Associate Director, People & Culture
Posted 8 hours 34 minutes ago by Met Office
£74,856 - £113,446 Annual
Permanent
Full Time
Executive Jobs
Devon, Exeter, United Kingdom, EX2 7JH
Job Description
We are pleased to bring to the market the role of Associate Director, People & Culture at the Met Office.
As our Associate Director, People & Culture you will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering the Met Office People Strategy, ensuring the organisation has the engaged, skilled, and flexible workforce needed to achieve its strategic objectives.
Based in Exeter, you will be operationally responsible for delivery of all elements of the People and Culture area encompassing Strategic Planning, Operational Delivery, People Development and Health & Safety teams - ensuring that the Met Office remains an exceptional place for people to work, grow and thrive.
World changing work As one of the world's leading weather and climate organisations, the Met Office provides the most accurate weather forecasts, severe weather warnings and climate projections which are built on our deep scientific expertise. Our work supports everything from daily life and travel, to defence, agriculture, energy and emergency response.
Your world of expertise As a strategic HR leader, you report to the Chief People Officer, driving operational delivery and continuous improvement across all elements of the People and Culture area, Strategic Planning, Operational Delivery, People Development and Health & Safety teams.
Equipping leaders to succeed, you will ensure a central focus on championing leadership excellence, inclusion, health and safety and wellbeing, and Met Office values.
Compensation and Benefits As our Associate Director of People & Culture, your annual total reward package is potentially worth in the range of £103,591 to £113,446, which includes:
Closing date Sunday 8th February 23:59. Interviews will be in person at Exeter HQ and will commence from 26th February 2026.
How we can help If you are considering applying and need support to do so, please contact us via . You can request adjustments either within your application or by contacting us. Should you be offered an interview, please be aware there may be a selection exercise which could include a presentation, written test or a scenario-based activity. You can select in your application to be considered under the Disability Confident Scheme. To be invited to interview/assessment under this scheme, your application must meet the essential criteria for the role.
Equal Opportunities We understand that great minds don't always think alike and as an equal opportunities employer we welcome applications from those with all protected characteristics. We recruit on merit, fairness, and open competition in line with the Civil Service Code.
Security Clearance We can only accept applications from those eligible to live and work in the UK - please refer to GOV.UK for information.
We require Security clearance, for which you need to have resided in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years to be eligible, 2 of these years must be immediately preceding the point of your application. You will need to achieve full security clearance within your first 6 months with us.
Lifestyle support Whether you wish to utilise our excellent family-friendly schemes, be paid up to 3 days for volunteering with your chosen organisation, have the reassurance of a generous sickness pay scheme or be part of an organisation that is happy to pro-actively talk about flexible working the Met Office wants you to have a great work and lifestyle balance.
Established hybrid working We have bases all over the UK and some roles allow for you to work abroad so there is the option to travel for work also, we have established amazing hybrid working practices across all of our offices and have enhanced technology to enable office and home-based meetings. We work with employees to agree on a suitable working pattern that works for us both and have various working patterns in place.
Investing in your development The world around us is constantly changing. New technologies, shifting climate patterns, artificial intelligence. These factors and more shape the need for us to develop our skills and knowledge as a business and as individuals. Our investment in learning and development is testament to this and we have partnered with external bodies in each profession to help shape the way we develop the incredible talent right across the Met Office. We help everyone to understand their strengths and opportunities and tailor learning programmes that match their career. For us, this is world-leading learning and development.
Our typical recruitment process 1. Application Apply through our careers website. Each application will be assessed against the essential criteria detailed in the job advert. We recommend that you use the CARL or STAR method to answer the key questions. Evidence your answers and reference our values to bring your application to life.
2. Screening The sift panel will assess all applications against our essential criteria. Our screening process usually takes one to two weeks following the closing date of the advert. After which, we'll be in touch to let you know whether your application has progressed to the next stage.
3. Interview Most recruitment processes will include a single-stage interview, some of which are virtual interviews and some may be in-person. Our interviews tend to blend competency questions, which focus on the essential criteria, with values-based questions.
4. Assessment Some roles may require you to attend an assessment day. Any job-specific assessments will be outlined in the job advert and more details will be provided at the interview stage.
5. Offer If you are successful following the interview, the hiring manager will contact you to offer the role. The Resourcing Team will then follow up with an offer letter and start your onboarding.
6. Onboarding Before we can confirm a start date, we will first need to complete security clearance and reference checks. These usually take between eight to ten weeks to complete. We'll also discuss any workplace adjustments that you may need. So they are in place on your first day.
On your first day your new manager will introduce you to the team and you'll start our online corporate induction. You'll also be asked to update your details in our People Hub system including bank details ready for your first pay day.
For those living outside of the UK, there are some roles where we can sponsor Skilled Worker visas. However . click apply for full job details
As our Associate Director, People & Culture you will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering the Met Office People Strategy, ensuring the organisation has the engaged, skilled, and flexible workforce needed to achieve its strategic objectives.
Based in Exeter, you will be operationally responsible for delivery of all elements of the People and Culture area encompassing Strategic Planning, Operational Delivery, People Development and Health & Safety teams - ensuring that the Met Office remains an exceptional place for people to work, grow and thrive.
World changing work As one of the world's leading weather and climate organisations, the Met Office provides the most accurate weather forecasts, severe weather warnings and climate projections which are built on our deep scientific expertise. Our work supports everything from daily life and travel, to defence, agriculture, energy and emergency response.
Your world of expertise As a strategic HR leader, you report to the Chief People Officer, driving operational delivery and continuous improvement across all elements of the People and Culture area, Strategic Planning, Operational Delivery, People Development and Health & Safety teams.
