Strategic HR Lead

The Drive Partnership, established by Respect, SafeLives, and Social Finance in 2015, is working to end domestic abuse and protect victim-survivors by disrupting, challenging, and changing the behaviour of those who are causing harm. The Drive Partnership does this through the development of innovative responses to those causing harm and advocating for systems and policy change to develop sustainable, national systems that respond more effectively to all those causing harm to increase the safety and freedom of all adult and child victim-survivors.

Our vision is that by 2026 there will be a consistent approach which sees agencies in all PCC and local authority areas across England and Wales – backed by national leaders – working together to disrupt abuse and change behaviour to increase safety for victim-survivors, including children and families.

We have four core strands of work.

• The Drive Project is our flagship intervention working with high-harm, high-risk and serial perpetrators of domestic abuse to prevent their abusive behaviour and protect victims. The Drive Project challenges perpetrators to change and works with partner agencies – like the police and social services – to provide a co-ordinated community response and disrupt abuse.
• Restart is an innovative pilot project providing earlier intervention for families experiencing domestic abuse. It brings together domestic abuse services, children’s social care and housing teams to identify and respond to patterns of domestic abuse at an earlier stage. Restart is currently being delivered in five London Boroughs.
• The Drive National Systems Change programme works across the domestic abuse specialist sector, public sector partners and beyond to identify and find solutions to systemic gaps in the provision and response to DA perpetrators with the aim of developing sustainable, national systems that respond to all perpetrators of domestic abuse and increase safety for victim-survivors across all communities. We identify systemic gaps and build solutions that keep survivors safer by addressing those causing harm.
• Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPO) Positive Requirements Triage Team works as part of the Government’s DAPO pilots to ensure that referrals from courts and policing are assessed and referred to the most appropriate DA perpetrator, mental health or substance misuse intervention.

Over the last six months, the Drive Partnership Central Team has rapidly expanded as we look to scale the Drive Project across England and Wales.

Social Finance will be leading appointment of the role and ongoing oversight (alongside the Drive Director).

Key areas of focus

• Employee lifecycle: We are looking for a strategic review of the entire employee lifecycle, from recruitment to exit, with a view to identifying points of tension and strength to inform a practical roadmap for our HR function. Below are some of the stages of the employee lifecycle that we are particularly keen for support with.
• Matrix management. Lead a strategic review and refinement of the Drive Partnership structures to support and enable more efficient matrix management. The Drive Partnership’s Central Team are employed by either Respect, SafeLives or Social Finance. Alongside the significant benefits this presents (e.g. diverse expertise and knowledge, expanded reach, shared resources and networks), there are some distinct challenges. We would be looking to you to lead on how we minimise the impact of these challenges (mainly around day-to-day line management and performance management).
• Partnership benchmarking. Salary bands and competency frameworks vary between partners, resulting in delays to recruitment and at times, discrepancies across staff salaries and experience. We are looking for a rapid review of the current state of play, plan to address any identified inequity and a roadmap for more effective and equitable partnership benchmarking.
• Induction process. You will design a comprehensive induction process for all new starters across The Drive Partnership to ensure consistency across staff experience. You will work closely with the People and Culture Lead on this.
• HR policies and procedures. Working with partners’ HR teams, undertake a comprehensive review of relevant policies and processes to better understand areas of synergy and differentiation and how these impact the recruitment and management of staff working for the Drive Partnership.
• Learning and development. Identify and establish clear pathways for learning, development and progression within the Central Team.
• Accountability and ownership. Establish clear and transparent processes around decision-making and implementation of HR activity across partner organisations when related to Drive Partnership staff.

• Proven experience of developing practical, evidence-based HR solutions that deliver measurable outcomes.
• Proven experience of merger or complex multi-stakeholder / multi-partnership environments, preferably with matrix reporting structures.
• Demonstrated success in developing and implementing HR strategies and processes that align with organisational and cross-partner objectives.
• Exceptional ability to build trust and credibility across partner organisations with differing priorities and cultures.
• Skilled at managing competing partner expectations and aligning them towards shared objectives.
• Strong knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practices.

• Submit a cover letter (2‑pages max) outlining interest, experience and availability
• Biography, CV and / or links to online portfolio, including reference to similar work
• Day rate / fees

We are looking to appoint as soon as possible. Please send questions / responses to Shady Zanbaghy, Associate Director at Social Finance shady.zanbaghy@socialfinance.org.uk