Head of People & Culture in Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Head of People & Culture - Employee Experience, Culture & Inclusion

Location: UK, with travel to London approximately two days per week

Salary: c£115,000+ excellent package and benefits

Working arrangements: Hybrid and flexible

Elevation Recruitment Group's People & HR team are partnering with a well-established professional services organisation to appoint a Head of People & Culture, offering an exciting opportunity for a senior specialist to shape and lead the organisation's employee experience, culture, engagement, inclusion and wellbeing agenda.

This is a specialist leadership appointment, not a traditional generalist HR role.

We are particularly interested in individuals who have built their careers around employee experience, organisational culture, engagement, DEI and wellbeing, ideally within a large professional services or similarly complex, matrix-led organisation.

Reporting to the Talent Director, you will work closely with senior leadership and the wider People function, providing strategic direction and driving initiatives that create a genuinely inclusive, engaging and positive employee experience.

You will have the opportunity to influence organisational culture, shape the employee proposition and ensure that the organisation's people experience has a measurable and lasting impact.

The role

You will take ownership of the organisation's employee experience and culture agenda, with responsibility for:

• Employee Experience & Engagement: Shaping the end-to-end employee experience, developing engagement strategies, strengthening employee voice and creating meaningful opportunities for colleagues to feel connected, valued and involved.
• Culture & Inclusion: Leading cultural development and transformation, driving the DEI agenda and embedding inclusion and belonging throughout the organisation.
• Wellbeing: Developing and delivering a strategic wellbeing agenda that supports a healthy, sustainable and positive working environment.
• People Insight & Strategy: Using employee listening, engagement data, feedback and people analytics to identify opportunities, shape priorities and measure the impact of initiatives.
• Leadership & Influence: Working closely with senior stakeholders to influence organisational thinking, drive cultural change and translate strategic priorities into tangible outcomes.
• Team Leadership: Leading and developing the People & Culture team, creating a high-performing and collaborative environment.

About you

We are looking for a senior People professional with a genuine specialist background in employee experience, culture and engagement.

You will ideally bring:

• Significant experience leading employee experience, organisational culture and engagement strategies within a large, complex organisation.
• Demonstrable expertise in DEI, inclusion, belonging and/or employee wellbeing.
• A track record of delivering organisation-wide cultural and employee experience initiatives with measurable outcomes.
• Experience influencing senior leadership teams and driving change across complex stakeholder environments.
• Strong understanding of employee listening, engagement measurement and using insight to inform strategy.
• Experience within a large professional services firm, partnership environment or similarly complex, matrix-led organisation.
• The credibility and communication skills to operate at senior leadership level.
• A CIPD qualification or equivalent professional experience would be advantageous.

Importantly, this is not a generalist HR leadership position. We are not looking for someone whose experience is predominantly focused on employee relations, HR business partnering, recruitment, reward, industrial relations or generalist HR operations.

We are looking for a genuine specialist whose career demonstrates a strong focus on employee experience, culture, engagement, inclusion and wellbeing.

The opportunity

This is an opportunity to take ownership of a high-profile specialist agenda within an established professional services organisation.

You will have the platform to influence how people experience the organisation, shape its culture and deliver meaningful improvements to engagement, inclusion and wellbeing.

If you are passionate about creating exceptional employee experiences and shaping organisational culture, we would be delighted to hear from you.

For a confidential discussion or further information, please get in touch.