Talent and Performance Lead

Are you ready to chart your own career path? With our refreshed strategy, we're building on our rich heritage and transforming our business to be more scalable and efficient, unlocking the capabilities needed for future success. This includes significantly investing in technology, streamlining the way we work and creating an environment where colleagues feel engaged, empowered and accountable; where they can show up, speak up and perform - because we believe in the difference our work makes.

At a glance

Location: Cirencester Office

Workplace Type: Hybrid

Employment Type: Permanent

Seniority: Mid-Senior Level

About the role:

Are you passionate about strengthening organisational capability, developing talent and creating the conditions for high performance? We're looking for a Talent & Performance Lead to play a key role in shaping the frameworks, insight and governance that support talent, succession, organisational capability and performance across SJP.

Reporting to the Head of Talent & Organisational Performance, you'll help translate business strategy into practical solutions that strengthen workforce readiness, organisational effectiveness and long-term organisational capability. This is an exciting opportunity to influence enterprise-wide people practices, working closely with leaders, People Partners and specialist People teams to ensure SJP has the talent, capability and performance needed to deliver its strategic ambitions.

What you'll be doing:

As Talent & Performance Lead, you'll partner closely with leaders, People Partners and specialist People teams to develop and embed best-in-class approaches across talent, succession, organisational capability and performance management.

Talent frameworks

• Design, implement and continuously improve talent frameworks, tools and guidance that support the identification, development and retention of talent across SJP.
• Develop and maintain career frameworks, talent pathways (including internal mobility) that enable employees to build sustainable careers and help the organisation access critical skills and talent.
• Evaluate emerging talent practices, technologies and external market developments, recommending improvements where appropriate.

Succession Planning

• Design and maintain the succession planning framework, tools, guidance and governance processes used across the organisation.
• Support People Partners in the delivery of talent reviews and succession planning activity by providing methodology, expertise, facilitation support and challenge where required.
• Maintain succession data, reporting and analysis, identifying emerging risks and opportunities and supporting mitigation activity.
• Support the application and continuous improvement of approaches used to assess talent, successor readiness and development needs, drawing on assessment outputs and leadership insight generated through Leadership Development activities.

Organisational Capability

• Design and maintain organisational capability assessment approaches, measures and diagnostic tools, using workforce planning outputs, talent data and business insight to identify capability strengths, gaps and emerging risks.
• Develop tools, frameworks and approaches that support leaders and People Partners in understanding and monitoring organisational capability and provide analysis and recommendations to support decisions on appropriate interventions.
• Facilitate communities of practice and capability-building activity to improve the quality and consistency of talent and performance conversations across the organisation.

Performance enablement and development

• Design and continuously improve performance management frameworks, tools and resources.
• Analyse performance outcomes and trends across the organisation, identifying opportunities to improve the effectiveness of performance management practices.
• Advise on and contribute to initiatives that strengthen manager capability to set expectations, coach in the flow of work, develop talent, support career growth and create the conditions for sustained individual and team performance.
• Provide insight into the effectiveness of organisational performance practices and recommend improvements based on data and evidence.

Talent Intelligence

• Design enterprise talent, succession, capability and performance reporting.
• Analyse workforce and talent trends, identifying risks, opportunities and emerging themes.
• Support the preparation of papers, analysis and recommendations for senior leadership and governance forums.
• Develop meaningful measures that assess talent health, succession strength, capability and performance outcomes.

Governance and Continuous Improvement

• Maintain talent, succession and performance governance processes, standards and documentation.
• Ensure frameworks and tools remain aligned to organisational priorities, legislation, regulation and internal policy.
• Gather feedback from leaders, employees and People Partners and continuously improve talent and performance products and services.

Functional collaboration

• Provide expert guidance to People Partners, leaders and People colleagues on talent, succession, capability and performance matters.

About you:

You'll be an experienced talent professional who enjoys combining strategic thinking, data-driven insight and stakeholder influence to deliver meaningful organisational outcomes.

Essential Criteria:

• Significant experience in Talent Management, Organisational Development, Learning & Development, or a related People discipline.
• Experience designing and implementing talent, succession planning and performance management frameworks.
• Proven ability to influence and build credibility with senior leaders and stakeholders.
• Strong analytical skills with experience interpreting people data and translating insights into actions.
• Experience leading organisation-wide talent review and succession planning processes.
• Strong project and change management skills, with the ability to deliver multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, including presenting recommendations to senior audiences.
• Experience developing solutions that improve organisational capability and workforce readiness.
• Ability to work collaboratively across People teams and business functions.
• Degree-level qualification or equivalent professional experience.

Desirable Criteria:

• Chartered CIPD qualification (Level 5 or Level 7).
• Experience within Financial Services or another regulated environment.
• Knowledge of workforce planning and strategic capability assessment methodologies.
• Experience managing talent technology platforms and talent analytics tools.
• Experience designing career pathways and internal mobility frameworks.
• Coaching qualification or experience coaching senior leaders.
• Experience supporting leadership development initiatives.
• Understanding of psychometric or talent assessment tools.
• Experience operating within a large, complex organisation undergoing transformation.
• Knowledge of diversity, equity and inclusion best practice within talent management

What's in it for you?

Whatever stage of life you're in, our benefits are designed to provide the support, flexibility, and peace of mind you need to thrive both at work and beyond.

In addition to our discretionary annual bonus scheme, which reflects both individual and company performance, you'll benefit from a market-leading benefits package tailored to support your wellbeing, financial security, and family life.

Our benefits include:

• 28 days' annual leave plus bank holidays, with the option to purchase up to 5 additional days.

• Private Medical Insurance - company-funded cover for you and your immediate family
• Generous Pension Scheme - a non-contributory employer contribution of 10%, increasing with length of service up to 15%, plus the opportunity to increase this through salary sacrifice
• Enhanced Parental Leave - up to 26 weeks' full pay to support growing families.
• Protection Benefits - company-funded critical illness cover, income protection, and life assurance
• EV salary sacrifice scheme through Tusker

Reasonable Adjustments
We're an equal opportunities employer and want to ensure our recruitment process is accessible and inclusive for all, if you require reasonable adjustment(s) at any stage please let us know by emailing us at careers@sjp.co.uk
Research tells us that applicants (especially those from underrepresented groups) can be put off from applying for a role if they do not meet all the criteria or have been on an extended career-break. If you think you would be a good match for this role and can demonstrate some transferable experience please apply, regardless of whether you tick every box.

What's next?

If you're excited about this role and believe you have the skills and experience we're looking for, we'd love to hear from you! Please submit an application by clicking 'apply' below and our team will be in touch.
As a business regulated by the FCA we would advise you to familiarise yourself with the conduct regulations and in particular consumer duty obligations prior to an interview with SJP.