Director of People and Culture

Heartwood Learning Trust, York, YO30 6ZS

22 days remaining to apply

• Start date details

  To be negotiated

• Closing date

  31 May 2026 at 11:59pm

• Date listed

  8 May 2026

Job details

• Job role:
  • Administration, HR, data and finance
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Working pattern: Full time
• Contract type: Permanent
• Full-time equivalent salary: £68,671.00 - £77,938.00 Annually (Actual) Salary based on SM2 (SCP 50-54) pending job evaluation

Director of People and Culture job summary

We are seeking an exceptional and values-driven leader to join our Executive Team as Director of People and Culture across Heartwood Learning Trust. Our Trust’s values of Kindness, Respect, and Teamwork underpin the vision ‘Life in all its fullness - a place to thrive’ and are central to all Trust activities and aims.

This is a significant strategic leadership opportunity for an experienced HR professional who is passionate about people, organisational culture, and educational improvement. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the successful candidate will lead and develop a high-quality Trust-wide HR function, providing both strategic direction and operational leadership across all aspects of people management, workforce development, and organisational culture.

As Director of People and Culture, you will work closely with senior leaders, Principals, Trustees, and colleagues across the Trust to ensure that we attract, develop, and retain talented staff who feel valued, supported, and empowered to thrive. You will lead on workforce strategy, employee relations, organisational change, wellbeing, inclusion, talent development and compliance, helping to create a culture where collaboration and professional excellence flourish.

We are looking for a confident and credible leader with substantial senior HR experience, ideally within education or the public sector, although we welcome applications from candidates who can demonstrate transferable strategic leadership experience from similarly complex organisations. You will bring expert knowledge of employment law and people practice, alongside the ability to influence at a senior level, build trusted relationships, and lead with integrity, warmth, and clarity.

The role is primarily based at our central office in Vale of York Academy, with travel required across all of the academies within the Trust.

For an informal conversation about the role with Wendy Munro, Chief Operating Officer, please contact hr@hlt.academy.

What we can offer:

• Experienced and supportive leadership with a collaborative approach and an appreciative culture

• An established, experienced and friendly central team

• Holiday entitlement 25 days (increases after 5 years continuous service) plus bank holidays

• Local Government Pension scheme

• Occupational Health

• Employee Assistance Programme

• Cycle to Work scheme

Job Details

Hours of Work: 37 Hours per Week, all year round

Position Type: Permanent

Line Manager: Chief Operating Officer

Travel Required: Yes

The salary is dependent on current qualifications and experience, please see the attached job description for more information.

Application Process

Please complete the online application form to apply for this role. All candidates are advised to refer to the job description and person specification before making an application. You should use the information supplied with in the Job Description & Person Specification to make the best of your application by identifying some specific pieces of work you may have undertaken in any of these areas. Your application may be viewed in regard to some or all of the skill specific areas over the course of the selection process. Applications via agencies will not be considered.

Interviews will take place as soon as possible after the closing date.

We are to safeguarding and protecting our children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All posts are subject to a safer recruitment process which includes enhanced criminal records and barring checks, scrutiny of employment history, robust referencing and other vetting checks.

Our safeguarding system is underpinned by a range of policies and procedures which encourage and promote safe working practice across the Trust. On joining you will be required to undergo continuous professional development to maintain safe working practice and to safeguard our children and young people.

Further information about the job

The candidate will be required to undergo a full enhanced DBS check and must be eligible to work in the UK.

Visas cannot be sponsored.

If you're interested in teaching or training to teach in England as an international citizen, we can help you understand your next steps.

Commitment to safeguarding

Hope Sentamu Learning Trust is committed to safeguarding and protecting our children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All posts are subject to a safer recruitment process which includes enhanced criminal records and barring checks, scrutiny of employment history, robust referencing and other vetting checks.

Our safeguarding system is underpinned by a range of policies and procedures which encourage and promote safe working practice across the Trust. On joining you will be required to undergo continuous professional development to maintain safe working practice and to safeguard our children and young people.

Applying for the job

This school accepts applications through their own website, where you may also find more information about this job.

CVs will not be accepted for this application.

About Heartwood Learning Trust

• Type: Multi-academy trust
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/hope-sentamu-learning-trust

Thank you for showing an interest in joining our community of schools at Hope Sentamu Learning Trust.

Our vision is really very simple. We aspire to provide a place children and young people can thrive - life in all its fullness, a place to thrive. Our values are Kindness, Respect and Teamwork.

Here are our commitments:
A respectful and inclusive community, with a culture of thankfulness and appreciation, where we celebrate equality and diversity.
High quality first teaching across all of our schools, in every learning session, without exception.
A broad and balanced educational offer which develops all pupils academically, practically, emotionally, socially and spiritually, leading to great outcomes.
Resilient, sustainable and ethical leadership at all levels of the organisation.

Our Trust comprises of primary and secondary schools as well as alternative provisions. We are a community of fourteen schools, located across York, Hull and North Yorkshire. Our schools are supported by a central operations team and a central school improvement team.

Each one of our schools has its own distinctive character, identity and strengths which it brings to the table so that we all benefit from each other. Collaboration is at the heart of the way that we work across the Trust as every school has something to give and every school needs some help. This resonates with our Trust vision and values.

We are a new Trust, following a recent merger between Hope Learning Trust and Sentamu Academy Learning Trust in September 2021, so this is a very exciting time in our development. I am a big believer in building strong foundations so that we can concentrate on providing the best possible experiences and provision for the children and young people. It makes sense for us to do some things consistently so that we can do the basics really well. Colleagues from across the Trust have the opportunity to get involved in the development of Trust strategy so that our consistent ways of working and areas that we have alignment are developed at grass roots level. We see the alignment of key strategies across the Trust as an ever growing strength and way forward. This approach will get stronger and stronger as we develop and provides excellent career development opportunities for colleagues in all roles at all levels. Our school leaders play an important role in promoting a positive and collaborative culture across the Trust whilst delivering on the key Trust strategies within their schools.

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