PROPOSED SALARY RANGE: Up to £124,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.
We're happy to discuss flexible working. If you'd like to, please indicate your preference in the application – though there's no obligation to do so now. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.
The Head of HR (Transformation and Strategy) will lead the effective delivery of organisational transformation and restructuring while ensuring a consistently high-quality employee experience. The role will provide oversight of change programmes, maintaining a good relationship with the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), and ensure best practice execution across redeployment, bumping and related processes. It will also act as a strategic partner to the HRD, maintaining a clear People Plan, supporting preparation of performance reviews, aligning resource and capability to key strategic workstreams, and tracking progress against critical milestones. Flexing with business needs, the role will lead major restructuring activity when required and, in steadier periods, drive forward longer-term strategic priorities including skills, agile workforce development and workforce planning.
WHY JOIN THE TEAM
- This is an opportunity to join a high-performing HR team within a fast-paced global news environment with unique operational and editorial demands, placing employee experience at the heart of complex project and people programme delivery.
YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND IMPACT
Key responsibilities and accountabilities will include:
- Be a strategic people partner across News, shaping, driving and delivering transformation based on organisational priorities from the outset through to delivery.
- Lead, provide oversight and accountability for divisional change programmes and people transformation across News in the UK and internationally, including:
- Oversight of the people project portfolio across News ensuring consistency of strategy, approach, timelines and people impact.
- Develop the people first transformation roadmap and plan ensuring people experience is at the heart of the way we deliver change.
- Planning, coordinating, tracking and managing multiple change programmes, working with the Heads of HR and HRBPs for impacted areas, ensuring best practice in areas such as pooling, bumping, and managing collective consultations and exits.
- Reviewing and contributing to overarching business cases.
- Attending programme steercos and governance forums on behalf of News HR.
- Leading union relationships relating to divisional change programmes ensuring positive relationships and the trust and confidence of the unions are maintained.
- Delivering changes in T&Cs and working practices to unlock operational efficiencies and continuous improvement.
- Act as a strategic partner to the HR Director, supporting pan‑News HR activity including performance reviews, engagement survey activity and team away days. Own and maintain the project plan underpinning delivery of the People Strategy, ensuring delivery remains on track, key milestones are met, and activity is appropriately resourced with the right capability.
- Lead the introduction of strategic workforce planning across News, embedding future-focused talent strategies that anticipate business needs, increase career mobility, and build a more agile, resilient workforce across both staff and contingent workers (e.g. freelancers) capable of adapting to ongoing transformation and industry shifts.
- Deliver effective operational HR input oversight and advice including deputising for the HR Director where required and leading representation on local business governing boards including NGAM and Business Ops committees.
- Accountability for delivering the transformation elements of the BBC News people plan by working with Senior Leaders and News HR.
- Partner with the Organisational Strategies team who lead operating model design and organisational design across the BBC.
- Build effective relationships across News Board and other senior leaders.
- Interpret and present people data to stakeholders to offer strategic insights on trends and issues.
- Develop/manage relationships with recognised trade unions, employee representation groups, other external partners/professional organisations and networks.
- Work collaboratively across BBC HR to identify emerging themes and business critical issues that can be addressed.
- Proactively review and change ways of working to drive improvements to processes and the People Experience.
- Keep up to date with external trends and best practice, sharing knowledge and best practice with colleagues to ensure News is sustainable and fit for the future.
- Be an ambassador for the function and represent BBC HR internally and externally (as appropriate).
YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:
- A collaborative team player who leads with integrity, brings others along the journey, and focuses on achieving the right outcomes together
- An in-depth knowledge of HR and transformation in a unionised environment and provides expert advice to handle the most complex situations independently
- Demonstrated track record of leading project and people programme delivery, placing employee experience at the core
- Delivery of large scale strategic and tactical transformation, with different drivers (cost, technology, growth etc)
- Proven experience in navigating complex, matrix environments, with insight into how sub-departmental areas, processes, and resources align to achieve functional and divisional objectives
- Experience in understanding key financial drivers.
- Adept at managing numerous, diverse senior and executive level stakeholders, often operating under tight timescales and managing numerous competing priorities.
- A convincing and persuasive communicator, required to modify beliefs and opinions of teams, as well as senior stakeholders, able to establish effective and collaborative relations across BBC departments, and external agencies/stakeholders where required.
- International HR experience
DESIRED BUT NOT REQUIRED:
- Experience working within a fast-paced News or Media environment, with an understanding of its unique operational and editorial demands.
- Proven track record of delivering global transformation programmes across multiple jurisdictions, navigating cultural, regulatory, and organisational complexity
- Experience within a consultancy environment (e.g. professional services or management consulting firms)
End Date: 22nd April 2026
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PROPOSED SALARY RANGE: £130,000 - £165,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.
We're happy to discuss flexible working. If you'd like to, please indicate your preference in the application – though there's no obligation to do so now. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.
PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
- The Head of Skills & Capability leads the organisation’s skills, learning and capability agenda, ensuring people and teams have the skills, confidence and opportunities to perform, adapt and thrive.
- This role sets the long-term direction for skills and learning, translating workforce and organisational priorities into a coherent, evidence-led skills ecosystem. It brings together strategy, technology, culture change and innovation to embed skills into everyday work, strengthen performance and build future readiness. The role works closely with senior leaders to make capability and learning a shared responsibility and a genuine driver of organisational value, ensuring the organisation’s skills profile remains robust, relevant and sustainable by attending to the distinct needs, contexts and career pathways of different workforce populations across the BBC
WHY JOIN THE TEAM
- You’ll join a senior Talent & Inclusion leadership team deeply committed to building a skilled, future ready workforce. You’ll have the space, influence and remit to shape enterprise wide capability, modernise how skills are developed, and drive meaningful, measurable impact for people, teams and organisational performance. You’ll lead a multidisciplinary team, steward a significant portfolio, and act as a visible ambassador for innovation in skills, learning and capability.
YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND IMPACT:
- Lead the organisation wide Skills & Capability strategy, ensuring alignment with workforce priorities and long term strategic workforce plans.
- Translate organisational change, evolving operating models and workforce needs into prioritised, adaptable skills frameworks, capability plans and career pathways.
- Design differentiated skills approaches for editorial, production, technology, corporate and early career populations, ensuring equitable access and a balanced skills profile.
- Build and maintain a data driven understanding of organisational capability, skills supply, demand and progression.
- Create and embed a joined up digital skills ecosystem, driving adoption of digital and AI enabled skills tools to enhance development and performance.
- Use data, insight and workforce intelligence to guide strategic decisions, assess impact and continuously refine the skills strategy.
- Lead, develop and empower a high performing, multidisciplinary skills team, fostering collaboration, accountability and cohesion.
YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:
- Proven ability to create and deliver a compelling, organisation wide vision for skills and capability.
- Significant experience leading large scale skills and capability strategies in complex environments.
- Strong ability to anticipate organisational and sector shifts and translate insight into practical, adaptive responses.
- Excellent influencing and partnership building skills with senior leaders and stakeholders.
- Experience leading complex organisational change with a data led, commercially aware approach.
DESIRABLE:
- Deep knowledge of emerging skills technologies, digital learning platforms and AI enabled skills tools.
- Experience designing skills frameworks for diverse workforce populations.
- Background in workforce planning, talent management or organisational development.
- Experience representing an organisation externally on skills, capability or learning agendas.
- Proven ability to oversee commercial and supplier arrangements, ensuring value for money and return on investment.
End Date: 23rd April 2026
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