CFRS0187 - Head of People and Culture

Cumbria Fire; Penrith; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Pension scheme

Occupational health

Counselling & health support

Leadership development

Job summary

Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service is seeking an experienced and influential Head of People and Culture to shape and deliver the Service’s people agenda. You will lead HR, organisational development and cultural change, advising the Senior Leadership Team to foster a high-performing, inclusive environment across 600 staff in Cumbria.

The role requires strategic leadership, strong communication and collaboration with partner agencies, plus flexibility for hybrid homeworking and on-site work at Penrith

Qualifications

• We are looking for a credible and forward-thinking leader with significant experience in HR, organisational development and cultural change.
• Excellent leadership, communication and relationship-building skills with the ability to influence at all levels.
• Provide strategic advice and foster a positive and inclusive working environment.

Responsibilities

• Strategic responsibility for Human Resources, Organisational Development, Resourcing and Talent, and Service Fitness, leading management teams and ensuring effective use of resources.
• Overseeing HR-hosted and shared service functions with partner agencies, ensuring governance and reporting arrangements.
• Leading on strategic employee relations matters, maintaining positive relationships within a unionised environment and ensuring effective consultation and negotiation processes.
• Acting as the primary point of contact for strategic people matters, ensuring services remain responsive to priorities.
• Providing expert advice and guidance to Principal Officers on HR policy, people strategy and organisational development matters.

Job description

The right person, in the right role, at the right time

CFRS0187 - Head of People and Culture - INTERNAL ONLY

About this opportunity

We are delighted to offer an exciting opportunity for an experienced and influential people leader to join Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service as our Head of People and Culture.

This is a key strategic leadership role, responsible for shaping and delivering our people agenda to support the ambitions of the Service. As the professional lead for Human Resources and Organisational Development, you will work closely with the Senior Leadership Team to develop a high-performing, inclusive and engaged workforce that is equipped to deliver the priorities set out within our People Strategy and Community Risk Management Plan.

We are looking for a credible and forward-thinking leader with significant experience in HR, organisational development and cultural change. Our ideal candidate will have excellent leadership, communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence at all levels, provide strategic advice, and foster a positive and inclusive working environment.

Within this role you will be expected to undertake a variety of activities, including:

• Strategic responsibility for Human Resources, Organisational Development, Resourcing and Talent, and Service Fitness, leading management teams and ensuring the effective use of resources to deliver a high-quality, person-centred service.
• Overseeing and managing HR-hosted and shared service functions with partner agencies, ensuring appropriate service assurance, governance and reporting arrangements are in place.
• Leading on strategic employee relations matters, maintaining positive and constructive relationships within a unionised environment and ensuring effective consultation and negotiation processes.
• Acting as the primary point of contact for strategic people matters, ensuring services remain responsive to organisational priorities and workforce needs.
• Providing expert advice and guidance to Principal Officers on HR policy, people strategy and organisational development matters.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact ACFO Ian Seel.

Details of the Post

INTERNAL ONLY

Hours: 37 hours per week. We support part-time working, job-shares and other flexible options - these can be discussed at interview.

Contract: Fixed term for 7 months

Location: Penrith Headquarters, and home-working.

Closing date: 11:59pm on Sunday 4th October

Interviews: Interviews will be held in-person during October at CFRS Headquarters, Penrith. Dates will be confirmed as soon as possible

* This post requires a Standard DBS Check *

Adjustments – we strongly encourage any candidate who needs adjustments to make us aware as soon as possible, either using the section on the application form or by contacting the Resourcing Team directly (email below). We will have a confidential discussion with you and we take the approach of ‘you tell us what you require, and we will do our best to facilitate’. Where we are unable to make the adjustment, we will share this asap.

CFRS has a Guaranteed Interview scheme for those whose most recent employer is the armed forces, for care leavers, and for those who consider themselves disabled. If you consider yourself eligible, please include this information when submitting your application to the Resourcing team, who will handle this confidentially. We encourage candidates to let us know so we can provide the best support and access throughout the process.

With approximately 600 employees, covering operational firefighters, front facing delivery teams, corporate services, and support staff, delivering services across the county from 38 Fire Stations, we know we need to be a modern, flexible, and inclusive employer.

We offer:

• Flexible working across the county, including a hybrid of homeworking and office working at one of our Wholetime stations
• Enrolment in either the Fire Pension Scheme or Local Government Pension Scheme (depending on your terms and conditions) - link to the Pensions page here
• Occupational Health service, including counselling
• Close working relationship with the Firefighters Charity, including mental and physical health support
• On-going personal development, including apprenticeship options and leadership courses
• Access to modern ICT equipment
• Family friendly policies, including 45 weeks full pay for Family Leave
• Menopause Policy - link here (Word document)
• Workplace adjustments for Neurodivergent and Disabled employees
• Staff Networks for a variety of different communities, including (but not limited to) Armed Forces, LGBTQ+, Menopause, Retirees

Our service is passionate about the communities we serve and dedicated to developing our workforce - if you're looking to progress in an inclusive, supportive, and dynamic fire service, we would like to hear from you!

We value the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects our communities in Cumbria. We actively encourage applications from all suitably qualified individuals, irrespective of people’s age, disability, gender, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances.

We capture Equality data on our application forms to help us review barriers in our processes for any minority group. This is optional to complete and is securely removed and accessed only by the Resourcing team to review.