Regional People Lead - South West

£50,544 - £59,464 + Benefits

Hybrid (Home/South West Region)

Ref: 21385

Our purpose is simple: to save lives at sea. Our RNLI lifesavers are ready to launch to the rescue, 24 hours a day, every day.

Based in the South West, you will report directly to the Head of Region and be part of the regional leadership team. As a People Business Partner, you must be confident in seeking to understand the regional challenges and opportunities (not just People) in order to challenge, coach and motivate success for the region.

You must be able to think and act pragmatically and with agility to ensure we are applying sound people management practice to both our employees and volunteers. With an indirect reporting line to the HR Operations Manager (based in Poole), and working alongside our Volunteering Development Operations Manager, you will seek to ensure national consistency of policy and practice while delivering regional needs.

There is flexibility in where you are based, but you will need to be present in the South West regional support centre in Saltash, Cornwall, with your leadership peers, working from home, or out on the coast getting to know our lifesaving communities and management teams — from Portishead to Weymouth, across our 33 lifeboat stations or lifeguard support centre.

You will line manage the embedded regional People Advisor and Volunteering Advisor team and will draw on support from the People Admin and Volunteering teams based in Poole. If successful you’ll have oversight and ownership of all regional people matters, which you will support through to completion, rather than providing a signposting service.

Some of the benefits

• Flexible working
• 26 days’ annual leave plus Bank Holidays
• Outstanding pension scheme
• Life assurance

About the role

As our Regional People Lead, you will ensure excellent HR business partnering within your region. Supported by central subject matter experts - including Pay and Reward, Recruitment, Learning and Development, Safeguarding and Strategy/Performance - you will understand the regional opportunities to drive the people strategy across South West.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Providing a highly effective business partner service to the Head of Region that engages RNLI people (employees and volunteers) and drives high performance and engagement.
• Driving the RNLI people strategy (inc. volunteering) within the region, consistent with regional aims, ensuring our managers are capable and confident using sound performance management practice.
• Ensuring that recruitment, pay and reward, occupational health, and learning services strategies are meeting defined SLAs.
• Maintaining and embedding a People Value Proposition that enables the RNLI to attract, develop and retain talent, and that meets capacity and capability requirements.
• Ensuring that workforce and succession plans are established and delivered.
• Working closely with the Designated Safeguarding Lead to ensure you remain cognisant of any safeguarding concerns.
• Managing and developing your direct reports to ensure their career development.
• Participating in an out-of-hours service for approximately two weeks per year (until 8.00pm on weekdays and 4.00pm at weekends).

About you

To be successful as our Regional People Lead, you will be a proven HR Business Partner with a good understanding of volunteering, and the drive, perseverance and resilience to deliver great people services. You’ll also have a clear understanding of your responsibility in ensuring the RNLI is a great place to work.

You will need:

• A relevant degree, CIPD qualification (level 5 or higher) or equivalent experience.
• HR Business Partnering experience, ideally in a leadership capacity, and ideally experience or knowledge of working with volunteers.
• Strong, demonstrable employment law knowledge.
• Experience of working with, and delivering against, fast paced operational needs with a practical approach.

In other organisations, this role may also be known as: People Partner, HRBP, HR Business Partner, Human Resources Partner, HR Advisor, HR Generalist, HR Manager.

This post requires a valid driving licence.

If you are ready for the next step in your career, we are keen to hear from you. For more information and to apply, please visit our vacancies page.

Closing date: 12 April 2026.

The RNLI is committed to safeguarding; protecting a person’s health, wellbeing, and human rights, enabling them to live free from harm, abuse, and neglect. We expect all employees and volunteers to share this commitment and have a zero-tolerance approach. The suitability of all prospective employees and volunteers will be assessed during the recruitment process in line with this commitment. This will include relevant criminal record checks being carried out dependent on the eligibility of the role. (England & Wales; DBS check, Scotland; Disclosure Scotland PVG, Northern Ireland; Access NI, Republic of Ireland; Garda Vetting; International, International Child Protection Certificate process).

Our staff and volunteers have been saving lives at sea without prejudice for 200 years. We respect and value diversity of background, skills and perspectives within our teams, and consider it essential to help us deliver a world-class lifesaving service. We are an inclusive organisation and welcome applications from everyone. In addition to having the skills needed for the role, we also look for applicants who share our commitment to living our RNLI values (trustworthy, courageous, selfless, and dependable), and helping us work towards Our Vision: To save Every One.

£50,544 - £59,464 + Benefits

Some of the benefits

• Flexible working
• 26 days’ annual leave plus Bank Holidays
• Outstanding pension scheme
• Life assurance