Job Description:

Senior HR Business Partner - Manufacturing - Transformation & Change

Location: Home Counties

Salary: £55-75,000 + car allowance + benefits

We are partnering with a successful, ambitious manufacturing organisation to appoint an exceptional Senior HR Business Partner into a highly influential role supporting a complex, fast-paced operational environment.

This is not a traditional HRBP position.

We are looking for a commercially astute, credible and highly capable HR leader who can operate comfortably with senior leadership while remaining genuinely connected to the operational heartbeat of the business. You will work closely with senior leaders to translate business priorities into a people agenda that improves leadership capability, organisational effectiveness, performance and engagement.

Operating within a demanding manufacturing environment, you will need the judgement and resilience to challenge constructively, influence at senior level and ensure that people decisions support both immediate operational performance and the longer-term direction of the organisation.

The Role

As Senior HR Business Partner, you will act as a trusted adviser and strategic partner to senior operational and functional leaders, taking ownership of a broad and commercially focused people agenda.

Your remit will include:

• Partnering senior leaders to develop and deliver people strategies aligned to operational and commercial priorities
• Building leadership capability and raising the quality of people management across the organisation
• Coaching and challenging senior stakeholders, bringing insight, objectivity and sound judgement to complex people decisions
• Leading significant organisational change, transformation and restructuring programmes
• Driving organisational effectiveness, workforce planning and succession activity
• Identifying capability gaps and developing pragmatic plans to strengthen talent and leadership pipelines
• Creating a high-performance culture with clear expectations, accountability and effective performance management
• Using people data, insight and workforce metrics to identify trends, challenge assumptions and inform business decisions
• Supporting employee engagement and cultural development across a diverse operational workforce
• Providing senior-level guidance on complex employee relations matters and ensuring appropriate governance
• Working closely with specialist HR colleagues across Talent, Reward, Learning & Development and Employee Relations
• Contributing to the continued evolution of the wider HR function and people strategy

About You

You will already be operating as an accomplished Senior HR Business Partner, HR Business Partner or senior operational HR leader within a sizeable, complex organisation.

Critically, you will understand what it means to partner a manufacturing or similarly operational business. You will be comfortable spending time within the operation, building relationships from the shop floor through to senior leadership and understanding the commercial realities behind the people agenda.

You will bring:

• A degree – essential
• CIPD Level 7 qualification – essential
• Significant HR Business Partnering experience within a manufacturing, engineering, FMCG, food, industrial or similarly complex operational environment
• Strong experience partnering senior operational leaders
• A demonstrable track record of delivering organisational change and transformation
• Excellent knowledge of UK employment legislation and employee relations
• Experience of workforce planning, talent, succession and organisational development
• Strong commercial acumen and the ability to connect people decisions directly to business performance
• Confidence working with data and translating insight into meaningful action
• The credibility to influence, challenge and coach senior stakeholders
• A pragmatic, solutions-focused approach combined with strong professional judgement

The Individual

We are particularly interested in individuals who combine strategic capability with operational credibility.

You will be someone who asks the right questions, gets underneath the real issue and is prepared to challenge constructively when required. Equally, you will know when to move quickly, make pragmatic decisions and support leaders through demanding operational situations.

You will not simply implement HR processes. You will help shape decisions.

This is an excellent opportunity for an ambitious senior HR professional to join a substantial manufacturing organisation where the people agenda is integral to future performance.

If you are a degree-educated, CIPD Level 7 qualified HR professional with significant manufacturing or operational HR experience and the capability to influence at senior level, we would be very interested in hearing from you.

All applications and initial conversations will be treated in the strictest confidence.