Head of Human Resources

Head of HR | Defence & Engineering

Read on to fully understand what this job requires in terms of skills and experience If you are a good match, make an application.

Isle of Wight | Hybrid – 3 days per week onsite (option to work at Southampton office and some occasional travel to Bristol site)

Due to significant business growth, we’re looking for an experienced Head of HR to step into a newly created leadership role within a growing organisation operating in the UK defence and engineering sector.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the business at a pivotal stage in its development. With the organisation going through a period of significant growth and transformation, the Head of HR will play a central role in shaping the people strategy, building organisational capability and ensuring the business has the culture, leadership and talent needed to support its future ambitions.

Reporting directly to the Chief Operations Officer and working closely with the wider senior leadership team, you’ll have the opportunity to build on existing foundations while influencing how the organisation evolves as it scales.

The role

You’ll take ownership of the overall people strategy, ensuring it is closely aligned with business objectives and the organisation’s ambitious growth plans.

Your remit will include:

• Developing and delivering the organisation-wide HR and people strategy

• Acting as a key member of the senior leadership team and contributing to business strategy and decision-making

• Leading workforce and succession planning to ensure the business has the capability required to support continued growth

• Leading organisational design, development and change programmes

• Developing a high-performance, inclusive and values-led culture

• Leading employee engagement, wellbeing and complex employee relations

• Shaping talent acquisition strategies to attract and retain specialist engineering and technical talent

• Building leadership capability through succession planning and development programmes

• Overseeing performance management, reward, compensation and benefits

• Ensuring compliance with UK employment legislation and HR best practice

• Using people data and HR analytics to provide insight and inform executive decision-making

• Leading and developing the HR and business support team

What we’re looking for

You’ll be an established senior HR leader who is comfortable operating strategically while remaining close enough to the business to understand the challenges that come with growth, change and scaling within a complex organisation.

Ideally, you’ll bring:

• CIPD Level 7 qualification or equivalent

• Significant senior HR leadership experience, typically 7–10+ years

• Proven experience operating as part of a senior leadership team

• Strong knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice

• Excellent commercial awareness and the ability to connect people strategy with business outcomes

• Experience leading organisational change and transformation

• Strong leadership, influencing and stakeholder management skills

• A data-led approach to HR decision-making

Experience within defence, engineering, manufacturing, technology or another complex technical environment would be particularly relevant.

Why this opportunity?

This isn’t a replacement hire. It’s a newly created role driven by the growth of the business, giving you the opportunity to make a genuine impact on how the organisation develops.

You’ll join during a period of significant growth, with the scope to influence organisational design, culture, leadership capability, talent strategy and the wider people agenda.

For someone who enjoys building, developing and professionalising HR within a growing engineering-led environment, this is an opportunity to have a real impact at senior leadership level.

Location: Isle of Wight

Working pattern: Hybrid – 3 days per week onsite

Interested in finding out more? xwzovoh Apply or get in touch for a confidential conversation.