Head of Skills

Team Policy and Evidence - Sector Resilience and Skills

Seniority Senior

• Closing:11:59pm, 6th Sep 2026 BST

Perks and benefits

Work from home option

Wellness programs

Employee Assistance Programme

Additional parental leave

Enhanced maternity and paternity leave

Paid emergency leave

Sabbatical Opportunities

Mentoring/coaching

Payroll giving

Salary sacrifice

Team social events

Team lunches

Extracurricular clubs

Cycle to work scheme

Candidate happiness

8.00 (11123)

Job Description

Summary

Historic England is the public organisation that brings new life to heritage to build a better future for every place and everyone.

Historic England has a fantastic opportunity for you to join us as our Head of Skills.

This is a full time, permanent contract.

The location of this role is either York, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, Cambridge, Swindon, Bristol, or Portsmouth, inclusive with hybrid working. Please note there is some travel to Historic England office locations for team meetings and travel for sector meetings.

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive defined benefit pension scheme to which we make 28.97% employer contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

What you will be doing

Historic England's new strategic plan aims to increase the number of people who have the skills needed to work on historic buildings effectively, supporting more skilled jobs and enabling heritage to deliver greater economic growth, improve communities and achieve Net Zero.

The Head of Skills will provide provides strategic leadership for this objective, overseeing Historic England's work across skills policy, qualifications and career pathways, and projects and partnerships to help close key skills gaps in the sector and create a more skilled, diverse and resilient workforce.

They will ensure this work is effectively focused, evidence-based and coherent to ensure Historic England makes an increasingly impactful and high-profile difference to key skills challenges.

The Head of Skills will play a key role in leading and supporting the heritage sector on skills issues, acting as a champion and expert adviser for these within Historic England and externally by working effectively with national and local government, and organisations across heritage, construction, education and other sectors.

Who we are looking for

Deep knowledge of policy issues relating to skills, education and workforce development and relevant policymaking processes and frameworks.

Awareness of policy issues affecting the heritage, historic environment and construction sectors, and the workforce challenges associated with them.

Experience in a relevant field (e.g. heritage, construction, education etc.) of influencing policy and building stakeholder relationships at senior levels, including government departments and agencies.

Excellent analytical skills and ability to interpret and use evidence to inform organisational strategy and advocacy

Experience of setting and delivering strategy across a varied portfolio of activity (e.g. policy influencing, partnerships and programmes).

Experience of leading teams to deliver strategy, balancing conflicting priorities and pressures.

Please note your application will be scored and assessed against the above criteria.

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having won the Gold Award from MIND for workplace wellbeing in seven consecutive years, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don't prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

Why work for Historic England

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Provisional interview dates: 17th September 2026.