Head of People

Description

English National Opera (ENO) is one of the UK’s most distinctive cultural organisations, known for creating outstanding opera that is open to all. As we continue our transformation into a truly national company with a dual presence in London and Greater Manchester, we are evolving our People & Culture function to support an ambitious artistic mission, a diverse workforce and a period of significant organisational change.

We are now seeking an exceptional Head of People to play a pivotal leadership role in shaping ENO’s employee experience, strengthening people processes and systems, and ensuring our teams are supported to deliver work of the highest creative and operational quality.

As Head of People, you will:

• Lead the day‑to‑day delivery and credibility of our People Operations and People Partnering functions across the full employee lifecycle.
• Ensure responsive, inclusive and values‑driven recruitment, onboarding and employee experience practices.
• Drive the improvement, implementation and optimisation of People systems, data, workflows and reporting, enabling insight‑led decision‑making across the organisation.
• Oversee performance management, policy development, governance and compliance, ensuring clarity, fairness and alignment with best practice.
• Partner with leaders across ENO to support organisational change, workforce planning, reward processes and annual budgeting cycles.
• Build and develop the People team, setting clear expectations, nurturing capability and modelling a collaborative, calm and credible leadership style.
• Act as a trusted advisor to managers and colleagues, building strong relationships—internally and with recognised trade unions—to provide consistent and solutions‑focused guidance.

We welcome applications from individuals with:

• Significant senior People/HR leadership experience, ideally gained in creative, multi‑site or mission‑driven environments.
• Hands‑on expertise across people operations, including systems implementation, workflow improvement and robust people data management.
• Experience of people partnering across a broad client group and preferably at a multi-site organisation
• Strong understanding of reward, benefits, payroll collation and cost management.
• Demonstrable experience in employee relations and industrial relations, with confidence navigating complex, sensitive or unionised contexts.
• A track record of supporting successful change projects and embedding best‑practice approaches that strengthen culture and ways of working.
• CIPD Level 7 qualification (or equivalent), with up‑to‑date knowledge of UK employment law and HR governance.
• A values‑led, inclusive and people‑centred approach, with a genuine commitment to the role arts organisations play in society.

This is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of ENO’s People & Culture function at a defining moment in our organisation’s evolution.

For a confidential conversation, please contact our recruitment advisers at GatenbySanderson:

Stephanie Crossland, Research Lead: stephanie.crossland@gatenbysanderson.com
Rebekah Herz‑Bauman, Partner: rebekah.herz-bauman@gatenbysanderson.com

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