23869 - Human Resources Manager


Company:	Ministry of Justice
Salary:	£35,335 to £37,847 a year
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	SOUTHAMPTON, SO14 2PT
Working pattern:	Hybrid - 2 days remote
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	2 Nov 2026
Closing date:	16 Nov 2026

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Summary

Job Title: Human Resources Manager

Grade HEO

Team/Directorate: MoJ People and Capability - HR Business Partnering (HMPPS)

Overview of the role:

The Ministry of Justice People and Capability (MoJ P&C) supports the organisation by enabling its people to be the best that they can be. We are continuously reviewing and enhancing the services that P&C provide across the MoJ to deliver high quality services for our customers. MoJ has a team of committed and capable professionals delivering people services across the Justice family.

With a passion for people management and a desire to build an HR generalist foundation for a future career, the post holder will work with managers from within HMPPS to optimise the effective working relationship and ensure maximum impact of HR on business effectiveness. This is your opportunity to be part of the HR enabling prisons and probation to make society safer and help people turn live.

The role involves a proactive approach to problem solving and enabling the business to find solutions to HR challenges. With a generalist knowledge of case management and essential functional HR experience, the role is key to enabling business leaders through interpretation of HR policy, application of case management advice and the delivery of key HR processes to maintain the links with essential systems; SSCL, Occupational Health, Civil Service Pensions etc.

Summary

As a HR professional in either a regional role or a HQ delivery role to a sector of the business, the post holder will support business leaders, managers and specialists with more complex HR cases and provide a professional link to the central case management service, working together to achieve effective outcomes.

As the first point of contact to the business, the post holder would be required to manage stakeholder expectations and gather business intelligence to provide specialist advice or deploy the appropriate service from within the team.

Responsibilities, activities and duties

Supporting an area of the business with wide ranging impact, appraising, assessing and adapting to a wide range of issues on a day-to-day basis and developing options to maintain or improve performance.

Role holder will have autonomy to make decisions within their discrete area of work to deploy appropriate resources using initiative and in communication with their established network of contacts across the wider HR community.

Interpreting HR advice which may require follow up questions or discussion to understand the wider impact of the issue.

Decisions might involve considerable discretion but will be constrained by policy and best practice.

Analysing HR data and applying understanding to decide on an appropriate intervention or course of action.

Considering sensitive or multiple opposing opinions to establish facts; establishing the best approach; determining appropriate methodologies; analysis to ensure quality and application of results.

Exercise judgement and make decisions based on their own interpretation. Details may be unclear and require further investigation.

Required to maintain relationships by supporting others, contribute to team decisions and use initiative to solve problems.

Contribute directly to the achievement of operational organisational objectives by developing internal credibility and providing guidance and consultancy to managers on HR related issues, which include:

Employment Tribunal, Grievance, Disciplinary Support

Attendance Management Support

Audit, Assurance & Compliance

Commissioner: Expert Services & Support (Internal & External)

Essential Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

• Previous experience of an HR delivery role. (assessed via CV)

• The ability to confidently build and manage a diverse range of relationships, including with senior stakeholders. (assessed via behaviour working together)

• Supporting others to optimise performance of their People Management Skills. (assessed via behaviour Leadership)

• Excellent communication skills, both in verbal and written formats. (assessed via behaviour Communicating and Influencing)

• Ability to analyse and understand data and apply analytics to business delivery. (assessed via behaviour Managing a Quality Service)

Desirable experience, knowledge and skills

Previous experience of working in a HR team within the Civil Service and an awareness of the wider Civil Service HR operating model.

Experience of HR consultancy work or other service delivery based on a Customer Relationship Model.

We may consider any evidence within the application form that demonstrates meeting the desirable criteria as set out in the job description. This will only be after essential criteria is scored and where there is a need to differentiate between closely scored candidates.

Location and travel requirements:

There is a requirement for the successful applicant’s work base to be within the South Central region at one of our prison or probation locations as below:

• West Berkshire PDU Abbey Gardens, 4 Abbey Road, Reading RG1 3BA

• Hampshire North and East PDU, 3rd Floor, Civic Offices, Civic Way, Fareham PO16 7AZ

• Southampton, Eastleigh and New Forest PDU, Town Quay House, 7 Town Quay, Southampton SO14 2PT

• HMP Winchester, Winchester, SO22 5DF

The base location will be discussed with the successful candidate.

The successful candidate will be required to travel to prison and probation sites across the South Central region with occasional travel to other HMPPS sites.

All applicants should be aware that business partnering arrangements are subject to change and postholders will be expected to accommodate changes in partnering arrangements in line with business need to include providing cover and support for other business areas when required.

Qualification

You will be a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) or equivalent or be willing to work towards it and actively demonstrate Continuous Professional Development.

This role can be linked to HR Apprenticeship (Level 5) and may be appropriate as a route into CIPD qualification.

Application process:

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.