Social care jobs

ID 1775           Deputy Head of HR (Business Partnering & Advisory), Human Resources
Family Action Head Office, London (N1) with hybrid working
37 hours per week (full time)
£42,562 - £46,703 per annum* (plus £3,827 Inner London Weighting if London based or £480 if home-based)
Permanent contract

We are flexible on hours of work and where this work is done. This role can be based in our London office (N1) with hybrid working but can also be done from home. If home-working is agreed, the ability to travel semi-regularly to London (i.e. around once per month) is desirable but not essential.

Family Action & the Role’s Impact:

At Family Action, we support people through change, challenge or crisis. It’s what we’ve done for over 150 years. We protect children, support young people and adults and offer direct, practical help to families and communities.

We see first-hand the power of family to shape lives, for better or worse, so we speak up for the importance of family in national and local policymaking, amplify family voices and represent the changing needs of families in the UK today.

In this Deputy Head of HR role, you will lead our Business Partnering & Advisory function by developing the HR Business Partnering model, managing a team of HR professionals, and ultimately embedding excellent people management practice across the organisation. You will also have a direct business partnering relationship with Relate at Family Action; providing strategic advice, coaching and operational HR support to senior managers, to support culture change post-merger. 

If you have significant experience managing complex employee relations and organisational change processes (including TUPE and large-scale restructures) and leading a team of HR professionals, we would like to hear from you. The ability to think strategically while also delivering operationally, alongside strong influencing and coaching skills will make you an ideal candidate. 

We are a supportive and inclusive organisation, and we want to break down barriers to people joining us. If you don’t feel confident applying because you don’t meet every single requirement on the Person Specification – please don’t let that stop you; we want to hear from you. We encourage you to use the application to highlight what you can bring to the role – your skills, knowledge, and experience as well as your values. At Family Action our 4 core values are incredibly important to us and underpin all we do. We are a 'people focused', 'can-do' organisation, which strives for 'excellence' in all we do and operates with 'mutual respect'.

Benefits:

• an annual paid leave entitlement of 30 working days plus bank holidays
• up to 6% matched-pension contributions
• flexible working arrangements and new starters have the right to make flexible working requests from day one of employment
• enhanced paid sick leave and paid family leave provisions
• eye care and winter flu jab vouchers
• cycle to work scheme
• investing in your professional development with ongoing quality training and career development opportunities

Closing Date: Wednesday 6th May 2026 at 23:59 pm

All appointments with Family Action are subject to satisfactory Safer Recruitment checks.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion: 
We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process and you will be asked whether you require any adjustments if shortlisted for interview. We also make reasonable adjustments on the job, where required. 

We are committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in all that we do and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Intersectionality is important to us and we particularly welcome applications from ethnically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ candidates and disabled candidates because we are committed to increasing the representation of these groups at Family Action. We know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for families and children and strive for our workforce to be truly representative of the diverse communities we support. 

All candidates with a disability are welcome to apply under the Disability Confident Scheme and request priority consideration for an interview, provided they meet the essential criteria for the role. 

To help remove financial barriers to working with us, we will reimburse reasonable travel costs if you are invited to attend an interview in person. 

*Ordinarily Family Action appoints new starters at the starting point of the salary scale (with subsequent annual pay progression), unless you have experience that would justify appointment further up the salary scale or there are any other exceptional reasons. 

Please note that we will be reviewing applications as they come in. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if a suitable candidate is found, so we encourage you to submit your application without delay. We are also ideally looking for a candidate who can join us as soon as possible (i.e. on a short notice period), however if that is not your situation please do not hesitate to apply as applications will not be assessed on this basis. 

We are looking for a Director of Communications (External Relations)

We are looking for a communications leader to help us transform Nesta’s impact, reach and influence. We're already an ambitious, award-winning, multidisciplinary team, and now we're looking for someone to help us elevate our work to the next level.

The UK information environment is changing rapidly and our team is midway through a period of reform and transformation to adapt. We want to be industry-leading in the way we communicate - on the cutting edge of testing and experimenting with new formats and tactics, constantly iterating our practice in response to an information environment that is being constantly reshaped by AI, changing political communications and new technology. This is where you come in.

This role offers the mandate to experiment with a suite of high-impact products that are ready for their next stage of growth. You will play a central role in developing our new podcast, expanding our collection of data-driven stories, and testing long-form video as a way to translate deep research into compelling visual narratives. We care about micro communities as much as the traditional broadcast tools, and you’ll lead a stable of products designed to reach policy audiences. Alongside this, you will help to spearhead the advocacy and influencing activity that will deliver success in our three missions, and work more broadly to support BIT and all other parts of the Nesta Group.

You will blend exceptional political acumen with a proven track record of delivering policy and advocacy campaigns that have a tangible impact. You will be a trusted advisor, adept at providing strategic counsel across multidisciplinary teams while fostering an empowering, best-in-class culture. Beyond managing projects and campaigns, you will invest in our people, ensuring our talented team has the support and clarity to perform at their best.

We are looking for a leader who isn't satisfied with the status quo and is ready to take our collective impact to the next level. Five years into our strategy, Nesta’s ideas are gaining significant influence - now we need you to raise our reach and profile to the same level.

