Director of People and Culture

Director of People and Culture
Based Lewes • c. £80k

Ref: ema411

Established in 1972, Southdown is one of the largest not-for-profit specialist providers of care, support and housing services for vulnerable people in Sussex. We are a thriving and successful organisation: with over 1,000 staff supporting 10,000 people. Our clients and tenants have mental health difficulties or learning disabilities or are people who are (or have been) homeless. A smaller number have addiction issues, or sensory or physical disabilities. All are offered the support they need to live a more fulfilled and independent life. Our vision as an organisation is ’Everyone, no matter what their life experience, background or challenges will have the opportunity to lead their life to the full’.

Over five decades, Southdown has grown to become one of the largest voluntary sector employers in Sussex and has an excellent reputation for staff training and development. Everything we do is driven by our core values. We aim to support and acknowledge high performance within a working culture that is based on respect, inclusion and kindness. We want all staff to feel valued and that they can maximise their personal and professional potential, whilst positively managing their health and wellbeing.

Driven by a culture of continuous improvement, we are determined to ensure that we continue to flourish as an organisation, and deliver ever more effective, responsive and quality services to our clients and tenants. As a key business partner to the Chief Executive, Board and Executive Team, our new Director of People and Culture will be at the forefront of ensuring that our people strategies and culture align and support our transformation and delivery of our Business Strategy and ambitions. Reporting to the Chief Executive, you’ll have full accountability for leading all people aspects of the organisation including Employee Relations, HR services, HR Data, Organisational Development, Learning and Talent Management, Diversity and Inclusion, and people-related Health and Safety.

Candidates will bring a complete professional HR repertoire, including experience of transforming an already successful business as it moves to the next stage of its development. We want you to bring an appreciative yet challenging analysis, which will help us understand what’s holding us back and where we can change to improve. You’ll exemplify and model an outstanding organisational culture which emphasises accountability, is always learning, and where everyone feels encouraged and safe to discuss big issues. You must have a clear and sophisticated understanding of what people strategy means for us and will be a skilled and full-spectrum senior leader.

For an informal discussion, please contact Ian Robertson at ema on 07947 126329.

For a copy of the briefing papers, visit www.emaconsultancy.org.uk

Closing Date: 13 August 2021.