Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Are you a passionate advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion? Do you possess a strong desire to create a workplace where every individual’s unique perspectives are not just welcomed but celebrated?  If you’re ready to take the next step in your career and lead the charge in our diversity journey, read on.

At Womble Bond Dickinson, our commitment to excellence in legal services goes hand in hand with our dedication to fostering a work environment that truly reflects the diversity of the communities that we work within.  We firmly believe that an inclusive workplace is the bedrock of innovation and will be the catalyst for our continued growth and success.

As the Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, you’ll be the linchpin in our drive to shape and implement a robust DEI strategy, collaborating with our leadership team, colleague networks and other stakeholders across the business, to design and deliver initiatives that not only promote diversity and inclusion but embed them into the fabric of our firm.

What we’re looking for?

We’ve made some great progress and have many committed and dedicated individuals already working to effect change but it’s your expertise that will help us draw these threads together to really make the difference for our business and within the legal sector more widely.  As you’d expect, there are some key skills that you’ll need to be successful in this role.  As a minimum you’ll have experience:

• Within in a similar role, ideally within the legal sector or professional services more widely;
• Designing and implementing DEI strategies;
• Working with senior leadership teams, supporting in the prioritisation of strategic goals;
• Using data to make evidence based decisions;
• Working with and supporting colleague networks;

It would be helpful, but by no means essential, for you to have worked directly with clients as an element of this role will involve you engaging directly with own clients either through our bids process or networking more generally.  Your strong communication, influencing, relationship-building and stakeholder management skills will be what really allow you to have the impact that we hoping you’re looking to make.

What’s in it for you?

This is a newly created role and an exciting opportunity for you to significantly influence the way in which our business grows and develops.  You’ll be joining an HR leadership team who are already passionate about making a difference for our people, and our local communities, but recognise your experience is vital in moving us further forward.  You’ll be supported, championed and developed, not only by your HR colleagues, but also by working closely with our Board Lead for DEI giving you direct access to our senior leadership team.

We’re flexible on location, but we would like you to be close to one of our regional offices (Bristol, Plymouth, Southampton, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh). We operate a hybrid working policy and most full-time employees typically spend around 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home – however we typically have a flexible approach in practice.

What makes it great to work here?

We continually work hard to create an open culture that sets us apart from other firms. Our culture gives us much more of a human feel, emphasising that we’re more than just suits!

As signatories to the Mindful Business Charter, it’s important to us that our people are able to maintain healthy and happy lives, both in and out of work. We have a number of resources and initiatives designed to support health and wellbeing and we’re very happy to talk flexible working, full-time or part-time working patterns.

Through our DEI initiatives we create an environment in which difference is valued. We have a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group, led by our Board Lead, which works with our colleague networks (we currently have firm supported networks for race, ethnicity, and cultural heritage, LGBTQ+, disabilities, families, and women’s career development and we’re in constant dialogue with our people about how we expand our networks to better support everybody). Find out more about DEI at WBD here. We encourage applicants from all social backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, gender identities and sexual orientations.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long-term condition and need us to make any adjustments to give you the best possible recruitment process, please let us know by contacting the recruiter on the right-hand side of this page.