London Area, Westminster based
Prison Service payband D, up to £63k
Starting salary will be determined by applicants' current salary and experience. It will also attract an additional local pay allowance.
Acting as an internal specialist for your Area Manager and other stakeholders, you'll be working across - and regularly travelling to prisons in the London area. Each prison is very different as are their Governors, so your style of working and approach needs to be flexible.
An Area Manager reports directly to a Prison Service Board Member and will require your support as they tackle a number of significant challenges. These include: roll-out of new approaches to leadership development, getting to grips with resourcing issues around workforce reform, optimising prison performance, building management capability and building a talent pool.
To support these, you'll formulate OD strategies for your area, which will be underpinned by national initiatives. Working methodically across your area, you'll analyse situations and uncover the root of performance problems, identify the priorities and work with your colleagues to deliver solutions.
Whilst there is a thirst for personal development in the Service, you'll still have to sell initiatives through their business benefits to the Area Manager and their Governors. You'll need to gain credibility quickly, not only by responding to challenges, but by following through on promises.
Influencing is the core skill - these roles are still very new to HMPS and you may face some opposition to change. You'll be creative but at the same time aware of the constraints. You'll be driving change and performance, making this role a massive challenge and it's not for the faint hearted by any means. On the other hand, it really is as rewarding as it is challenging.
To succeed, you'll need substantial experience of HR, change, OD or L&D management within a large-scale organisation, including having dealt with senior managers up to Director level. Committed and passionate, you'll have an abundance of confidence and resilience coupled with the skills to make you an authority within this position. Proactive and enthusiastic, you'll thrive under pressure and be motivated by the tangible results of your success.
Once you have made an impact in one area, there's nothing to say you can't move to another area that has different issues. Or you could move within or outside the Service's HR Directorate to another senior role. In fact, there's an abundance of opportunities for someone who can really embrace a challenge. In the same way that your skills and experience from the private sector and other parts of the public sector translate to a prison environment, the experience and personal development you'll gain with us will be an impressive addition to your CV. So you've nothing to lose and everything to gain.
For more information and a full job description click here. (PDF 158kb)
Your challenges and issues will vary depending on the area and prisons you'll be covering. To find out how to apply for this vacancy click here.
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