Job Overview
Job Title: Director of Talent & Organisational Effectiveness
Contract: Permanent
Salary: Competitive
Location: London/Hybrid
Application End Date: Tuesday 14th July 2026
Role Purpose
This strategic, enterprise-wide role designs the organisational framework and organisational capability required to deliver business strategy. You will advise the Group Leadership Team (GLT) on structural alignment and strategic architecture to ensure long-term growth, architecturally aligning leadership and capability with BMJ's strategic priorities.
Distinct from but working in partnership and close collaboration with core HR teams, the role partners with senior leaders across the business to shape and ensure delivery of the organisation's talent and organisational development agenda. Operating at GLT level, the Director will play a critical role in ensuring our people, leaders and teams are equipped to navigate change, accelerate performance and build sustainable organisational success.
Working across all Lines of Business, the role is accountable for strengthening organisational effectiveness by ensuring the organisation's structure, leadership, capability and ways of working are aligned to strategic priorities and future growth. Leveraging expertise in organisational development, organisation design and change leadership, the Director will work with Leaders across the business to translate business priorities into practical people and capability solutions that drive organisational performance, resilience and agility.
The role's primary objective is to ensure the organisation has the leadership, capability, PACE culture and organisational effectiveness required to execute its strategy today while building readiness for the opportunities and challenges of tomorrow.
Key Accountabilities
Working in partnership and collaboration with the Director of People & Transformation and the Heads of HR functions:
Organisational Capability & Workforce Transformation
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Define and deliver an enterprise-wide capability strategy aligned to business priorities, growth ambitions and future workforce requirements.
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Identify critical skills, capability gaps and workforce risks, developing plans to strengthen organisational resilience and readiness.
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Lead workforce planning, succession planning and talent reviews to support growth, transformation and emerging technologies.
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Lead the development of future workforce strategies, including the impact of AI, digital transformation, automation and evolving skills requirements.
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Develop and implement organisational effectiveness and Target Operating Model (TOM) frameworks that optimise structures, governance, processes and capability.
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Ensure talent and capability strategies support organisational agility, scalability and long-term sustainability.
Executive Succession & Talent Governance
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Govern the enterprise talent strategy and lead executive succession planning to strengthen leadership effectiveness.
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Build leadership capability in strategic thinking, coaching, collaboration, innovation and change leadership.
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Develop robust pipelines for future leaders and critical specialist talent ensuring an inclusive and diverse workforce
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Define the strategic performance philosophy and talent governance frameworks for the GLT and senior leadership.
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Lead and support the improvement of quality and consistency of talent, performance and development conversations across the organisation.
Skills Architecture & Strategic Learning Frameworks
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Design enterprise-wide skills architectures that accelerate organisational performance and build future capability.
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Establish strategic learning frameworks and capability academies that support long-term internal mobility and growth.
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Lead and the development of robust learning effectiveness and business impact measures to ensure meaningful and reportable return on investment.
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Embed a culture of continuous learning and adaptability across the GLT and into the wider organisation.
Organisational Design & Structural Alignment
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Lead organisation design and structural alignment initiatives to improve agility, accountability, and execution.
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Lead organisation design and organisational effectiveness initiatives that improve collaboration, agility, accountability and execution in line with PACE Culture.
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Partner with senior leaders to identify and remove organisational barriers to performance.
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Ensure cultural, behavioural and leadership expectations support business performance and future growth.
Executive Partnership & Enterprise Leadership
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Contribute as an active member of the Group Leadership Team, helping shape enterprise strategy and ensuring people, capability and culture considerations are embedded in business decisions.
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Act as a trusted advisor to executive and senior leaders on talent, capability and organisational effectiveness.
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Use workforce analytics, organisational diagnostics and people insights to inform strategic decision-making and identify opportunities for improvement.
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Diagnose organisational challenges and translate findings into targeted interventions that improve organisational performance and effectiveness.
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Bring external best practice, market insight and thought leadership to the People function and wider business.
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Build GLT ownership and accountability for people outcomes and organisational performance.
Success Measures
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Increased organisational capability in priority strategic areas.
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Strong leadership pipelines and succession readiness for critical roles.
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Enhanced leadership effectiveness and organisational capability.
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Improved organisational agility and change readiness.
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Stronger organisational performance and accountability.
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Successful delivery of organisational transformation and change initiatives.
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Measurable improvements in organisational effectiveness, PACE culture and leadership capability.
Experience & Expertise
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Significant experience leading Talent, Learning, Performance, Culture, Organisational Development and Organisational Effectiveness functions within complex organisations.
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Proven track record of translating business strategy into enterprise-wide talent and capability solutions.
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Deep expertise in leadership development, succession planning and talent management.
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Strong organisational development, organisation design and change leadership experience.
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Experience developing skills frameworks, career architectures and enterprise capability strategies.
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Experience leading large-scale organisational transformation, operating model change and cultural evolution programmes.
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Demonstrated ability to influence executive stakeholders and lead strategic initiatives across multiple business areas.
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Strong commercial acumen with the ability to connect people strategy to business outcomes
The Person
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Strategic, commercially minded and outcomes focused.
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Evidence-based, analytical and data driven.
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Collaborative, credible and influential.
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Curious, innovative and future focused.
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An executive coach and developer of talent.
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Passionate about building inclusive, high-performing cultures.
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Comfortable operating in ambiguity and leading through complexity and change.
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Strong systems thinker with the ability to connect talent, capability, culture and organisational performance.
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Able to balance organisational heritage, purpose and values with transformation, growth and innovation.
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Resilient, pragmatic and execution focused, with the ability to turn strategy into action.
Why work for us?
Help us create a healthier world. We are a global healthcare knowledge provider. We publish The BMJ, one of the world’s most impactful medical journals and over 70 influential speciality journals. We offer digital tools to help health professionals worldwide tackle critical healthcare challenges. Find out more about us here.
Flexible Work and Workplace Perks
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We’re committed to flexible working that supports both your needs and the requirements of the role.
Generous benefits
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Generous double-matching employer pension contribution, up to 12%
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Discounted dental and travel insurance
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Seven x salary life assurance cover and a generous income protection package
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Discounted gym membership, cycle-to-work and season ticket loan
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Discounts for retail and leisure products through yourReward
Work-life balance and wellbeing
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Twenty-five days holiday + bank holidays + a BMJ Day off.
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Additional holiday through long service; buy up to 5 additional days
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Leave for moving house, volunteering or getting married
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Concierge service Seniorcare by Lottie
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
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Equity, Diversity and Inclusion are not buzzwords to us, but fundamental company priorities
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We believe that a diverse workforce brings unique strengths and insights, enabling us to better serve our customers and drive positive change in our industry.
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If you are from an under-represented or historically marginalised community, we are particularly interested in hearing from you.
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Join our employee-led networks focusing on Gender, Race and Cultural Diversity, Sexual Orientation, Mental Health and Well-being, Parents and Carers and Age.
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Disability Confident Committed employer
Learning & Development
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Personal development plan
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Mentoring scheme
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Career Coaching
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Opportunities to pursue professional development
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Strengths-based development
