HR Consultant in Sheffield

Help shape the future of Sheffield City Council. We’re building a new Organisational Development (OD) function to strengthen our culture, leadership and organisational design—so it’s a brilliant time to join, bring your ideas, and make a meaningful impact for colleagues and communities across the city. To support the Sheffield Role Review (our Pay and Reward programme), we’re recruiting one 18‑month fixed-term opportunity. This role will form part of a wider OD team the Council is creating that will support the Council's wider transformation activity Future Sheffield. If you’re motivated by change, collaboration and better ways of working, we’d love to hear from you.

What you’ll do:

• Embed sustainable pay systems, policies, processes and practices.
• Put clear governance, ownership and capability in place so our pay arrangements remain fair and equitable.

These are high-profile, fast-paced programmes and offer an excellent opportunity to work across our evolving People and Organisational Culture service.

What we’re looking for:

• Strong Organisational Development experience, with a track record of designing and delivering change that improves culture, ways of working and service outcomes.
• Ability to build trust, provide constructive challenge and coach others to take ownership.
• Practical knowledge of OD approaches (for example: culture and values work, organisational design, and strategic workforce planning) and the judgement to apply them proportionately.
• Analytical and diagnostic capability—able to use qualitative and quantitative information to identify root causes, shape options and evaluate impact.
• Programme and project delivery skills: planning work, managing risks and dependencies, working at pace, and communicating progress clearly.
• A commitment to equity, inclusion and belonging—able to design OD interventions that are accessible and fair, and to notice and address potential barriers for different groups.
• Strong stakeholder management, with the ability to work collaboratively across the council.
• Clear written and verbal communication, including the ability to produce concise briefings, recommendations and materials for different audiences.

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.