HR and People Manager in Wendover

Location: Wendover, Buckinghamshire

Employment: Full-time, Permanent

Salary: £50,000–£60,000 depending on experience

Reports to: Directors

About Caswells

Caswell Maintenance Services Ltd is a growing, family‑owned construction, maintenance and project delivery business, working across the UK on commercial refurbishment, retail, maintenance and specialist works for a range of national clients.

As we’ve grown, so have our people, systems and responsibilities. We’re now looking for an experienced HR professional to take genuine ownership of our people function and help us become a stronger, better organised business. This is not simply an HR administration role - we want a trusted member of the management team who can provide confident HR advice and take broader ownership of the running of our head office.

The Role

The HR and People Manager will lead the day-to-day HR function across Caswells. Working directly with the Directors and managers, you’ll provide practical, commercially sensible advice and own the employee journey from recruitment and onboarding through to development, performance management and, where necessary, exit processes.

Alongside HR, you’ll have oversight of our head-office operations, not personally completing every task, but ensuring the office is organised and effective and responsibilities are clear. We expect the role to be approximately 70–75% HR & People and 25–30% Office & Business Operations.

Key Responsibilities – HR & People

• HR Leadership: Own the HR function and be the first point of contact for managers and Directors, helping build a culture where managers manage their teams well and working on people decisions and future structure.
• Employee Relations: Confidently manage the full range of ER matters – absence, conduct, capability, grievances, disciplinaries, flexible working, probation and exits – fairly, consistently and in line with employment law.
• Performance Management: Own and develop our probation, appraisals, improvement plans and objective setting, identifying poor performance early and helping retain and develop good people.
• Recruitment & Workforce Planning: Own recruitment end to end – adverts, screening, interviews, offers and pre‑employment checks – and support workforce and succession planning as we grow.
• Onboarding: Ensure every new employee receives a professional, organised introduction, coordinating contracts, policies, inductions, training and probation.
• Learning & Development: Identify skills gaps, maintain training and competency records, support progression, and help managers become better people managers.
• Policies, Compliance & Reporting: Maintain and improve HR policies, keep accurate and confidential records, keep the Directors informed of employment‑law changes, and provide useful HR information (headcount, turnover, absence, appraisals, training and risks) to support decisions and flag problems early.

Key Responsibilities – Office & Business Operations

• Head Office Management: Take overall responsibility for a professional, organised and effective head office, with clear responsibilities and good communication between departments. Provide structure and direction to admin and business‑support staff, identifying duplicate work and poor processes.
• Communication & Culture: Improve communication across the business, maintaining clear lines between Directors, managers, office and operational teams, and help us keep the good parts of being family‑owned while building a culture of accountability, teamwork, fairness and high standards.

The Person We’re Looking For

We’re looking for someone who combines professional HR knowledge with common sense, comfortable in a growing SME where no two days are the same. You’ll be confident, approachable, commercial, fair, organised, proactive and hands‑on, happy being part of the business rather than running HR from the sidelines. We don’t want an HR function built on paperwork, or one that prevents managers from managing; we want someone who can protect the business, treat employees fairly and help managers make sensible decisions.

Essential Experience

• Strong generalist HR experience, including independently managing employee relations cases.
• Good working knowledge of UK employment law and experience advising managers.
• Experience managing disciplinary, grievance, capability and absence processes.
• Recruitment, onboarding and performance‑management experience.
• Excellent written communication and strong organisational skills.
• Confidence working directly with senior management or business owners, handling confidential information.

Qualifications

CIPD Level 5 or equivalent experience preferred; CIPD Level 7 advantageous. We value practical HR experience highly alongside formal qualifications.

Desirable Experience

Experience within construction, facilities management, engineering, maintenance, manufacturing, property, logistics, field‑based workforces or owner‑managed/growing SMEs would be particularly useful, as would experience combining HR with broader business responsibilities.

Why Join Caswells

This is a chance to take ownership of the people function within an established, growing business, with direct access to the Directors and real scope to improve systems, introduce ideas and put your own stamp on the role. For the right person, it could develop toward a broader Head of People / Head of HR position in time.