Director of HR

Birkenhead, Coventry, Croydon, Durham, Nottingham, Peterborough, Preston, Gloucester, Hull, Leicester, Plymouth, Telford, Swansea, Weymouth

Salary: Up to £125,000

Job summary

HM Land Registry (HMLR) has a foundational role in the UK economy and a proud history spanning more than 160 years. We register the ownership of land and property in England and Wales, providing expert services to all who rely on property transactions - homebuyers, developers, businesses, lenders, and policymakers alike. Our mission is clear: to improve accessibility, transparency and efficiency for our customers, guaranteeing property rights and enabling the housing market to function effectively. We are a non-ministerial department of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and we have exciting plans for the future which include creating a fully digital, geospatial land register.

As our new Director of HR, you will be at the forefront of creating the Land Registry of the future, ensuring that we have the right people, develop all colleagues in their roles, and create an environment in which they can thrive. This role combines a core strategic focus on further developing and implementing delivering an evolving organisation-wide People Strategy, centred on capacity, capability and culture across our complex multi-site business, with the day-to-day operational leadership of a range of HR disciplines. You will lead our team of c100 HR professionals, developing them in their strategic and delivery capabilities, and you will oversee a budget of c. £10m in support of our c. £330m business.

Job description

As part of the senior Director team, you will provide strategic HR advice and support to the Chief Executive and Chief Land Registrar, HM Land Registry (HMLR) Board and other senior managers, within the context of the Business Strategy. Through collaboration with senior stakeholders, you will deliver an evolving organisation-wide People Strategy and people change programmes to drive up the overall capacity and capability of HMLR’s workforce. By using and building existing diverse talent and attracting a range of talent to the organisation, you will develop the people resources and skills needed to enable the organisation to operate effectively. 

You will enable a professional people management capability across the organisation and foster a culture of staff engagement through outstanding leadership, communication and partnership working and engaging HMLR people by sponsoring a positive employee relations environment with the departmental trade unions. You will deal with and give advice on the most complex or sensitive personnel cases, providing counsel to senior staff. You will utilise your strong influencing and partnering skills to manage senior stakeholder relationships and confidently challenge at executive level.

Person specification

You will bring a track record of leading a HR department within an organisation of a significant size and complexity, with a proven ability to develop strategic leadership and HR operational leadership in others. You will offer demonstrable experience of leading and delivering an organisation-wide People Strategy in collaboration with senior stakeholders, within a multi-site organisation; and you will bring wider experience of designing and delivering people-focused change programmes to improve organisational culture and performance. You must have strong experience of successfully communicating HR strategy while leading others with sensitivity, coupled with the ability to make an impact at the highest level across the organisation and wider professional community.

You will have experience of partnership-based employee relations including working with trade unions, and an ability to develop and deliver a professional expert HR services that are aligned with and contribute directly to the achievement of business goals. You will also utilise your expertise in applying coaching skills to support both HR professionals and wider management teams, particularly in the context of leadership development at all levels.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £125,000, HM Land Registry contributes £36,212 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

#WeAreHMLR

At HM Land Registry our vision is a world leading property market as part of a thriving economy and a sustainable future. We are unique in terms of the economic and social impacts of our work, our ability to make a positive difference to the lives of our customers, our sense of mission, and our great people. They are the foundation of all we have achieved and all we aspire to in the future. We want our people to feel proud to work for HM Land Registry and able to fulfil their full potential.

We have a strong and positive culture, a commitment to inclusivity, an emphasis on continuous learning and development, and flexible ways of working. We offer competitive pay and annual leave, attractive pension options and a wide range of other benefits.

• We have integrity – we value honesty, trust and doing the right thing in the right way.

• We drive innovation – we are forward-thinking, embrace change and are continually improving our processes.

• We are professional – we value and grow our knowledge and professional expertise.

• We give assurance – we guarantee our services and provide confidence to the property market.

You can find more information on our rewards package on our website.

This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals

• nationals of the Republic of Ireland

• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)

• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020

• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

HM Land Registry has appointed executive search specialists GatenbySanderson to support us with this appointment. For more information or for an informal discussion about the role, please contact our advising consultant at GatenbySanderson: orla.brennan@gatenbysanderson.com

Closing Date: 09:00 on Monday 22nd September 2025