Director, UK People & Culture

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the worlds worst humanitarian crises helping to restore health safety education economic wellbeing and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein the IRC is one of the worlds largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO) at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety dignity and hope to millions. If youre a solutions-driven passionate change-maker come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

IRC UK

IRC UK is part of the IRC global network which has its global headquarters in New York. Our team in the UK approximately 220 colleagues works to raise profile deliver policy and practice change and increase funding to help restore health safety education economic wellbeing and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Since 2021 IRC UK has also provided integration services directly to refugees across the UK.

In Europe the IRC currently operates in the UK Germany Sweden Belgium Switzerland Italy Greece and Poland.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

The People and Culture (P&C) Director works in a highly matrixed environment with staff from several functions across the global organisation. The postholder manages the HR team in IRC UK and is accountable for effective HR service delivery HR compliance and continuous improvement within the scope of the People & Culture department localising the IRCs global people strategy. This position plays a pivotal role in fostering a positive inclusive and high-performing workplace culture that aligns with IRCs values through exceptional communication skills.

The role jointly reports into the UK Executive Director and Regional Director P&C Europe with additional reporting accountabilities to the UK Boards People and Culture Committee. Working within global frameworks set by Global People & Culture the role localises the implementation of People & Culture priorities and drives UK-specific change initiatives within IRC UKs culture and regulatory environment.

As a member of the UK Senior Management Team (SMT) the role is jointly accountable for the delivery of IRC UKs Strategic Plan and has responsibility for the effective delivery of P&C priorities. The Director has a keen focus on building leadership competencies and organisational effectiveness.

Success in this role requires the ability to build strong relationships influence decisions and navigate multiple stakeholder perspectives to deliver effective people solutions within a matrix environment where accountability is shared.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. P&C Leadership (Advisory Implementation and Partnering) (25%)

• As a member of the UK Senior Management Team assume collective accountability for the effective delivery of IRC UKs Strategic Plan.

• Serve as an advisor and thought partner to the Executive Director and fellow SMT members on the UK application of IRCs Global P&C strategy and lead on strengthening IRC UKs kind inclusive and high-performing organisational culture.

• Support talent dialogues performance conversations and career development planning for IRC UK staff embedding a culture of continuous learning.

• Partner with peers on workforce planning including managing workforce adjustments such as staff reductions or scale-up and organisational design work in partnership with senior management the Regional Director P&C Europe and Global P&C Partners ensuring compliance with local and global policy while minimising risk and supporting affected staff.

• Translate data and metrics into actionable items in line with IRC UKs strategy.

• Lead supervise and develop the UK P&C team accountable for team quality and effectiveness and for building a skilled motivated team ready to advance.

2. Manage HR Service Delivery and Core Operations (40%)

• Manage end-to-end HR service delivery across the employee lifecycle; recruitment onboarding contracts payroll coordination benefits performance and leave management offboarding and HR information systems maintaining high-quality context-specific P&C practices aligned with organisational standards.

• Provide leadership on UK employment law and regulation to the UK HR team ensuring the HR team supports supervisors of UK staff in the management of their teams in a supportive and compliant way.

• Provide high quality HR partnership to the Refugee Asylum and Integration (RAI) UK Director and team to support programme needs and donor requirements.

• Advise supervisors on appropriate disciplinary actions coordinating with Global Employee Relations and Legal on complex or escalated disciplinary proceedings to ensure fairness and compliance with employment law.

• Responsible for P&C reporting for the UK Board of Trustees and People & Culture Committee and for the annual production of IRC UKs Gender Pay Gap and Ethnicity Pay Gap reports in line with IRCs global P&C reporting standards and applicable UK statutory requirements.

• Support any organisational restructure requirements including active management of any necessary staff consultation and resulting redundancy processes by providing expert guidance to management and affected staff throughout the process.

• Track UK P&C objectives set by Global P&C and contribute HR input - organisational structure position scoping staffing analysis - to proposal design and grant review processes.

• Lead the delivery of regular staff engagement surveys analysing data and proposing leadership actions in response.

3. Workplace Culture (15%)

• Promote employee experience engagement and inclusion and oversee the integration of IRCs Values (the IRC Way) People Manager Standards and Employee Success Factors across the employee lifecycle.

