Senior HR Business Partner - North East & Yorkshire

Join us as a Senior HR Business Partner and play a pivotal role in driving the people agenda. We’re looking for a credible, experienced and commercially minded Senior HR Business Partner to join our HR team. This is a critical role supporting our North East & Yorkshire business – an area with high operational demands and a fast-changing landscape. The postholder will be central to shaping and delivering an effective people strategy aligned to our UK Bus Medium Term Plan (MTP).

About the role

Reporting to the HR Director - Regions, you’ll act as a trusted partner to senior stakeholders, providing strategic and operational HR leadership to drive performance, engagement, and change. You’ll deputise for the HR Director when required and act as a key escalation point for the wider Operations team. Working collaboratively with colleagues across HR, Operations and our Trade Union partners, you’ll deliver meaningful HR solutions that support both our people and our business objectives. This is a truly influential role for someone passionate about building capability, leading change, and creating a culture where our people can thrive.

Key responsibilities

• Partner with senior leaders to deliver the people plan and provide a best-in-class HR service.
• Drive and influence the strategic business planning process through effective HR solutions.
• Lead HR workstreams for major business change initiatives, ensuring smooth and effective implementation.
• Build strong relationships with Trade Union representatives, promoting a culture of partnership and collaboration.
• Coach, advise and support senior management, HRBPs and ER Partners to ensure consistency and mitigate risk.
• Support employee engagement and wellbeing initiatives to drive performance and retention.
• Champion talent management, succession planning and learning initiatives to build organisational capability.
• Promote the use of self-service through the HR Hub, empowering managers and colleagues with accessible guidance and tools.
• Deputise for the Operations HR Director as required, providing leadership and direction across the wider HR team.

About you

You’ll be an experienced and resilient HR professional with strong generalist experience and the confidence to influence and challenge at a senior level. You’ll have a proven track record of delivering people strategies in complex, unionised environments, with the ability to balance commercial priorities and employee advocacy. You’ll also bring:

• Strong knowledge of HR management, processes and systems at both a tactical and strategic level.
• Experience of managing industrial and employee relations in a highly unionised environment.
• A sound understanding of business change management with demonstrable experience delivering transformation.
• Excellent communication, influencing and negotiation skills.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities effectively.
• Ideally CIPD Level 7 qualification (or equivalent experience) and a commitment to ongoing professional development.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office and HR systems.

Why Arriva? At Arriva, we’re proud to connect communities and make a real difference to people’s lives every day. You’ll join a supportive, inclusive environment where your expertise will have tangible impact. We’re committed to developing our people, and you’ll have the opportunity to shape the future of HR across a key region of our business.