People Director – Human Resources

News UK is seeking an experienced and dynamic People Director to join our Human Resources team. The role partners with three key business areas: The Sun, Technology, and Broadcasting, and manages a team of HR Business Partners, delivering strategic HR initiatives that support business objectives and foster a high‑performance culture.

The role reports to the Chief People Officer and sits on the relevant business area Senior Leadership Teams and the People SLT.

Hybrid work model: requires a minimum of three days per week in the office.

Key Objectives

• Lead and inspire a high‑performing team of HR Business Partners, ensuring exceptional delivery of people activities and continuous improvement.
• Enhance colleague experience, engagement, wellbeing and inclusion.
• Oversee and deliver workforce planning, organisational design, change management and skills‑gap mitigation projects.
• Work collaboratively with HR centres of expertise and legal teams.
• Drive talent attraction, onboarding, retention, reward and recognition strategies.
• Take a data‑led, commercial approach to the development and delivery of People Plans, providing data‑driven insights and expert advice to support business outcomes.
• Build strong partnerships across the business and coach senior leaders, offering honest and actionable advice.
• Contribute positively to the People Leadership Team, supporting and constructively challenging to ensure the function delivers for the business and its colleagues.
• Lead, support and participate in global and local projects.

What We’re Looking For

• Proven success in delivering strategic people initiatives with generalist and specialist experience.
• Strong strategic thinking, problem‑solving, project management and risk‑mitigation skills.
• Commercial mindset, aligning people strategies with commercial objectives and understanding market trends.
• Relationship management: skilled in collaboration, networking and influencing within complex, matrix environments.
• Data‑driven: able to analyse, interpret and present data to drive informed decisions.
• Expertise in strategic talent management, organisational design, change management and colleague experience.
• Agility and resilience: innovative, solution‑oriented, with strong prioritisation, delegation and organisational skills.
• Leadership: experience in motivating, managing and developing high‑performing teams.
• Collaboration: team‑oriented mindset with a focus on partnership and cooperation.

Benefits

• Private medical insurance, including coverage for pre‑existing conditions.
• Discounted gym memberships, free ClassPass at home and weekly virtual exercise classes.
• Bikes for Work and Electric Car scheme.
• Up to 60 % discount on Harper Collins books.
• Maternity leave up to 18 weeks (full basic salary) and paternity leave up to 2 weeks.
• Exclusive events, competitions and virtual panel chats with top journalists and celebrities.
• Wellbeing benefits such as EAP, physio/massage and counselling.
• Generous pension scheme with up to 5 % employer contributions.
• Wide range of training, including full LinkedIn Learning access.
• 25 days holiday, plus bank holidays and up to 4 volunteering days per year.

We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to perform to their best when applying. For any information in a different way or to do anything differently, please contact careers@news.co.uk.