Head of People & Culture

Location: Sydney

Contract Type: Fixed Term

MinterEllison is one of Australia’s largest independent law and consulting firms. With a heritage of almost 200 years, we are known for our excellence, and our authentic and enduring relationships with our clients, our people and our communities. Clients seek out MinterEllison to help them solve complex problems every day. We do this by our full-service legal offering and complementary consulting offering.

We offer opportunities to work on industry-leading mandates for top-tier clients, while being part of a high-performing and collaborative team that values excellence, diversity of thought, curiosity, and inclusion. We value our people and empower them to achieve their ambitions - with the support, trust and autonomy to grow their careers in meaningful ways.

At MinterEllison, we're leading the way with AI and other emerging technologies, powering innovation right across our firm. You will have the opportunity to engage with AI tools we've built, and other external AI tools, to enhance efficiencies and excellence internally and with our clients.

We support sustainable ways of working regarding how, when and where you work and offer a wide range of social, financial and health benefits (see https://www.minterellison.com/-/media/Minter-Ellison/Files/Careers/MinterEllison-Employee-Benefits-Dec_2025.pdf)

The Team

Our People & Culture team shapes the organisation, capabilities and culture that enable MinterEllison’s people and business to perform at their best.

This senior leadership role sits within Talent Experience and partners across Business Operations, encompassing Digital, Finance, AI, Client and Market Growth, People & Culture and Corporate Services. Working closely with the Director, Strategic Business Partnering, the Chief Operating Officer and functional leaders, you will connect people strategy with the firm’s evolving business priorities.

You will join a collaborative, commercially focused environment where organisation design, workforce planning, cultural transformation and change adoption come together. This is an opportunity to influence how the functions that run the firm operate, respond to technological change and build the capabilities required for the future.

Your Role

In this fixed-term contract role. As Head of People and Culture, Business Operations, you will lead the people and culture strategy for the firm’s Business Operations functions. You will help create an integrated, adaptive organisation by connecting organisation design, workforce planning, cultural transformation and change with the firm’s strategic priorities.

Drawing on broad HR business partnering experience, you will provide commercially grounded advice across the employee lifecycle while helping senior leaders navigate complex organisational, workforce and cultural change.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Developing multi-year organisation and workforce plans that connect capability, succession and capacity with firm strategy and business demand.
• Working with senior leaders and supported by our People & Culture Centres of Excellence, to deliver operating model and organisation design initiatives, including spans and layers, role architecture and capacity modelling.
• Designing and leading change strategies, impact assessments and adoption plans across multiple Business Operations functions.
• Translating cultural ambitions into clear leadership behaviours, team practices, measures and reinforcing people processes.
• Using culture diagnostics, pulse data and people analytics to identify priorities, guide action and measure progress.
• Coaching senior leaders through complex transitions, while leading the people side of AI and digital adoption and developing the Business Operations people and culture team.

We welcome applications from experienced people and culture leaders who bring:

• A strong generalist HR business partnering background gained within professional services or another complex organisation.
• Experience advising senior leaders across the employee lifecycle, supported by sound judgement and a strong understanding of business priorities.
• Proven delivery of organisation design and large-scale change programs, with measurable adoption and business outcomes.
• Demonstrated experience diagnosing culture, shaping leadership behaviours and sustaining cultural change over time.
• Experience partnering with technology, finance, growth or corporate functions, with confidence operating in environments shaped by digital and AI-driven change.
• A postgraduate qualification, or equivalent, in human resources, organisational psychology, business or a related discipline, with change management accreditation highly regarded.

This role will suit a leader who enjoys redesigning how organisations work and carrying that work through to implementation. You will balance commercial and operational priorities with the experience of people navigating change, challenge constructively and remain closely involved through to adoption

How to apply

We encourage applications from people of all ages, abilities, cultural backgrounds, genders (including trans or gender diverse), LGBTQ+ people and those with carer responsibilities. We particularly encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to apply.

We prefer to connect with people directly, so please submit your CV by clicking on the 'Apply' button. We encourage all applications, including if you do not meet all the criteria listed for the role. Your application will also enable us to consider you for other opportunities that may be available at MinterEllison.

If you are currently a MinterEllison employee, please apply through the internal careers page.

If you would like further information, require any adjustments throughout the recruitment process or for a confidential discussion, please contact Simon.Gillin@minterellison.com.