Deputy Director of Employee Services – Met Business Services in London

Met Business Services (MBS) is a new way for the Met to deliver enabling services to all our officers and staff. MBS is a front-line focused service that sets our people up to succeed, reduces admin, provides a single source of truth for all HR, Finance and Commercial data, providing a critical cornerstone to fix our foundations. As the Deputy Director of Employee Services, you will play a crucial role deciding the future requirements and look of a 196-year-old organisation, as it transforms into modern ways of working. This is a fast-paced role, with the placeholder helping to transition to a new BPO/SaaS provider within the next 18 months. You will also be central to the development of how the organisation utilises Oracle Fusion, shaping how 45,000 police officers and staff engage with employee services like payroll, pension, HR lifecycle changes and allowance management.

Now is a great time to join the Met as we are transforming how we operate to deliver on our goals of More Trust, Less Crime and High Standards. Successful delivery of the employee services transformation roadmap, including on-boarding our new BPO partner and HR & Finance platform, will have a lasting impact on the way the Metropolitan Police functions at its core and delivers services to communities across London and the rest of the nation.

Role Description

You will take ownership of the strategic transformation roadmap, including a transfer to a new BPO and implementation of Oracle Fusion and developing an Employee Services Global Process Ownership (GPO) model. This model will focus on user-friendly HR services, facilitated through a refined employee services portal, alongside managing several HR transactional processes, including components of pay and reward such as payroll, pensions and allowance management. As the GPO expert, you will be essential in ensuring employee services’ success, focusing on enhancing user experience, boosting self‑service capabilities, and ensuring seamless workflow integrations, both for the scope you are managing and broader HR services, delivered through the portal.

You will lead a team tasked with overseeing tactical HR services, including Met baby and workplace assessments. You will also be required to work closely with the main BPO supplier, to deliver both the portal experience and the HR services managed by the external supplier. This role is pivotal in transitioning from traditional HR transactional services to a comprehensive service delivery model, that champions user experience through the employee services portal. Experience with high volume and complex functions is critical.

Key Responsibilities

Your core duties will include (but are not limited to):

• Accountable for the delivery and performance of employee services across the organisation, including services delivered through internal teams and external suppliers, so that workforce administration services operate reliably and meet organisational requirements.
• Leadership and strategy development: Define and champion the strategic direction for employee services, focusing on digital transformation, service excellence, and user satisfaction.
• Manage supplier relationships and service contracts, with an estimated annual value of approximately £7 million, so that suppliers deliver reliable workforce services.
• Portal enhancement and management: Lead the redevelopment and continuous improvement of the employee services portal/unified support platform, ensuring it is user‑friendly, integrative, and effectively meets the HR service needs.
• Performance and user experience measurement: Implement metrics and feedback loops to gauge portal performance and user satisfaction, using data to drive decisions and improvements.
• Team management: Lead, motivate, and develop the team responsible for supporting HR transactions and services, ensuring high performance and effective service delivery.
• Providing guidance, support, management and mentoring to the employee services team, including career development.
• Stakeholder engagement: Work closely with internal and external stakeholders to ensure the HR services and portal meet the evolving needs of the organisation and its employees.
• Shape and manage the operational outcomes of all applicable service areas so that they are aligned to the strategic objectives of the Met.
• Work with people and resource leaders, the MBS Head of Services/Global Process Owners (who are line reports to the Director of Met Business Services) and third‑party suppliers to deliver end‑to‑end services that are easy for MPS officers and staff to access, provide a great experience, and meet the agreed KPIs and service levels.
• Ensure that end‑to‑end services deliver clear, effective and measurable benefits to the Met.
• Operate in a highly pressured and complex environment with tight time constraints, complex and interdependent delivery schedules and senior leadership oversight.
• Foster a culture of high‑performance, innovation and continuous improvement, embracing MPS values.
• Ensure payroll and pensions services operate effectively so that employee records and financial transactions remain accurate.
• Promote an outcome focused, collaborative culture in the service improvements and insights specialism where everyone understands their role in achieving the MBS strategy.
• Promote a culture of respect, inclusion, and diversity across their teams, that sets corporate standards and supports and encourages overall team ethos and removes silos.
• Provide a visible leadership role, modelling the Met values and behaviours.

Experience

• Senior operational experience of managing shared service/business service BAU operations.
• Proven knowledge and experience in working with third‑party providers to drive adoption of end‑to‑end processes.
• Demonstrated success in enhancing user experience through digital platforms.
• Experience working with both internal teams and external vendors, for developing digital solutions.
• Deep understanding of HR processes and transactions such as payroll and pensions.
• Knowledge of digital platform management, preferably Oracle or similar ERP systems, plus user portals.
• Familiarity with project management and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Expertise in assessing and redesigning service delivery workflows to enhance self‑service capabilities.
• Knowledge of employment legislation and workforce governance frameworks.
• Managing team dynamics and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
• Vision, drive and personal resilience and strong organisational skills.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to manage complex people issues.
• Good practical knowledge of the range of tools and techniques to deliver continuous improvement within a large organisation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience in HR Business/Shared Services, or related field.
• Professional qualification in Business Management is desirable.

Note

You may, in addition, be required from time to time to undertake additional duties necessary to meet the needs of the Met, such duties to be commensurate with the responsibilities and grading of the post.

Our commitment to inclusivity

The Met is committed to being an equitable (fair and impartial) and inclusive employer for disabled people, striving to have a diverse and representative workforce at all levels. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities and long‑term conditions, ethnic minority groups and women. As a Disability Confident Leader, the Met has committed to making disability equality part of our everyday practice. We ensure that people with disabilities and those with long term conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations. The Met is committed to making reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process to ensure disabled applicants can perform their best. If you need any reasonable adjustments or changes to the application and recruitment process, we ask that you include this information within your application form. All matters will be treated in strict confidence.