• Implement safeguarding standards set by the global Safeguarding function across hiring and onboarding and ensure the IRC Way and reporting channels are visible in all IRC UK locations.

• Serve as a local advocate for Employee Wellbeing Employee Engagement and Safeguarding priorities set by global functions and role model safe inclusive and caring leadership standards.

• Operate and promote collaboration in a highly matrixed environment where several units intersect and work together to reach joint decisions.

• Accountable for the effective delivery of specific P&C-owned elements of IRC UKs Gender Equality Diversity and Inclusion (GEDI) Strategy and Action Plan as well as assuming joint accountability for the full GEDI Strategy and Action Plan as a key member of IRC UK SMT.

4. Trade Union Relationship (20%)

• Working with the UK Executive Director maintain the relationship with UK Trade Union (Unite) representatives and negotiate and consult via the quarterly Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) driving progress on policy and annual salary review negotiations.

• Develop and manage union engagement and communication plans that support open honest and productive dialogue across the office.

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

• Direct reporting line to UK Executive Director; indirect reporting to Regional Director P&C Europe

• UK Board and P&C Committee

• UK SMT with particularly close collaboration with Director Strategy and Delivery Financial Controller and RAI UK Director

PERSON SPECIFICATION

• CIPD qualified with significant HR leadership experience across the full P&C spectrum including complex UK processes such as restructures TUPE and employee relations.**

• Strong interpersonal and analytical skills with proven ability to operate effectively in a complex global matrix organisation. Solution-oriented positive can do attitude.

• Strong knowledge of UK employment law with experience of advising and influencing senior leaders.**

• Experience of working with Trade Unions including leading on consultations and negotiations.**

• People management experience.**

• High level of confidentiality tact service orientation and intercultural communication to manage competing priorities and complex multi-stakeholder projects independently with willingness to take on significant responsibility.

Criteria marked with ** are the minimum criteria in line with commitments under the Disability Confident Employer Scheme in the -based candidates who state that they have a disability and meet these criteria will be invited to interview.

Compensation:(Pay Rate: 66k-75k/yr). Ranges are based onvarious factorsincluding the labor market job type internal equity and budget.Exact offers are calibrated by work location individual candidateexperienceand skills relative to the defined job requirements.

STANDARD RESPONSIBILITIES

Promote and actively participate in initiatives to build team engagement inclusion and cohesion in IRC UK. Foster ongoing learning honest dialogue and reflection to strengthen safeguarding and to promote IRC values and adherence to IRC policies.

STANDARD JOB REQUIREMENTS

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct: Integrity Service Equality and accordance with these values the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse Child Safeguarding Anti-Workplace Harassment Fiscal Integrity and Anti-Retaliation.

RELATED STANDARD CONTENT:

IRC strives to build a diverse and inclusive team at all levels who as individuals and as a group embody our culture statement creating a working environment characterized by critical reflection power sharing debate and objectivity for us to achieve our aspirations as a team and deliver the best possible services to our clients.

UK:Narrowing the Gender Gap: The IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including flexible hours (when possible) enhanced maternity/adoption leave and pay and gender-sensitive security protocols.

Candidates must have the right to work in the UK.

The application deadline is 13th September 2026 at 11.59pm BST

IRC UK strives to be an equal opportunities employer. IRC UK is committed to equality of opportunity and to non-discrimination for all job applicants and employees and we seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce regardless of gender race religious beliefs nationality ethnic/national origin sexual orientation age marital status or disability.

IRC UK welcomes applications from all candidates including underrepresented groups and refugees who have the right to work in the UK.

IRC UK will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided with reasonable adjustments to participate in the job application and/or interview process and for essential job functions if appointed to a role. Please contact us if you may need such adjustments.

RECRUITMENT PROCESS

The process for this role will be as follows

• Screening call online

• First round panel interview online

• Second round panel interview online There may be a potential task which will be confirmed at a later stage.

If you have any questions or need assistance with the online recruitment process please contact the IRC UK HR team at

Professional Standards: All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. Our Standards are Integrity Service Equality and accordance with these values the IRC operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding Conflicts of Interest Fiscal Integrity and Reporting Wrongdoing and Protection from Retaliation. IRC is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe and to take all necessary actions and corrective measures when harm occurs. IRC builds teams of professionals who promote critical reflection power sharing debate and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients.

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