Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership- Lead the development and delivery of a forward-looking people and culture strategy aligned to Aspire’s existing strategy and growth priorities.
- Act as a key member of the Senior Leadership Team, contributing to corporate planning and decision-making.
- Provide confident, visible and values-driven leadership during a time of cultural and financial change.
- Be curious and confident offering a more innovative approach to our People practices.
- Be the Trusted Advisor to the Senior Leadership team and CEO.
- Provide escalation advice and expertise as the most senior HR professional.
- Set and manage the HR and Resourcing budgets relevant to the operational needs of the organisation.
- A good level of financial literacy and experience of financial planning as a senior leader.
Workforce Development and Planning- Oversee workforce planning to ensure Aspire has the right skills, capacity, and leadership for future growth.
- Provide a cost-effective approach that matches the demand for our services and enables us to deploy the workforce efficiently across our different services.
- To drive the reduction in agency usage and develop financially sustainable cover options, maximizing the use of the bank team.
-Effectively manage the overseas worker population and visa compliance.
- Design and implement programmes to attract, retain and develop a high-quality, values-led workforce.
- Improve staff engagement, recognition and performance management systems.
Culture and Change- Drive culture change that supports appropriate pace, increased accountability, stronger performance, higher levels of innovation and high-quality person-centred practice.
- Further develop a culture of open and upward feedback at all levels of the organisation.
- Ensure the culture and HR service enable staff to work at their best to provide the customers that use our services an excellent experience.
- Develop a culture that empowers others to act and distributes leadership at the right level in the organisation.
- Ensure change is managed compassionately and inclusively.
- Review and ensure clear lines of responsibility and accountability across different roles and functions in the organisation.
Employee Relations and Policy- Ensure employment policies and practices that while legally compliant and equitable are aligned to Aspire’s needs for strategic development and growth.
- Maintain strong, collaborative and effective relationships with trade union and staff representatives.
- Lead sensitive workforce matters (e.g. change work, redeployment) with pace and energy as part of the business development process.
People Operations and Systems- Oversee the improvement of our HR and OD functions, ensuring operational excellence.
- Ensure resources are used efficiently and effectively to deliver a proactive HR service that adds value.
- Modernise Aspire’s people systems (e.g. digital HR, data dashboards) to improve insight and decision-making.
- Introduce robust HR metrics to track people performance aligned to a holistic approach to organisational health.
- Review the outsourced contracts and services to ensure best value and fit for Aspire to support future proofing the organisation.
Person Specification
ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS
EXPERIENCE
CIPD level 7 or significant senior HR leadership experience, ideally in a social care, health or values-led organisation.
Proven success in leading organisational and cultural change during financially constrained periods.
Experience of developing modern people strategies that enable performance, inclusion and innovation.
Strong track record of engaging and influencing senior leaders, staff groups, trade unions and stakeholders to enable change at pace.
Experience leading workforce planning, leadership development and modernisation of people systems.
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
In depth understanding of employment law, employee relations and workforce planning.
Strong grasp of fast-paced organisational development and change management.
Ability to assess and drive change with HR policies, procedures, and processes to ensure operational effectiveness.
Develop and lead an HR and Resourcing function to be proactive and forward thinking.
Enhance the impact of the HR function to ensure it adds value and shapes the People agenda.
Ability to influence People related decisions at all levels in the organisation.
Experience of being able to juggle the hands-on operational demands and the strategic expectations of the role.
Ability to assess risk and provide appropriate pragmatic solutions to manage risks with a robust approach, providing confidence to SLT that employment related risks are well controlled, legally compliant and secure.
Skilled in analysing workforce data and using insight to drive strategic decisions.
Excellent communicator and coach, with strong emotional intelligence and values alignment.
Innovative and tech savvy with an excellent understanding of Microsoft products.


ATTRIBUTES AND BEHAVIOURS
Values led leader who operates with passion and purpose.
Able to thrive during periods of change and take satisfaction from evolving the ways of working that achieve positive outcomes.
The ability to take people on the journey with you, with support and understanding.
Courageous, curious, empathetic but pragmatic and energetic.
A growth mindset and a belief in fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
Resilient and comfortable to adapt to changing needs and priorities.
Calm under pressure.
Able to reconcile equity, inclusion and anti-discriminatory practice with the imperatives of change, development and growth.
Able to balance commercial and cultural imperatives with skill.
Comfortable working in complexity and ambiguity.
Role model of the leadership behaviours Aspire seeks to foster across the organisation.