Head of Diversity & Inclusion

HEAD OF DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

IMMEDIATE START

£55,000 - £69,000 PER ANNUM

9 MONTHS INITIALLY (possibility of extension or permanent opportunity)

GOVERNMENT

• Are you an expert in driving diversity & inclusion change within medium-large scale organisations?
• Have you got experience of leading on D&I initiatives?
• Do you possess excellent communication and engagement skills?
• Are you capable of working with high levels of ambiguity?

If so, then I want to talk to you!

The opportunity

After placing several members of staff within the people team over the last 4 years, I'm delighted to be working exclusively with this government organisation on this business-critical appointment.

The organisation launched its first Diversity & Inclusion Strategy in 2019 and over the past two years, they have delivered the following:

• Improved their D&I data baselining and reporting
• Improved diversity of the top team (ExCo) - including colleagues from a range of backgrounds and working patterns
• Introduced mandatory D&I objectives for all Senior Civil Servants, linked to performance management
• Completed a series of senior-level reverse mentoring
• Introduced blind sifting and more diverse interview panels
• Launched a further review into our recruitment practices (in progress)
• Launched a year-long EmPowering Women into Leadership development programme (in progress)
• Begun improvements to a number of internal policies, including those relating to parental leave, bullying and harassment, transitioning at work and becoming a Disability Confident Employer (in progress)
• Continued working with their passionate internal staff networks (ongoing)
• Continued a wide range of internal engagement activities, including benefiting from excellent external speakers (ongoing)

Looking forward, their priority D&I outcomes this year are:

• Further broadening their applicant pool and ensuring applicants can demonstrate their full potential
• Providing a clearer leadership pathways for women and BAME talent
• Transforming L&D to raise awareness of D&I more generally and providing targeted support and development where needed
• Ensuring D&I becomes embedded through all internal transformation projects, particularly in HR
• Supporting and challenging industry in driving a step-change in D&I across the wider energy sector, including through a multi-day event in spring 2021

I am looking for an experienced Head of Diversity & Inclusion to deliver this programme of work and to further scope out and define future priorities - with a clear delivery and engagement plan to meet these. Core to this will be taking a data-driven approach to identifying and addressing these priorities, exceptional communications and stakeholder engagement skills and an ability to define and deliver structured programme of work.

This role will initially report to the Deputy Director, Organisational Transformation, with regular engagement with the CEO to review progress and blockers to success. There is extremely strong interest in D&I at Board level, and all of the Senior Civil Servants (SCS) have a formal D&I objective as part of their obligations and performance management.

You will be supported day-to-day by a small team, including some data analysis capability, and will work closely with a large number of colleagues in key delivery teams - for example HR and L&D, who own key policy and business engagement activities. You will support D&I understanding and capability building in these teams.

You will be a visible figurehead for D&I, both internally and externally, and will be comfortable engaging at all levels and through all channels. We will be looking to you to take a lead on shaping this engagement, though you will have considerable support from our Internal and External Communications colleagues.

The role will initially be remote but will be 2-3 days on site once things normalise post July.

Essential Criteria

• Strong subject matter expertise in Diversity and Inclusion and best practices in this area
• Proven experience in changing corporate Diversity and Inclusion culture and practices, ideally including within the public sector
• Proven experience of creating and delivering Diversity and Inclusion programmes and projects in a structured manner, including delivering through other teams
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement and influencing skills, including experience of effectively delivering honest advice and securing support from senior colleagues for significant changes to practices
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to communicate with impact through a range of media
• Analytical thinking, confident with data analysis and an ability to present evidence in a compelling way, both visual and narrative
• Thorough understanding of Equality Act 2010 and Public Sector Equality Duty

Desirable

• Experience in change management or HR
• Experience of working within the public sector

What next?

CV deadline for this role is Monday 19th April at 6pm. Please reach out to richard.grove@investigo.co.uk should you have any queries.

My client welcomes candidates from all backgrounds, and especially welcomes individuals from underrepresented groups. While this is a full time role, flexible working patterns and job shares are welcome.