Director of People and Culture

Zoological Society of London; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

An international conservation charity in the UK is seeking an inspirational Director of People and Culture to lead the development of governance, people, and safeguarding strategies. The successful candidate will provide visionary leadership, promote inclusion, and ensure compliance across the organisation. This role requires a proven track record in HR leadership within complex environments and experience in governance. Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work with senior leadership teams are essential. The position involves collaboration with various stakeholders and offers a blended working arrangement.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Commitment to safeguarding and diversity

Collaboration with a diverse team

Qualifications

• Proven senior HR/People leadership experience in a complex organisation.
• Strong experience in governance and charity regulation.
• Experience in employee relations in UK and International contexts.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of people, governance, and safeguarding strategies.
• Manage relationships with the Executive Leadership Team and Board.
• Champion inclusion and wellbeing culture.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Organisational design

Employee relations

Inclusion and diversity

Governance and compliance

Change management

Interpersonal skills

Analytical skills

Job description

Purpose of the role

As we enter our next strategic phase, we are seeking an inspirational and experienced Director of People and Culture to lead the development of our people, governance and safeguarding strategies, to strengthen organisational culture, and to ensure the highest standards of governance across the charity.

The Director of People and Culture will provide visionary leadership for organisational strategy across the globe, people and culture strategy, organisational culture, and governance and safeguarding frameworks. This role will champion inclusion, wellbeing, and high-performance culture while ensuring strong governance, compliance, and risk management across the organisation’s activities. The role is a key member of the Executive Leadership Team and a trusted advisor to the CEO and Board of Trustees (Council). The postholder will also play a critical role in supporting and advising the People Committee, a sub-committee of Council and one of ZSL’s most senior governance forums, providing expert oversight of people, culture, reward, inclusion, and workforce-related risk.

The Director of People and Culture will have executive responsibility for ZSL’s People, Governance, Health and Safety and Safeguarding Teams.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Work with CEO and Chair to build governance capability across all levels of the organisations including induction, development and ongoing learning, to ensure high standards of stewardship, effective challenge, and confidence in operating within a complex international NGO environment.
• Lead the development and execution of a long‑term people strategy, aligned to ZSL’s mission and strategic goals. Provide expert guidance and strategic advice on a wide range of issues including employee relations, strategic workforce planning, organisational design, culture and change.
• Act as a strategic partner to the CEO, executive leadership team, Chair of Council and wider Council on all people related and cultural matters and governance.
• Act as the organisation’s senior safeguarding lead, ensuring safeguarding is embedded into strategy, decision‑making and organisational culture.
• Demonstrate visible leadership, modelling organisational values and fostering a collaborative, inclusive and supportive working environment.
• Manage and oversee the People Team, Governance Team and Safeguarding Team budgets and resources; ensure effective deployment of people‑systems, tools and technologies to support an insightful, efficient and responsive service.

People and Culture Strategy

• Provide strategic oversight of the People Teams including employee experience, reward and systems, organisational development, business partnering and advisory services, talent acquisition, succession planning and volunteering.
• Champion a culture of inclusion, equity, diversity and belonging, embedding best practice across policy, process and behaviours.
• Develop and design change management strategies that support ZSL as it implements its strategy and organisational plans and seeks to create and maintain its’ organisational capability.
• Partner with the CEO and senior leaders to translate business need into people‑solutions, governance and safeguarding solutions, enabling the organisation to adapt, grow and respond to changing demands in the INGO and UK conservation sector.
• Lead cross‑organisational initiatives including People & Culture Steering Group and People Committee and other key governance forums that drive employee engagement and inclusive culture.
• Lead on the development, management and reporting of a strong impact framework for People and Safeguarding that has clear measures and targets that support the three ZSL strategic priorities for ZSL, ensuring plans, objectives, KPIs and metrics are in place to continually drive impact performance for ZSL.
• Strategically lead ZSL’s partnership with Trade Unions and provide senior guidance on industrial relations, working in partnership with the CFO on pay negotiations. Advising the People Committee to ensure fair, competitive and values‑aligned reward practices are in place.
• Ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is fully championed across all people practices; embedding EDI as a core part of the culture, structure and processes of ZSL.

Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Working with CEO and Chair, lead the development of a strong organisational governance culture, strengthening decision‑making quality, accountability, ethical leadership and role clarity across all levels of the organisation; ensuring governance is understood as a value‑adding enabler of impact at ZSL.
• Provide leadership guidance for good governance, ensuring strong and efficient governance structures, ways of working, reporting and compliance with charity law and regulatory requirements and in line with Charity Governance Code (charitygovernancecode.org)
• Oversee risk management and mitigation strategies related to people and culture, governance, health and safety, and safeguarding functions.
• Working with CEO and Chair, lead governance reviews and improvements, ensuring structures and processes remain fit for purpose.

Safeguarding

• Act as Senior Designated Safeguarding Lead, with overall accountability for safeguarding children, young people and adults at risk across the organisation’s work, including international field‑based, volunteer‑led and partner‑delivered activity.
• Ensure safeguarding considerations are fully integrated into people management, programme delivery, partnerships and governance frameworks.
• Ensure effective safeguarding training is in place for staff, volunteers, trustees and partners, appropriate to their roles.
• Foster a culture where safeguarding concerns are understood, taken seriously and raised without fear of reprisal.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Act as an external ambassador for ZSL on people, culture, governance and safeguarding, strengthening ZSL’s employer brand and reputation as a values‑led, well‑governed international NGO through sector leadership, thought leadership, partnerships and engagement with regulators, peer organisations and professional bodies.
• Work collaboratively with the executive leadership team and Council to embed people‑centred practices and a culture of high performance and continuous improvement.
• Serve as a key representative externally, promoting organisational reputation and values in people, culture, governance and safeguarding forums.

