Head of People and Culture - (Ref : 6820)

This position is based at Tyneside House, Newcastle

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural

Driven by government’s aim for clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas, MMO’s purpose is to protect and enhance our precious marine environment and support UK economic growth by enabling sustainable marine activities and development.

We are the independent regulator for England’s seas, professionally delivering service-focussed outcomes for our customers.

We are a team of around 500 people and combine our Newcastle upon Tyne and London operations with a local presence around the English coastline in Brixham, Beverley, Harwich, Hastings, Lowestoft, North Shields, Hayle, Plymouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Preston, Scarborough, Shoreham, Whitehaven.

We also have colleagues based in Defra offices, including Bristol, Cambridge and York where we share office space

More information about our work is on the GOV.UK website.

Job description

Our seas are one of the UK’s greatest assets, vital to our environment, economy and communities. At the MMO, we balance protection with prosperity, managing over 230,000 square kilometres of diverse seas, safeguarding marine ecosystems while enabling sustainable growth. We are passionate about creating a lasting positive impact on the marine environment, and we recognise that our greatest strength lies in our people. The Head of People and Culture is a pivotal leadership role, empowering talented colleagues to thrive and achieve even greater outcomes for the seas, communities and stakeholders we serve.

We are looking for an inspiring and forward-thinking people leader who can engage and influence colleagues at all levels, helping to shape the capability, capacity and culture needed for the MMO to thrive. Working alongside talented and dedicated experts across the organisation, you will lead the MMO People Strategy to unlock the full potential of our workforce, enabling us to deliver even greater outcomes for the marine environment and coastal communities.

Reporting to the Director of Corporate Services and joining the MMO Leadership Team, this is a high-profile leadership role with responsibility for shaping and delivering our people agenda and establishing the MMO as a diverse and inclusive sector leader. You will be our most senior HR professional and will need to assess, design and deliver the continuous transformation of our people agenda in response to a dynamic environment of change and opportunity. You will champion a culture in which people feel valued, empowered and supported to succeed, enabling colleagues to fulfil their potential and do their best work. You will also play an influential role with our partners, helping to amplify our impact across the Defra group, with other operational partners and throughout the marine stakeholder community.

MMO’s strength is its people – a wealth of talent, expertise and professionalism. We are investing in our workforce and focussing on making MMO an even better place to work. Our values of Accountable, Innovative, Engaging and Inclusive, and we promote these through our daily working lives. If you are passionate about people, excited by the opportunity to drive meaningful change and motivated by the chance to make a real difference in an organisation with a unique and important purpose, we would love to hear from you.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Please refer to Job Description

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