Senior HR Policy, Pay & Governance Lead

Job summary

Are you an HR expert who thrives on variety, strategic influence, and the chance to shape the foundational policies of a high-performing department?
This unique SEO role offers a 360-degree view of the HR lifecycle—from steering the annual pay remit and pensions landscape to leading on governance, safety, and the exciting integration of our policies into a brand-new, modern HRIS

About GAD

At GAD, our people are our greatest asset. Our People Strategy 2025–2030 underpinning our Business Strategy 2030 sets out a bold vision: to support GAD, defined by expertise, innovation, and a deeply engaged, diverse workforce. We are committed to building a dynamic, flexible workforce, fostering a culture of inclusion and learning, and delivering excellence for our clients and the UK public sector.

Policy, Pay & Projects

This senior post is pivotal to GAD’s Pay, Pensions, Governance, and Policy domain. You will serve as the organisation's authoritative source of HR policy expertise, providing essential advisory support to the team, the business and to leadership, and updating them to reflect legislation such as the Employment Rights Bill. A core focus of the role will be the "digital translation" of our HR framework: ensuring our policies and pay processes are successfully integrated into our new HRIS to provide accessible, expert support at our employees' fingertips.

Governance, Assurance & Health and Safety

Beyond policy, you will act as the GAD’s Health & Safety expert, ensuring legal compliance, governance,

and risk mitigation are high priorities and escalating key concerns to the HRD. This extends to leading on critical governance, business planning, and audit-related activities, ensuring full regulatory compliance.

Leadership

You will have extensive line management experience to manage within a fast-moving, busy environment, with the ability to use excellent judgment and precision in all aspects of delivery. You will also contribute to specialist functions such as mediation, employee relations, workplace adjustments, job evaluations, and wellbeing, always demonstrating exemplar behaviours as a leader to ensure the successful delivery of our People Strategy.

Job description

As the Senior HR Policy, Pay & Governance Lead, you will provide authoritative leadership across a diverse portfolio of HR specialisms. Your role is to ensure GAD remains compliant, innovative, and strategically aligned with Civil Service standards.

Expert Policy & Legislative Leadership

• Model Policy Development: Lead the review and implementation of HR model policies, ensuring full compliance with legislation and Civil Service standards while adhering to the GAD style and alignment guide.
• Horizon Scanning: Proactively monitor changes in law and central policy (including the Employment Rights Bill) to ensure GAD policies remain current. You will own this responsibility, seeking broad consultation and providing timely recommendations to the HRD.
• Advisory Excellence: Act as a subject matter expert, providing confident and authoritative advice on complex HR queries. You will identify risks and where flexibility may be applied, developing policy options and recommendations for the HRD.

Pay, Pensions & Digital Integration

• Pay Remit & Modelling: Support the annual pay cycles, including modelling, implementation, and pay policy review. You will engage key stakeholders, including Trade Union representatives, to ensure timely communications and assurance.
• Digital Transformation: Take ownership of integrating HR policies, pay, and pension processes into the new HRIS. You will ensure policies are embedded within the system design to provide accessible, "at the fingertips" support for employees and managers.

Governance, Risk & Safety

• Health & Safety (H&S): Act as GAD’s H&S specialist, leading on risk assessments, reporting, and statutory compliance. You will engage HRBPs, Business Managers, and the H&S qualified cohort to ensure risks are mitigated and reported to the HRD.
• Statutory Correspondence: Manage FOIs, PQs, and Treat Official correspondence to high professional standards.
• Assurance Reporting: Accountable for regular risk reporting to the HRD and contributing to Executive forums, Business Plans, and Governance statements including Annual Report.

Strategic HR Support & Leadership

• Specialist Advisory: Provide a policy perspective on complex matters including mediation, investigations, job evaluation, and workplace adjustments.
• Line Management: Provide strong, inclusive leadership and extensive line management to HR colleagues. You will coach and grow the team, modelling GAD values and professional standards at all times.
• Functional Evolution: Remain flexible to take on additional responsibilities as the People Strategy 2025–2030 evolves, demonstrating exemplar behaviours as a leader to ensure organizational priorities are met.

