Head of Health & Safety 

Salary: £60,400 - £70,000 per annum 

Location: Cambridge, UK/Hybrid 

Contract: Permanent 

Hours: 35 hours per week 

The health and safety of our people is our number one priority — and we're looking for a leader who believes great safety culture is built through trust, collaboration and meaningful partnerships.

We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world-leading academic publisher and assessment organisation, and a proud part of the University of Cambridge. 

We are seeking an internationally experienced leader to become our Head of Health & Safety – an important role with a truly global remit covering around 75 locations and business activities across at least 50 countries. This is your opportunity to shape and embed a people-centred safety strategy across a diverse, international organisation, working in close partnership with senior leaders to influence, guide and support safe and effective ways of working in a primarily office-based environment. 
 
About the role  

As Head of Health & Safety, you will be responsible for shaping and embedding a culture of safety, resilience and accountability across all areas and operations. As the organisation's principal health & safety advisor and competent person, you will provide assurance to senior leaders across the organisation, ensuring compliance with international standards whilst driving best practice. 

This role operates within a business partnering model, where success is built on strong relationships, trust and influence. You will work closely with leaders and teams across our global offices, embedding practical, proportionate and commercially aware health & safety solutions that support both our people and organisational goals. 

You will be a trusted partner to senior leaders and global teams, advocating balanced and pragmatic health & safety practices in an organisationally complex, largely office-based environment. You will be part of our wider resilience functions, collaborating with wellbeing, workplace management, UK property & safety, business continuity, and travel team. 

As Head of Health & Safety, you will be part of an innovative culture that is always looking for new ways to solve the challenges we face. 

Additional responsibilities and accountabilities include: 

• Set and assure the global health & safety strategy, owning the framework, policies and governance aligned to ISO 45001, and ensuring compliance with evolving legislation worldwide.  

• Embed a proactive, people-centred safety culture, leading risk management, audits, incident investigation and emergency response while influencing stakeholders and partnering across resilience functions.  

• Lead, develop and innovate, build a high-performing global health & safety team, leveraging data, insight and emerging technologies to drive continuous improvement and inform senior decision-making. 

This position has been classified as a hybrid role, requiring the selected candidate to typically spend 40-60% of their time collaborating and connecting face-to-face at their dedicated location. Aside from our hybrid principles, other flexible working requests will be considered from the first day of employment, including other work arrangements should you require adjustments due to a disability or long-term health condition. 

About You  

You are an experienced global health & safety leader with a strong background in office-based, professional environments. You bring a blend of strategic insight and hands-on operational capability, and are comfortable navigating complexity with resilience, pragmatism and sound judgement.  

Effective people and influencing skills are essential in this role. You lead with integrity and influence rather than mandate, using your relationship-building skills to embed robust people-centred health & safety management systems that enhance the employee and visitor experience. 

You use data, insights and KPIs to inform strategy and decision-making, and are passionate about developing balanced, realistic, inclusive and supportive management systems. You thrive in a global, matrixed organisations and can naturally embed our Global Operations ethos of Agility, Resilience and Efficiency into how you lead and deliver. 

If you meet the above minimum requirements listed above and in the job description, we encourage you to apply. Your application will be even stronger if you can also demonstrate the following desirable criteria:

• Chartered professional status (or working towards) and experience leading ISO 45001 implementation in a global context.  

• A strong global mindset, with a proven ability to influence geographically dispersed teams, manage outsourced partners and collaborate effectively across cultures. 

For a detailed job description, please refer to the link at the bottom of the advert on our careers site.  

We are a Disability Confident (DC) employer that is committed to equality and inclusion ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. The DC scheme's Offer of an Interview commitment applies to applicants who opt in, and disclose a disability or a long-term health condition, and best meet the minimum criteria for the role. In instances where interviewing all qualifying candidates is not practicable, we prioritise those who best meet the minimum criteria, as we would for applicants who do not have a disability or long-term health condition.  

Cambridge University Press & Assessment is an approved UK employer for the sponsorship of eligible roles and applicants under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please refer to the gov.uk website for guidance to understand your own eligibility based on the role you are applying for.