Head of HR Innovation & Strategic Workforce Planning - £75,585 - £84,840 - p.a. + benefits

Job summary

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency enhance and improve the health of millions of people every day through the effective regulation of medicines and medical devices, underpinned by science and research.

The People Function for MHRA leads all people related activity for MHRA and covers the end-to-end HR value chain. The function prides itself on providing a highly professional, strategic human resources service to the Agency. The function has a key role in shaping and delivering the MHRA strategic vision whilst ensuring the workforce has the HR support it needs.

As the Agency continues to evolve the people function will need to continue to innovate to ensure we have the flexible processes, robust structures and engaged workforce we need. This is an exciting time as we start this journey and an ability to influence the future direction of the Agency.

The role will report to the People Operations Director and requires an HR professional leader with the ability be adapt their approach as the Agency evolves. The role will be primarily responsible for creating and implementing a Strategic Workforce planning approach across the Agency and leading on innovation activity for People Function.

There is a strong focus on ensuring the engagement of our dedicated people and the applicant will need to ensure this forms a core part of their approach. The Innovation activity and Strategic Workforce Planning will need to be defined and implemented whilst maintaining HR support for the Agency. The role requires development of strong networks and ability to communicate with stakeholders at all levels. Experience in briefing is essential as there will be a regular requirement to provide briefing papers and communication materials.

Job description

• Leadership and Management: The candidate will provide visible and engaging leadership across the People Function and deputise for the People Operations Director as appropriate. The candidate will lead a team within the People Operations Directors portfolio setting the direction and ensuring outputs are effectively delivered. The candidate will have line management responsibilities and ensure performance management, development and wellbeing of staff is a golden thread through all activities. The candidate will use their strategic capabilities to ensure that the team are considering the bigger picture and provide constructive challenge and feedback to them.
• Strategic Workforce Planning: The candidate will work closely with colleagues across MHRA to build our Strategic Workforce capability and overall Strategic Workforce Plan. Initially developing a plan on what will be delivered over a 3-year period including creating guidance and upskilling colleagues. The candidate will move quickly to work with business areas and enable colleagues to produce strategic and local workforce plans. The candidate will need to identify benefits to these plans across MHRA activity and work to ensure this benefit is realised. The candidate will be accountable for building and maintaining workforce planning models to forecast future staffing needs and support medium- to long-term resourcing plans. The candidate will also lead on the production of monthly workforce reports for HR Business Partners, providing insights and narrative on current position, future forecasts and the identification of workforce trends/risks to inform planning and decision-making. The candidate will also need to drive the creation of a community of effective Workforce Planning Leads, working with stakeholders to ensure workforce data is accurate, and meets requirements.
• People Function Innovation: Working closely with colleagues across People Function and MHRA the candidate will lead on the development and implementation of Innovation activity across the People function. The candidate will act as a champion and advocate on creating a culture of continuous improvement within the People Function. The candidate will develop robust implementation plans against strong evidence base and apply Program and Project Methodology. The candidate will own the implementation plan which will need to be flexible whilst ensuring HR limits disruption to its ongoing activities. The candidate will be responsible for coordinating the communication of the innovation activity ensuring the process remains transparent throughout. Delivery of innovation activity will include matrix management of other team(s) and will need to be done incrementally so we can deliver short, medium and long term activity.
• People Strategy : The candidate will be the People Function lead for the development of the MHRA people strategy which will be aligned with the MHRA strategy. The strategy will need to be co-created so it reflects the needs of MHRA and our workforce. Activity should be evidenced and have robust criteria for success.
• Governance, Risk and Assurance: The candidate will ensure that the team is effectively managed and is compliant with MHRA and government policies, processes and regulations including all PPM requirements. You will also lead on any corporate risks on behalf of the director that are relevant to your role.
• Stakeholder Management – The candidate will develop and maintain strong stakeholder relationships across the People function and MHRA ensuring all elements of activity have a people focus at its core. Relationships across MHRA will be critical in progressing large parts of the portfolio and ensuring future innovation/strategic workforce planning activities are a success.
• Behaviour and Culture - The candidate will be a visible sponsor for function wide behaviours and culture including supporting the Inclusion Champion in effectively carrying out the role. The candidate will co-ordinate appropriate activity to support this and ensure it is a core pillar of the teams you manage.
• HR Expert – The candidate will have extensive experience across a range of human resources disciplines with strong leadership and management experience. The candidate will need to become a trusted and respected advisor with the confidence and experience to make risk-based decisions on a range of human resources issues. The candidate will also need to deliver credible and assured expert advice and guidance as required to Directors and Senior Leaders, including guidance/interpretation of MHRA policies to ensure consistency and fairness, and to support business planning activities.

