Head of People and Culture

The Head of People and Culture is a pivotal leadership role at TES responsible for bringing to life our People and Culture Strategy while ensuring alignment with our Boards strategic vision. As TES evolves this role is essential in building a compliant resilient inclusive and highperforming organisation.

Working closely with the Board this individual will translate highlevel directives into daytoday operational excellenceleading a highperforming People team embedding cultural transformation and ensuring every people process supports TESs growth and purpose.

The role demands strategic thinking commercial acumen and handson expertise across employee relations audits learning and development and digital enablement. As TES moves into its next chapter the Head of People and Culture will also play a lead role in shaping the organisations approach to AI adoption futurereadiness and ethical compliance.

Key Responsibilities Include:

• Strategic Leadership & Implementation

  • Deliver the TES People & Culture Strategy ensuring KPIs align with business objectives

  • Act as a key advisor and partner to the Board converting strategic priorities into operational actions

  • Cultivate internal and external partnerships to support culture inclusion and commercial outcomes

• Commercial & Operational People Management

  • Lead workforce planning talent pipeline development and succession strategies

  • Ensure dataled costeffective and riskconscious decision making

  • Use insights from audits and reporting to drive continuous improvement

• Culture Engagement & Capability Building

  • Foster an inclusive engaged culture through surveys feedback loops and leadership programmes

  • Build and implement management and leadership development frameworks

  • Act as a cultural architect embedding TES values across the employee lifecycle

• Employee Relations & Compliance

  • Independently manage complex highrisk ER cases

  • Maintain goldstandard compliance across audits safeguarding GDPR and statutory frameworks

  • Ensure HRIS protocols and legal requirements are consistently upheld

• People Team Leadership & Governance

  • Inspire and lead a valuesled performancefocused People team

  • Ensure excellence in HR systems data integrity and reporting cycles

  • Govern team effectiveness through strategic planning and accountability

• Technology and Digital Enablement

  • Serve as a subject matter expert on HR tech systems including HRIS and LMS platforms

  • Use advanced Excel and analytics tools to create dashboards and drive decisions

  • Lead on system upgrades integrations and the digital optimisation of People processes

• AI Transformation Leadership

  • Represent People and Culture in crossfunctional AI working groups

  • Partner with IT Legal and senior leaders to create safe ethical AI policies

  • Identify opportunities to enhance HR processes and learning through AI

  • Guide cultural and capability shifts to prepare for AI integration

Youre an experienced and confident senior HR leader ready to take ownership of the full People and Culture portfolio within a dynamic valuesled organisation. With the ability to operate at both strategic and operational levels youll be trusted to make highstakes decisions independently while championing culture compliance and innovation.

You Bring:

• Qualifications & Experience

  • CIPD Level 7 (or equivalent)

  • Proven experience in senior HR leadership with strong ER and compliance credentials

  • A track record of working with Boards or Executive Teams to deliver change

  • Experience leading through audits regulatory reviews and organisational risk scenarios

• Skills & Strengths

  • Advanced skills in Excel data analytics and reporting dashboards

  • Strong understanding of HRIS LMS and compliance systems

  • Ability to convert data into insights that inform strategy

  • Comfortable leading HR tech implementations or system upgrades

• Leadership & Culture Fit

  • A coaching mindset with the ability to build and motivate highperforming teams

  • Valuesled decisionmaking and a deep commitment to inclusion

  • Experience in a regulated or socially responsible environment

Join TES and contribute to our mission of ensuring safety compliance and excellence in the rail industry. Apply today and help us enhance the journey for our employees and clients alike.