Chief People Officer

UK Agri-Tech Centre; Glasgow, City of Edinburgh; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading law firm in Scotland is seeking a Chief People Officer to shape their People Strategy and drive HR initiatives. Key responsibilities include promoting culture, managing talent acquisition, and ensuring a competitive reward strategy. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in HR leadership, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders. The role offers a dynamic environment focused on sustainable growth.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in complex professional services or partnership.
• Experience of leading cultural and organisational change.

Responsibilities

• Shapes and delivers the People Strategy aligned to the firm’s goals.
• Translates people data into insights for business decisions.
• Leads culture-shaping initiatives for performance.
• Develops fair, competitive, and viable reward strategies.
• Champions diversity and inclusion as growth drivers.

Skills

Analytical mindset

Influencing skills

Resilience

Leadership capability

Education

Chartered/Fellow membership of an accredited Professional Institution

Evidence of Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

Job description

A new style of law firm, we’re trusted by clients because we focus on what matters: delivering practical advice and transparency on costs. We understand your needs and are committed to a user-friendly style of business.

Our firm provides clients with unparalleled access to one of the largest legal resources in Scotland. With a team of over 250 lawyers, we seamlessly integrate business acumen with innovative approaches, guaranteeing exceptional client service and unrivalled expertise.

We work with clients in all key sectors within the Scottish economy. Our strength comes from our collaborative relationships and our breadth of connections. We have an extensive network of clients and contacts throughout Scotland, as well as strong links to the wider UK and international markets.

About the role

This role can be based at either our Edinburgh or Glasgow offices. As a member of our Executive Committee, the CPO acts as the firm’s chief adviser on all people and culture matters, shaping strategy, challenging and supporting senior leaders to drive sustainable commercial performance and an exceptional client experience aligned to the firm’s growth ambitions.

With the support of your People team, the CPO will focus on the following areas:

Strategic Leadership

• Shapes and delivers the People Strategy aligned to the firm’s vision, strategy and growth plans.
• Provides courageous and constructive challenge to ExCo and partners to ensure people decisions align with the firm’s strategic and financial goals.
• Champions the commercial leadership of people to drive growth ambitions aligned to best practice.

Commercial Partnering

• Translates people data into insight that informs decisions on profitability, resourcing and client service delivery.
• Develops and deploys workforce analytics to inform capacity, capability, productivity and reward strategies.

Culture & Engagement

• Leads the design and delivery of culture-shaping initiatives that support market focus, collaboration, client focus, and sustainable performance.
• Drives initiatives that improve engagement, retention and employer brand.
• Oversees talent acquisition, learning & development, talent review, succession planning and career pathways to ensure the firm has the right skills for the future.
• Strengthens leadership capability at all levels developing firm wide leadership development capability alongside leadership readiness programmes.

Reward & Performance

• Develops, implements and reviews fair, competitive and commercially viable reward strategies.
• Ensures performance management systems drive accountability, client-focused behaviours and business outcomes.

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging

• Champions diversity, inclusion and belonging as drivers of talent attraction, retention, innovation and client value.
• Builds and delivers a DIB strategy that both drives the firm’s growth agenda and supports the delivery of a great place to work

Operational Excellence

• Ensure high-quality HR operations, policies, systems and compliance.
• Lead the People team to deliver consistent, professional and efficient service to the business.

Candidate requirements

The firm is a leading independent Scottish law firm, operating in a highly competitive market that demands strong financial performance, excellent client service and a distinctive culture. The CPO partners with the CEO, ExCo and the Board to align people priorities with commercial strategy. The role requires the ability to challenge senior leaders constructively, providing insight and data-driven evidence to ensure decisions support long-term sustainable growth.

• Outstanding senior HR Director/ People leader with significant experience in complex professional services or partnership or similar type environments.
• Strong analytical and data-driven mindset: able to interpret complex workforce, financial and market data to influence decision-making
• Resilient and persuasive, with the gravitas to influence senior partners and challenge constructively at Board / ExCo/partner and leadership level.
• Experience of leading cultural and organisational change.
• Deep knowledge of talent, reward, L&D, workforce planning, diversity and employee engagement.
• High personal credibility and professional integrity.
• Evidence of Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
• Chartered/Fellow membership of an appropriate accredited Professional Institution(s) is preferred.

Apply Now

To apply, please send your CV to Jaclyn Needham, Director at FWB to [e-mail] or for an initial confidential discussion, please contact her on 0131 539 7087.

Applications close at noon on Thursday 12th of November.

Contact the team at FWB to discuss your individual or company requirements, or to discover more about our specialist services.