HR Business Partner

As the living, growing home of our national story, The National Archives is a special place to work. We’re an institution nearly 200 years old with a collection spanning 1,000 years of history.

We’ve set ourselves the challenge of becoming the 21st Century national archive - a different kind of cultural and heritage institution: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial, Disruptive. We won’t become this overnight. It will take time, focus, effort and daring.

That’s where you come in. Because we can’t do this without you.

Salary: £54,000 - £56,000 per annum

Contract type: fixed-term appointment for 6 months

Band: G / Grade 7

Closing date: Sunday 25th October at midnight

Are you an HR Business Partner looking for an opportunity where you can operate as a trusted and strategic partner to add value to an organisation that’s a leader in its sector?

We are here to collect and preserve the public record, to connect citizens with their history through unrivalled collections and to partner with archives everywhere.

We’ve set ourselves the challenge of becoming the living digital archive of the state by 2038. This means we are often at the forefront of innovation including advances in preserving the physical record and in digital technologies and solutions. The realisation of this vision won’t happen overnight though. It will take time, and continued focus, effort and daring.

You will therefore be joining an organisation steeped in history that is also constantly evolving to meet the challenges of the modern world. As a non-ministerial department, and the official archive and publisher for the UK Government, and for England and Wales, we are the guardians of over 1,000 years of iconic documents from the Domesday Book and Shakespeare’s Will, to Government tweets and everything in between.

We are seeking a highly credible HR Business Partner to join our friendly and supportive team for a 6 month period, operating as a strategic partner with a particular focus on delivering organisational change.

In this role you will provide specialist HR expertise, supporting and challenging business leaders to achieve our strategic goals. You will apply your significant experience of managing the HR technical aspects of change to deliver our operating model. Using your strong relationship-building skills, you’ll coach and advise managers in order to raise capability and engender a culture of high performance.

You will design and deliver high impact people solutions which align with our values, using management information to inform business decisions and anticipate trends. Working collaboratively across our wider People, Inclusion and Change team, you will proactively share best practice, raise capability and continually improve the level of service we provide.

This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department. A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time.

Application Process:

- Interview: Interviews will be held on-site. Candidates will be asked to prepare a short, informal presentation.

- Personal Statement: We ask all applicants to submit work history details and a personal statement, not exceeding 1200 words

Selection for interview will be based on the ‘essential’ requirements in the job description below so please ensure that your application demonstrates in detail how you meet these requirements.

If we receive a large number of applications candidates will initially be assessed on the following criteria:

- In-depth experience of leading and managing the HR technical aspects of change across organisations including formal consultation and restructures.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please visit the Civil Service Careers website where you can find further information on the use of AI in the application guidance section.

We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.

Job Purpose

To operate as a trusted and strategic partner, providing specialist HR expertise, support and challenge to enable the organisation to deliver people change and achieve its strategic goals.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is

found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service

D&I Strategy.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks. (opens in new window)

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code  (opens in new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. (opens in new window)

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative. (opens in new window)

Contact point for applicants

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact The National Archives via email: careers@nationalarchives.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-complaints/ (opens in new window)

Person Specification

Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development. Annual leave entitlement of 25 days per calendar year (rising to 26 days after 2 year’s service, and incrementally to 30 days after six years) and 10½ days public and privilege holidays per annum.

Any move to The National Archives from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk; (opens in new window)

Selection process details

Reasonable adjustments

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.