Duration: Permanent 

Salary: £104,000 per annum 

Job Level: 1  

Hours: 35 hours per week. Other flexible arrangements will be considered 

Disclosure Level: Basic.  This role involves no direct or indirect work with children 

Reports to: Chief Financial and Operations Officer 

Location: Hybrid – working from home and at least two days a week at 1 Westfield Avenue, London E20 1HZ. 

At the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), we put children first. We inspire and engage supporters to raise funds, promote children’s voices and create lasting change for children. Our diverse, passionate, and determined team upholds the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child for children all over the world, including the UK. 

We believe in an inclusive workplace and in the power of fulfilled colleagues who share the same values and goals, enjoy their work and are motivated to do their best for children.  This is the basis for high performance.  

Our work is guided by the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which recognise the universality of children’s rights. 

ABOUT THE ROLE 

The Director of People is a member of the Strategic Leadership Group and plays a critical role in shaping our culture, workforce strategy, and organisational effectiveness. This role ensures that UNICEF UK is an employer of choice for people committed to creating a better world for children.  The postholder will lead the People function, driving an inclusive, high performing work environment.   In addition, they will uphold and champion UNICEF UK’s values by ensuring that diversity, equity, inclusion, and wellbeing are embedded in all aspects of our work. 

What we will expect you to achieve 

Strategic leadership  

• Act as a trusted adviser to the Chief Executive, Executive Team and the Board on all people-related matters.  

• Lead the development and delivery of the People Plan aligned to organisational goals and UNICEF UK’s mission.  

• Actively contribute to the development, ways of working and decision-making of the Strategic Leadership Group.  

• Oversee a programme of change to ensure that UNICEF UK is effective, sustainable, and adaptable.  

Culture and Inclusion  

• Champion an inclusive, values-driven culture that underpins high performance and that recognises the importance of wellbeing.  

• Promotes high performance by ensuring equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) principles are deeply embedded in organisational policies, everyday practices, and leadership behaviours, creating an environment where all colleagues can thrive and contribute to their full potential. 

• Promote our organisational values (known as Our Shared Commitment) and model inclusive leadership. 

Talent and Workforce Planning  

• Drive strategic workforce planning, recruitment, and retention strategies to attract and retain diverse talent.  

• Oversee leadership development, succession planning, helping us to build capability and confidence at every level of the organisation.  

• Ensure our policy and practice supports robust performance management and reward frameworks that motivate and recognise excellence as well as supporting growth and development. 

Employee Experience  

• Lead initiatives to enhance colleague engagement and create a positive employee experience.  

• Ensure compliance with employment law and best practice HR standards. 

• Lead management of the office, its utilisation and associated colleague experience; ensuring it is a cost effective, safe, inclusive and compliant workplace. 

• Ensure the provision of an office that maximises connections and effective ways of working. 

• Oversee our approach to health, safety, safeguarding and wellbeing.  

• Ensure the provision of high-quality and timely people data that supports better decision-making. 

External Representation  

• Act as a spokesperson for UNICEF UK on people-related matters with stakeholders, regulators, and sector peers. 

• Build strong external networks to share best practice and influence sector-wide improvements. 

Leadership of People function  

• Lead and develop a highly engaged and high-performing People team, recognised for offering relevant expertise and advice, proactively sharing insights and shaping change to efficiently deliver strategic priorities   

• Ensure People policies and processes are robust and appropriate in supporting the effective delivery of our mission 

• Ensure the People team delivers value as a trusted strategic partner across the organisation 

BEHAVIOURS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS 

Effective behaviours 

Supporter driven and mission aligned 

• Is committed to children and their rights and motivated to work towards creating a better world for every child.   

• Demonstrate an unwavering commitment to safeguarding children and adults, with a deep understanding of its crucial role in fostering a safe organisational culture   

Creating and innovating  

• Establishes a vision and strategic view that creates scalable people strategies, underpinned by our mission and values.   

• Empowers people to innovate and welcomes new ideas that are focused on the delivery of strategic priorities.   

Leadership 

• Promotes a results-focused culture, engaging and guiding others to achieve ambitious goals. 

• Creates and encourages a cross-organisational teamwork and collaboration, acting as a visible role model for inclusive behaviours and practices.   

Positive relationships 

• Applies strong interpersonal and collaboration skills to build and leverage relationships and influence stakeholders internally and externally.   

Achieving change 

• Demonstrates a flexible and adaptable approach to leading change and ambiguity. 

• Communicates the reason for change and supports colleagues to embrace it, recognising that people will respond in different ways and at different paces. 

 Communication  

• Presents complex and difficult messages clearly and with impact. 

Relevant experience 

• Proven experience of leading a multi-disciplined HR/people function at a strategic level.  

• Strategic business partnering to Boards and Executive teams 

• Leading and embedding significant organisational and cultural change 

• Organisational and leadership development experience; shaping and supporting the development of a senior leadership team.  

• Workplace transformation and design: developing dynamic, flexible working environments, embedding agile working practices and systems.  

• Effective monitoring and measurement of people data to drive performance and organisation effectiveness 

• Embedding equity, diversity and inclusion as a strategic lever for a supportive, inclusive and high-performance working culture 

Specific knowledge and skills 

• Provides commercially sound, evidence-based advice that balances people needs with cost and risk to support business performance and growth. 

• Organisation design and development and organisation capability building   

• Strong leadership and expertise in strategic workforce planning and forecasting 

• Expert knowledge of complex employee relations and current UK employment law 

• Best in class people practices covering the full employee lifecycle  

• Work collectively with other leaders to drive organisational effectiveness and performance 

• Contribute strategically beyond area of expertise 

• A good understanding of safeguarding as it applies to the workplace