Head of HR - Retail

Overview

Permanent

Salary From £95k + Bonus + Pension + PMI + ShareSave + 6.6 weeks holiday + Hybrid Working (1 day per week in the office)

Southampton, Store Support Office

We believe anyone can improve their home to make life better. From our Southampton Store Support office (SSO) we equip our stores, our people, and our whole business with everything it takes to help our millions of customers create a home they’ll love. Join us as Head of HR and you’ll be a big part of this.

What's the job?

As Head of HR for Retail, you will shape and lead the people strategy for your business area, ensuring we have the leadership, organisation, capability and culture needed to deliver our business ambitions and purpose.

You will be a trusted strategic partner to the Retail leadership team, bringing a strong commercial and people perspective to the most important business decisions. You will translate business strategy into a clear, future-focused people plan and lead its delivery through Regional People Partners, working closely with Centres of Expertise, who provide the frameworks, policies and specialist expertise, you will ensure these are adapted and applied in a way that delivers maximum value for your business area. You are accountable for translating strategy into action and ensuring the delivery of sustainable people and business and customer outcomes.

Shape the Retail People Strategy

- Lead the People agenda for Retail, ensuring people priorities are aligned to business strategy and commercial objectives.

- Translate business priorities into a clear People Plan covering organisation, capability, productivity, culture, customer and colleague experience.

- Use data and insight to anticipate workforce opportunities, risks and future capability needs.

Partner and Challenge Retail Leadership

- Act as a trusted adviser, coach and constructive challenger to senior Retail leaders.

- Strengthen leadership effectiveness and accountability for performance, talent, culture and colleague experience.

- Bring clear, evidence-based recommendations to complex business and people decisions.

Lead the Retail People Partnering Team

- Lead and develop a high-performing Regional People Partner team.

- Set clear priorities and focus the team on the areas of greatest business impact, opportunity and risk.

- Build strong commercial, coaching, consulting and data capability across the team.

Build Capability and Lead Change

- Lead strategic workforce planning, organisation design, talent and succession across Retail.

- Build strong and diverse pipelines for critical and leadership roles.

- Shape the people aspects of significant business change and ensure change is successfully embedded

Deliver People Performance

- Own delivery and impact of the Retail People Plan, using clear measures to track progress and business value.

- Use people and business data to improve engagement, retention, attendance, capability, performance and productivity.

- Partner across the wider People function to provide Retail with a simple, joined-up and commercially focused People service.

What Success Looks Like

- A clear and measurable Retail People Plan that supports business performance.

- Stronger leadership capability and accountability.

- A high-performing Regional People Partner team.

- Strong talent and succession pipelines for critical roles.

- Improved colleague engagement, inclusion, retention and productivity.

- Business change that is effectively implemented and sustained.

- Clear evidence that People activity is delivering commercial and colleague and customer value.

What we need:

- Senior HR leadership or strategic business partnering experience in a large, fast-paced, commercially complex organisation.

- Proven success translating business strategy into people plans and measurable outcomes.

- Experience leading and developing People Partners or HR professionals across a complex business.

- Strong commercial judgement linking people decisions to business performance.

- Deep expertise in leadership, talent, succession, organisation design, workforce planning and cultural change.

- Experience leading major business transformation and embedding lasting change.

- Ability to interpret complex people and business data and make clear recommendations.

- Strong influencing, coaching and relationship-building skills, with senior-level credibility.

- Confidence to challenge constructively and navigate competing priorities, ambiguity and complexity.

- Strong knowledge of employee relations, engagement, inclusion, performance and reward.

- Ability to balance strategic thinking, leadership coaching and delivery oversight.

- Professional HR expertise, ideally with CIPD Level 7 or equivalent.

What's in it for me?

What's In It For You?

At B&Q, we're building more than great homes – we're building great careers.

When you join us, you'll be part of a supportive, inclusive business where your ideas matter, your development is invested in, and your wellbeing is genuinely important.

Here's what you can expect:

🏡 Flexible & Hybrid Working - Work in a way that helps you perform at your best, balancing business needs with personal commitments.

📈 Career Growth & Development - Access learning, development and career opportunities across one of the UK's leading retail organisations.

💰 Competitive Reward Package - A competitive salary, pension and a range of financial benefits.

🛒 Colleague Discounts - Enjoy discounts across B&Q and the wider Kingfisher Group.

❤️ Health & Wellbeing Support - Access wellbeing resources, health support and employee assistance programmes designed to help you thrive.

🌴 Time Away From Work - Generous holiday entitlement and family-friendly policies that support life both inside and outside work.

🤝 A Place Where You Belong - We're committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued, respected and empowered to be themselves.

🌍 Make a Difference - The work you do will have a direct impact on our customers, colleagues and business.

Eligibility To Work

Please note that B&Q does not currently offer visa sponsorship for this role . Applicants must have the right to work in the UK at the time of application and throughout their employment.

Accessibility & Disability Confident

At B&Q, we're committed to creating an inclusive recruitment experience for everyone.

If you require any additional support or reasonable adjustments to help you complete your application or throughout the recruitment process, please let us know.

If you would like to be considered under the Disability Confident Scheme , please contact us at [email protected] . If you meet the minimum criteria for the role, we'll consider your application in line with our Disability Confident commitments.