Equipping leaders to succeed, you will ensure a central focus on championing leadership excellence, inclusion, health and safety and wellbeing, and Met Office values.
- Engage effectively with the Associate Director community and Executive to provide advice and direction on people matters across the organisation.
- Lead and empower the People Directorate promoting and implementing new ways of working and data driven decisions. Embedding strategic workforce planning as a discipline, overseeing talent and succession planning. Ensuring the organisation has an engaged, skilled flexible workforce and the organisational capability to deliver its strategic objectives.
- Developing relationships inside and outside of the Civil Service to be able to bring best practice to the organisation and become recognised externally.
- Collaborate constructively with trade unions, stakeholders, and senior colleagues to help drive sustainable change, organisational stability, and measurable improvements in engagement.
- Provide strategic leadership as the Head of Profession for Leadership and Management, partnering with the Chief People Officer as sponsor to champion best practice. Lead the development of leadership capability-strengthening confidence and competence in line with the Met Office skills framework and organisational culture .
- Working with the Head of Health and Safety to ensure health, safety and wellbeing is culturally embedded in the Met Office.
- Chartered Member, or ideally Chartered Fellow, of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) or equivalent.
- Demonstrable experience leading large teams, across the full range of HR disciplines (Organisational Development, workforce planning and resourcing, people systems and technology, pay and reward, conduct and capability, learning, leadership and management, talent management, employee and industrial relations) in a senior leadership capacity.
- Proven track record of managing significant budget and headcount within agreed limits and extensive knowledge of corporate budgeting and financial processes.
- Highly developed strategic thinking ability with proven track record in change management and capable of balancing both strategic, tactical and operational priorities; able to deliver strategy at pace, resilience to sustain the strategy, often through high levels of ambiguity and organisational change.
Compensation and Benefits As our Associate Director of People & Culture, your annual total reward package is potentially worth in the range of £103,591 to £113,446, which includes:
- Base pay in the region of £74,856.
- A discretionary performance related bonus.
- Annual Leave starting at 27.5 days (plus Bank Holidays) rising to 32.5 days (plus Bank Holidays) after 5 years and option to buy or sell up to 5 days per year of annual leave.
- A relocation package is available.
Closing date Sunday 8th February 23:59. Interviews will be in person at Exeter HQ and will commence from 26th February 2026.
How we can help If you are considering applying and need support to do so, please contact us via . You can request adjustments either within your application or by contacting us. Should you be offered an interview, please be aware there may be a selection exercise which could include a presentation, written test or a scenario-based activity. You can select in your application to be considered under the Disability Confident Scheme. To be invited to interview/assessment under this scheme, your application must meet the essential criteria for the role.
Equal Opportunities We understand that great minds don't always think alike and as an equal opportunities employer we welcome applications from those with all protected characteristics. We recruit on merit, fairness, and open competition in line with the Civil Service Code.
Security Clearance We can only accept applications from those eligible to live and work in the UK - please refer to GOV.UK for information.
We require Security clearance, for which you need to have resided in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years to be eligible, 2 of these years must be immediately preceding the point of your application. You will need to achieve full security clearance within your first 6 months with us.
Lifestyle support Whether you wish to utilise our excellent family-friendly schemes, be paid up to 3 days for volunteering with your chosen organisation, have the reassurance of a generous sickness pay scheme or be part of an organisation that is happy to pro-actively talk about flexible working the Met Office wants you to have a great work and lifestyle balance.
Established hybrid working We have bases all over the UK and some roles allow for you to work abroad so there is the option to travel for work also, we have established amazing hybrid working practices across all of our offices and have enhanced technology to enable office and home-based meetings. We work with employees to agree on a suitable working pattern that works for us both and have various working patterns in place.
Investing in your development The world around us is constantly changing. New technologies, shifting climate patterns, artificial intelligence. These factors and more shape the need for us to develop our skills and knowledge as a business and as individuals. Our investment in learning and development is testament to this and we have partnered with external bodies in each profession to help shape the way we develop the incredible talent right across the Met Office. We help everyone to understand their strengths and opportunities and tailor learning programmes that match their career. For us, this is world-leading learning and development.
Our typical recruitment process 1. Application Apply through our careers website. Each application will be assessed against the essential criteria detailed in the job advert. We recommend that you use the CARL or STAR method to answer the key questions. Evidence your answers and reference our values to bring your application to life.
2. Screening The sift panel will assess all applications against our essential criteria. Our screening process usually takes one to two weeks following the closing date of the advert. After which, we'll be in touch to let you know whether your application has progressed to the next stage.
3. Interview Most recruitment processes will include a single-stage interview, some of which are virtual interviews and some may be in-person. Our interviews tend to blend competency questions, which focus on the essential criteria, with values-based questions.
4. Assessment Some roles may require you to attend an assessment day. Any job-specific assessments will be outlined in the job advert and more details will be provided at the interview stage.
5. Offer If you are successful following the interview, the hiring manager will contact you to offer the role. The Resourcing Team will then follow up with an offer letter and start your onboarding.
6. Onboarding Before we can confirm a start date, we will first need to complete security clearance and reference checks. These usually take between eight to ten weeks to complete. We'll also discuss any workplace adjustments that you may need. So they are in place on your first day.
On your first day your new manager will introduce you to the team and you'll start our online corporate induction. You'll also be asked to update your details in our People Hub system including bank details ready for your first pay day.
For those living outside of the UK, there are some roles where we can sponsor Skilled Worker visas. However . click apply for full job details