Interim Head of Resource & Capability in Canary Wharf

I am urgently seeking an Interim Head of Resource & Capability for my Civil Service client for a period of 3 months initially. This position will pay up to £700 per day through an umbrella company depending upon experience and can be carried out on a hybrid working arrangement 1 day per week in the office from London, Cardiff or Glasgow.

Candidates must have experience of working in a similar leadership role within the UK Civil Service with an understanding of Cabinet Office controls and ministerial priorities.

The role will:

• Set the strategic direction for resourcing and workforce capability, defining policies, governance frameworks, KPIs and assurance mechanisms aligned with organisational priorities and Civil Service standards, including secondments/loans and sponsorship assurance and oversight of budget allocation for resourcing activity.
• Lead end to end talent acquisition and deployment, overseeing attraction, recruitment, internal mobility, secondments and loans and talent pipelines to deliver workforce plans efficiently and inclusively, managing budgets for campaigns, assessment tools and external delivery partners.
• Develop attraction strategies and approaches to attract and retain talent across the workforce.
• Be responsible for the development and delivery of an Early Careers strategy, providing routes into employment via initiatives such as apprenticeships, internships and work experience to deliver against the EDI ambitions.
• Drive workforce planning and forecasting, partnering with Senior People Partners and business leaders to anticipate demand, build critical skills pipelines and maintain succession plans for hard to fill roles, ensuring financial planning aligns with workforce priorities.
• Co-lead the organisation's EDI Strategy with responsibility for delivering EDI actions and targets that relate to resourcing and capability, including overseeing EDI action plans and driving organisation wide engagement on resourcing initiatives that strengthen culture and support a positive employee experience.
• Lead through the workforce analytics team innovation and introduction of dashboards (utilising AI technologies) and moving HR metrics beyond compliance to a proactive approach for data driven decision making.
• Build hiring manager capability and improve the candidate experience, ensuring compliant and fair, inclusive recruitment, while holding accountability for the quality of hiring manager decisions and robust selection processes.

Essential criteria for the successful candidate includes:

• Proven experience in setting strategic direction and leading end-to-end resourcing functions including workforce planning, attraction, early careers strategy, internal mobility and talent pipelines.
• Strong understanding and application of Recruitment legislation and good practice in large-scale complex organisations.
• Demonstrated success in improving diversity and inclusion outcomes in recruitment, talent deployment, and capability building.
• Experience delivering high-quality data services and leading a data-driven resourcing function using metrics and analytics to drive organisational performance and continuous improvement.
• Strong commercial acumen with experience managing external suppliers and frameworks (e.g., RPO, executive search, contingent labour).
• Professional qualification in HR (e.g. CIPD Level 7 or equivalent) or equivalent experience.

If you have the essential skills, experience and knowledge as required for this role, please apply now with your up to date CV and contact details.