What you’ll be doing:

• Lead the design and delivery of integrated campaigns with policy and advocacy objectives, using the right mix of channels, the highest standards of creative execution and the most effective messaging. Support the team to navigate the UK political and news agenda, identifying and securing the most effective moments for our work to exert influence.
• Lead the full range of policy communications across Nesta (working with and beyond the communications team with missions, units, subject specialists and senior leaders to bring coherence to our content and activity). Lead on policy-facing products, from blogs to policy briefings, podcasts to newsletters.
• Oversee delivery of broader communications activity, working across the organisation to form project teams, set priorities and tactics. Elevate the quality of our external output so all of our communications meet a consistently high bar for excellence. Ensure that all of our activity is delivered with the right mix of creativity, professionalism and speed to maximise success.
• Distil complex policy and research into powerful narratives, ensuring our strategic messaging resonates and persuades target audiences and that is used consistently and coherently across all of our activity. Manage our suite of editorial products and ensure our content is sharp, timely, and directly aligned with our advocacy objectives.
• Provide authoritative communications strategic counsel across teams, acting as a trusted advisor to senior leaders on complex communication challenges and reputational issues
• Provide functional (direct) leadership of our policy communications, media relations and data journalism functions.

You will also work across all of the Communications department to:

• Drive forward new approaches to advocacy and influencing that organisations like Nesta need to adopt in response to the changing information environment
• Look across all activity being conducted and identify and act on opportunities for new content streams, activities or partnerships that support our strategic communications goals
• Spot opportunities to do more with our existing channels and campaigns, finding ways to extend their value and impact
• Troubleshoot and support where a project or campaign is at risk of failure, either because of differing views on execution, changing objectives, or missed deadlines
• Mentor and evolve a talented communications team, providing the leadership and vision necessary to take our collective impact to the next level.

What we’re looking for:

• Significant leadership experience in external affairs, communications, or press, specifically within an advocacy-focused environment.
• Exceptional strategic skills, with a history of delivering multi-channel campaigns that build genuine profile and influence.
• A deep understanding of the UK political and news agenda and wider information environment, with a demonstrated ability to navigate complex policy landscapes.
• The ability to provide high-level strategic counsel, acting as a trusted advisor to senior leaders on complex communication challenges and reputational issues.
• A genuine love of communications, with experience of exploring new approaches to advocacy and influencing that organisations like Nesta need to adopt in response to the changing information environment
• The ability to craft and embed strategic messaging that distills complex ideas into clear, authoritative narratives for diverse audiences.
• An accomplished writer who has successfully managed high-level editorial functions and maintained a high bar for content.
• Sharp media instincts and creative flair, with a proven ability to spot and shape stories that capture media interest.
• A grounded leader and people manager who knows how to motivate teams and cultivate a high-performing culture.

As with all members of the Nesta Group communications team, the postholder will also be at their best working in a collaborative, fast-paced environment, have a flexible approach and an appetite for taking on new tasks and challenges. They will also have excellent written and verbal communication skills and a proven ability to write for a range of different audiences.

What we offer:

Salary: £91,500 plus an array of benefits, including a generous pension scheme, private medical insurance, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, and more

Location: This role is based in Blackfriars, London, hybrid working arrangement with a minimum of two days in the office

Term: Permanent

Hours: This is a full-time role but we offer a range of flexible working arrangements and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do.

Reports to: Group Executive Director of Communications

Making an application

To apply for this role, please submit a CV and a cover letter that states three reasons why you are a great candidate for the role before 8:00am on the 27th of April 2026.

Interviews will take place w/c 4th of May 2026.

About Nesta

Nesta is a research and innovation foundation that designs, tests and scales solutions for the biggest challenges of our time.

Driven by a vision to improve the lives of millions of people, our focus up to 2030 is on three missions: breaking the link between family background and life chances, halving obesity and cutting household carbon emissions.

We work with partners across the public, private and third sectors to develop high-potential solutions and test them as they evolve, drawing on deep expertise in qualitative and quantitative research, data science, behavioural science and design.

Once confident in the effectiveness of a solution, we are relentless in the pursuit of scale. We create and make the case for ambitious national policy proposals, develop consumer-facing products and services, spin out and support commercial ventures and harness the power of the arts to shape national narratives.

We extend our impact through two specialised units that help others to solve complex problems and achieve their missions. BIT applies a deep understanding of human behaviour to help clients achieve their goals. Challenge Works designs and runs challenge prizes to spark innovation in science, technology and society.

Together, we are building a powerful ecosystem for innovation that delivers proven solutions to create lasting, positive change.

At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results.

We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop.

This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful.

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part-time hours, job shares and other arrangements.

Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore.

HMC is seeking a confident and capable Community Manager to deliver our community-based 'Wednesday Service' for migrants and refugees. Our Wednesday Service is a multi-functioning hub, offering a warm, welcoming space for appointments and activities, and has long been the heart and soul of HMC's service. 

The Community Manager role is responsible for the coordination and delivery of HMC's Wednesday Service, including the management of all volunteers involved in the delivery of the service and oversight of our popular Holistic Advocacy service, delivered by volunteers.

This is a new post which recognises the importance of our Wednesday Service and the focus and resources required to deliver it effectively, whilst also recognising and seeking to empower the vital role our volunteers play in sustaining and enriching our services.

Please review the full Job Description & Person Specification for details of the role.