Location: Council House
Hours: 37 hours a week
Closing Date: 05 June 2026
Contract Type: Permanent
Are you an experienced HR & OD professional, ready to join our Human Resources and Organisational Development service as an HR & OD Lead, including lead responsibility for our Apprenticeship Programme.
In this role, you will work closely with senior managers, Members and colleagues across the Council to provide high quality professional advice, shape and deliver our HR & OD strategy, and lead key projects that support organisational culture and change, workforce development and service improvement.
As HR & OD Lead, you will play a key role in ensuring that Derby City Council is a great place to work, where our values and behaviours are lived every day, and where our workforce is equipped to deliver excellent services to our residents.
Who We Are
Here at Derby City Council, we’re dedicated to delivering nearly 250 first-class services to citizens and businesses in the heart of the Midlands. People are at the centre of all that we do, and we have an outstanding track record of recruiting and developing talented individuals by providing them with varied and fulfilling career opportunities. Find out more about what it’s like to work for us.
What We Offer
You too could be part of something brilliant by becoming a colleague at Derby City Council; in addition to making a difference to the lives of people across the city, you’ll also receive:
- Flexible work/life balance scheme
- Hybrid working
- Modern office environment
- Continued professional development opportunities & career conversations
- 27 days annual leave (rising to 32 days after 5 years' service), plus bank holidays
- Local Government Pension Scheme
- Team Derby Rewards – retail and leisure discounts
- Tusker Car Benefit Scheme
- Cycle2Work Scheme & free cycle training
- Employee Assistance Programme, Wellbeing Calendar and Support
- Access to our Equality Employee Networks – LGBTQ+, Disabled Employee Network & Carers and our Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic Employee Support Network and Neurodiversity Network
- Support for colleagues who are carers
The Opportunity
In the role of HR & Organisational Development Lead here’s an example of what you’ll be doing to make an impact:
- Lead a team of Human Resources (HR) and Organisational Development (OD) professionals, enabling them to provide high-quality professional HR & OD advice to senior managers, on all aspects of HR policy, performance management, Organisational Development and Apprenticeship projects and strategies, ensuring compliance with policies, procedures, best practice, employment legislation and corporate OD priorities.
- Coach and development HR and OD professionals in sharing best practice on employment law, and HR/OD projects and strategies across the council.
- Managing and developing the Council’s Apprenticeship Programme
- Lead key projects that support our organisational culture and change
- Drive workforce development initiatives and service improvement
- Promote and embed the Council’s values and behaviours across the organisation
About You
To be successful in this role, you’ll ideally have…
- CIPD qualification (or equivalent experience), and evidence of ongoing continuing professional development, are expected for this role.
- Significant experience in a senior HR generalist or HR/OD Business Partner role in a complex organisation.
- A strong track record of providing expert HR and OD advice, including on employee relations, performance management, change and organisational development.
- Experience of leading or managing apprenticeship and/or workforce development programmes, including use of the Apprenticeship Levy.
- Experience of developing HR policies, and of working with Trade Unions and staff representatives in a consultation/negotiation environment.
- Experience of designing and delivering HR & OD projects that support organisational change and improvement.
- Strong coaching, influencing and relationship building skills, with the ability to challenge constructively and support managers to achieve high performance.
- Excellent understanding of current employment legislation, HR best practice and organisational development principles.
- Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and to modelling required organisational values and behaviours.
Next Steps
If you would like to apply for this vacancy via an application form, please submit an application via the Derby City Council website.
The closing date for this vacancy is at midnight on 05 June 2026. Any applications received after the closing date will not be accepted.
Interviews will be held: 22nd and 23rd June 2026
If you would prefer to apply for this job using your CV, then please download the attached Declaration Form and send it to [email protected]. Without a completed declaration form, your application will not be accepted. We also encourage you to download the Equalities Form and return this to [email protected], however this is optional and will not affect your application.
Important Information
Links to the full Job Description and Person Specification are below.
All employees will normally be appointed to the minimum of the grade for the job.
Before you complete your application, please read our guidance on filling in your application form.
Remember to align your personal statement to the essential criteria in the Person Specification.
Please be aware that where there are colleagues within the organisation who are 'at risk' of redundancy, requirements to redeploy to another suitable role will apply and take priority.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
We are a fair and inclusive employer and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds. We recruit for diversity and value difference. As many of our roles can now be home-based, we are able to offer more opportunities for people who need this facility.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. If you are a disabled person, you have the choice to apply under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme so long as you demonstrate that you meet the essential requirements for the job.
We feel it is essential that we recruit a talented workforce that is as diverse as the community we work for.
Please let us know of any individual requirements or reasonable adjustments you may have during the application, interview, or onboarding process and we’ll do all we can to help. We strongly believe in social understanding of disability and for us it’s all about removing barriers to equality.
If you have any questions regarding this vacancy or are having difficulty applying, please contact our Recruitment Team on 01332 640844 (Relay UK - 18001 01332 640 844) or at [email protected] . https://www.derby.gov.uk/signing-service/
