Head of People Strategy and Governance

Job Description – Head of People Strategy and Governance Position Title: Head of People Strategy and Governance Department: People Reports to: Chief People Officer Salary: c. £95,000 - £105,000 plus benefits Role Summary The Head of People Strategy and Governance is responsible for acting as a strategic partner to the CPO and People Leadership Team, enhancing operational effectiveness, streamlining decision-making, and optimising communication. This role is key in driving the strategic objectives of SGN by establishing clear governance, decision-making and assurance arrangements across the People function. The Head of People Strategy and Governance serves as a trusted advisor to the CPO, ensuring that priorities are translated into structured plans, decisions are made at the right level, actions are tracked to completion, and People activity is aligned to Executive and Board expectations. Key Responsibilities: People Programme Develop and own the overarching people programme and strategy roadmap aligned to SGN’s objectives. Define a working programme plan complete with meetings, milestones, cyclical activities and project deliverables. People Governance and Assurance Establish and maintain the governance framework for the People function, ensuring clear routes for decision-making, escalation, assurance and accountability. Own the People Leadership Team governance rhythm, including forward agendas, decision logs, action tracking, risk and issue oversight, and follow-up with accountable owners. Ensure People papers, proposals and updates are brought forward through the right governance route, with clear recommendations, evidence, risks, dependencies and decisions required. Provide oversight of People-related Executive and Board submissions, ensuring materials are timely, high quality, strategically aligned and supported by appropriate assurance. Track commitments made through People Leadership, Executive, Board and audit-related forums, ensuring actions are allocated, monitored and closed effectively. Work with Legal, Company Secretariat, Risk, Audit and Safety colleagues to ensure People governance supports SGN’s wider control environment and corporate governance requirements. Maintain visibility of key People risks, issues and dependencies, escalating matters to the CPO and People Leadership Team where decisions or intervention are required. People Leadership Support and Strategic Communication Provide comprehensive support to the CPO by preparing People Leadership. Executive and Board materials, ensuring clarity, relevance, and alignment with SGN’s strategy. Act as a key liaison between the CPO and the rest of the People Leadership Team, ensuring smooth communication and alignment on priorities Lead the preparation of briefing materials for the CPO’s internal and external engagements, including meetings with regulators, key clients, and industry partners . Manage the relationship with internal communications and take ownership of the planning and organisation of People directorate town halls and roadshow events. Strategic Information Management and Reporting Produce high-quality, data-driven reports and dashboards to track business performance and monitor progress against SGN’s strategic goals. Lead the creation of a performance-based KPI scorecard for the People Leadership Team to track progress across key initiatives, including safety metrics. Oversee the preparation of key documents and reports for the Executive and Board, ensuring they are actionable and concise. Process Improvement and Workflow Optimisation Develop and maintain a comprehensive People Leadership schedule, ensuring timely decision-making and high-level planning across multiple years. Identify and implement process improvements, particularly focusing on reducing inefficiencies and enhancing decision-making timelines within the people function. Create and lead a cross-functional team to streamline paper review processes and deliver high-quality documentation to the Executive and Board. Strategic Plan Monitoring and Reporting Monitor delivery of the People elements of SGN’s Short-Term Implementation Plan and Long-Term Implementation Plan, ensuring progress, risks, dependencies and decisions are reported through the appropriate governance forums. Maintain oversight of actions and commitments arising from People Leadership, Executive and Board meetings, ensuring clear ownership, timely follow-through and visible accountability. Provide regular governance updates to the CPO and People Leadership Team, highlighting areas requiring decision, escalation or intervention. Stakeholder Management and Liaison Serve as the primary point of contact between the People Leadership Team and other departments within SGN, ensuring alignment on strategic priorities and deliverables. Manage relationships with the Business service Centre ensuring alignment on data, reporting, projects and transformation initiatives. Manage relationships with external stakeholders, including industry partners, key clients, and regulators, as delegated by the CPO. Represent the Office of the CPO in cross-functional initiatives, ensuring alignment of objectives and coordination of actions . Manage relationships with Legal and Company Secretariat to ensure People-related actions, decisions and governance requirements are clearly captured, allocated to the appropriate People Leadership Team owner, and progressed within required timescales, with particular focus on investigation outputs, audit actions and formal governance commitments. Manage relationships with Chief Safety Officer and ensure that safety culture is reinforced through all People initiatives. Budgetary management Budget management including planning, forecast, actuals and justification of variances. Manage relationship with Finance Business Partner through regular budget reviews.