Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy | Human Resources | Milton Keynes |

Country: United Kingdom

Interested in part-time, job-share or flexible working? We want to talk to you!

Salary Range - £80,000 - £110,000 + £6,000 car allowance and discretionary performance-related annual bonus.

Join our community:

Do you thrive on making change happen and want to work in a fun and energetic team? If your answer is "Yes!" then you may be the person we're looking for.

As our Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (‘DEI’) Strategy you’ll direct and implement our multi-year and near-term strategy and evaluation methodology to embed DEI in everything we do – driving value back to the business, good customer outcomes and shaping organisational culture. 

We’ve just been named as the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2024 winner as the UK's Best Bank for Diversity and Inclusion – so it’s an exciting time to join us!

We are looking for an innovative DEI thought partner and leader to push boundaries in our next phase DEI work - bringing external best practices, data analysis, latest trends and horizon scanning – then embedding these into our programmes and bringing energy to mature initiatives. 

You’ll demonstrate the skills of leading and defining an organisational DEI strategy and change management efforts up to Board and Executive Committee Level with clear impact outcomes seen to behavioural change and data tracking. 

You can read more about our DEI work here - Diversity and inclusion at Santander Bank UK

The difference you’ll make:

Are you ready to make a difference to our people and customers through our DEI strategy?  Your purpose will be:

• Being our organisational DEI and Social Mobility thought leader and deep SME expert - co-creating with the business our strategy for the future locally with a global mindset. 
• Leading the design of an innovative DEI and Social Mobility organisational framework and leading data-based tracking measurement - with ‘best in class’ examples to further embed our DEI efforts in everything we do and get us to where we want to be.
• Building and owning an enterprise-wide change and engagement roadmap to create inspiration, challenge and commitment - while raising our DEI profile internally and externally. 
• Continually assess our organisational DEI cultural health – identifying root causes of specific strengths and areas of development. 
• Own the DEI Innovation Council, attended by Executive Committee members, to shape the roadmap execution and risk management of DEI across the organisation towards the ultimate goal of genuine, sustainable DEI outcomes.
• Being the SME on the new DEI Regulation - responsible for the enterprise-wise change, implementation plan, governance and assurance activities. 
• Driving a community of practice being a trainer, coach, and facilitator for our DEI People Networks, the Strategic People Solutions team and Strategic People Partners sharing technical CoE experiences and skills. 

What you’ll bring:

• Proven expert diversity, equity and cultural proficiencies with a hunger for innovation and deep commitment to indirectly and directly influence structural and systemic change to workplace DEI. 
• Demonstrable skills shaping an organisational DEI strategy up to Board Level with change management impact outcomes; experience with equal employment opportunity and demonstrating equity principles.  
• Track record engaging Senior Leaders creating inspiration, challenge and commitment through effective storytelling quantitative and qualitative DEI data.    
• Customer obsessed to provide a super people experience with awareness and understanding of the wider business, economic and market environment and how this connects to internal strategic goals. 

Team and Business Area Overview:

You’ll be part of the newly formed Organisational Culture and Policy Centre of Expertise (‘CoE’) reporting directly to the CoE Practice Leader, who sits on the HR Leadership Team.  You can find more about them here - Damien Shieber | LinkedIn. 

You will support the Strategic People Solutions team and Strategic People Partners, forming a community of practice to share technical expertise and ensure the DEI strategy is executed effectively within the business.  Additionally, you will also engage with our Executive Committee DEI Sponsors, People Network Chairs and work together with our Talent & Reward CoEs and Talent Experiences Team to ensure alignment of our strategies and objectives are being met. 

Interview Approach

Our interview process involves 3 stages – you’ll have the opportunity to ask as many questions as you want at each stage as we want to make sure that if you choose to work for Santander it’s going to be right for you. 

• In Person Interview in our Unity Place Head Office (1.5 Hours).  You'll meet with Damien Shieber and another member of the HR Leadership Team.  They'll ask you about your previous experience, your motivation to come and join Santander and skills-based questions based on what you find in this role advert.    
• Meet with our People Network Chairs (45 mins).  Our People Networks are a key part of our DEI Strategy (over 11,000 of our people are members!).  You’ll have an informal conversation with a selection of our Network Chairs to find out more about DEI at Santander and for them to ask you questions about the difference you can make.
• In Person meet with Senior Executive Team (1 Hour) The final stage will be to meet with our Chief People Officer, one of our DEI Executive Committee Sponsors and Damien Shieber to have a conversation on your vision to where DEI is heading, initial thinking to a 30/60/90 Day plan and the impact you want to make in the role.   

The interview approach will aim to take around 3-4 weeks, and we will understand your availability to support you.   

We take pride in being part of the Disability Confident Scheme. This helps make sure you can be interviewed fairly if you have a disability, long term health condition, or are neurodiverse.  If you’d like to apply and need adjustments made, you can let us know in your application. 

Career Development:

This role offers significant career development for someone who wants to be the ‘number one’ in DEI and take the lead.  As you drive the strategy, you will gain exposure to senior leadership and play a key role in shaping our culture. Your contributions will directly impact on our ability to attract and retain the best diverse talent to deliver good outcomes for our customers.  There will also be an opportunity to build your skills further as a DEI thought leader in the Financial Services sector. 

What else you need to know:

This role is based in Milton Keynes and our expectation is 12 days in the office each calendar month (pro-rata for part-time roles).  We trust you to own your flexibility at times that suit you and your team.

Inclusion

At Santander we’re creating a thriving workplace where all our people feel they belong and are supported to succeed.  We all help to make Santander a workplace that celebrates diversity and attracts, retains and develops the most talented and committed people through living our values of Simple, Personal, and Fair.

How we’ll reward you.

The Salary Range for this role is £80,000 - £110,000.  As well as brilliant teammates and engaging work, you’ll enjoy a benefits package that you can tailor to your needs.

• £6,000 car allowance per year
• Eligible for a discretionary performance-related annual bonus.
• We put 8% of salary into your pension, even if you don’t contribute yourself. We’ll pay in up to 12.5% of salary, if you contribute as well, and you can take some of our contribution in cash if you prefer.
• 30 days’ holiday plus bank holidays, which increases to 31 days after 5yrs service, with the option to purchase up to 5 contractual days per year.
• Company funded individual private medical insurance.
• Voluntary healthcare benefits at discounted rates such as private medical insurance for your family, dental insurance, and health assessments.
• Protection for you and your family, with company-funded death-in-service benefit and income protection insurance, and the option to take advantage of discounted rates for additional life assurance and critical illness cover.
• Share in Santander’s success by saving or investing in our share plans.
• As a Santander UK employee, you are able to request staff versions of our products like our Edge Current Accounts and Credit Cards with no fees, as well as apply to many other deals and discounts in Santander products and services

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