The job description is not intended to be exhaustive, and it is likely that responsibilities and outcomes may be altered from time to time in the light of changing circumstances and after consultation with the postholder.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Strong experience of delivering people change across a varying landscape ensuring value for money and understanding of PPM methodologies and how to maintain an engaged workforce.
• A proven track record and strong experience in a relevant senior capacity of stakeholder engagement specifically relating to HR issues and solutions that have enabled organisational transformation at scale. Ideally your experience will be rooted in a large and complex organisation.
• Strong level of understanding and experience of creating, undertaking and implementing strategic workforce planning.
• Experience of managing resourcing challenges, providing expert advice and challenge to business stakeholders in areas such as; demand management, governance of resourcing and recruitment to align with best practice, identifying resourcing and recruitment solutions at both local and group level and being able to confidently identify risks and present solutions to resourcing challenges.
• A demonstrable capacity for strategic thinking, planning and contributing on a broad scale to the leadership and development of an HR Function
• Strong experience of leading HR teams to deliver a joined up and effective service. The ability to build strong, trust-based professional partnerships with a range of stakeholders, focussed on enhancing and continuous development of the HR Service Offer that aligns to the needs to the Agency
• Member of the chartered institute of personnel and development, at chartered level or equivalent professional qualification in HR and/or Strategic Workforce Planning
• Strong background in Change management and/or Project Principles

Qualifications

Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, at chartered level or equivalent professional qualification in HR and/or Strategic Workforce Planning

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £75,585, Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency contributes £21,896 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Annual Leave: 25 days annual leave on entry, rising by one day for each completed year of service to a maximum of 30 days and pro-rata for part-time staff. PLUS 8 bank holidays
• Privilege Leave: 1 day
• Occupational Sick Pay (OSP): One month full pay/one month half pay on entry, rising by one month for each completed year of service to a maximum of five months full pay/five months half pay
• Mobility: Mobility clause in contracts allowing staff to be mobile across the Civil Service
• Civil Service Pension Scheme. Please see the link for further information http://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/ For enquiries relating to the Civil Service Pension Schemes please contact MyCSP's Pension Service Centre directly on 0300 123 6666
• Flexible working to ensure staff maintain a healthy work-life balance
• Interest free season ticket loan or bike loan
• Employee Assistance Services and access to the Civil Service Benevolent Fund
• Eligibility to join Motoring , Boundless by CSMA
• Variety of staff and Civil Service clubs
• On-going learning and development

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, Strengths, Ability and Experience.

Selection process details

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

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

We will endeavour to conduct the selection process in line with the dates indicated below, but cannot guarantee that these will not, where necessary, be revised.

1. Application – by 24th April 2026

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• Question "Please describe a time when you designed and implemented a strategic workforce planning approach across an organisation" (maximum 250 words)
• CV
• Personal Statement (maximum 1250 words)

Your CV should consist of your career history and skills/experience, including any key achievements in each role. Your CV will be scored against the experience required for the role as noted within the essential criteria.

The Personal Statement should be aligned to and demonstrate how you meet the skills and experience set out in the essential criteria, detailed in the job description.

For guidance and information on how to construct your application (CV, Personal Statement and Behaviours), you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers website.

Following submission of your application you will be asked to undertake an online Civil Service numerical and verbal reasoning test

2. Sift – week commencing 4th May 2026

The sift will be conducted on an anonymised basis against the Personal Statement, CV and the additional question "Please describe a time when you designed and implemented a strategic workforce planning approach across an organisation"

Candidates who pass the initial sift will then be progressed to a full sift that will consist of all the remaining elements submitted (Personal Statement and CV). Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the initial sift question will not have their remaining submitted elements scored and will only receive a sift score for that assessed at the initial sift.

3. Interview – week commencing 18th May 2026

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview that will be Behaviours (as listed in the job advert) and Strength based questions.

In addition, candidates will be asked to prepare a presentation that will be delivered at interview. The presentation question will be disclosed closer to the interviews.

The presentation will be assessed against 'Behaviours' on the 'Success Profiles' and will be specifically assessed against the Behaviours Leadership and Seeing the Big Picture.

The interview will take place in person at 10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf.

For guidance and information on what to expect and how to prepare for an interview, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers.

Candidates will be subject to UK immigration requirements as well as Civil Service nationality rules. Further information on whether you are able to apply is available here.

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check as well as media, animal rights and pro-life activism checks. People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Personal Data - Protection and Retention

The personal data supplied will be managed confidentially, securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.

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

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 : Nilesh Parekh
• Email : careers@mhra.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Careers@mhra.gov.uk

Further information

In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of selection for appointment on the basis of merit by a fair and open competition. 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 the Resourcing team at Careers@mhra.gov.uk, in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk - info@csc.gov.uk - Civil Service Commission Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road London SW1A 2HQ

Attachments

NEW N1448-SA-G6-Head-of HR Innovation and SWF Upload Version Opens in new window (pdf, 167kB)