Job Description:

Senior People Business Partner

Please note: this role will close at 00:01 on Tuesday 15 September, and therefore we advise getting your application in by no later than midnight on Monday 14 September.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive a high volume of applications.

This is a 12 month FTC.

About Ofcom

As the UK’s communications regulator, we’re delivering vital work that helps keep the UK connected.

Our work covers everything from phones and broadband, through to TV, radio, the postal service, and wireless devices. We’re also taking on the challenge of making the online world a safer place. And we need people of all backgrounds, skill sets, and experiences to help us achieve our goal of making communications work for everyone.

About our People, Culture & Workplace (PC&W) department

This role sits within Ofcom’s People, Culture and Workplace (PC&W) team. Our PC&W team support the organisation at a strategic level, ensuring we have the right capability and ways of working in place to deliver on our objectives for our consumers and leading transformation and cultural change to support an increasing regulatory remit.

The PC&W team is here to support colleagues through their journey at Ofcom – from recruiting them to their role, to the moment they head to pastures new. This includes learning and development, diversity and inclusion, career progression as well as supporting well-being and providing practical information

Purpose and scope of the role

This role will be the dedicated People Partner to 1 or 2 of our Groups (functions) within Ofcom to ensure these client areas are operating effectively and delivering the organisational strategy, alongside supporting the Group Director management teams in their day-to-day leadership.

Key responsibilities

• Be an active partner to your Group Director(s), providing collaboration between the organisation and the wider PC&W team to deliver cohesive and effective ‘fit-for purpose’ people strategies, tools and frameworks.

• Partner with the Group Director(s) and their Directors to ensure people priorities are supported and are aligned to the wider organisational strategy.

• Lead on end to end organisation design, ensuring our organisations support deliver the business plans whilst allowing for flexibility and career mobility.

• Lead the creation and delivery of the People Plans across your client areas, identifying common themes and barriers to effective delivery which are shared as insight into the CoE’s.

• Understand (through curiosity and interest) the organisational unit strategy and priorities, and proactively identify associated people implications and opportunities for improvement. Sharing any insights with the CoE’s.

• Act as a coach to your Group Directors and their wider management teams, providing support, challenge and feedback on their leadership style and impact.

• Manage stakeholder expectations/demands, being mindful of resource and prioritising work to meet the demands of the priorities set out in the People Plans.

• Identify barriers, which prevent the organisation from operating effectively, and advise/implement strategies to minimise or remove these.

• Work in collaboration with all PC&W CoE teams to provide insight and feedback into the development and continuous improvement of key people strategies and frameworks, providing insight into potential barriers to effective implementation, measures and plans to mitigate risk. You will also build strong relationships to ensure that collaboration happens at the scoping, testing, and implementation stages of work.

• Ensure key people processes/cycles such as strategic workforce planning, talent management programmes, pay review, succession planning, performance management, colleague engagement and action planning are executed effectively across your Group.

• Provide oversight to the Head of Business Partnering/P&C Director of all relevant risks and mitigations to be raised and addressed at SMT level.

• Lead or collaborate on complex organisational design and change projects as required.

Experience and skills

Essential Skills:

• You’ll have partnered at a Senior Executive level on people initiatives across the colleague lifecycle.

• Executing Plans: you’ll have a proven track record of creating, shaping, and executing against People Plans (from the centre out and from the business into P&C).

• Channelling Influence: you’ll have high levels of commercial and business acumen, including using data to be able to influence decisions.

• Forming Relationships: you’ll have evidence of excellent interpersonal and stakeholder management skills: building, strengthening, and influencing relationships at all levels of the organisation, challenging decisions where necessary and with the ability to coach and influence Directors in people issues and the wider people agenda.

• Experience of working collaboratively with CoE’s, knowing when and how to engage and are comfortable holding contracting conversations on ways of working.

• Be proactive in resolving issues and removing barriers to change and proven experience in supporting business readiness.

• Be able to influence an array of senior stakeholders and be comfortable in giving feedback and challenging on leadership style and impact.

• Scanning Horizons: you’ll be confident in horizon scanning and analysing the bigger picture to spot issues and proposing and implementing course correction plans.

• Be aware of and confident in articulating the broader impact of decisions and provide visibility of these to others.

• Possess highly developed communication and influencing skills to build and sustain relationships, with confidence and gravitas and are able to demonstrate an array of influencing styles and how to adapt style accordingly.

Inclusive hiring at Ofcom

At Ofcom, our mission is clear: to make communications work for everyone. To achieve that, our people must reflect the diversity of the UK, in background, identity and experience. 

We believe innovation thrives when difference is valued and everyone feels empowered to contribute their ideas and perspectives. That’s why we welcome colleagues of all ethnicities and races, sexes, genders and gender identities, sexual orientations, ages, faiths and beliefs, and those with apparent and non‑apparent disabilities. We value socio‑economic diversity, life experience and neurodiversity too. Whether you’re a carer, a parent, a veteran, or re‑entering work after time away, your voice and perspective matter here. 

Flexibility is at the heart of how we work because we want you to thrive in a way that suits you best. Most roles can therefore be adapted for part‑time hours, job shares, or other flexible arrangements. Learn more about our Rewards, Benefits and Wellbeing on our careers page. 

Our recruitment process is intentionally designed to be open and accessible. If you need adjustments, information in a different format or an alternative way to apply, contact us at (phone number removed). 

As a proud Disability Confident Leader, we guarantee interviews for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for a role. You can read more about this commitment here. 

Whoever you are, whatever your story, you belong at Ofcom.