Design the people foundations of a new organisation before they become someone else’s legacy.

Every senior people leader builds up a sense of what an exceptional organisation could look like: how people work together, how leaders lead, how talent develops and how culture translates into performance. Most spend their careers improving organisations they inherited. Few get the chance to help create one. Well now is the time.

Sussex & Brighton Strategic Authority is new, and the important things are still being decided. We have cross-party support, a prosperity strategy and a growing investment capability, and elected members from all three Constituent Councils are closely involved in our work. Our culture, our ways of working and our organisational model are still developing. We are lean by design and determined to work differently.

Our region gives that work real purpose. Brighton & Hove, Crawley and Gatwick sit alongside market towns, rural communities and a coastline stretching from Chichester to Hastings. Each has different strengths, opportunities and challenges. Bringing them together around a shared future will require an organisation that can work across boundaries, build strong relationships and create the conditions for people and partners to do their best work.

That is why this role matters. As our Director of People & Organisational Development, you will help build the organisation behind our ambition. You will develop our People Strategy, organisational design and workforce capability, and help establish the values, behaviours and culture that define how we work. You will lead our approach to talent, learning, performance, employee engagement and inclusion, while ensuring strong HR foundations are in place.

But this is not simply about building an HR function. We want to think differently about what an organisation needs to succeed and how capability is created. You will help design a lean, high-performing organisation that operates through partnerships, networks and shared endeavour as much as formal structures. Acting with curiosity and openness, you will challenge conventional assumptions about how organisations work, helping us build a platform model that enables people, teams and partners to contribute their best. In practice, this means making thoughtful decisions about what capability we build ourselves, what we access through partners and what we commission through external providers. It also means being prepared to roll your sleeves up. In a small organisation, success will require a leader who can move seamlessly between strategic leadership, practical delivery and capability-building, while inspiring ambition for the team, the organisation and the place we serve.  

There is a wider opportunity too. Systems leadership sits at the heart of what we are trying to create. You will build strong relationships with people leaders across our Constituent Councils and wider partners, creating networks that help us share learning and work more effectively across Sussex and Brighton.

As our responsibilities develop, so will our organisation. You will lead strategic workforce planning, organisational design and development, helping us think ahead about the skills, capacity and capability we will need rather than simply responding when requirements change. You will help us bring people and teams together around a common culture while maintaining positive employee relations and engagement through change.

You might already be a Chief People Officer, HR Director or senior organisational development leader. What matters is that you have operated at senior level in a complex public-sector organisation, led significant transformation and have the confidence and judgement to operate effectively in a political environment. Experience of creating or scaling an organisation would be particularly valuable.

This is a leadership role for someone who is comfortable working at every level. In a lean organisation, you will need to switch effortlessly between strategic thinking, hands-on delivery and enabling others to succeed. You will be as comfortable designing a people strategy and advising the Executive Team as you are leading a workshop, solving a practical organisational challenge or building capability across a small team.

In return, you will join Sussex & Brighton at a unique point in its development: there is enough in place to build from, but substantial opportunity to influence what comes next. You will be part of a senior leadership community building an organisation that is deliberately learning from what has gone before, rather than simply reproducing the traditional model of a local authority.

Bring everything you’ve learned. Then go further. So, what will you build?

Salary: Up to £120,000 per annum

Location: Hybrid, working across Sussex. Relocation support available

Closing date: Midnight, Sunday 22nd October