People Partner in Birmingham

Birmingham City Football Club is on the rise. With an incredible history dating back to 1875, Birmingham City Football Club is part of an exciting period of accelerated growth and modernisation, playing its part in a once-in-a-generation opportunity to support the transformation of England’s second city as part of the Sports Quarter project.

With significant investment across our football, commercial, and community operations, we are rebuilding the Club for long-term success — on and off the pitch. The journey we’re on involves strengthening our structures, elevating our performance environments, growing our teams, and investing heavily in the people, processes and culture that will define the next chapter of Birmingham City FC.

Birmingham City Football Club is entering a period of significant growth and transformation. As we strengthen our People & Culture function and continue to build a modern, inclusive and high-performing organisation, we are seeking a People Partner to play a key role in shaping the employee experience across the Club.

This is a pivotal role supporting our Women & Girls programme, Commercial, Partnerships and Operations teams, working closely with leaders to deliver people strategies that enable performance, engagement and long-term success.

People & Culture Team

Our People & Culture team brings together the People Services, Talent Acquisition, and Inclusion teams to support the career journeys of our employees. Working closely together, the team is developing a values-driven culture and workplace at BCFC, where people can thrive and succeed. We’re a team of change makers, supporting individuals and teams across the club to achieve their objectives, and be ready for the future.

About the Role

The People Partner will act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders and managers across their assigned departments. You will support the delivery of the Club’s People & Culture strategy, providing expert guidance across organisational design, performance management, employee relations, learning and development, wellbeing, reward, inclusion and engagement. You will also lead and contribute to people projects that help elevate the employee experience and support the Club’s ambitions during an exciting phase of growth.

You’ll be experienced in building solid relationships with your stakeholders, be able to advise and coach confidently, be a natural problem-solver and be commercially astute. You don’t need to have worked within the football industry before but having a great understanding of elite sports or organisations with multi-delivery models, alongside experience of adapting your practice to different contexts would be really helpful.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategy & Planning
  • Partner with leaders to translate departmental objectives into effective people strategies and plans
  • Contribute to long-term People & Culture planning, bringing insight from assigned business areas
  • Advise on organisational design, workforce planning, succession planning and team effectiveness
  • Support seasonal compensation processes and people-related project work
  • Maintain consistent engagement with stakeholders through regular one-to-ones
• Employee Experience, Engagement & Wellbeing
  • Support and coach managers through performance check-in cycles and effective goal setting
  • Deliver engagement and feedback initiatives, including onboarding, surveys, focus groups and exit insights
  • Design and deliver workshops and initiatives that embed Club values, culture and behaviours
  • Support reward, recognition and internal communication initiatives
  • Act as a key point of contact for managers and employees within assigned departments
• Employee Relations
  • Provide expert advice and guidance on ER casework
  • Support fair, consistent and legally compliant outcomes across disciplinaries, grievances, restructures, absence and performance management
  • Maintain up-to-date knowledge of employment legislation and best practice
• Learning & Development
  • Develop seasonal learning and development plans aligned to departmental and individual needs
  • Coach senior leaders and managers to build capability and improve performance
  • Identify and coordinate appropriate training interventions
• Data, Systems, Policies & Process
  • Produce quarterly people insight reports to inform leadership decision-making
  • Use people data to identify trends, opportunities and risks
  • Support the implementation and optimisation of the Club’s HR Information System
  • Ensure policies and procedures remain current, compliant and aligned to best practice
  • Support the development of workflows and process improvements across People & Culture
• Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility
  • Contribute to the delivery of the Club’s EDI strategy in partnership with the Inclusion & Wellbeing Lead
  • Champion inclusive practices and proactively identify opportunities to improve access, equity and belonging
• Partnership & Collaboration
  • Work collaboratively across People & Culture, including Talent Acquisition and Inclusion & Wellbeing
  • Build trusted relationships across the Club, communicating clearly and consistently
  • Act with confidence, pragmatism and empathy in a dynamic environment
  • Role model Club values and champion a positive working culture

What We’re Looking For

Qualifications & Experience

• CIPD Level 5 or 7 qualified, or qualified through experience
• Previous experience in a generalist HR Business Partner or People Partner role
• Experience supporting fast-paced, complex organisations
• Proven experience advising on and leading change initiatives
• Strong experience managing employee relations casework

Skills & Capabilities

• Strong relationship-building skills with stakeholders at all levels
• Excellent organisation and prioritisation skills
• Confidence working with people data, reporting and insight
• Tech-savvy, with experience using HR systems and platforms to improve employee experience
• Strong communication, influencing and negotiation skills
• High attention to detail and commitment to confidentiality
• A proactive, solutions-focused mindset
• Ability to work flexibly, including occasional evenings and weekends

Personal Qualities

• Empathetic, collaborative and calm under pressure
• Passionate about inclusion, wellbeing and accessibility
• Energised by working in football and contributing to community impact

Terms of Appointment

37.5 hours per week. Hybrid working policy, up to 2 days remote working per week. 23 days annual leave, increases with length of service.

Additional Information

Flexibility with working hours is required to meet the demands of the role. Applicants must be eligible to live and work in the UK. A DBS check will be required. Full UK driving licence and access to own transport required due to multi-site working.

Equality, Diversity & Safeguarding

Birmingham City FC is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. Reasonable adjustments will be made throughout the recruitment process as needed.