Senior People Business Partner in Cardiff

About Acuity Law

We are a leading UK law firm renowned for our commitment to excellence, client service, and delivering innovative legal solutions. Our firm is recognised for its collaborative and dynamic working environment, offering high-quality legal advice to a diverse range of clients, from multinational corporations and financial institutions to SMEs, start-ups and high-net-worth individuals. We pride ourselves on fostering professional growth, encouraging innovation, and maintaining an inclusive and supportive culture.

About The Role

This is a key role within Acuity, designed to support the continued growth and development of the firm’s employed workforce. The Senior People Business Partner will act as a trusted advisor to Senior Partners, the COO, Finance Director, Commercial Director and Board, providing practical, commercially focused people support across the business. The role is focused on helping leaders manage their teams effectively, navigate people challenges and build high-performing, engaged teams. The position combines advisory input with hands-on delivery, supporting the development of consistent and effective people practices across the firm. It will play an important role in enabling a technology-enabled workforce and supporting the firm’s ability to deliver high-quality legal services through its people. Importantly, this role operates as a support function. Accountability for team management, performance decisions and team structures remains with Partners and senior leadership. The role provides guidance, insight and frameworks to support informed and consistent decision-making.

About The Team

You will work closely with Senior Partners, fee earners and the wider business support teams, including Compliance, Finance, Operations and Marketing. The role sits within a lean People function and is focused on supporting those who deliver legal services day-to-day, ensuring they are equipped to manage their teams effectively and consistently. A key part of the role is building strong, trusted relationships across the firm, particularly with Senior Partners and fee earners, understanding the practical realities of their teams and providing pragmatic, accessible people support. The People function plays an important role in enabling performance, supporting effective team management and ensuring consistent people practices, while remaining aligned to the firm’s commercial objectives and ways of working.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic People Partnership
  • Act as a trusted advisor to Senior Partners, COO, Finance Director, Commercial Director and Board, providing practical, commercially focused people advice.
  • Support the development and delivery of the firm’s People Strategy, ensuring alignment with our growth objectives and operational priorities.
  • Contribute to workforce planning discussions, providing insight on capability, structure and future talent requirements.
  • Work with senior stakeholders to ensure people considerations are effectively integrated into business decision-making.
  • Provide balanced input and challenge where appropriate, while respecting the autonomy and accountability of Partners and leadership.
• Performance & Management Support
  • Support the ongoing development and consistent application of the firm’s performance management framework.
  • Work with Senior Partners and managers to prepare for and deliver effective performance conversations, manage underperformance in a timely and pragmatic way, and support the development and progression of team members.
  • Provide support and guidance to managers to build confidence and capability in people management.
  • Support consistency of approach across the firm, while recognising differences in team structures and leadership styles.
• Supporting Senior Leadership & Decision Making
  • Provide responsive, practical support to the COO, FD and Commercial Director on people-related matters impacting their respective areas.
  • Support the Board and senior leadership with insight on people risks, retention challenges, capability gaps, and organisational effectiveness.
  • Prepare and present clear, concise people updates and insights where required.
  • Act as a sounding board for senior stakeholders on complex or sensitive people issues.
• Creating an Environment for Success
  • Help identify and address barriers to individual and team performance, including unclear roles or expectations, capability gaps, and process inefficiencies.
  • Support initiatives that promote engagement, wellbeing and sustainable performance.
  • Encourage consistent people practices across the firm while maintaining flexibility for different teams.
• Employee Relations & Risk
  • Lead and manage employee relations matters, providing pragmatic and commercially focused advice.
  • Support Senior Partners and managers in handling ER matters confidently and appropriately.
  • Ensure consistent and fair application of policies and procedures across the firm.
  • Support early identification and mitigation of people-related risks.
  • Maintain awareness of employment law developments and support the firm in remaining compliant.
• Reward, Benefits & Retention
  • Provide market insight and benchmarking data to support decision-making on reward, benefits and salary positioning.
  • Work closely with the Finance Director to support the implementation of salary reviews, bonus processes and reward frameworks.
  • Support the senior leadership team on the development and delivery of retention strategies for key individuals and teams.
  • Ensure alignment between performance, contribution and reward, through guidance rather than ownership.
• Learning & Development
  • Support Senior Partners and leadership in identifying development needs across teams.
  • Facilitate and coordinate training initiatives aligned to firm priorities.
  • Support the development of clear and consistent career pathways.
  • Encourage a culture of continuous development and professional growth across the firm.
• HR Operations & Continuous Improvement
  • Support the effective delivery of HR operations, working closely with the COO and People Administrator to ensure consistent and efficient processes and oversee day-to-day HR activity through the People Administrator, ensuring accuracy of employee data, timely handling of employee lifecycle processes, and consistent application of policies and procedures.
  • Identify opportunities to improve HR processes and workflows, with a focus on reducing administrative burden on fee earners, improving consistency across the firm, and enhancing the employee experience.
  • Work with Operations and IT to support the effective use of HR systems (HRIS), ensuring data is accurate, accessible and used effectively.
  • Support the implementation of new systems, tools or processes, ensuring adoption is practical and aligned to how the firm operates.
  • Contribute to the development of simple, clear and scalable people processes that support business growth.
• Data & Insight
  • Provide clear, practical people data and insights to support decision-making by key stakeholders and track and report on key people metrics, including attrition, absence, performance trends, and engagement indicators.
  • Use data to highlight trends, risks and opportunities, providing recommendations where appropriate.
  • Support the development of more robust people reporting capabilities over time.
  • Monitor external market trends to ensure the firm remains competitive and well-informed.

Year One Deliverables

• Embed a consistent and effective performance management framework across the firm.
• Build strong, credible relationships with Partners and senior leadership.
• Support adoption of key people systems and processes to improve efficiency.
• Provide clear insight on people data to inform decision-making.
• Contribute to the development of a high performance and engaged workforce.

About You

You are an experienced and commercially minded People professional operating at a senior business partnering level within a legal or professional services environment.

Experience & Background:

• Senior HR Business Partner experience in legal or professional services.
• Experience working with senior stakeholders and Partners.
• Strong performance management and ER experience.
• Experience supporting organisational change.
• Exposure to technology-enabled environments.

Skills & Capability:

• Commercially astute.
• Strong influencing and coaching ability.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Ability to manage complexity.
• Analytical mindset.
• Proactive and solutions-focused.

Qualifications

• MSc in HR / People Studies (or equivalent).
• CIPD Level 7 (preferred).

Why Join Us?

A unique opportunity to shape and evolve the people strategy within a growing and ambitious law firm. A high-impact role with direct exposure to senior leadership and the Board, offering the opportunity to drive meaningful change in how the firm manages and develops its people.

Next Steps

For a confidential discussion, please contact our recruitment team. We look forward to welcoming a talented professional to our growing team.