Senior HR Business Partner (FTC)

About the Role:

We are seeking an experienced Senior HR Business Partner to join our HR team on a 12-month fixed-term contract to provide maternity cover. This is a fantastic opportunity for a commercially focused HR professional to partner with senior leaders, influencing business outcomes through effective people strategies and solutions.

As a trusted adviser, you will work closely with stakeholders across the organisation to align people priorities with business objectives, support organisational transformation, enhance leadership capability, and drive a positive employee experience. This role offers a broad remit spanning strategic business partnering, organisational change, talent management, employee relations, workforce planning, and culture initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:
Strategic Business Partnering

• Partner with senior leaders across designated business areas, providing strategic people advice, insight, and constructive challenge.
• Translate business objectives into effective people plans that support organisational performance and employee engagement.
• Build trusted relationships with key stakeholders and act as a credible adviser on both strategic and operational people matters.
• Coach and support leaders to strengthen management capability, confidence, and decision-making.

Organisational Change & Effectiveness

• Support business transformation, organisational change, and integration activity, ensuring people considerations are embedded within key decisions.
• Lead workforce planning, organisational design, and restructuring initiatives.
• Identify current and future capability requirements and develop solutions to address business needs.
• Collaborate with specialist teams to deliver organisation-wide change and people programmes.

Talent, Performance & Succession

• Lead talent and succession planning activities across assigned business areas.
• Identify critical roles, capability gaps, succession risks, and development opportunities.
• Support leaders in building diverse talent pipelines and high-performing teams.
• Drive effective performance management practices and support key people processes, including performance reviews, talent reviews, and compensation cycles.

Culture & Employee Engagement

• Champion organisational culture, values, and behaviours across the business.
• Use employee feedback and people insights to drive engagement, inclusion, and organisational effectiveness.
• Support leaders in creating an environment that promotes collaboration, high performance, and a positive employee experience.

People Analytics & Workforce Planning

• Analyse workforce metrics and people data to identify trends, risks, and opportunities.
• Provide evidence-based recommendations to support business and workforce decisions.
• Monitor key people indicators and proactively address emerging workforce and capability concerns.

Employee Relations & Risk Management

• Lead complex employee relations matters in partnership with the Head of Employee Relations.
• Advise managers on disciplinary issues, grievances, absence management, restructures, dismissals, performance concerns, conflict resolution, and PHI cases.
• Ensure people decisions are fair, consistent, commercially balanced, and aligned with employment law and company policies.
• Identify and escalate significant people risks where appropriate.

HR Collaboration & Delivery

• Work closely with HR colleagues and specialist teams to deliver coordinated and effective people solutions.
• Ensure HR policies, processes, and annual cycles are implemented effectively across assigned business areas.
• Share insight, expertise, and best practice across the wider HR function.
• Build strong internal relationships to ensure business needs are supported through the most appropriate HR expertise.

About You:

You will be an experienced and credible HR professional who combines strong commercial awareness with excellent stakeholder management skills. You will be comfortable operating in a changing environment, influencing senior leaders, and balancing business objectives with people priorities.

Skills & Experience:

• Proven experience operating as an HR Business Partner, Senior HR Adviser, or in a similar partnering role.
• Experience influencing and advising senior leaders on complex people matters.
• Strong track record of supporting organisational change, transformation, and restructuring programmes.
• Experience in workforce planning, organisational design, talent management, and succession planning.
• Significant employee relations experience, including handling sensitive and complex cases.
• Strong coaching, influencing, and relationship-building skills.
• Excellent analytical capability with experience using people data and insights to inform decision-making.
• Sound knowledge of UK employment law and modern HR practices.
• Strong commercial awareness and the ability to translate business objectives into practical people solutions.
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to balance competing priorities and operate effectively in a complex, evolving organisation.

Qualifications:

• CIPD qualified, part-qualified, or able to demonstrate equivalent professional experience.
• Experience within Financial Services, Professional Services, a regulated environment, or another complex organisation would be advantageous.