Navy Command - Workforce and People Lead

At Navy Command, we lead, support, and sustain the Royal Navy across every theatre of operations. We coordinate the people, platforms, and missions that keep the Fleet ready for today’s challenges and tomorrow’s opportunities. Together, we uphold centuries of naval tradition while driving innovation that ensures the Royal Navy’s readiness to protect our nation and secure our future.

As the authority for the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarine capability, the Submarine Directorate oversees one of the most complex and critical elements of UK defence. Covering everything from in‑service management to long‑term fleet modernisation, the directorate ensures the Submarine Flotilla remains safe, reliable, and ready to meet national security requirements.

You'll be based at HMNB Clyde, home to the UK Submarine Service. It sustains the nation’s continuous at-sea deterrent and supports the Royal Navy’s fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. As a centre of excellence for submarine operations, Clyde plays a critical role in national security and global stability.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

As Workforce & People Lead you will have the opportunity to work in a thriving operational environment that is benefiting from significant investment to transform the naval base today and ensure it is ready to accept into service two new classes of submarines and future military capabilities.

You will be responsible to Assistant Head People & Organisational Development for the provision of a professional HR advice service including:

• Provide expert strategic HR advice and guidance to senior leaders and managers, on all core people matters, supporting decision-making and enabling delivery of organisational objectives, collaborating with central MOD HR Business Partners, ensuring solutions are pragmatic, legally compliant and aligned with both Civil Service and MOD policies and HR frameworks
• Lead the development and implementation of workforce strategies, including capability planning, recruitment, succession and organisational design
• Build and maintain strong relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, including senior Civil Servants, Military colleagues, Trade Unions and HR partners
• Act as a trusted advisor on people-related risks, opportunities and solutions
• Drive a positive organisational culture, leading initiatives in engagement, diversity & inclusion, health and wellbeing and performance management
• Improve and develop organisational capability by maintaining succession and sustainability plans and conducting vulnerability analysis
• Oversee employee relations activity, including engagement with Trade Unions, ensuring constructive and effective partnerships
• Analyse workforce data and trends (e.g. absence, capability risks), identifying insights and driving targeted interventions to improve performance and resilience and contribute to organisational reporting
• Manage the Reward & Recognition Schemes for NBC Clyde civilian staff
• Line manage the People & Business Management teams, setting objectives, developing capability and fostering a high performing inclusive culture
• Work closely with the Strategic Workforce Planning team to enable the attraction and up-skilling of the current and future workforce to deliver Clyde outputs

Open to UK nationals only.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

As part of Defence Reform, Navy Command continues to review and evolve its Target Operating Model to support more agile ways of working. In this context, the role and responsibilities of this role may develop over time to reflect changing business priorities and opportunities.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history and qualification details.

Candidates will be required to provide a personal statement. This should be a maximum of 750 words that sets out your motivation for applying and shows how your skills and experience meet the essential requirements for the role.

You will be required to write a 250 word statement on the following success profile of behaviour.

At Sift, you will be assessed against your CV, Personal Statement and the following behaviours:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

If a high number of applicants apply, you will be only assessed on the lead behaviour of Leadership.

At interview, you will be assessed against the following;

Behaviours:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Further information:

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.