Senior People and Culture Partner

Social Care Institute for Excellence

Hours
21 hours per week

About the Organisation

Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) is a UK-based independent charity and improvement agency dedicated to enhancing the quality of care and support services for adults, children, and families. Established in 2001, SCIE has evolved from a primarily government-funded body into a dynamic organisation that combines public funding with commercial activities such as consultancy, training, and research. 

SCIE's mission is to improve the lives of people who use care services by sharing knowledge about what works in practice. It achieves this through co-production, involving people with lived experience, and by collaborating with care providers, commissioners, policymakers, and researchers. SCIE operates across various sectors, including health and social care, and focuses on areas such as safeguarding, mental capacity, integration of services, and person-centred care

About the role

A senior People & Culture leadership opportunity with the autonomy to shape people strategy. Reporting to the Director of People, Finance and Corporate Resources, you’ll work closely with the SLT and Board, providing leadership across organisational development, workforce planning, talent, EDI, engagement, wellbeing, reward, change and employee relations. You’ll also line manage the People & Culture Assistant, while influencing people practice across the organisation. We’re looking for a credible, experienced leader who brings strategic thinking, sound judgement and the confidence to navigate complexity, challenge constructively and turn insight into practical action. If you’re looking for a role you can genuinely make your own, we’d love to hear from you.

To provide senior strategic People & Culture leadership and specialist advice across organisational development and design, learning and development, culture, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), engagement and wellbeing, workforce planning, succession and talent, change management, reward and recognition, performance, employee relations and internal communications. Working closely with the SLT and Board, the postholder will influence organisational strategy and policy, provide expert advice and constructive challenge, and deliver agreed People & Culture priorities with significant autonomy. The postholder will be relied upon for the integrity of specialist advice and will resolve complex and sensitive organisational issues

Responsibilities

Main Duties:

• Develop and advise on People & Culture strategy, providing authoritative specialist advice to the Director, SLT and Board and contributing to wider strategic planning and policy.
• Shape and oversee organisation development, design and change initiatives to improve capability, effectiveness and culture.
• Develop and oversee workforce planning, learning and development, succession, talent and capability planning, identifying critical roles, future workforce requirements, capability gaps and associated risks.
• Develop and oversee approaches to culture, EDI, employee engagement and wellbeing, using insight and data to improve employee experience and performance.
• Set the approach to internal communications relating to people, culture, organisational priorities and change, ensuring clear, consistent and engaging communication.
• Develop and oversee reward, recognition and performance approaches, ensuring fairness, effectiveness and alignment with strategy.
• Provide senior specialist advice on complex employee relations matters, applying employment law and organisational policy and advising on associated employee, organisational and legal risks.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with recognised trade unions and the Employee Forum, supporting collective consultation, employee voice and engagement.
• Develop and maintain People & Culture policies, frameworks and organisation-wide initiatives.
• Direct significant People & Culture projects and cross-organisational initiatives, determining how agreed objectives are delivered and managing risks, priorities and stakeholders.
• Identify and advise on strategic people and workforce risks, ensuring these inform planning and decision-making.
• Use workforce, people and organisational insight to identify trends, risks and opportunities and inform strategic decision-making.
• Manage and develop the People & Culture Assistant and provide professional leadership across the wider organisation through influence and expertise.
• Provide professional challenge and develop solutions to complex, sensitive and sometimes unprecedented issues, using experience, creativity and sound judgement.

General Responsibilities:

• Embrace diversity and share in our commitment to equality of opportunity and to eliminating discrimination.
• Show a clear commitment to working with people with lived experience in a sensitive and non-judgmental way to facilitate positive working relationships.
• Other tasks as may be required, commensurate with the level of the post

Skills, Competencies, Experience & Attributes

Experience:

• Significant senior People & Culture/HR experience across a broad organisational portfolio.
• Proven track record of developing and implementing People & Culture strategy and organisation-wide initiatives.
• Proven ability to advise and influence SLT and Board-level stakeholders.
• Track record of leading significant organisational change, development, design or workforce initiatives.
• Demonstrable capability in managing complex employee relations, including trade union and employee representative relationships.
• Experience of managing people and leading significant projects or programmes.

Aptitude, Abilities & Skills:

• Strategic thinker with strong judgement and the ability to develop practical solutions to complex issues.
• Able to influence, advise and constructively challenge senior stakeholders.
• Strong communication, relationship-building and stakeholder management skills.
• Able to work autonomously, prioritise and deliver through influence

Education & Knowledge:

• Strong knowledge of strategic People & Culture practice, including organisation development and design, workforce planning, L&D, talent and succession, culture, EDI, engagement and wellbeing, reward, performance and employee relations.
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and its practical application to employee relations, change, policy and people decisions.
• Knowledge of using workforce and people insight to inform strategic decision-making and identify risks

Personal Characteristics:

• Credible, confident and professionally authoritative.
• Politically astute, resilient and comfortable operating at senior organisational level.
• Collaborative, inclusive and solutions focused.
• Demonstrates integrity, discretion, emotional intelligence and sound judgement.
• Comfortable with complexity, ambiguity and sensitive issues.

Required Qualifications

• A CIPD Level 7 qualification or equivalent professional knowledge and experience

Compensation & Benefits

• Excellent staff benefits
• Competitive salary and homeworking allowance
• Employer pension contribution above the statutory minimum
• Award-winning employee assistance programme
• Attractive holiday package

Conditions of employment

• You must have the right to work within the UK

Working locations

• Home based
• Please note that as a homeworking organisation we require the successful candidate to have a reliable Wi-Fi connection and a minimum 10Mb/s broadband connection
• To stay connected to your colleagues and the work of the wider organisation, you will be required to travel to London monthly to attend meetings. You may also be required to travel for meetings and events necessary for the role.

How to apply

• To apply, please send a full curriculum vitae (CV) and a personal statement, and alternatively complete the application form. Supporting statements should demonstrate how you meet the person specification and your motivations for applying for the role. They should be no longer than 2 pages of A4. Send your application to: [email protected] as soon as possible but at the latest by midnight on 15th September 2026. Depending on applications received, SCIE reserves the right to bring forward the deadline.
• Please advise if you wish to use the Guaranteed Interview Scheme within your covering email when you send the application.

Interviews

•  Interviews are planned to take place on 30th September 2026 via Teams.

Policies

We reserve the right to close the advert at any point, and we are actively reviewing applications. We value diversity in our workforce and are committed to equal opportunities. If you would like to apply, please complete the equality, diversity, and inclusion monitoring form. Confident Employer offers a guaranteed interview to candidates with disabilities who meet all essential criteria.

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