Head of Staffing & Workforce Planning (we have office locations in Cambridge, Leeds and London)

We are hiring a Head of Staffing & Workforce Planning to lead the Staffing & Workforce Planning function, overseeing workforce planning, staffing governance and resourcing operations across Genomics England. Working closely with the Director of Strategic Talent & Workforce Planning, People colleagues and senior leaders, you will ensure workforce plans are robust, data-driven and aligned with organisational priorities, whilst providing a trusted single source of workforce insight, enabling informed decisions on role creation, prioritisation, contractor use and workforce deployment. Using data, governance and continuous improvement, you will identify workforce risks and capability gaps, strengthen planning approaches, and help build a sustainable workforce for the future. Everyday responsibilities include: - Own and maintain the organisational Workforce Plan as the single source of truth for agreed roles, staffing status, position IDs, approvals and key workforce movements.  - Manage day-to-day staffing governance processes, ensuring role creation, role changes, transfers and resourcing decisions are recorded accurately, consistently and transparently.  - Work with Service Owners, Product Managers, Chapter Leads, hiring managers, Talent Acquisition and People colleagues to understand workforce requirements and identify the most appropriate resourcing options.  - Support workforce planning activity, including capacity planning, workforce optimisation, productivity analysis and role prioritisation across teams and squads.  - Work with Chapter Leads and Learning & Development to map skills and capabilities, identify skills gaps and support opportunities for internal mobility, career growth and effective deployment.  - Track contractor and contingent labour usage, including end dates, extensions, approval workflows and related workforce risks, escalating issues where appropriate.  - Produce clear, accurate and actionable MI to support leadership reviews, workforce planning discussions, staffing decisions and contractor oversight.  - Monitor workforce data quality, investigate discrepancies and implement improvements to strengthen accuracy, usability and confidence in workforce reporting.  - Review resourcing-related procurement and approval requests, including relevant JIRA tickets, ensuring actions are progressed and governance requirements are met.  - Contribute to People projects and continuous improvement initiatives, identifying opportunities to simplify processes, improve workforce visibility and enhance stakeholder experience.  Skills & experience for success: - Extensive experience leading workforce planning, staffing or resource management activities in a complex organisation. - Strong analytical skills, with experience using workforce data and tools such as Power BI, Tableau or Power Query to support planning and decision-making. - Experience developing workforce plans, including capacity planning, forecasting, prioritisation and resource allocation. - Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and build effective relationships with senior leaders (including executive level) and cross-functional teams. - Excellent communication skills, with experience preparing and presenting reports, business cases and recommendations to support strategic decisions. - Strong project and operational management skills, with the ability to lead multiple priorities, improve processes and deliver organisational outcomes. - A collaborative and continuous improvement mindset, with the ability to identify workforce risks, capability gaps and opportunities to strengthen workforce planning and governance. Desirable skills: - Commercially astute, with experience managing budgets, assessing value for money and making resourcing decisions that balance quality, cost and organisational need. - Experience working across different organisational environments, ideally including public and private sector settings, with the adaptability to operate in start-up, scale-up or established organisations. - Comfortable working with ambiguity, identifying skills and capability gaps, improving processes and using third-party or contingent resources to support a flexible workforce model. While qualifications are important, we place even greater value on the depth of your skills, experience, and the expertise you can bring to the role. We encourage you to highlight how your background aligns with the requirements and how you can make a meaningful contribution to our team.