. From large scale infrastructure projects such as runways for the F35 fighter jets to net carbon-zero accommodation for our Service families, our activities focus relentlessly on our customers, and our outputs are unique in the UK and across the globe! DIO , What we deliver every day.

The future delivery model for this team is currently under review and may change as part of potential organisational developments. This could include the team or function transferring to a different employer or organisational structure in the future. Should activities transfer out of the Ministry of Defence existing employees transferring with those activities will maintain the same or substantially the same terms and conditions of employment.

Job description

Reporting to the HR Director, this role is a critical link between the business and the wider HR function, leading the development of strategic workforce plans that support delivery of the business plan and help shape the people strategy driving DHS's transformation agenda.

Working closely with senior stakeholders and using people data and insights, you will develop workforce strategies across the full employee lifecycle, including talent acquisition, talent development, organisational effectiveness, leadership capability and organisational change. Collaborating with senior HR colleagues, you will ensure the organisation has a workforce that is fit for the future while building and strengthening housing-related skills and capabilities.

You will communicate, collaborate and influence at senior levels within a complex and transforming environment and be comfortable operating at pace, demonstrate strong commercial acumen, and make well-informed recommendations and decisions that balance strategic objectives with business needs. Building trusted relationships, providing adaptable leadership and driving positive change will be central to your success.

What you’ll be doing;

• Act as a trusted strategic partner to Directors and senior leaders, shaping people and workforce strategies that enable delivery of DHS priorities and transformation objectives.
• Drive organisational effectiveness, workforce performance and leadership capability, ensuring the organisation is equipped to deliver the Forces First commitment and future business requirements.
• Lead strategic workforce planning, including capability assessments, workforce modelling, succession planning and the development of people interventions to address current and future workforce needs.
• Influence, challenge and coach senior leaders to make informed people decisions, build high-performing teams and deliver sustainable business outcomes.
• Lead the people aspects of organisational change and transformation, fostering a positive culture, strengthening employee engagement and embedding new ways of working.
• Work in partnership with the HR Director and senior HR colleagues to design and deliver an integrated people agenda aligned to DHS strategic objectives.
• Shape and promote HR best practice, ensuring business requirements are translated into effective people solutions and strategic workforce interventions.
• Collaborate with the Head of Pay and Reward to ensure reward strategies support workforce priorities, organisational performance and talent retention.
• Partner with the Head of HR Services to align workforce plans with resourcing and operational delivery requirements, providing insight to inform service provision.
• Work closely with the Head of Learning and Organisational Development to develop leadership, capability and skills strategies that build organisational resilience and future readiness.
• Lead the strategic use of workforce data, people analytics and customer insight to inform decision-making, identify emerging risks and opportunities, and drive improved organisational performance and business outcomes.
• Lead on complex employee relations and engagement matters, building effective relationships with recognised trade unions and key stakeholders to support organisational performance, workforce wellbeing and successful change delivery.

Whilst this role is advertised as a full-time position of 37 hours per week, we recognise the benefits of flexible working and are open to discussing part-time hours, job share arrangements, or other flexible working patterns with suitable candidates. Regular in person attendance is required (this is expected to be approximately 60% of your working week) to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance and business need. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourselves with the site, the team, and your role.

Person specification

To be successful with your application, you'll need to show that you meet the following essential criteria:

• Significant experience of business partnering at a senior level, with a proven track record of partnering leaders through transformation and change, and developing organisation design and development interventions to improve organisational effectiveness.
• Successful experience across a broad range of HR disciplines, including workforce planning, resourcing, employee relations, organisational development, culture and change, and the development of people policies and strategies.
• Credibility, resilience and personal impact, with the ability to build trusted relationships and influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Strong understanding of diversity and inclusion, with experience of building a diverse, capable and engaged workforce.
• Strong business and commercial acumen, with an understanding of key financial drivers and the ability to use workforce data and insight to inform strategic decision-making.
• Comprehensive knowledge of employment legislation and HR best practice.

Qualifications

Chartered membership with CIPD or CIPD Level 7 qualification

Memberships

CIPD Membership

Behaviours

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

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

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £72,840, Ministry of Defence contributes £21,101 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• 25 days’ annual leave plus one day a year up to 30 days after five years, and eight bank holidays
• An extra day off to honour the sovereign’s birthday
• Flexible and hybrid working wherever possible to support your work-life balance - attending site a few days each week will be required and encouraged, depending on your role and team.
• Market-leading employer pension contribution of around 28.97%
• Enhanced parental leave schemes
• Recognition awards
• Access to specialist training and funded professional qualifications
• Support for progression
• Huge range of discounts – plus more!

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.

Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:

At sift stage, applicants will be required to provide:

• A CV in the Job History section, ensuring it clearly demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. We encourage you to use specific evidence from your experience to illustrate your suitability for the role.
• A personal statement (no more than 500 words) providing specific examples of how you meet the top two most critical criteria for the role. Further guidance is given within the Personal Statement section of the application.

Applications will be assessed against the essential criteria, with each criterion scored on a scale of 1 to 7. An overall score will then be calculated using the average of all criterion scores. To progress beyond the sift stage, applicants must achieve a minimum score of 4 on every essential criterion. This means that even if your overall average score is 4 or higher, you will not progress if you score below 4 on any individual essential criterion.

Please note that, in the event of a high volume of applications, the selection panel reserves the right to increase the overall pass mark.

At interview, you will be assessed against the following behaviours:

• Behaviour 1: Leadership
• Behaviour 2: Communicating and Influencing
• Behaviour 3: Making effective decisions
• Behaviour 4: Changing and Improving
• Behaviour 5: Seeing the Big Picture - this will be in the format of a 10 minute presentation

In the event of a tie at interview, candidates will be ranked according to their scores in the assessed behaviours, in the order listed above.

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates or locations for interviews.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a standard (or equivalent) 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.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).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 : NAD Talent Acquisition Team
• Email : NAD-TalentAcquisition@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : NAD-TalentAcquisition@mod.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance you should contact department via email: NAD-Recruitment-Complaints@mod.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

External Candidate Information 2026 Opens in new window (docx, 25kB)Ministry of Defence Terms and Conditions Opens in new window (docx, 31kB)Defence Civil Servant Offer Opens in new window (pdf, 1561kB)