Associate Director, People & Culture

We are pleased to bring to the market the role of Associate Director, People & Culture at the Met Office.

As our Associate Director, People & Culture you will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering the Met Office People Strategy, ensuring the organisation has the engaged, skilled, and flexible workforce needed to achieve its strategic objectives.

Based in Exeter, you will be operationally responsible for delivery of all elements of the People and Culture area encompassing Strategic Planning, Operational Delivery, People Development and Health & Safety teams – ensuring that the Met Office remains an exceptional place for people to work, grow and thrive.

As one of the world’s leading weather and climate organisations, the Met Office provides the most accurate weather forecasts, severe weather warnings and climate projections which are built on our deep scientific expertise. Our work supports everything from daily life and travel, to defence, agriculture, energy and emergency response.

As a strategic HR leader, you report to the Chief People Officer, driving operational delivery and continuous improvement across all elements of the People and Culture area, Strategic Planning, Operational Delivery, People Development and Health & Safety teams.

Equipping leaders to succeed, you will ensure a central focus on championing leadership excellence, inclusion, health and safety and wellbeing, and Met Office values.

• Engage effectively with the Associate Director community and Executive to provide advice and direction on people matters across the organisation.
• Lead and empower the People Directorate promoting and implementing new ways of working and data driven decisions. Embedding strategic workforce planning as a discipline, overseeing talent and succession planning. Ensuring the organisation has an engaged, skilled flexible workforce and the organisational capability to deliver its strategic objectives.
• Developing relationships inside and outside of the Civil Service to be able to bring best practice to the organisation and become recognised externally.
• Collaborate constructively with trade unions, stakeholders, and senior colleagues to help drive sustainable change, organisational stability, and measurable improvements in engagement.
• Provide strategic leadership as the Head of Profession for Leadership and Management, partnering with the Chief People Officer as sponsor to champion best practice. Lead the development of leadership capability—strengthening confidence and competence in line with the Met Office skills framework and organisational culture .
• Working with the Head of Health and Safety to ensure health, safety and wellbeing is culturally embedded in the Met Office.

• Chartered Member, or ideally Chartered Fellow, of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) or equivalent.
• Demonstrable experience leading large teams, across the full range of HR disciplines (Organisational Development, workforce planning and resourcing, people systems and technology, pay and reward, conduct and capability, learning, leadership and management, talent management, employee and industrial relations) in a senior leadership capacity.
• Proven track record of managing significant budget and headcount within agreed limits and extensive knowledge of corporate budgeting and financial processes.
• Highly developed strategic thinking ability with proven track record in change management and capable of balancing both strategic, tactical and operational priorities; able to deliver strategy at pace, resilience to sustain the strategy, often through high levels of ambiguity and organisational change.

Our work is life-changing, often life-saving and always life-enhancing. The Met Office is accredited as a 'Great Place to Work UK’ and in addition has achieved a place on both the UK's 'Best Workplaces in Tech' and 'Best Workplaces for Women' lists.

As our Associate Director of People & Culture, your annual total reward package is potentially worth in the range of £103,591 to £113,446, which includes:

• Base pay in the…