The right person, in the right role, at the right time

CFRS0157 - Organisational Development Manager

Shape the Future of CFRS - Join us as Our New Organisational Development Manager

This is a unique and exciting opportunity to step into a brand-new role at Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service (CFRS), where you’ll have the chance to truly make it your own.

As our Organisational Development (OD) Manager, you’ll be at the forefront of driving meaningful cultural transformation and enhancing organisational effectiveness across the service.

You’ll lead a dynamic team that includes Resourcing and Talent, Wellbeing, Fitness, and our newly established Occupational Health function. Your leadership will be key in designing, delivering, and evaluating high-impact OD initiatives that support our people and shape the future of CFRS.

We’re at a pivotal moment in our journey. Following a recent inspection by HMIC and the formation of a new Senior Leadership Team, we’re ready to embrace change and make bold improvements. This role will be central to that transformation.

If you’re passionate about people, culture, and making a lasting impact, we’d love to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership and Culture: Drive leadership development and cultural change aligned with NFCC frameworks and service values.
Workforce and Succession Planning: Lead strategic workforce planning and succession initiatives to ensure future capability and resilience.
Talent Development: Oversee high-potential and career development programmes, including coaching, mentoring, and apprenticeships.
Health and Wellbeing: Shape and lead the service’s approach to occupational health, wellbeing, and personal resilience.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: Champion inclusive practices and engagement with underrepresented groups, ensuring fairness and compliance.
Strategic Change Leadership: Act as a key partner in service transformation, supporting leaders through change with effective strategies.

Please see the Organisational Development Manager Post Specification (job description) linked here (WORD)

Details of the Post

Salary: £51,356 - £52,413

Hours: This role is 37 hours. We offer flexible work options, such as part-time working or a job share, which can be discussed at interview.

Contract: Permanent

Location: Flexible working, a mixture of home working and working from any of our stations, mainly headquarters at Penrith

Closing date: Sunday 12th October 2025 at 11:59pm

Interviews: Interviews will be held in person on Thursday 23rd October 2025. The location will be at one of our fire stations.

**This post requires a Standard DBS check**

CFRS has a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for those whose most recent employer is the Armed Forces, for Care Leavers, and for Disabled Candidates. The scheme is linked below and there is a specific section of our application form where you can mark if you consider yourself eligible. We encourage candidates to let us know so we can provide the best support and access throughout the process.
Adjustments – we strongly encourage any candidate who may require adjustments to make us aware as soon as possible, either using the section on the application form or by contacting the Resourcing Team directly (email below). We will have a confidential discussion with you and we take the approach of ‘you tell us what you require, and we will do our best to facilitate’. Where we are unable to make the adjustment, we will share this asap.

Resourcing Team email: Recruitment@cumbriafire.gov.uk

TO APPLY:

Please complete the online Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service Application Form.

Link to Application Form: https://forms.office.com/e/X2pc2y6sDR (Microsoft Forms)

Please note: We do not accept CVs.

If you have any queries at all, please contact the Resourcing and Talent team via email: Recruitment@cumbriafire.gov.uk

What We Can Offer You

With approximately 600 employees, covering operational firefighters, front facing delivery teams, corporate services, and support staff, delivering services across the county from 38 Fire Stations, we know we need to be a modern, flexible, and inclusive employer.

We offer:

Flexible working across the county, including a hybrid of homeworking and office working at one of our Wholetime stations
Free parking at our fire stations
Cycle to Work scheme
Access to station gyms, free of charge
Enrolment in either the Fire Pension Scheme or Local Government Pension Scheme (depending on your terms and conditions) - link to the Pensions page here
Occupational Health service, including counselling
Close working relationship with the Firefighters Charity, including mental and physical health support
A dedicated Wellbeing Hub – link here
On-going personal development, including apprenticeship options and leadership courses
Access to modern ICT equipment
Family friendly policies, including 45 weeks full pay for Family Leave
Menopause Policy - link here (Word document)
Support for Carers - can be found on our Wellbeing Hub
Workplace adjustments for Neurodivergent and Disabled employees
Staff Networks for a variety of different communities, including (but not limited to) Armed Forces, LGBTQ+, Menopause, Retirees

Our service is passionate about the communities we serve and dedicated to developing our workforce - if you're looking to progress in an inclusive, supportive, and dynamic fire service, we would like to hear from you!

We value the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects our communities in Cumbria. We actively encourage applications from all suitably qualified individuals, irrespective of people’s age, disability, gender, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances.

We capture Equality data on our application forms to help us review barriers in our processes for any minority group. This is optional to complete and is securely removed and accessed only by the Resourcing team to review.

Resourcing Team email: Recruitment@cumbriafire.gov.uk