Head of People and Culture

Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Llandudno Junction, Merthyr Tydfil, Swansea

Job Summary

We are an arm’s length body of the Welsh Government, responsible for the strategy, funding and oversight of:

• further education
• higher education including research and innovation;
• apprenticeships
• adult community learning; and local authority maintained school sixth forms.

We work in close collaboration with our partners to enable a tertiary education and research system which is centred around the needs of learners; society; and economy with excellence, equality and engagement at its heart.

Our values really matter to us, they help shape the culture of our organisation:

• Dysgu (to learn; to teach; to educate) - learning is at the heart of everything we do. We believe curiosity fuels innovation and helps expand our horizons.
• Cydweithio (to work together; to collaborate; to co-operate) - we can achieve far more together than we ever could alone.
• Cynnwys Pawb (to include everyone; to involve everyone) - we are passionate about inclusion, seeking to create the right conditions for everyone to achieve their full potential.
• Rhagori (to exceed; to excel) - we have high aspirations for tertiary education and research in Wales and always set high standards for ourselves to be the best we can be.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and accredited as a Living Wage employer.

Main purpose of the job

Working closely with the Chief Operating Officer, you will lead on the delivery of our People and Culture Strategy, helping shape our culture to create a high performing team that embraces fresh thinking, curiosity and transformational change. You will support the delivery of our Strategic Plan, translating organisational priorities into tangible innovative people centred initiatives that build organisational capacity and capability, developing an exceptional workplace culture for our people to learn, develop and thrive.

You will build effective and credible relationships across Medr, including with the Chief Executive and Senior Leadership Team, acting as a trusted and strategic adviser on organisational design and development.

With operational responsibility across the full range of people functions, including workforce planning, recruitment, operations, learning and development, talent management, HR case work, policy and health and safety, you will lead our People and Culture Team and prioritise resources effectively to ensure maximum organisational impact.

As a senior leader in Medr, you will embrace and lead change; role model our values; and help develop others to be their best selves.

What you'll be doing

You Will

• embrace change, leading on the delivery of our People and Culture Strategy, helping shape our culture to create a high performing team that embraces fresh thinking and transformational change
• support the delivery of our Strategic Plan, translating organisational priorities into tangible people centred initiatives that build organisational capacity and capability
• work with Medr’s People and Culture Committee, building relationships, utilising the Committee’s expertise and guidance to deliver our People and Culture Strategy
• oversee the design and delivery of a comprehensive learning and development offer, prioritising leadership development
• embed strategic workforce planning, overseeing recruitment, talent and succession planning
• shape and nurture a positive and inclusive culture, role modelling our values and bringing them to life in innovative and meaningful ways
• build effective and credible relationships across Medr, including with the Chief Executive and Senior Leadership Team, building positive working relationships as a trusted and strategic adviser across the full range of people and culture functions
• drive measurable improvement in employee engagement through the regular use of pulse and people surveys, identifying areas for improvement and responding with tangible actions
• lead and develop your team, planning and prioritising activity; promoting and implementing continuous improvement; and encouraging continuous personal and professional development
• work in social partnership with our recognised trade union, co-producing a strategic work plan and setting the forward agenda for meetings of our Social Partnership Forum.
• manage the people and culture budget, including learning and development and health and safety spends, working closely with Finance to optimise the use of public funds to support the delivery of the Team’s work and organisational priorities.
• oversee the day to day management of our office space, ensuring health, safety and wellbeing is culturally embedded in Medr
• promote the use of the Welsh language, ensuring a range of learning and development opportunities are in place
• work closely with our communications team to develop an innovative and engaging internal communications and engagement plan
• develop external relationships and actively seek opportunities to build connections and bring innovation and best practice back to Medr

Key challenges

We published our first Strategic Plan in March 2025. The Plan includes a foundation aim to establish Medr as a highly effective organisation and trusted regulator.

Working closely with the Chief Operating Officer, to be successful in the role, you’ll need to:

• see the big picture, aligning people and culture priorities to the delivery of our Strategic Plan.
• work in a fast-paced and sensitive environment, dealing with complex and shifting priorities
• influence and communicate, internally and externally, to build positive relationships
• Support and direct the continued set up of the people and culture offer for Medr.

About Your Team

You will lead and develop a small, multi-disciplinary team of up to six people responsible for the delivery of our People and Culture Strategy.

We’re a new organisation and we expect our structure to evolve in the coming months and years. You will play a pivotal role in developing the team and its structure, ensuring we have the right people and resources attached to this key professional services area of the business.

About Your Line Manager

Francesca Hill, Chief Operating Officer

Fran was appointed in December 2025 and brings 10 years of experience in people, culture and transformational change, most recently leading cultural and governance reform in the fire and rescue services on behalf of the Welsh Government.

Fran is a qualified lawyer, and played a foundational role in establishing Medr, leading on staff transfer and setting up governance arrangements.

Fran values a good sense of humour at work, is a keen swimmer, and balances her career alongside raising a young family.

About Your Line Manager

Francesca Hill, Chief Operating Officer

Fran was appointed in December 2025 and brings 10 years of experience in people, culture and transformational change, most recently leading cultural and governance reform in the fire and rescue services on behalf of the Welsh Government.

Fran is a qualified lawyer, and played a foundational role in establishing Medr, leading on staff transfer and setting up governance arrangements.

Fran values a good sense of humour at work, is a keen swimmer, and balances her career alongside raising a young family.