Values and Behaviours for People Management

Collaborative: creates an engaging environment where people feel comfortable asking for help or support.

Ethical: creates a culture which ensures everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.

Impactful: delivers results on time and to the agreed standards.

Inclusive: makes decisions that promote transparency and inclusion.

About You

Experience

• Proven senior HR / People leadership experience in a complex international organisation with accountability for multiple HR disciplines with a proven track record of partnering with senior leadership/ExCo/Council/Board on people strategy, organisational effectiveness, workforce planning and culture transformation.
• Strong experience of organisational design, workforce planning, culture change and complex employee relations (including grievance/disciplines, TU engagement) in a UK and International context.
• Proven experience of governance, charity regulation, and influencing Boards/Trustees.
• Excellent interpersonal, influencing and relationship‑building skills, with credibility at Board and senior leadership levels.
• Experience in EDI strategy and embedding inclusive practices at organisation‑scale.

Desirable

• Strong understanding of charity law and compliance frameworks.

Knowledge and Skills

• Strategic thinker with credibility at executive leadership and governance levels, with the ability to influence and partner effectively
• Able to understand business strategy, translate into people‑solutions, partner with senior leaders, and deliver successfully.
• Strong knowledge of employment law, union/industrial relations, EDI, and best practice in the charity sector.
• Highly developed communication skills with the ability to adapt and influence at all levels, including stakeholder management of senior leaders, Council/Board, unions, volunteers.
• Strong analytical skills, able to use workforce data and metrics to shape decision‑making and measure impact.
• Collaborative and decisive leader.

Additional Requirements

• This post is a blended role for office and home working; some travel to Zoo sites will be required. We work at least 2‑3 days per week in the office.
• Strong commitment to creating a culture that lives ZSL values and commitment to safeguarding, equality and diversity (collaborative, inspiring, inclusive, innovative, impactful and ethical).

About Us

Our Vision

A world where wildlife thrives.

Our Purpose

To inspire, inform and empower people to protect and restore wildlife.

Who We Are

We’re ZSL (Zoological Society of London), a science‑driven conservation charity with 200 years of history and an urgent mission for the future. We work to restore wildlife in the UK and around the world, helping people and wildlife thrive together.

Our Approach

We look for answers through science, and we work with people to find solutions.

From our renowned Institute of Zoology to conservation field programmes spanning the globe, we use evidence‑based research to understand the threats facing wildlife and develop effective interventions. We protect species on the brink of extinction, collaborate with communities to restore vital habitats, train the next generation of conservationists and create pathways for everyone – from pre‑schoolers to policymakers – to take meaningful action for nature.

Through our two conservation zoos, we bring people closer to wildlife in ways that inspire lasting connections. London Zoo offers an immersive, cosmopolitan experience in the heart of the capital, while Whipsnade Zoo provides the most authentic and adventurous zoo experience in the world across its expansive landscape. Both zoos play a vital role in species conservation, public engagement and education.

Our People

Our colleagues and volunteers are the lifeblood of everything we achieve. Without their expertise, dedication and energy, none of our ambitious conservation goals would be possible. From zookeepers and scientists to educators, field teams and support staff across the UK and around the world, every person at ZSL is driven by a shared commitment to protecting wildlife.

We’re working to create an environment where passionate, talented people can do their best work – building a culture of collaboration, integrity and inclusion at every level. We harness the extraordinary commitment our people bring while ensuring everyone feels valued, safe and supported to contribute to our goals.

Our Leadership Vision

Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer (interim) Kathryn England, ZSL is positioned as a critical knowledge hub – maximising our impact on conservation science and practice in the UK and globally. We’re building on our 200‑year legacy of scientific excellence to address the urgent challenges facing wildlife today, while ensuring our zoos remain incredible places where people connect with nature and become advocates for wildlife.

Our Values

We aspire to live our values every day, shaping how we work together and making ZSL a place where both people and our mission can thrive:

Collaborative: We bring people together to share expertise
Ethical: We make the right choices
Impactful: We focus on activities that make a positive difference
Inclusive: We value our differences and foster belonging
Innovative: We find new ways to solve problems
Inspiring: We encourage people to take positive action

Our Governance

ZSL is governed by a Board of Trustees, known as Council, who provide strategic oversight and ensure we remain true to our charitable mission. Our Executive Committee, led by the CEO, is responsible for delivering our strategic goals across all areas of our work.

We Believe

Nature can recover, but it needs our support now. Conservation works best when it’s powered by science, and people and wildlife can thrive together. By deepening understanding of the natural world and working in partnership with communities globally, we’re building a future where wildlife thrives.

Our History

For 200 years, ZSL has been at the forefront of wildlife conservation and zoological science. Founded in 1826 by Sir Stamford Raffles, we’ve pioneered innovative approaches to animal care, conservation research and public engagement. From appointing our first female curator in 1917 to establishing the world‑renowned Institute of Zoology in the 1960s or developing cutting‑edge technology to prevent poaching in 2011, our history is one of innovation, dedication and impact.

As we mark our bicentenary, we’re more committed than ever to restoring nature and securing a world where wildlife thrives.

Join Us

The world is changing, and we need to act now. Be part of our fight to restore nature and help secure a world where wildlife thrives.

For full role details and to apply for this role, please contact Smita Rai from our Executive Search partners, Green Park, by emailing [e-mail] or visit Zoological Society of London.