BACKGROUND
The Northern Ireland Office supports the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in promoting the best interests of Northern Ireland. We make sure that Northern Ireland interests are represented within the UK Government and that UK government responsibilities are fully and effectively represented in Northern Ireland. We are the centre of expertise on Northern Ireland issues across Government.
The Northern Ireland Office employs around 160 staff, with offices in Belfast and London. As a small Department, we adopt a flexible project-based approach to ensure that we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place to support the delivery of our key objectives.
Due to our structure and size, we are able to offer extensive exposure to Ministers and the opportunity to work on a far wider portfolio of policy and responsibilities than might be the case in a larger department. This creates an interesting and stimulating work environment.
Our key priorities are set out in our Operational Delivery plan and include:
- Supporting greater inclusion, tolerance and openness in Northern Ireland
Contributing to a safer Northern Ireland, w- terrorist and paramilitary groups are less able to cause harm to communities
- Ensuring that governance in Northern Ireland is responsive, transparent and able to deliver effective public service.
- Addressing the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland
For more information about what we do:
Visit:https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/northern-ireland-office https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice.
ABOUT THE ROLE:
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is looking for a dynamic Head of Workforce Planning and HR Operations (G7) to join its HR team to provide maternity leave cover for a 12 month period. This is a fantastic opportunity for an ambitious HR professional to develop their career and gain a wide range of experience, with regular exposure to senior stakeholders in a Ministerial Department.
Working as part of a small but impactful team of HR professionals, this role is focused on attracting, recruiting and developing the workforce we need for now and the future. You will have responsibility for a breadth of HR functions including Workforce Planning, Recruitment, Pay and Reward, Policy and Performance Management. You will be strategic in approach, ensuring our HR function supports our departmental delivery objectives.
You will use business data and insight to inform the design, development and implementation of HR activities in a way that embraces diversity and inclusivity in line with our culture and values. You will use your knowledge and HR expertise to gain credibility, enabling you to support the senior management team in the NIO. You will be solutions-focused, able to deliver at pace and confident to challenge. Reporting to the Senior Head of HR, you will have a key leadership role and be a member of both the HR and wider Corporate Services Senior Management teams.
Please reach out to Becca Landers if you would like to discuss your suitability for the role before submitting an application.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The main responsibilities of the role include but are not limited to:
- Leadership and direction of HR Operations portfolio, spanning Performance, Recruitment and Attraction, and Workforce Planning.
- Acting as subject matter expert on all workforce planning, collaborating with senior leadership to align with business objectives.
- Using data-driven insights to forecast workforce needs, identify gaps and develop solutions. You will be responsible for providing accurate and up to date Management Information to support decision making and policy direction.
- Leading recruitment activity, supporting recruiting managers to fill their vacancies and manage the transformation programme to implement our new applicant tracking system.
- Providing customer-focused support and advice to managers and staff on queries about HR policy, taking responsibility for coaching line managers to resolve.
- Review ways of working to ensure continuous improvement with HR processes supporting our objective of having a diverse, inclusive and engaged workforce.
- Manage the relationship with third party providers including SSCL, our recruitment platform and Ministry of Justice, and ensure value for money.
Work - ly with other corporate services within the NIO to provide a streamlined and joined-up employee experience throughout the employee life-cycle.
- Coordinating the engagement with the Departmental Trade Union side.
ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:
The post holder will need to demonstrate the following in their application and at interview:
- Substantial experience across a range of HR disciplines.
- Excellent communication skills, including the ability to influence and engage, to bring together individuals from across the business to deliver key objectives.
- Excellent analytical and problem solving skills.
- Experience of managing competing priorities, working proactively and being accountable for the delivery of the outcomes
DESIRABLE CRITERIA:
- Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) or willingness to work towards.
- Experience of strategic workforce planning.
