People Partner

The People Partner leads the delivery of a high-performing, commercially focused HR service for an allocated Retail strand or Head Office area.

Working closely with the HR Manager, the role provides visible leadership across the Senior HR Advisor, HR Advisor and allocated HR Administrator resource, setting clear expectations around standards, ownership, pace, judgement, colleague care and continuous improvement

This is a leadership and business-partnering role, responsible for building team capability, strengthening ER practice, owning absence activity, supporting organisational change and using data and case insight to identify themes, risks and practical actions.

The postholder will be expected to think beyond day-to-day case management, provide clear recommendations, challenge where needed and help improve the overall service provided by the People Team.

The role requires strong technical HR judgement, confidence working with senior stakeholders, effective line management and the ability to operate with autonomy.

The People Partner will support restructures, redundancy activity, consultation, TUPE matters and complex ER cases, while ensuring the HR Manager has clear updates on progress, priorities, risks and areas requiring intervention.

The People Partner is expected to operate as a confident leadership and business-partnering role within their allocated strand.

The role is distinct from the Senior HR Advisor and HR Advisor through its accountability for line management, team development, senior stakeholder relationships, absence ownership, data-led planning, organisational change support, service improvement and the proactive delivery of agreed priorities with the HR Manager.

The postholder should demonstrate visible leadership, strong judgement, ownership and higher-level thinking, ensuring the team works to consistently high standards and that risks, themes, progress and recommendations are clearly communicated.

The role will primarily be office based at Birchwood, Warrington, with flexibility and travel to Retail locations and other company sites regularly required for significant ER matters, organisational change, stakeholder relationships, Investigator support or other business needs.

Responsibilities

• Business Partnering & Strand Ownership
• Act as the senior HR contact for the allocated Retail strand or Head Office area, building credible relationships with operational and senior leaders.
• Understand business priorities, people risks and operational pressures, turning these into clear HR actions and priorities for the team.
• Provide commercially balanced advice that manages employment, colleague, reputational and organisational risk.
• Identify issues early, challenge appropriately and provide the HR Manager with clear findings, risks and recommended action.
• Team Leadership & Line Management
• Line manage, coach and develop the Senior HR Advisor and HR Advisor, including 1:1s, performance reviews, development conversations and underperformance management where needed.
• Set clear expectations around quality, ownership, case progression, documentation, judgement, customer service and professional behaviour.
• Build capability within the team so colleagues take ownership, make sound decisions and reduce unnecessary dependency on senior HR colleagues.
• Create a positive, high-performing team culture where work is shared fairly, standards matter and colleagues support each other.
• Provide allocated leadership for shared HR Administrator resource, ensuring administration, ticket triage and case coordination support are used effectively.
• HR Service, Data & Insight
• Maintain oversight of ER activity, case quality, ageing, risk, absence, outstanding actions and workload across the allocated area.
• Ensure cases are progressed proactively, advice is consistent and formal documentation is accurate, clear and able to stand up to internal, appeal or tribunal scrutiny.
• Analyse case activity, absence, turnover, conduct, capability, grievance and other agreed measures to identify themes and practical action.
• Provide structured updates to the HR Manager, clearly explaining what the data shows, why it matters, what action has been taken and what support or decision is required.
• Absence Management
• Take overall ownership for absence activity across the allocated area, ensuring priorities, risks and next steps are clear.
• Use absence data and case information to identify trends, repeat issues, management gaps and areas where progress has stalled.
• Hold the team accountable for accurate absence information, proactive case progression, clear documentation and timely updates.
• Challenge operational managers where absence is not being managed consistently, fairly or in line with policy.
• Change, Collaboration & Improvement
• Support restructures, redundancy processes, consultation, TUPE matters, contractual change and wider organisational change activity.
• Work closely with other People Partners to maintain consistent standards, share learning and provide peer challenge and cross-cover where required.
• Identify opportunities to improve HR processes, ticket management, systems, manager capability, engagement and ways of working.
• Ensure learning from cases, investigations and business activity is translated into stronger practice, better manager capability and improved colleague outcomes.
• What you'll need to succeed

Essential

• Strong technical HR and employee relations knowledge, with confidence making decisions, accepting accountability and giving clear direction.
• Working knowledge of TUPE, restructures, redundancy, collective and individual consultation, organisational change and related employment law considerations.
• Demonstrable people-management capability, with the confidence and desire to coach, stretch and develop Senior HR Advisors, HR Advisors and allocated HR Administrator resource.
• Strong leadership presence, with the ability to set standards, create accountability, drive engagement and build a positive, high-performing team culture.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication, influencing and constructive challenge skills, with the ability to build credibility at pace.
• Commercial judgement and ability to balance business requirements with employment risk, colleague impact and operational practicality.
• Strong analytical capability, with the ability to identify themes, report key findings and turn HR data, case activity and absence information into meaningful action.
• Proactive, organised and able to operate autonomously, taking ownership of priorities and following agreed actions through to completion.
• Excellent collaboration skills, a continuous-improvement mindset and the ability to maintain a clear, open and proactive relationship with the HR Manager.

Desirable

• CIPD Level 7 or equivalent senior HR experience.
• Experience in a fast-paced, multi-site Retail, hospitality or regulated environment.
• Experience supporting organisational change, restructures, redundancy, TUPE, consultation or changes to operating models.
• Experience contributing to people plans, engagement activity, policy implementation, manager capability building, workforce planning or HR project delivery.
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