Senior People and Culture Lead; Maternity Cover

Job Introduction

We’re sharing this opportunity across a number of job boards and in different locations to reach as many potential applicants as possible. However, this is one single position – so wherever you see it, it’s the same great role. At HCRG Care Group, we believe our people are at the heart of delivering excellent care and driving sustainable change. We’re proud to deliver vital health and care services across the country, and we’re looking for an exceptional Senior People & Culture Lead to join us at a pivotal time.

Note: This opportunity is offered as an immediate start for a maternity cover until May 2027, making it ideal for an experienced People & Culture professional who enjoys stepping into complex environments, making an immediate impact, and delivering meaningful change. You will work closely with our Regional Director – building trusted partnerships, embedding recent transformation programmes, and helping managers develop the skills and confidence they need to deliver consistently high‑performing services.

No two days will look the same. One week you might be supporting leaders in our Children’s services; the next in our Urgent Care services helping managers make the link between absence management, agency use, and service performance. You’ll also play a key role in shaping our people strategy across the Bath & North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire region. Although the role can be remote‑based, it will require regular travel and visibility across the region.

You’ll be the kind of person who thrives on variety, who enjoys being out in services, and who knows that real cultural change happens when leaders are supported, present, and accountable.

This is not about policy writing or transactional HR. It’s about influence, coaching, and impact. You’ll create people plans tailored to each service, use data and insights to shape decision‑making, and most importantly, ensure that change sticks long after the project team has moved on.

If you are a seasoned HR professional with the credibility to influence senior leaders, the resilience to navigate complex environments, and the drive to make a tangible difference, then this is your opportunity to join us and leave a lasting mark on colleagues, services, and communities.

• Act as a strategic partner to Regional Directors, building trusted relationships and ensuring people strategies directly support operational and service delivery goals.
• Develop and deliver tailored people plans for each region, aligned with organisational strategy, KPIs, and local priorities.
• Embed organisational change – ensuring that recent transformation programmes are sustained, capability is built, and managers feel confident in leading new ways of working.
• Coach and support managers to strengthen leadership capability, particularly in areas such as absence management, performance management, and employee engagement.
• Create clear links between people data and business outcomes, helping leaders understand how areas such as absence, agency usage, and retention impact both cost and service quality.
• Champion a positive and inclusive culture, using colleague voice, surveys, and engagement tools to identify issues and co‑create solutions with managers and teams.
• Provide visible presence across services, regularly travelling to sites and attending leadership and team meetings to offer hands‑on support and guidance.
• Use data and insights to inform decision‑making, identify people risks, and recommend pragmatic solutions that balance commercial and colleague needs.
• Work collaboratively with centres of excellence within the wider People team, ensuring policies, practices, and initiatives are consistently applied and adapted for local needs.
• Promote equality, diversity, inclusion, and wellbeing across all people practices, creating environments where colleagues feel supported, engaged, and able to thrive.
• Contribute to organisational performance by tracking ROI on people initiatives, ensuring people practices add value to both colleagues and service delivery.

We’re looking for someone who can bring both credibility and pragmatism – a…