Human Resources Business Partner

Job summary

Can you build strong partnerships with senior leaders and shape strategic HR priorities?

Do you work proactively with integrity and resilience, bringing constructive challenge and solutions?

Do you have a solid HR generalist background with business partnering experience in change environments?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Very few things affect everyday life like transport. It connects people to jobs, education, healthcare and each other, enabling participation in society and supporting economic growth. At the Department for Transport (DfT), we are improving every journey by investing in major infrastructure, harnessing new technologies, and creating safer, more sustainable transport systems. By strengthening connections between people and places, we help communities thrive across the UK.

This role sits within a high-profile HR Business Partnering team, each aligned to a Director General and their Senior Leadership Team. The team works strategically across the department, building strong relationships and collaborating with colleagues across HR to deliver against key business priorities, support complex change programmes, and ensure the organisation is equipped to meet current and future challenges.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at Department for Transport Central - Department for Transport Careers

Job description

This role would suit a strong HR generalist with experience of business partnering. You're comfortable working at a strategic level and have a breadth of HR experience in change orientated environments. You take a proactive approach to work; displaying a high degree of grip, integrity, resilience and resourcefulness, and are happy to use your own initiative and take a hands-on approach to problem solving and bringing constructive challenge.

Our HRBPs have exposure across the whole range of HR activity, while at the same time leading the people agenda for the Group they partner. Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

• Strategic resourcing and workforce planning
  
  - Building positive relationships with key senior stakeholders in undertaking business and workforce planning, ensuring effective deployment of people to achieve organisational priorities and deliver against key corporate initiatives.
  
  - Collaborating across the business and HR teams to fully understand and address performance and skills requirements in the context of both current and future challenges.
  
  
• Implementation and delivery of people strategies for key client Groups in a dynamic change environment
  
  - Working with Senior Managers to plan, advise and support the implementation of change as appropriate to each Group and the wider department.
  
  - Working with HR Subject Matter Experts, DGs and their Senior teams to ensure they have appropriate people interventions and strategies in place to deliver against priorities.
  
  - Providing strategic support; using Organisation Design skills to inform the development and delivery of change initiatives across the department and within Group.
  
  - Providing analysis of management information to strengthen business insight and provide evidence-based strategic advice and recommendations to the business on the management of its people and core business deliverables.

• Building and developing skills and capability within Groups
  
  - Ensuring leaders understand and are fully engaged with talent identification and succession planning activities.
  
  - Supporting managers to identify critical posts and put in place retention and succession plans.
  
  - Coaching and supporting senior managers to improve their collective leadership and capability to manage performance effectively.

• Active leadership across the HR function
  
  - Acting as the voice of the business and as an intelligent customer to HR Subject Matter Experts to help ensure change lands well within the business.
  
  - Supporting the business with staff engagement activities, working across the HR function to ensure a proactive and joined-up approach on cross-cutting corporate issues.

For further information on the role, please read the attached role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Person specification

Required experience:

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

1. Previous HR Business Partner experience.
   
   
2. Experience of building strong, effective relationships with people at senior levels to understand stakeholders’ needs and priorities.
   
   
3. Experience of taking senior leaders and their teams through organisational change with excellent communication, influencing and negotiation skills and effective coaching of senior management to resolve people issues.
   
   
4. Experience of handling complex casework - able to draw together the right experts to provide high quality advice and support to managers on a variety of casework situations.

Additional Information

You will either hold CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) membership, or be currently working towards this. You will be required to provide evidence of this membership (or working towards) during the recruitment process.

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week. Whilst we welcome applications from those looking to work with us on a part time basis, there is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work at least 30 hours per week across a minimum of 4 days.

Regular travel to other DfT offices will be required.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

If you have a question about hybrid working, part time/job share hours, flexible working, travelling for work, or require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Vacancy Holder during the recruitment process to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role (see below for contact details).

Visa Sponsorship

DfTc does not offer Visa Sponsorship for this role.

Behaviours

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

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

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

• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave).
• 8 Bank Holidays plus an additional Privilege Day to mark the King’s birthday.
• Access to the staff discount portal.
• Excellent career development opportunities and the potential to undertake professional qualifications relevant to your role paid for by the department, such as CIPD, Prince2, apprenticeships, etc.
• Joining a diverse and inclusive workforce with a range of staff communities to support all our colleagues.
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff.
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Find out more about the benefits of working at DfT and its agencies (opens in a new window).

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.

How to apply:

Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's qualifications, skills, and potential fit within our organisation.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement and behaviour statement

Stage 2: Interview and presentation

You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.

Stage 1: Sift

At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Behaviours – you will be asked to provide a 250-word statement on the following Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing.
  
  
• Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (1000-word count). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following:

1. HR Business Partnering at a senior level.
2. Experience of building strong, effective relationships with people at senior levels to understand stakeholders’ needs and priorities.
3. Experience of taking senior leaders and their teams through organisational change with excellent communication, influencing and negotiation skills and effective coaching of senior management to resolve people issues.
4. Experience of handling complex casework - able to draw together the right experts to provide high quality advice and support to managers on a variety of casework situations.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead Success Profile element: Behaviour – Communicating and Influencing. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview.

The sift will take place from week commencing 20/07/2026

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Behaviours – Communicating and Influencing, Working Together, Making Effective Decisions, Seeing the Big Picture
  
  
• Experience

You will also be required to create and deliver a presentation. Guidance will be provided if you are invited to interview.

The interviews will take place week commencing 10/08/2026

This interview will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You can find out more about our hiring process, how to apply, and application and interview guidance on our careers site (opens in a new window).

Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change.

Further information on the selection process

Feedback on your application can only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

We will also hold a12-month reserve list for this role, which may lead to potential opportunities beyond the role you applied for. You can read more about our reserve lists here.

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert or the information on our website, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit theHow We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

If your application is successful but you have been dismissed from the Civil Service, your application could be removed at the pre-employment checking stage depending on the nature of the dismissal.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

All external applicants and current employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be required to undergo a Social Media Check. A Social Media Check is a review of your publicly available online activity, typically across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and others. The purpose is to identify any public posts or content that could raise concerns for employers, such as:

• Hate speech or discriminatory behaviour
• Threats or acts of violence
• Illegal activity or substance misuse
• Sexually explicit material
• Extremist views or affiliations

Importantly, this check does not involve hacking into your accounts or accessing private messages. It only considers content you have chosen to make public. Employers use this kind of screening to help ensure their workplace remains safe, inclusive, and aligned with company values. It’s not about judging your personality or lifestyle - it’s about checking for potential red flags that might affect the role or company culture. If you have questions or concerns about the social media check, we would be happy to explain in more detail what’s being looked at and how your data is handled securely and fairly.

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.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 : Sally Farmer/Jo Fewster
• Email : sally.farmer@dft.gov.uk

Recruitment team

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

Further information

If you feel 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 Government Recruitment Services via email: dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website Here

Attachments

Role Profile Opens in new window (pdf, 295kB)