Royal London
Head of People
Get notified of more jobs like this · No spam, ever
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Contract type: Permanent
Location: Edinburgh - Waverley Gate
Working style: Hybrid 50% home/office based
To help us manage applications effectively, we reserve the right to close this vacancy early once we have received a high number of applications or identified enough suitable candidates for the next stage of the process. We encourage you to apply as early as you can.
Join Royal London’s People Function in a senior leadership role partnering senior leaders across Brand & Marketing and Adviser & Customer. You will bring the credibility, judgement and influence to operate confidently with an executive population, constructively challenging GEC and GEC-1 leaders and enabling strong decision-making.
Translating business strategy into a focused people plan will be central to the role. You will use commercial judgement to identify and prioritise the people and organisational actions that will have the greatest impact on performance, growth and customer outcomes.
You will also shape leadership capability, team effectiveness, organisation design, culture and workforce planning, creating the conditions for leaders and teams to perform at their best.
About The Role
- Act as a trusted strategic adviser to the senior leadership teams, bringing insight, judgement and constructive challenge to executive discussions and decisions.
- Translate business strategy and commercial priorities into a clear, prioritised people and organisation plan, balancing immediate priorities with longer-term capability needs.
- Lead the development of the organisation design, operating model, governance, culture, capabilities, workforce and talent pipelines required to deliver the strategy.
- Advise on leadership and team effectiveness, using coaching, facilitation and targeted interventions to strengthen collective performance, accountability and decision-making.
- Lead complex people workstreams across business-as-usual activity, transformation and change, building effective matrix teams across the People Function.
- Ensure effective delivery of cyclical people activity, including performance, reward, talent and succession planning, colleague engagement and people planning.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
About You
- Extensive experience as a senior HR Business Partner, Head of People or equivalent in a complex commercial organisation, with a strong record of influencing executive leaders.
- Executive presence and gravitas, with the confidence, judgement and resilience to challenge GEC and GEC-1 stakeholders, navigate ambiguity and influence strong decisions.
- Strong commercial acumen, with evidence of translating business strategy into a focused people plan and prioritised organisational and workforce actions.
- Deep expertise in leadership and team effectiveness, including executive coaching, team development, facilitation and interventions that improve collective performance.
- Strong practical experience of organisation design and effectiveness, including operating models, role clarity, governance, capability building and ways of working.
- Experience leading the people aspects of complex change and transformation, supported by sound employee relations and legislative knowledge.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
If you feel you’d be a great fit for Royal London but don’t meet every requirement, we’d still love to hear from you. If you meet most requirements and are keen to learn, we encourage you to apply.
About Royal London
We’re the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company, offering protection, long-term savings and asset management products and services.
Our People Promise is that we will all work somewhere inclusive, responsible, enjoyable and fulfilling. This is underpinned by our Spirit of Royal London values: Empowered, Trustworthy, Collaborate and Achieve. We offer a competitive benefits package including 28 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays, up to 14% employer pension matching and private medical insurance.
Inclusion, diversity and belonging
We’re an inclusive employer and value different backgrounds and cultures across Royal London. Our diverse people and perspectives bring a range of skills which are recognised and respected.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London