Head of People: Talent Programmes

Head of People: Talent Programmes
People and Culture
41 hours per week (including one hour paid lunch break). We work in a hybrid way and are open to flexible working patterns.
23-month fixed term contract
£58,162 per annum
Application deadline: 12pm (midday) on Tuesday 29 July 2025

About the role:

Reporting into the Head of People and Culture, this newly developed role will bring together our talent programme activities to create a positive work environment for leaders and colleagues across the Museum.

You will provide leadership and strategic direction to a small and dedicated team of professionals. Supporting them to develop and deliver our talent development, wellbeing, culture, EDI strategies, ensuring that we embed an inclusive way of thinking across every level of the Museum.

If you like a challenge and are looking for an opportunity to drive forward talent development initiatives that deliver cultural impact, we invite you to be part of our dynamic team.

Key areas of responsibility:

* Lead, motivate, manage and develop colleagues within the Talent Programmes team, and ensure appropriate recruitment and succession planning within the team.
* Develop career pathways across the Museum; creating succession planning for departments as well as identifying skills gaps to develop department-specific 12-month people plans.
* Work with the Talent Development Partner to oversee a programme of learning and development for all staff to support their continuing professional development, including advancing people leadership/management excellence.
* Provide leadership support to the Employee Engagement Manager and the Inclusion & Belonging Manager so they are set up for success and can operate as the senior specialists on their designated areas of expertise, ensuring successful execution and measurable outcomes.
* Collaborate cross-functionally to align People and Culture strategies with business objectives.

If this sounds like the right opportunity for you, then we'd love to hear from you. A full job description is available below, this details the key dimensions of the role and the person specification.

What you'll bring to the team:

You will be a confident and comfortable People professional, with a passion for problem solving and providing leadership direction to a small team. You will demonstrate a high level of initiative and have a strong focus on continuous improvement both of yourself and those around you. You will also be able to evidence:

* Proven experience leading successful Organisational Development initiatives.
* Skilled in building relationships and collaborating with a variety of stakeholders
* Strong influencing skills, with the ability to inspire and challenge others
* Highly organised with excellent time management skills.
* A passion for shaping people-first, inclusive workplace cultures

About the British Museum:

Founded in 1753, the British Museum's remarkable collection spans over two million years of human history and culture. The Museum is a leading visitor attraction, and its world-famous collection includes the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian mummies, the Sutton-Hoo finds, and the Lewis Chessmen. The Museum also holds an extensive collection of prints and drawings spanning 600 years, including works by the greatest graphic artists such as Dürer, Michelangelo and Rembrandt.

The Museum offers a competitive benefits package including:

* Generous annual leave allowance of 25 days (rising to 30 days after 10 years' service) plus 2.5 privilege days and plus bank holidays.
* Membership of the civil service defined benefit pension scheme (find out here what benefits a civil service pension provides).
* Free entry to a wide range of museums and exhibitions
* Participation in private and public Museum activities, including talks by leading curators from around the world and behind-the-scenes opportunities to learn how museums care for and manage their extraordinary collections.
* Interest-free travel, bicycle, and rental deposit loans
* Professional and personal development opportunities
* Employee Assistance Programme
* Discounts on food and gift shop purchases

Additional details:

For more information about this role, please see the job description below.

The interviews are expected to take place on 14 August 2025.

We offer a flexible way of working that allows our employees to work remotely in a way that suits them and the organisation. We welcome questions and conversations at interview stage about how flexible working could work for you. We would typically see this role as working on site about 2 days a week.

If you have any additional needs that we should be aware of to support you with your application, please provide details

The Museum also adheres to the HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) for pre-employment screening of Civil Servants.

Museum Website: https://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=ZW5pY2hvbGxzLjM3OTc2LjExMTkzQGJyaXRpc2htdXNldW0uYXBsaXRyYWsuY29t