Director of People and Organisational Culture

Sheffield is a place like no other. As the birthplace of electronic music, the greenest city in the UK, and a major Core City of nearly 600,000 people with huge regional and national importance, we’ve pretty much got our own gravitational pull.

Our People Strategy articulates our ambition to be a place where true system leadership is everyday, and everywhere. Where colleagues at all levels collaborate across boundaries, to deliver genuinely shared outcomes that make a difference in our communities. Where our whole workforce has the confidence to lead and influence in complex environments, and where we are distinguished by collaboration, adaptability, and a focus on local needs across our city.

Delivering this sophisticated strategic vision will allow us to play our full part in navigating and shaping complex, locally driven priorities and partnerships. So, this role is mission-critical for the success of our entire transformation agenda.

You’ll take the lead on strengthening leadership and management capability and make sure we hold people considerations at the core of corporate decision-making. Working directly with the CEO, COO, SLT, elected members and our trade unions, you’ll bring together culture, leadership, workforce reform and organisational performance.

It’s an exceptional opportunity to lead a high-impact people agenda in a major UK Core City, and you’ll be joining us at a key inflection point, where your professional contribution will shape how an organisation of nearly 9,000 people performs and evolves for a generation.

We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly. It is a great time to join us and we welcome your application.

Under the Guaranteed Interview scheme, applicants who are disabled, care leavers, or armed forces veterans will be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria and indicate their eligibility on the application form. Sometimes, if lots of people apply, we might not be able to interview everyone who qualifies for the Guarantee. In these cases, we’ll interview the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job.

Full-time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share.

If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade. Equality of pay is extremely important to us. All roles at Sheffield City Council are going through an evaluation process which may result in changes to some pay arrangements from 2026.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all individuals, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for everyone and where appropriate to the role the successful applicant will be required to undertake relevant safeguarding checks.