The Vacancy

This appointment is being managed in partnership with Redgrave, the executive search partner supporting [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] on this search. All applications and expressions of interest will be treated in strict confidence and managed by Redgrave.

About The Role

[Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] is seeking to appoint a high-calibre Chief People Officer to partner CEO Matthew Pratt, the Executive Team and Board through the next phase of growth, scaling and organisational development. This is a broad executive role spanning the Group's Development, Services and central functions, leading the people agenda across approximately 3,000 colleagues.

The business enters this phase from a position of strength, with Great Place to Work certification, modern HR technology and self-service capability, and an established People team of c.30. The mandate is to provide the experienced leadership needed to translate ambitious plans into practical workforce strategies, scalable structures and stronger organisational capability.

A defining priority will be enabling significant growth across the Services platform, including the substantial expansion of care and support services. This will require building a high-performing recruitment, retention and workforce planning engine capable of scaling in a competitive labour market where talent attraction and colleague retention are critical to success.

Working closely with the CEO, the successful candidate will also help build a higher-performing organisation by modernising reward and performance frameworks, strengthening management capability, and bringing greater rigour, accountability and commercial focus to the People function.

This is a hands-on executive role for an operator who combines strategic judgement with delivery focus and wants to make a visible impact in a business with significant commercial potential and clear social purpose.

Key Priorities

• Executive Leadership Contribution - Operate as a trusted partner to the CEO, Board and Executive Team on strategic and operational matters, contributing as both a business leader and functional expert. Translate business strategy into clear people priorities. Build strong relationships and credibility across functions.
• Build the Workforce Platform for Growth - Lead the people agenda for expansion across both divisions, particularly Services and care. Create scalable recruitment, onboarding and retention capability. Strengthen workforce planning and develop sustainable talent pipelines in constrained labour markets.
• Strengthen Organisational Capability - Partner the CEO and Executive Team to support high-performing organisation development. Build management capability, clear standards and a culture of ownership and delivery. Support organisational design.
• Lead the Group People Agenda - Lead and develop the existing People team. Enhance pace, quality and practicality of People support. Provide strong leadership across employee relations. Oversee reward, benefits and performance frameworks. Support executive reward governance and Remuneration Committee matters.

Experience

You will be an experienced, high-calibre Chief People Officer who brings the judgement, credibility and depth of expertise to lead the people strategy for the organisation through its next phase of growth.

• Significant senior people leadership experience within a complex, multi-site or operationally intensive business
• Experience leading large frontline or customer-facing workforces, ideally in related sectors such as care, hospitality, retail, logistics, housing, property or construction
• A track record of leading high performing HR / People functions to support growth, transformation, restructuring and organisational scaling agendas
• Strong recruitment, retention and workforce planning expertise, alongside deep employee relations experience and sound judgement managing complex people matters at scale
• Experience shaping reward, incentives and performance frameworks
• Credibility working with CEOs, Boards and senior operational leaders
• Exposure to private equity-backed or similarly performance-focused environments would be advantageous

Leadership Style

• An authentic culture carrier who leads by example, holds high standards and reflects the values of [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] in how they operate
• Straightforward, honest and courageous, willing to speak truth constructively and challenge where needed
• Inclusive and collaborative, able to build trust, strong relationships and shared success across teams, customers and partners
• Commercially aware, pragmatic and outcome-focused, able to flex effectively across distinct businesses and workforce groups
• Hands-on, accountable and delivery-oriented, taking ownership and following through on commitments
• Curious and improvement-minded, open to learning, simplifying complexity and driving positive change
• Calm, resilient and dependable under pressure, comfortable making difficult decisions when required

About [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal]

As the UK's leading developer and manager of retirement communities, we provide high quality homes to exacting specifications. As of January 2025, [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] operates over 545 developments across the UK for more than 24,200 people.

We believe in championing the role, wellbeing, and happiness of older people in society. We help our customers have a better later life, so they feel more connected, recognised, and valued than ever. In late 2020 we launched the [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] Charitable Foundation to support local causes that help older people in need across Britain.

We are proud to have been certified as a Great Place to Work 2025 as well as making the Great Place to Work Wellbeing list!

The Benefits

• 24 days annual leave
• Pension plan
• Life assurance
• Employee assistance helpline
• Health screening
• Eyecare voucher scheme
• Long service award