Person specification

• Acting as the departmental expert for HR policy and employment law; leading on the annual pay remit, pay modelling, and pension compliance. Overall oversight on Pay and Pensions.
• Leading the project oversight and successful integration of HR policies and pay processes into the new HRIS, ensuring system design supports a "policy at your fingertips" user experience.
• Serving as GAD’s Health & Safety specialist, leading on risk assessments, statutory compliance, and reporting to the Executive.
• Exceptional drafting skills (policies, guidance, FOIs, PQs), Business Plans and Governance statements.
• Providing expert policy perspectives on complex employee relations matters, including mediation, workplace adjustments, and job evaluations
• Ability to analyse complex information including financial data, trends and forecasts with reporting.
• Delivering extensive line management and coaching to HR colleagues, fostering a high-performance culture aligned with GAD values.
• Working across boundaries to support the HRD and HRBPs, navigating uncertainty with resilience and delivering organizational priorities at pace.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• Strong HR practitioner background with deep expertise in HR policy, practice and employment law (Essential)
• Proven ability to act as a lead for H&S compliance and draft high-level governance reports (FOIs, PQs, Audit) (Essential)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £53,539, Government Actuary's Department contributes £15,510 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• As well as competitive salaries, we offer a substantial package of benefits:
  

  • Exceptional learning and development opportunities that you can explore alongside your day-to-day work.
  • 25 days annual leave per year, increasing to 30 days after 5 years’ service. In addition, we offer 9 days public and privilege days leave per year (pro rata for part time staff)
  • A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
  • 5 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
  • Family-friendly policies such as help with caring responsibilities, special leave, generous paid maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.
  • Access to employee assistance programme which offers staff 24/7 confidential support and resources such as counselling, debt guidance and management advice.
  • The opportunity to join a trade union.
  • A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity.
  • Salary advances for travel costs, including annual season tickets and cycle-to-work schemes.
  • 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.
  • Complimentary BUPA health check for permanent staff.

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 Technical skills.

Stage 1: Application sift

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

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained.
• A Personal statement of up to 500-words explaining how you meet the essential criteria for the role, with particular reference to the criteria provided in the person specification of the JD.

The Civil Service application process has a standardised method for assessing candidates, we strongly recommend that you read the descriptions of the civil service behaviours. Strong applications will present these in the Situation, Task, Action, Result (STAR) method.

We will use your CV and Personal Statement to assess the Experience and Technical skills listed in the JD.

Stage 2: Panel interview

During the interview you will be assessed on the experience and behaviours listed in the Person Specification and detailed in this advert.

Timelines

Application deadline: 1200 hrs on 15 April 2026
Shortlisting: w/c 20 April 2026
Interviews: w/c 04 May 2026

Interview locations: London

Please apply via our recruitment portal below.

As part of the application form process, please submit your CV and supporting statement. Please do not email your CV outside of this process as it will not be accepted.

Shortlisting criteria is based on the Person Specification as set out in the Assessment Criteria section of the Job Description. Please ensure you provide examples of how you meet the Assessment Criteria; a strong application will also demonstrate that you meet the required criteria that are identified as key for this role. Applications will be shortlisted in line with the essential criteria for the role. The desirable criteria will not be assessed throughout the recruitment process, but will be used in the event of tied scores between candidates. Behaviours will be assessed at sift and interview stage. Candidates who are successful at shortlist will be contacted as soon as possible and advised of the interview process and assessment (exact times and dates will also be confirmed).

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

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.

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

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 : Recruitment Team
• Email : recruitment@gad.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@gad.gov.uk

Further information

The Government Actuary’s Department’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the recruitment principles of the Civil Service Commissioner, which outline that selection for appointment be made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm… If you feel at any time your application has not been treated in accordance with the values in the Civil Service Code and/or if you feel the recruitment has been conducted in such a way that conflicts with the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, you may make a complaint, by contacting recruitment@gad.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commissioners.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/government-actuarys-department

Attachments

Senior HR Pay, Policy & Governance Lead Opens in new window (pdf, 551kB)