Person specification

What You Will Bring

Attributes

• Reflective - You encourage a culture of reflection and learning at all levels of the organisation.
• Inspire People - You inspire organisational change and drive cultural transformation.
• Curiosity - You challenge the status quo and encourage others to think critically and creatively.
• Dynamic - You empower teams to innovate and take calculated risks, creating a culture of dynamic leadership.
• Empathetic - You demonstrate empathy and compassion, considering the impact of decisions on all stakeholders.

Experience

• Demonstrable experience of leading teams, across a range of people and culture disciplines (organisational development, workforce planning and resourcing, people systems and technology, pay and reward, conduct and capability, learning, leadership and management, talent management, employee and industrial relations) in a senior leadership capacity.
• Highly developed strategic thinking ability with proven track record in change management and capable of balancing both strategic, tactical and operational priorities; able to deliver strategy at pace, resilience to sustain the strategy, often through high levels of ambiguity and organisational change.

Technical

• Chartered Member, or ideally Chartered Fellow, of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) or equivalent; or willing to work towards this qualification.

Welsh Language Requirements

Desirable

Welsh desirable means that while having Welsh language skills is useful for the role, it is not an assessment criterion, so it won’t disadvantage you during recruitment if you don’t currently possess these skills.

Alongside your salary of £61,128, Medr contributes £17,708 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Your Perks And Benefits

We recognise the importance of looking after ourselves in work and in life, so in recognition of this we provide:

• 34 days annual leave a year (pro rata)
• An environment that embraces work life balance.
• A culture that celebrates diversity and welcomes everyone.
• Dedicated well-being time to all our people each week.
• A Cycle to Work Scheme to make owning a bicycle more affordable.

Additional Support When You Need It

We know that sometimes you may face challenges or life events that mean you need additional support.

• We provide a comprehensive employee assistance programme with remote access to resources and in person support whenever required.
• We have a special leave policy ensuring everyone in the organisation receives the support they need during difficult times.

More than just a workplace

• You will be entitled to take 5 days paid leave per year to undertake voluntary work to support the communities we serve.
• We will encourage you to grow your networks across Wales, the UK and internationally.
• We have an active social committee who offer a range of activities for our people to come together outside the work setting. You can participate as much or as little as you want.

Personal and professional development

• Once you’re offered a post, we will get to know you and work with you to develop a personalised onboarding plan which considers your experience, skills, learning style and knowledge.
• We’ll help you shape your development plans with personalised career conversations and objectives, taking account of delivery goals alongside your career aspirations and helping you own your career.
• We support all our staff to learn or improve their Welsh language skills.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

We are really interested in you as an individual and what you will bring to our organisation.

Our assessment process is designed to help us get to know you better enabling us to appoint someone who will thrive in the role and who shares our organisational values.

If you are interested in working with us, please send us your application and personal statement through Civil Service Jobs.

Attributes

• Reflective - You encourage a culture of reflection and learning at all levels of the organisation.
• Curiosity - You challenge the status quo and encourage others to think critically and creatively.

Experience

• Demonstrable experience of leading teams, across a range of people and culture disciplines (organisational development, workforce planning and resourcing, people systems and technology, pay and reward, conduct and capability, learning, leadership and management, talent management, employee and industrial relations) in a senior leadership capacity.
• Highly developed strategic thinking ability with proven track record in change management and capable of balancing both strategic, tactical and operational priorities; able to deliver strategy at pace, resilience to sustain the strategy, often through high levels of ambiguity and organisational change.

Technical

• Chartered Member, or ideally Chartered Fellow, of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) or equivalent; or willing to work towards this qualification.

To be fair to everyone who applies, we won’t accept:

• Late applications
• Applications with missing or incomplete information
• Personal statements over 1,250 words

The deadline for application submission is Wednesday 10 June .

Applications are welcome in Welsh and will not be treated less favourably than those submitted in English.

All applications will be notified of their outcomes via Civil Service Jobs at sift and interview stage.

Candidates who successfully navigate the sift stage will be required to complete an online exercise to enable us to determine their behavioural and personality preferences. Immediately on completion you will be given a report which highlights your strengths plus some development tips to help you prepare for interview. Candidates should note that the online exercise is not intended to eliminate anyone from consideration. Instead, it serves as a tool to aid in the decision-making process.

Following this, you will be required to participate in an interview and a presentation, both of which will be conducted on Wednesday 8 July .

In addition to the attributes / experience assessed at sift stage, the remaining attributes will also be assessed at interview:

• Inspire People - You inspire organisational change and drive cultural transformation.
• Dynamic - You empower teams to innovate and take calculated risks, creating a culture of dynamic leadership.
• Empathetic - You demonstrate empathy and compassion, considering the impact of decisions on all stakeholders.

We strive for a diverse and inclusive workplace and we want to help you demonstrate your full potential whatever type of assessment is used. We are happy to discuss any person-centred adjustments required to the recruitment process. Please contact ***email_hidden***.

We're looking forward to meeting everyone invited to interview at our headquarters in 2, Capital Quarter, Cardiff. We don’t usually pay travel expenses, but if this presents a real barrier to your attendance in person or if you require a reasonable adjustment, please let us know in advance by emailing ***email_hidden*** so we can discuss and agree arrangements prior to your interview.

Following interview we are committed to offering constructive and actionable feedback to support you on your future career journey.

Next steps

Interested…? Want to find out more?

We know how important it is for you to find out more about us so we will be holding a virtual information session for candidates on Tuesday 2 June at 12:00 on Microsoft Teams. This session will not be recorded.

This will be an opportunity for you to hear more about our organisation; the role and how we invest in our people.

If you would like to attend, register by emailing ***email_hidden***

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

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)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

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.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact

• Name : People and Culture team
• Email : ***email_hidden***

Recruitment team

• Email : ***email_hidden***