- Experience of leading recruitment
- Security Clearance at CTC level
BEHAVIOURS:
We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours for Grade 7 level during the application sift:
- Communicating and Influencing
We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours for Grade 7 level during the interview:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Managing a Quality Service
HOW TO APPLY:
This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your Behaviours and Experience. At the sift stage, you will be asked to submit:
A 250 word statement on the following behaviour:
- Communicating and Influencing
A statement of suitability no longer than 750 words to assess the essential and desirable criteria. Your statement of suitability needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the requirements set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirements needed. You don’t have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Share with us what makes you suited to this role and why. What you can do, the skills you have that are transferable and the life experience or passion you have that are linked to this role. If you don’t have work-based examples then give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in.
Your work history. This will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement. Work history will be used to add context to your personal statement.
More information on behaviours and success profiles can be found .
Please note that in the event of a large number of applications being received we may run the initial sift on the lead Behaviour Communicating and Influencing.
INTERVIEW:
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview via Google Meets Conferencing. Candidates will be assessed against the following behaviours and will be asked to provide examples of how they have demonstrated these:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Managing a Quality Service
It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:
- WHO- What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve?or
- STAR- What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?
Candidates will also be assessed using strength based questions.
All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.
OFFER
Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first.
The successful candidate will be notified of a start date following successful security checks. Pending pre-employment checks, we would be looking for the successful candidate to start the week commencing 3rd August 2026.
Additional information received after the closing date will not be considered. Failure to provide sufficient information in support of an application prior to the closing date will not be considered as grounds for an appeal if an applicant is not shortlisted for interview.
SECURITY CLEARANCE:
This role requires National Security Vetting given the access to sensitive information afforded by the job role. You can find more information by reviewing the information held in the following links:
United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The vetting charter - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
In addition, t is a minimum UK residency requirement set by the Cabinet Office which is dependent on the security level required for the role.
This role requires CTC and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 5 years
Neither Detached Duty terms nor relocation costs will apply to this post.
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. W 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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Further Information:
Further information about the post may be obtained from Becca Landers via email to [email protected].
All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.
This job description should not be taken as constituting conditions of employment.
Please note that due to the high interest in NIO opportunities, feedback cannot be given if you are unsuccessful at the sift stage. Feedback is available on request if unsuccessful following the interview.
COMPLAINTS:
The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles.
Please contact SSCL ([email protected]) in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages:
http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/
https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/code/
RESERVE LISTS:
In the event that the advertised post following interview, identifies more appointable applicants than available posts, we may hold applicant details on a merit/reserve list for a period of 12 months from which further future appointments can be made. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact
[email protected] to be removed from the reserve list.
Additional Information
Working Arrangements & Further Information
The NIO offers Hybrid Working arrangements w business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different NIO sites and / or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity.
Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone’s circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review.
Flexible working hours
The NIO offers a flexible working system in many offices. Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. NIO welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, w they meet the demands of the role and business needs. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the NIO’s Flexible Working policy.
Benefits:
- Access to learning and development
- A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
- A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension
- 25 days annual leave, increasing to 30 days after five years service.
- Public Holidays
- Season Ticket Advance
Networks
The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. T are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.
Support
- A range of ‘Family Friendly’ policies such as opportunities to work reduced hours or job share.
- Access to flexible benefits such as voluntary benefits, retail vouchers and discounts on a range of goods and services.
- For moves to or from another employer or moves across the Civil Service this can have implications on your eligibility to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. You may however be eligible for alternative government childcare support schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. More information can be found on GOV.UKor Childcare Choices. You can determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
- Paid paternity, adoption and maternity leave.
- Free annual sight tests for employees who use computer screens.
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code 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. Should you feel that the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles you are able to raise a formal complaint in the following order
- To Shared Service Connected Ltd (0845 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail [email protected]);
- To Ministry of Justice Resourcing team ([email protected]);
- To the Civil Service Commission
As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talent and abilities, by making adjustments throughout all elements of the recruitment process and in the workplace. We are able to offer an interview to disabled candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns.
For more information on applying for a role as a candidate with a disability or long-term condition, please see our Disability Confident Scheme Frequently Asked Questions webpage.
You will be able to request reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process within the application form. If you need additional help completing the application form, please contact the SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity & Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wver it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.
Interview dates
Week commencing 22nd June
Closing Date:
8th June 2026, 23:55 hours.
Contact information
If you require any assistance please call 0345 241 5359 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail [email protected]
