People Partner - Bristol / Gloucestershire / Oxfordshire in Cheltenham

Are you an experienced HR professional looking for a role where you can make a genuine impact on the education sector? At EPM, we're looking for a People Partner to join our award-winning team and support schools and trusts across Gloucestershire, Bristol and Oxfordshire. Recognised as one of The Sunday Times Best Places to Work, we're passionate about helping schools build exceptional workplaces where both staff and pupils can succeed.

As a trusted adviser to school leaders, you'll provide strategic HR leadership, guide organisations through complex people challenges, and contribute to the development of innovative people solutions that deliver real value. This is an exciting opportunity for a commercially minded HR professional who thrives on building relationships, influencing at senior level, and leading positive organisational change.

The Role: As a People Partner, you'll work closely with school and trust leaders, providing strategic HR expertise and helping them deliver effective people strategies aligned to their organisational goals. You'll be the trusted partner for senior leaders, supporting organisational transformation, managing complex employee relations matters, and coaching colleagues to deliver excellent customer outcomes. Working within a high-performing People team, you'll champion best practice, influence decision-making, and identify opportunities to continuously improve our services and customer experience.

Key Responsibilities:

• Act as a role model and ambassador for strategic HR business partnering.
• Build trusted relationships with school and trust leaders, influencing people strategy and organisational development.
• Lead complex employee relations and organisational change programmes, including restructures and consultations.
• Develop and implement people policies, processes and service improvements.
• Ensure compliance with employment legislation and regulatory requirements, while promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Lead and mentor HR Advisory colleagues, supporting their development and capability.
• Deliver a high-performing employee relations service, identifying risks and providing commercially focused solutions.
• Use people data and insights to support customer decision-making and service improvement.
• Research market trends and customer needs to help shape future service offerings.

About You:

We're looking for a confident and credible HR leader who can operate effectively at senior level and build strong partnerships with customers and colleagues alike. You'll bring:

• Significant HR Business Partnering experience.
• Proven experience advising senior leaders on complex people matters.
• Strong employee relations expertise, including organisational change and restructuring.
• Experience coaching, mentoring and developing others.
• Excellent influencing, relationship-building and stakeholder management skills.
• A commercial mindset and ability to identify opportunities that add value.
• A self-motivated, proactive approach with the ability to work autonomously.
• Experience within education, HR consultancy or payroll/HR service organisations would be advantageous.
• CIPD qualification (or equivalent experience) is desirable.

Working Arrangements:

Home-based role with regular travel across Gloucestershire, Bristol and Oxfordshire. Travel to EPM offices in Huntingdon and Darlington as required. Client site visits are an essential part of the role. Full UK driving licence required. Occasional overnight stays may be necessary.

Why Join EPM?

• Recognised as one of The Sunday Times Best Places to Work
• Excellent learning, development and career progression opportunities
• Competitive salary and generous pension scheme
• 26 days' annual leave, increasing to 33 days with service, plus 8 bank holidays
• Electric Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme
• Cycle to Work Salary Sacrifice Scheme
• Technology Salary Sacrifice Scheme
• Bupa Cash Plan
• Life Assurance
• Paid leave for Governor duties
• Colleague events and wellbeing initiatives
• Flexible and inclusive working environment

At EPM, we're committed to developing our people and creating opportunities for career growth. Many of our colleagues progress internally, supported by tailored learning and development programmes that help them achieve their full potential.