Head of People

Salary: Grade MG2-MG4

London Based £60,268 - £81,742 per annum

Rest of Country £56,075 - £77,549 per annum

Interviews will take place over 2 days:

Online screening calls - Tuesday 23rd - Thursday 25th April

In-person panel interviews - Friday 3rd May

About us and the role

Avanti’s purpose is to inspire spiritually compassionate changemakers. Our ethos, the Avanti Way, extends to pupils, staff and parents. The Head of People role plays a unique part in our organisation to help fulfil the purpose of Avanti.

The Head of People will play a key leadership role in supporting the Central and Senior Leadership Teams of all the schools within the Trust. This role will support the People vision, strategy and provision of an efficient, effective and high-quality professional people management service capable of meeting all statutory, regulatory and corporate requirements and ensuring alignment with the activity of the organisation.

The post also provides direct line management to the central HR team. The Head of People will have responsibility for building strong teams, developing these roles, and appointing staff. This person will need to empower staff to fulfil their potential, enabling colleagues to develop and deliver greater levels of support for the schools.

The successful candidate will be an experienced Head of People or Head of HR with a demonstrable track record of delivering successful HR operations and strategy, ideally with a significant degree of change, in an organisation of considerable scale and/or complexity.

They will be a self-motivated, proactive person, capable of inspiring teams, working across functions, and effectively navigating a complex stakeholder landscape. The successful candidate will naturally collaborate and act as a role model for the Trust’s values.

You should apply if:

• You are excited by the chance to make an impact in a fast-paced, progressive organisation.
• You have experience building strong, trusting relationships with senior business/education leaders and are able to flex comfortably between advisor and coach.
• You have experience using people analytics to inform decision-making and measure success.
• You have experience managing and leading a team that has a high-performance culture.
• Relevant, progressive people experience in recruiting, employee relations, people operations, compensation/benefits, and/or organisational development.
• Very strong EQ, with fine-tuned instincts and problem-solving skills
• You’re comfortable working from the Stanmore office a couple of days a week and with regular travel to schools across London, Leicester, SW England and Bishop’s Stortford.
• You have experience of delivering organisational and cultural change initiatives and delivering high-impact HR strategies.
• You have a demonstrable ability to quickly diagnose business requirements and translate into people plans.

Why should you apply

Avanti exists to help each person become a well-rounded human being through intellectual, moral and spiritual growth, and so make the world a better place.

You will be working in a fantastic environment, with:

• great opportunities for professional development
• NEST pension scheme subject to eligibility criteria
• O2 discounts
• eligible for NUS Card and CSSC membership
• Specsavers corporate eye test vouchers
• Access to multiple well-being programmes
• Cycle to work and Electric Vehicle Lease Schemes
• Free lunches when on campus

Plus many more

What are we looking for?

• Extensive experience in HR/People/Transformation roles
• Significant experience in a senior management HR role
• Previous responsibility for managing HR resources with excellent people skills and understanding complex HR issues
• In-depth knowledge of Employment Law

Please view the full Job Description for more information on the essential criteria and skills required for this role.

Further information

Pre-employment checks

Avanti Schools Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All successful candidates are required to have an Enhanced DBS check unless internally appointed and still within the cycle of DBS re-checks.

Any appointment subsequently made will be subject to the receipt of satisfactory references and other pre-employment checks.

Diversity and Inclusion

We want to make sure we are attracting the widest possible range of People and ensure that they are accepted, understood and treated equally when they work here. This means we will work hard to understand that each employee is unique and ensuring that individuals or groups are not treated differently or less favourably on the basis of specific characteristics.

Such characteristics include (but are not limited to) age, disability, gender including transgender, race, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, and how the school supports pregnant women and new parents.