Senior People and Culture Lead (12-month Maternity Cover)

NHS; Swindon; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization is seeking a Senior People and Culture Lead for a 12-month maternity cover role in Swindon, UK. This position offers an opportunity to shape people strategies and drive performance culture. The ideal candidate will have strong HR business partnering experience, a CIPD Level 7 qualification, and the ability to manage change effectively. Compensation ranges from £55,000 to £60,000 with additional benefits including private medical insurance and extensive support for personal wellbeing.

Benefits

£55,000 - £60,000 salary

Private medical insurance

Access to wellbeing resources

Discounts through My Reward Hub

Flexible access to wages

Professional development opportunities

Supportive organizational culture

Qualifications

• Proven track record of delivering people strategies.
• Strong knowledge of employment legislation and workforce planning.
• Experience in coaching and developing leadership capability.

Responsibilities

• Act as a strategic partner to Regional Directors.
• Develop and deliver tailored people plans aligned with strategy.
• Coach managers to enhance leadership capability.

Skills

Strategic thinking

People management

HR business partnering

Change management

Communication

Education

CIPD Level 7 qualification

Job description

Senior People and Culture Lead (12-month Maternity Cover)

Please note: We are 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 one exceptional Senior People & Culture Lead to join us at a pivotal time. This opportunity is offered as a 12-month maternity cover, 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 Directors.

Main duties of the job

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.

About us

About the Company

We change lives by transforming health and care.

Established in 2006, we are one of the UK’s leading independent providers of community health and care services, working with health and care commissioners and communities to transform services with a focus on experience, efficiency and improved outcomes. We deliver and transform adult and children community health services, primary care services including urgent care, sexual health, dermatology and MSK services as well as adult social care and wellbeing services. Across England, we support communities of many millions and directly help more than half a million people each year - guided by our simple values: we care, we think, we do.

We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from a broad, diverse range of people who want to join our team. We’re a Disability Confident company, so we work to provide facilities, work environment adjustments and technical solutions to be as inclusive of everyone.

While it doesn’t happen often, sometimes a role is very popular, and we may need to close it earlier than the date we’ve shown here. If you’re keen to join our team, we’d love to hear from you so please apply as soon as you can.

To find out more about HCRG Care Group, please visit https://www.hcrgcaregroup.com/about-us-2.

Job responsibilities

As a Senior People and Culture Lead, you’ll be part of our valued team at HCRG Care Group.

You will feel valued as a Senior People and Culture Lead within HCRG Care Group, receiving access to exclusive rewards and benefits, including:

• £55,000 - £60,000 with group pension
• Private medical insurance with fast access to the most used specialists including for musculoskeletal problems and for mental health support at locations across the country
• Membership of My Reward Hub, giving you access to discounts on everyday purchases like grocery shopping as well as cashback and voucher offers for treats for you and those special to you
• Access to your wages as you earn them to help cover lifes emergencies and avoid overdraft fees or high interest rates
• Online and face to face help with your mental and physical wellbeing from healthy recipes and activity challenges through to post trauma support, legal, debt and life management help, as well as career coaching and counselling
• Access to eLearning, bespoke career pathways and opportunities for continuing professional development through our Outstanding learning and development team, The Learning Enterprise
• An open, just culture where you’re encouraged to have and implement ideas which can help us deliver our purpose: changing lives through transforming health and care backed up by at least £100,000 of ringfenced innovation funding each year
• The pride of working for an organisation committed to the highest clinical and quality standards: with the majority of our rated services holding good or outstanding ratings from the Care Quality Commission

We’re looking for someone who can bring both credibility and pragmatism - a trusted partner who can balance strategic thinking with a hands‑on approach to building capability and embedding change.

You will be:

• An experienced Senior HR Business Partner / OD leader with a proven track record of partnering senior stakeholders to deliver people strategies that drive performance and culture.
• CIPD Level 7 qualified (or equivalent experience), with strong knowledge of employment legislation, organisational development, and workforce planning.
• Skilled in embedding change – not just delivering transformation projects, but ensuring changes are sustained through capability building, coaching, and cultural alignment.
• Highly confident in building manager and leadership capability, particularly around absence management, performance, engagement, and succession planning.
• Adept at using people data and insights to influence decision‑making, spot risks, and link people practices to service KPIs (e.g. absence rates, agency spend, staff survey outcomes).
• A strong communicator and influencer, able to build trust quickly with Regional Directors and senior managers with very different leadership styles.
• Comfortable with regular national travel and maintaining a visible presence across services – you’ll know that sometimes the most meaningful impact happens in team meetings, on‑site with leaders, and in the moments where you can challenge and support face‑to‑face.
• Commercially astute, with the ability to balance organisational goals, colleague wellbeing, and service user needs.
• A values‑driven leader who champions inclusion, wellbeing, and engagement, creating the conditions where people can thrive.
• Resilient and adaptable, thriving in a complex and changing environment, and able to connect the dots across multiple services and priorities.

This is a fantastic role for someone who wants to go beyond traditional HR and truly shape culture, capability, and leadership in services that make a difference to communities across the UK.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.