Head of HR Business Partnering

Southwark Council; London; Hybrid; GBP 67,000 - 85,000

Job description

Are you ready to take the helm of strategic HR leadership in one of London’s most dynamic boroughs? At Southwark Council, we are looking for an exceptional Head of HR Business Partnering to shape and drive our people strategy, ensuring our workforce is empowered, agile, and future ready.

Southwark is a borough that thrives on diversity, confidence, and ambition. With over 120 languages spoken and a young, multi-cultural population, we are committed to delivering a fairer future for all. This is a unique opportunity to be a key player in delivering Southwark’s 2030 vision of a fair, green, and safe borough where everyone thrives!
Why this role and Southwark?

• Influence at the Highest Level – Work alongside senior leaders to shape HR strategies that directly impact our borough and its residents.
• Drive Change – Lead large scale organisational transformation, ensuring a people-first approach that promotes inclusivity, innovation, and excellence.
• Be a Strategic Leader – Deliver high-impact workforce strategies that support our Council’s ambitions and long-term success as part of the 2030 vision.

What You’ll Do:

As the Head of HR Business Partnering, you will:

• Lead HR business partnering services across the council, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities.
• Oversee the development of departmental people plans, driving workforce planning and organisational change.
• Provide expert HR advice to senior leaders, championing best practices and strategic decision-making.
• Shape and implement workforce strategies that foster talent attraction, development, and retention.
• Develop and manage employee relations strategies, ensuring a collaborative approach with trade unions.
• Utilise data-driven insights to inform workforce planning and HR decision-making.
• Ensure HR policies and initiatives support equality, diversity, and inclusion objectives.
• Represent Southwark Council in external forums, reinforcing our position as an employer of choice.

What You’ll Bring:

• Proven experience as a Senior HR Leader in a large, complex organisation.
• Expertise in business-led HR strategy, including workforce planning and organisational change.
• Strong background in employee relations, delivering cost-effective HR solutions to complex challenges.
• Experience working with high-level stakeholders in a political or public sector environment.
• A track record of leading transformational HR initiatives that drive long-term success.
• Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with trade unions and key partners.
• Ability to leverage HR data and insights to shape workforce strategy.
• This role offers flexible home working blended with travel into our London Bridge HQ.

Additional salary details

About Southwark Council

Southwark Council is the largest local authority social landlord in London, managing 55,000 homes lived in by 40% of Southwark’s residents. We are home to over 18,300 businesses including iconic London venues such as The Shard, The Tate Modern and Borough Market along with many social enterprises and we have a young, diverse, and growing population.

At Southwark we are committed to making our borough just and fair and are taking positive action to tackle inequalities. Our residents and communities are our greatest asset and the passion we have for Southwark is shared by millions of Londoners who enjoy our outstanding cultural offer, use our hospitals and attend our universities.

Our refreshed borough plan and focus on Southwark Stands Together, (which is our work with Southwark’s communities and the council’s staff to tackle racism, injustice and inequality) underpins all that we do.

Benefits and more information:

This post attracts an additional benefit to the value of £2724 PA for staff which can be used for benefits or taken as cash.

Recruitment timetable

Application Closing Date: 11.59pm on the 11th of April 2025
Stakeholder Panel Interview: The 24th of April 2025
Final Interview & Presentation: The 1st of May 2025

We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities.

This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together initiative.

We particularly welcome applications from members of the black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.

As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria:

• Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
• Are currently in care, or have previously been in care
• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role, in which case we will move the key dates for the process. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Salary Range (Full time equivalent) £67,380 - £84,075