HR Manager

We are recruiting for a HR Manager (Maternity Cover) to join a global company who have their UK Head Office based here in Leighton Buzzard. This is a 12-month FTC role, however, could progress into future opportunities within the business.

Location: Leighton Buzzard, working 3-days in the office, with the flexibility to work 2-days remotely.

Contract Type: FTC maternity cover, 12-months. Could lead to future opportunities within the business.

Working Hours: Full time. Start time would be 08:30am, working 37.5 hours a week.

Salary: As per advert, however, could be discussed.

Overview:

• The Human Resources Manager would act as the strategic HR business partner to leaders and employees across the UK, South East Asia & Europe. To provide focused HR guidance, support & partnership in line with company policies. The role is responsible for delivering/improving the people agenda across the region, including employee relations, talent acquisition, performance management, compensation & benefits, learning/development, employee engagement, organisational change, workforce planning & HR operations. The HR Manager ensures HR practices are legally compliant, consistent with the company & Corporate HR policies.

Duties:

• Partners with senior leaders & line managers to support the business strategy, workforce planning & organisational capability.

• Provides expert HR advice/guidance to managers on employee relations matters, including disciplinary, grievance, absence, capability, performance, probation & other complex employee matters.

• Partners with senior leaders on organisational design, restructuring, redundancy & change management activities.

• Leads UK recruitment activity, partnering closely with hiring managers and recruitment agencies to manage vacancies from approval/sourcing through to offer and onboarding.

• Manages the end-of-end employee lifecycle for the UK, including offers, employment contracts, new hire documentation, onboarding, contractual changes & leaver processes.

• Manages UK payroll administration in close partnership with Payroll, ensuring employee changes and payroll inputs are accurate & processed to deadlines.

• Leads/coordinates the annual performance & development cycle, including goal setting, development plans, mid-year & year-end reviews, & merit/bonus processes.

• Supports talent/succession planning, identifying development needs, critical roles & opportunities.

• Leads learning/development initiatives across the region, including apprenticeships, professional development & management capability programmes.

• Manages the UK employee benefits offering, including the implementation and launch of new benefits, annual renewals, vendor relationships, employee communications & administration.

• Supports compensation/reward activities, including salary benchmarking, job descriptions, job evaluation to ensure reward practices remain competitive, fair & aligned with business requirements.

• Manages the HRIS for the region, ensuring employee data integrity, system functionality and effective HR processes.

• Owns HR reporting/analysis, including monthly headcount, turnover, absence, recruitment, employee relations & other key people metrics.

• Manages employee listening/engagement activities, including employee surveys, roundtables, communications & action planning.

• Leads/coordinates employee engagement initiatives & Company events for the UK site.

• Owns the review, development, implementation & ongoing maintenance of UK HR policies, procedures & Employee Handbook.

• Ensures HR processes and practices across the assigned region comply with applicable local employment legislation/regulatory requirements.

• Leads/supports HR projects & cross-functional initiatives.

• Identifies opportunities to continuously improve HR processes, systems and services.

Requirements:

• CIPD Level 5 qualification or above, or equivalent HR/professional experience.

• Significant generalist HR experience, ideally within a manufacturing environment.

• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law, with experience supporting employees across multiple countries, is highly desirable.

• Demonstrable experience managing complex employee relations matters, including disciplinary, grievance, capability, absence & performance management.

• Experience supporting organisational change, restructuring & redundancy processes.

• Strong experience across recruitment, compensation/benefits, performance management, talent development & employee engagement.

• Ability to build credible relationships & influence managers/senior leaders at all levels of the organisation.

• Commercial minded, with the ability to translate business requirements into practical HR solutions.

• Strong analytical skills with experience interpreting HR data, trends/metrics to support business decisions.

• Excellent written/verbal communication, presentation, organisation & project management skills.

• Strong knowledge of HRIS platforms & Microsoft Office; experience using Dayforce is preferred.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities, work independently & exercise sound judgement when handling confidential and sensitive matters.