Head of People Analytics and Strategic Workforce Planning

Linklaters is seeking a Head of Workforce Planning & People Analytics to lead a critical firm wide capability at the intersection of strategy, talent, data and operations. This role will shape the future size, shape and skills profile of the Firm’s global workforce, ensuring Linklaters has the right capacity and capabilities to meet evolving client demand over the short, medium and long term. The role brings together strategic workforce planning, annual resource planning, people analytics and scenario modelling, including the impact of AI, automation and new ways of working. Acting as a trusted advisor to practice and business leaders, the role will translate complex data into clear, actionable insight that directly informs headcount decisions, investment priorities and utilisation outcomes across global practice areas and geographies.

Strategic workforce planning (multi year horizon)

• Lead the Firm’s multi year strategic workforce planning (SWP) approach, working with Firm leadership to define future demand for capacity, roles and skills aligned to client needs and strategic priorities.
• Develop forward looking views of workforce size, shape, capabilities and cost, (build, buy, borrow, bot) taking account of growth, demand variability, productivity expectations and utilisation aspirations.
• Translate Firm strategy into clear workforce implications across global practices, business teams and regions.
• Design and deliver sophisticated scenario planning (e.g. demand shifts, practice growth, AI adoption, new service models).
• Work with Division / Practice leaders to translate Firm future workforce assumptions into divisional and geographical multi-year plans.
• Translate the impact of AI on future workforce needs into future skills requirements and job design, informing how we hire, develop, evaluate and reward.

Annual resource planning & headcount actions

• Establish and own an integrated annual resource planning cycle, in close partnership with Finance, Business Management, Operations and HR, embedded within the Firm’s broader planning and budgeting processes.
• Convert multi year workforce strategy into year on year workforce actions, including:
• hiring and lateral growth
• attrition assumptions
• promotions and career progression
• internal mobility and redeployment
• productivity and utilisation levers
• Ensure headcount plans have the appropriate governance are financially grounded, operationally feasible and strategically aligned, enabling clear accountability and decision making by leaders at both global and practice level.
• Track outcomes against plans, providing insight on variances, risks and adjustment actions throughout the year.

People analytics & insight

• Define and execute the Firm’s people analytics strategy, ensuring high quality data, trusted metrics and decision grade insight.
• Deliver executive ready analytics and narratives covering capacity, utilisation, skills gaps, productivity, workforce risk and cost.
• Mature analytics capability from descriptive to predictive, supporting proactive decision making rather than retrospective reporting.
• Ensure appropriate data governance, confidentiality and ethical use of people data.

Stakeholder partnership & influence

• Act as a strategic advisor to Practice and functional leaders, HR Business Partners and Finance on workforce related trade offs.
• Translate complex analysis into clear, compelling insight for senior legal and business audiences.
• Embed workforce planning and analytics into ongoing Firm governance and leadership conversations, not as an annual exercise but as a continuous capability.

Team leadership & capability build

• Build and lead a high performing Workforce Planning & People Analytics team, setting high standards for analytical rigour, storytelling and impact.
• Establish common definitions, methodologies and planning standards across regions and practices.
• Continuously evolve tools, processes and capability in line with external best practice.

Skills & Experience

• Essential
• Significant experience (typically 10–15+ years) in workforce planning, people analytics, strategy or analytical leadership roles.
• Proven track record establishing enterprise level workforce and resource planning cycles in complex, global organisations.
• Strong analytical capability combined with commercial and strategic judgement.
• Credibility and confidence working with senior leaders in a partnership or professional services environment.
• Ability to translate insight into clear headcount and investment decisions.
• Desirable
• Experience in professional services, legal or other knowledge intensive organisations.
• Exposure to workforce planning and analytics platforms (e.g. Workday, Visier, Anaplan, Orgvue or similar).
• Understanding of AI enabled productivity and skills based workforce models.

This list of duties and responsibilities above is not exhaustive. It is intended to describe the general content of, and requirements for, the performance of this job. As such, the role may also include the undertaking of additional tasks as required.

If you require reasonable adjustments to be made during the selection process, please talk to a member of the recruitment team so that any required adjustments can be made in advance.