Strategic People Lead

Are you a dynamic and experienced Senior HR Partner with a passion for driving positive change and an expert in fostering a culture of belonging and engagement through coaching? Do you excel at being a champion of change and challenging the status quo?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, we want to hear from you! Join us at Mencap and be a driving force behind our organisational transformation.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Strategic People Lead to join our team, leading a small team of People Partners, on a permanent basis. We can be flexible on the location of this role, but you will need to travel as and when required.

As a Strategic People Lead, you will work closely with Executive Directors and key stakeholders to lead and deliver the people agenda for your respective Directorates. This is a senior-level role, instrumental in aligning the organisational strategy with a forward-thinking and impactful people plan; role modelling our values and supporting our People Partners to continue their development and progression.

This role will focus on Organisation Design, Talent and Workforce Planning and will also be supporting two large operational directorates, including social care, education, communities and retail. The successful candidate will likely have technical HR experience of organisational change, including restructures, redundancies and TUPE.

What you will be doing:

• Develop trusted relationships with stakeholders at all levels and act as the strategic partner to the Executive Directors.
• Lead the people agenda for the Directorates, ensuring alignment with organisational goals and fostering a culture which aligns with Mencap Values.
• Champion change initiatives, providing independent voice and constructive critique to drive continuous improvement.
• Influence and contribute to the organisation-wide people plan as part of the People Leadership Team, focusing on strategy development.
• Manage and mentor operational business partners, building a proactive, high-performing team focused on value-adding interventions.
• Drive key people projects, ensuring they are successfully embedded across the organisation and adopted by colleagues and volunteers.
• Lead thought leadership in at least one strategic area (e.g., talent management, workforce planning, organisational design, or Belonging, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion).
• Leverage people data to identify trends, generate insights, and implement data-driven improvements.
• You will lead a team of People of Partners to achieve your strategic aims.

It is not essential to have previous experience within the Charity or Social Care sector. Experience in retail and other fast-paced industries would also be welcomed. We are open to consider any background, but you must have experience of working in a People Leadership role within a large organisation, or be able to evidence how your experience is transferable.

If this position sounds like you then please apply now by uploading an up to date CV and answering our application questions.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader and welcome applicants with disabilities to apply for all roles with us. To find out more about the scheme please visit the direct gov website.

We are an equitable, diverse and inclusive organisation and we particularly welcome and encourage disabled applicants and those from the Black and Asian communities to apply for the role as they are under-represented within our workforce.

*Please note*The application closing date for the role will be on Thursday 5th February. First stage interviews will be held via TEAMS w/c 16th February with second stage interviews to follow w/c 26th February.