Senior HR Assistant - 2 year FTC in Bristol

Be part of a community working together to make science better. A society publisher with the perfect blend of not‑for‑profit purpose and commercial perspective. Here, we help each other be the best we can be: a team big enough to impact and small enough to care. We’re looking for a proactive and people‑focused Senior HR Assistant to join our HR team on a 2‑year fixed‑term contract. This is a brilliant opportunity to play a key role in delivering a high‑quality, seamless HR service to colleagues globally. You’ll be at the heart of the employee experience, involved in everything from onboarding through to off‑boarding, and acting as a trusted point of contact for HR queries from colleagues.

Alongside this, you’ll take ownership of our HR processes, leading the delivery, continuous improvement, automation and use of AI within our front‑line HR service, ensuring we’re embracing technology to improve the service delivered to our customers. You will also play a central role in exciting HR projects, including the design and implementation of a new HR and Payroll system. If you enjoy variety, thrive in a fast‑paced environment, and are passionate about delivering excellent service, we’d love to hear from you.

What you’ll be doing

• Deliver outstanding HR support
• Provide timely, accurate and empathetic support on HR policies, processes and systems
• Take ownership of complex queries and ensure they’re resolved efficiently
• Support and guide colleagues across onboarding, payroll, and employee lifecycle processes
• Act as a key escalation point and mentor within the team
• Manage core HR administration
• Maintain accurate and compliant employee data across HR and payroll systems
• Produce high‑quality employment documentation
• Ensure data integrity and proactively resolve discrepancies
• Support payroll processes and maintain strong collaboration with Payroll colleagues
• Coordinate employee lifecycle processes
• Support recruitment administration including offers and onboarding
• Manage right to work and background checks
• Administer employee benefits and contractual changes
• Coordinate processes such as probation, absence tracking, maternity and leavers
• Support learning activities and HR‑related purchase processes
• Drive continuous improvement
• Embrace opportunities to improve and streamline HR processes
• Support implementation of new systems and tools
• Contribute to HR projects and continuous improvement initiatives
• Help build and maintain knowledge bases, templates and process documentation, for use by the team, our HR Agent and our colleagues
• Be a collaborative team player
• Share knowledge and best practice across the HR team
• Support and coach colleagues where needed
• Contribute to a positive, inclusive team culture

What you’ll bring

• Proven experience in an HR administration or operations role in a fast‑paced environment
• Strong understanding of UK employment law (and ideally immigration processes)
• Experience using HR systems (e.g. iTrent, Dayforce, Thrive – desirable)
• Confidence managing multiple priorities and deadlines
• Experience supporting process improvement or projects is a plus

Skills & behaviours

• A genuine passion for delivering excellent customer service
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Highly organised with great attention to detail
• Proactive, collaborative and solutions‑focused mindset
• Comfortable handling confidential and sensitive information
• Curious, adaptable and keen to learn

Why join us?

This is a great opportunity to join our team and shape the delivery of our core HR services across the group moving forwards. You’ll work in a diverse, inclusive, global team, passionate about the continuous improvement of both ourselves and our services, and will have the opportunity to explore and embrace the use of AI and technology to drive changes and make a real impact.

Who We Are

IOP Publishing is a society‑owned scientific publisher, providing impact, recognition and value for the scientific community. As the publishing arm of the Institute of Physics, 100% of our profit goes towards public and scientific good.

Why work with us at IOP Publishing

• Purpose: We are a world leader in the development of electronic publishing for the scientific community – working in the interests of science and scientists, we aim to maximise the impact of the research we publish.
• Culture: We offer a truly international culture with offices in Europe, Asia and the US and our reach is global. Our culture is the perfect blend of dedicated and intelligent professionalism, informal, friendly collaboration and authenticity with a social conscience.
• Financial benefits: a competitive salary starting from £28,000 (Band B) depending on experience, an excellent pension scheme, a discretionary annual bonus scheme and a range of other useful and cost‑saving benefits available through our benefits platform.
• Health and Wellbeing: 33+ days holiday (including bank holidays), plus an extra day’s leave to use for a moment that matters to you, a 35‑hour working week, life assurance, cycle to work scheme, dental insurance, health care cash plan and a great positive working environment in our brand new office in central Bristol – modern airy and designed with all of our colleagues in mind – for work and social time.
• Flexibility: a flexible hybrid working environment to suit everyone’s needs – we don’t need you in the office every day so we can consider applicants from further afield who can travel to Bristol at least once per week and team in‑person days, depending on when face‑to‑face time is needed (any travel to the Bristol office is at the employee’s own expenses).

IOP Publishing is an equal opportunity employer. Our goal is to ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion are built into our identity in a way that is natural and sustainable, visible through the work we produce, our company branding, our professional networks and the communities we serve and support, which includes our employees, talent communities and candidates. We particularly welcome applicants from under‑represented backgrounds. We make recruitment and workplace adjustments wherever we can, so please let us know if there’s anything that we can do to support you. Please note that we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for candidates. If however you already have the right to work in the UK or hold an eligible work permit or visa, we encourage you to apply for this position. To apply, please submit your CV through our careers site.