HR Service Centre Manager EMEA in Liverpool

The Manager, HR Service Center is responsible for leading and developing a team of five HR Operations Advisers to deliver high-quality, compliant, and customer-focused HR services across 23+ countries in EMEA. The role drives operational excellence across the full employee lifecycle — ensuring service levels, quality standards, and customer satisfaction targets are consistently met or exceeded. Acting as a key enabler of the HRSC’s maturity and capability, the Manager builds a knowledgeable, trusted, and collaborative team.

Main Responsibilities and Accountabilities

• People Leadership: Lead, coach, and develop a team of five HR Operations Advisers — holding regular 1:1s, identifying capability gaps, creating individual development plans, and building a high‑performing, engaged team.
• Service Level Performance: Own and drive HRSC performance against defined SLAs.
• Quality Assurance: Maintain and continuously improve quality standards across transaction accuracy, customer service behaviours, and audit outcomes—embedding a culture of getting the basics right every time and continuous learning.
• Process Improvement & Infrastructure: Drive and lead HRSC process improvement initiatives across the EMEA region — identifying inefficiencies, designing better ways of working, and building the operational infrastructure of the function alongside day‑to‑day delivery.
• HR Compliance: Ensure all HR processes, transactions, and advice delivered by the team are compliant with relevant EMEA employment legislation and company policy, maintaining up‑to‑date knowledge across the region.
• Stakeholder Management: Collaborate with HR Operations Specialists, Global and Regional HR Service Center leaders, HR Business Partners, COEs, Talent Acquisition, HR Technology, and Total Rewards to ensure seamless end‑to‑end process execution and strong cross‑functional relationships.
• Project Leadership: Own and deliver HRSC improvement projects end‑to‑end – leading workstreams, managing timelines, coordinating with relevant stakeholders, and ensuring outputs land in the function and stick.
• Knowledge & Standards: Contribute to the development of knowledge assets, SOPs, and training materials in collaboration with HR Operations Specialists — ensuring the team operates from a consistent, high‑quality knowledge base.
• Escalation Management: Act as an escalation point for complex or sensitive cases within the team's remit—resolving issues transparently, collaboratively ensuring that future escalations are mitigated and lessons are learned.
• Reporting & Insight: Monitor and report on team and function performance — providing the Associate Director with timely, accurate data on SLAs, quality, customer satisfaction, and team development progress, and using insight to inform priorities and decisions.

Position Qualifications and Experience Requirements

• Education: Bachelor's degree in HR Management or related field, CIPD Level 5, or equivalent. CIPD Level 7 desirable.
• Experience: Proven experience managing a multi-country HR Service Center supporting an EMEA region. Demonstrable people leadership experience, including performance management and team development. Experience owning and delivering HRSC improvement projects end‑to‑end. Track record of driving performance against defined SLA and quality targets. Working knowledge of EMEA employment law and HR compliance across multiple jurisdictions. Hands‑on experience with Workday and/or ServiceNow (or comparable platforms). Experience with inContact or similar contact centre telephony (desirable).
• Competencies: People Leadership & Team Development, Operational Excellence & Performance Management, Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, HR Knowledge & Compliance, Stakeholder Collaboration & Relationship Building, Continuous Improvement & Innovation, Accountability & Ownership.