Strategic Workforce Planning Senior Specialist in Manchester

Our ambition is to build a culture that reflects our values, delivers an exceptional colleague experience, and earns recognition as one of the UK's Top 10 Great Places to Work. The role of Strategic Workforce Planning Senior Specialist is central to making that happen. Reporting to the Culture & Performance Lead, this role will shape how the Group plans for the future, bringing together data, strategy and people insight to ensure we have the skills and capabilities we need today and in the years ahead.

The role holder will design simple, practical tools and frameworks that help the organisation understand which skills matter most, where future gaps may emerge, and what actions will keep us ahead of change. They will lead the creation of a clear and actionable workforce and skills strategy, partnering closely with senior leaders and People teams to anticipate future needs, identify risks early, and develop scalable, forward-looking solutions.

The person in post will also play a key role in turning strategy into delivery. Working in close collaboration with Strategic People Partners, business leaders and teams across Strategy, Learning & Development, Talent Acquisition, DE&I, People Change, and Culture & Performance, the role holder will ensure our plans translate into meaningful action that strengthens our capability and supports long-term organisational success.

This role can operate from either our Head Office campus in Binley, Coventry or our Manchester office but as a Group role, travel to both locations will be required. A team-led hybrid working arrangement is in place.

Benefits:

• 28 days holiday a year plus bank holidays and a holiday buy/sell scheme
• Annual discretionary bonus scheme
• Personal pension with enhanced contributions
• Maternity, paternity and shared parental leave
• Extensive wellbeing support
• Life assurance (6 times annual salary)

Find out more about the fantastic benefits of joining the Coventry Building Society Group.

About you

For this role you'll need to have:

• Experience in Strategic Workforce Planning, talent, or organisational development.
• Ability to own cross-functional workforce planning with clear, measurable outcomes.
• Skilled at turning data and insight into simple, actionable recommendations.
• Confident with skills frameworks, workforce planning tools, HR platforms, and BI/analytics tools.
• Able to build clear dashboards showing real-time skills, capability, and workforce trends.
• Experienced in scenario modelling and future skills forecasting.
• Awareness of how trends like AI shape future capability needs.
• Competent in Excel/Sheets and BI tools.
• Able to pull together data from multiple sources and present it clearly.

Experience in these areas would be helpful:

• Professional accreditation (e.g., CIPD, project management, analytics).
• Project management experience, with the ability to plan, coordinate and deliver complex initiatives at pace.

About us

In 2025, Coventry Building Society purchased The Co-operative Bank. Bringing together our purpose-led building society with the UK's original ethical bank was the start of an exciting journey. Trusted by over four million people, we're a mutually owned business free from shareholders, and with our combined experience of almost 300 years, our ethics and dedication will continue to guide us. Together, we have shared values and an ethical approach towards our members, customers and colleagues.

We're officially recognised as a 'Great Place to Work' and our benefits go beyond basic pay, with a discretionary bonus scheme, a culture of reward and recognition and comprehensive support for wellbeing. We're serious about equality, of race, age, faith, disability, and sexual orientation and we celebrate diversity. By working together, we know you'll build more than just a career with us.

Flexibility and why it matters

We understand the need for flexibility, so wherever possible, we'll consider alternative working patterns. Have a chat with us before you apply to see what the possibilities are for this role.

Proud to be a Disability Confident Committed Employer. We're proud to offer an interview or assessment to every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for our vacancies. As part of the application process, disabled applicants can opt in for the Disability Confident Interview Scheme. If there are ever occasions where it is not practicable to interview all candidates that meet the essential criteria, such as when we receive a high number of applications, we commit to interviewing disabled candidates who best meet the minimum essential and desirable criteria.