Tower Hamlets Council is seeking a new Director of HR & OD to lead the Human Resources & Organisation Development division through a period of significant transformation. This transformation is deemed necessary to address specific challenges and issues within the council, requiring a critical leadership role to navigate this period of change.
The Appointments Sub-Committee convened on Monday, 8 September 2025, to interview candidates for the position. The chosen candidate will be responsible for providing strategic leadership and ensuring the delivery of high-quality operational and strategic HR and OD services.
The job description, outlined in the Public reports pack 08th-Sep-2025, highlights that this is a critical leadership role during a period of significant transformation for the council. Responsibilities include inclusive leadership, organisational culture change, HR transformation, developing a new people strategy, strategic workforce development and planning, and championing equality, diversity, and inclusion.
The Director of HR & OD will shape and deliver a new Target Operating Model (TOM), embed a high-performance culture, and lead the internal transformation of the HR & OD function into a more strategic, insight-led, and customer-focused service aligned with the council's core values, priorities, and improvement programme.
The postholder will act as a strategic partner to the Chief Executive, senior leaders and Members—supporting system wide cultural change, workforce engagement, and people strategy to include leadership framework of the council —and work closely with the Chief Executive, Leader, relevant Cabinet Members, Corporate Directors, Directors, and Ministerial Envoys to accelerate delivery of the Ministerial Directions. The Director of HR & OD's role is crucial in accelerating the delivery of these Ministerial Directions.
According to the Public reports pack 08th-Sep-2025, the Appointments Sub-Committee was expected to interview candidates and assess their responses based on council policies. The report pack included a report from Penna, the recruitment consultants, detailing the shortlisted candidates. The cover report provides the Final Interview report at Appendix 2 (to follow), prepared by Penna, the recruitment consultants, with details of the candidates who have been shortlisted.
The committee, including Councillor Maium Talukdar (Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education, Youth and Lifelong Learning (Statutory Deputy Mayor)), Councillor Ohid Ahmed, Councillor Saied Ahmed (Cabinet Member for Resources and the Cost of Living), Councillor Shafi Ahmed (Cabinet Member for Environment and the Climate Emergency)), Councillor Shahaveer Shubo Hussain, and Councillor Amy Lee, was to determine which candidate, if any, should be offered the post. Following the Sub-Committee's decision, the Executive will have 48 hours to comment on the proposed appointment. Subject to this consultation, the Interim Head of Corporate Human Resources will then undertake the necessary recruitment processes to engage the selected candidate, in line with the council's HR policies.
