Head of People Change & Practice Excellence Department for Work & Pensions

Job description

We’re looking for a creative leader of organisation and culture change with the skills, tenacity and experience to deliver a challenging people portfolio in DWP Digital, the home of one of the biggest, most complex digital transformations in the UK.

Can you own and deliver the strategy for people change projects? And lead on Organisation Design and the transition and development of our people?

Can you support our Digital Leadership teams, and manage relationships with senior stakeholders? Can you own and develop a practice model, and drive forward the maturity of our Digital practices?

Then we think we’ve got an opportunity you’ll relish. And we’d love to hear from you.

You and your role

You will join our brilliant Digital Capability team, where we ensure that we that our customers get what they need, when they need it. You will drive a major people transformation which will enable DWP to become a world class digital organisation, where we design, develop and deliver flexible, efficient, critical and secure systems and services.

You’re an expert in leading organisational and culture change. You can to build and execute the right strategies for DWP Digital and help create the best environment for delivering our ambitious agenda. Key projects may include restructures, defining plans and processes for redeployment across directorates, staff engagement survey action planning, establishing new manager standard, and transitioning from change programmes into BAU.

Key to all this is our Digital Communities of Practice model, where you will manage development, continuous improvement and effectiveness. You will coach and collaborate with our leaders to enable them to understand and achieve their goals and to the implement change they need, not the change they want.

This requires matrix management of and engagement with more than 30 job family leads, so you’ll need to excellent at building relationships, working with challenge, and delivering through people at all levels.

You’ll help to build an inclusive, engaging and healthy environment across the whole of Digital, where high performing teams can flourish and individuals feel empowered to achieve their best. By driving and embedding better ways of working between the Digital Communities of Practice and Functions you will help DWP become even more joined up and really get the most out of our brilliant people.

What are we looking for? 

• You have experience designing and delivering people transformation and complex change projects at a function and organisational level, preferably within a Digital/IT environment.
• You are able to implement a strategy to ensure seamless transition to business as usual, minimising disruption to delivery and service and maintaining high levels of staff engagement.
• You have experience in challenging, advising and coaching leaders and working with them to effect structural and culture change.
• Significant experience of managing and inspiring teams, both directly and matrix, through ambiguous and tricky projects.
• Experience, or significant understanding of, building communities of practice .
• Understanding different approaches to organisational design, change and capability build and able to select the most appropriate one(s) to meet business need and in line with resource constraints.
• Extensive experience of managing stakeholders at all levels, across a complex and/or large organisation and ensuring colleagues are engaged, taken along the journey and supported throughout difficult periods.
• It’s great, but not essential, if you have IT/Project Management certification (APMP, BCS Certificate or Prince2)

Where You’ll Work

You’ll join us in one of our brilliant digital hubs in your choice of Manchester or Blackpool.

In Blackpool, our hub sits in a nature park full of wild rabbits, birds, carp and even a family of otters. Inside you can enjoy gym facilities, wellness and relaxation zones, collaboration spaces, coffee shops, a canteen and lots more.

In Manchester we’re right in the heart of the city on St Peter’s Square, so really handy for train, tram and bus. We also have a basement level lock up, with showers, if you like to cycle in.

DWP Digital is part of the UK’s biggest government department, and along with 85,000 colleagues, we support 20 million people every day to help them to find work and save for their future. Few other organisations globally provide the same opportunity to apply next-generation digital technology on a massive scale to issues which touch the lives of so many.

We are an equal opportunity employer and we welcome applications regardless of age, gender, race or sexuality.

Our Offer

In return for your skills we offer competitive salary from £57,954 to £70,102, a brilliant civil service pension, and a generous leave package. We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Flexible working
• Family friendly policies
• Volunteering and charitable giving
• Discounts and savings on shopping, fun days out and more
• Interest-free loans to buy a bike or a season ticket, so it’s even easier for you to get to work and start making a difference
• Clubs, sports and social activities

HOW TO APPLY: For further information and to start an application click apply now.

Apply now