Head of People Advice & Guidance

Company Description

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is Scotland’s prosecution service and death investigation authority. Our purpose is to secure justice for the people of Scotland in respect of the investigation and prosecution of crime and the investigation of deaths. Our work helps to ensure that Scotland is safe from crime, disorder, and danger. Joining COPFS means contributing to work that has a direct and meaningful impact on the people of Scotland.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced people professional to join COPFS as our Head of People Advice and Guidance.

This is an exciting opportunity to lead and shape the development of our People Advice & Guidance, Case Management and People Policy services, helping us move towards a more proactive, accessible and insight-led approach to supporting our people and managers. 

You’ll provide strategic leadership on complex people matters, influence senior leaders, develop our approach to people policy and use data and organisational insight to drive continuous improvement. You’ll also lead and develop high-performing teams, building capability and helping to deliver fair, consistent and effective people outcomes across COPFS.

Role Description

The Head of People Advice & Guidance is a full-time, hybrid role based in Edinburgh. This role is a Band F in the COPFS grading structure (Grade 7). Starting salary is £62,111 and the maximum salary on this scale is £77,439, subject to future COPFS pay awards. All salaries are pro rata for part-time staff.

You will lead and develop COPFS’s People Advice & Guidance service, providing a consistent, accessible and high-quality source of advice and support for leaders, managers and colleagues across the organisation.

You will lead two complementary areas of service: People Advice & Guidance, providing early advice, triage, guidance and support to resolve people matters effectively; and People Case Management, providing specialist and structured support for more complex or formal people cases.

You will also hold accountability for People Policy, ensuring policies are clear, accessible, legally sound, aligned with organisational values and consistently connected to the advice and support provided to managers and colleagues.

You will lead the evolution of the service from its current Employee Relations model towards a broader People Advice & Guidance offer, ensuring the organisation moves towards robust management of cases, earlier intervention, greater manager confidence, consistent advice and appropriate escalation of complex matters.

You would also be expected to use insight from advice, guidance, casework and policy to identify recurring themes, organisational risks and opportunities for improvement, ensuring the service contributes to a proactive and preventative people approach rather than focusing solely on individual cases.

Essential criteria

Behaviours:

Leadership (Grade 7)

Communicating and Influencing (Grade 7)

Experience

• Significant experience leading high-performing teams managing complex employment casework and people policy or people advice and guidance
• Developing and delivering advice, guidance, triage or case management services
• Developing, reviewing and implementing HR/people policies
• Working with senior leaders to provide credible advice, challenge and support on complex and sensitive people matters
• Using people data and casework insight to identify trends, risks and organisational improvements
• Leading service improvement and transformation initiatives
• Managing organisational change and supporting teams through change
• Working within a complex unionised organisation with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities
• Managing governance, risk, confidentiality and sensitive information

Technical

• Degree level qualification in Human Resources or equivalent experience in managing complex employment casework.
• Chartered Member of CIPD or agree to work towards it and achieve membership within the first two years of taking up post.
• Expert knowledge of UK employment legislation and its practical application within a complex organisational environment
• Ability to develop and implement people policy, advice and case management frameworks that deliver consistent, fair and customer focused outcomes

Benefits

We offer an excellent range of benefits which include

• 25 days paid holiday + 11.5 public and privilege holidays (rising to 30 days paid holiday after 2 years).
• Generous Civil Service Pension employer contribution, on average over 28.97% of your pay
• Flexible working hours and family friendly approach to work.
• Cycle to Work Scheme and Season Ticket Loans.
• Employee Wellbeing Support with Mental Health First Aiders and access to an Employee Assistance Programme.

How to apply

Apply online through our website at Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service where you can Search for Jobs to view the job profile and application pack, which provides further job details and assessment guidance.

Closing date for applications

08/11/2026