HR Business Partner, Digital Legal Delivery (Digital) & AI in Belfast

Our ambition is to help you achieve your goals. We invest in and care about our client relationships, providing exceptional client service and pursuing excellence. Our firm has a 170‑year legacy of breaking new ground and delivering demanding litigation, regulatory work and complex transactions.

The Opportunity

• Key Responsibilities

• Business partnering and day to day operations
  • Work closely with Digital & AI teams to understand how HR can support their people and operational priorities.
  • Act as a trusted adviser and sounding board, providing HR advice and expertise on a wide range of generalist issues, taking into account the operational impact of any intervention.
  • Allocate appropriate tasks to the People Operations Team, ensuring the effective and efficient delivery of day‑to‑day HR operations.
  • Support the various change‑management initiatives underway across the firm and work with the HR Manager to communicate any organisational change to the practice areas/teams as appropriate.
  • Deputise for the HR Manager as required – for example, attending management meetings.
  • Support the Practice Manager and other business services teams such as Business Finance with ad hoc requests and projects.
• Employee Relations
  • Act as first point of contact for the Digital and AI teams, providing guidance and support to employees and managers to ensure that all employee issues are resolved promptly.
  • Proactively identify changes and improvements to employment policies and practices.
  • Assist with the successful implementation of new employment policies and practices across the Digital & AI teams.
  • Advise managers on how to effectively manage poor performance, ensuring issues are dealt with in the appropriate way.
  • Lead on straightforward ER issues such as disciplinaries and grievances, with guidance from the HR Manager.
  • Manage all flexible working requests and advise on policy and procedure.
  • Monitor and manage all office sickness absence, including referrals to Occupational Health as necessary, and implementation of the firm’s sick pay policies.
  • Manage long‑term sickness cases and PHI claims where necessary.
  • Support the People Operations Team with maternity, shared parental leave and adoption processes for employees.
  • Escalate risk issues promptly and openly to the HR Manager, identifying the requirement for employment law advice where appropriate.
• Joiners and Leavers
  • Coordinate the on‑boarding process and update the People Team and leadership/senior management team as required.
  • Liaise with the Recruitment Team and People Operations Team to oversee the effective implementation of the induction process for all new joiners.
  • Conduct new joiner conversations, collate feedback and communicate to the appropriate people as necessary.
  • Conduct exit interviews and communicate feedback to the business as necessary.
  • Oversee the probation review process.
• Secondments
  • Manage client and intra‑office secondments, working closely alongside the International Mobility Team and relevant managers in the practice.
  • Proactively promote secondment opportunities and manage the client secondment process.
  • Oversee secondment policy and ancillary secondment documents, ensuring that Digital & AI secondees have clear escalation routes whilst on secondment.
  • Track all movement of employees to and from Digital & AI from a secondment and transfer perspective.
• Recruitment
  • Assist the Recruitment Team with the coordination and delivery of lateral recruitment processes as required.
  • Interview or support candidate assessment processes as necessary.
  • Coordinate the annual Belfast trainee recruitment process, working closely with relevant managers in the practice, the Recruitment Team and the HR Manager.
  • Maintain resourcing plans for designated client groups and work with the Recruitment Team to provide cost‑efficient and effective recruitment solutions.
• Reward and performance
  • Assist the HR Manager to coordinate the delivery and communications of moderation, performance review & talent sessions, and salary review processes in conjunction with the Reward and Management Information Team.
  • Coordinate the delivery and communications of the bonus process with support from the HR Manager as required.
• Development
  • Attend meetings with Learning and Development Managers for Digital & AI when required.
  • Working with L&D, arrange internal and, where required, external coaching for team members.
• General and Project Work
  • Serve as the first point of contact for all HR issues.
  • Oversee monthly payroll activities, ensuring accurate and timely processes are in place.
  • Assist and lead, where applicable, small‑scale HR projects for the Digital & AI team.

Qualifications, skills and experience

• Sound understanding of current employment legislation, covering both Northern Ireland legislation and England & Wales.
• An extremely well‑organised and commercial HR generalist with a minimum of three years’ HR generalist and business partnering experience at adviser level, preferably with some professional services experience.
• Track record of building strong relationships with internal clients, built upon sound technical knowledge and excellent interpersonal skills.
• Track record of project and stakeholder management skills; confident, with the ability to advise, influence and negotiate with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong influencing and negotiating skills.
• Sound knowledge of employee relations legislation and policies and a thorough understanding of performance management processes.
• Proven track record of case management in relation to performance management, grievances and disciplinary matters, health and well‑being.
• Experience of lateral and retained recruitment at all levels.
• PC literate (Microsoft Office suite).
• An innovative mindset, curious about AI and emerging technologies.

Competencies

• Personal Leadership
  • Positively impacts those around them, makes quality decisions and develops themselves both personally and professionally.
  • Demonstrates sound knowledge in their field.
  • Anticipates potential problems and identifies a range of possible solutions.
  • Adapts their interpersonal style to suit different audiences in a genuine way.
• Builds Authentic Relationships
  • Takes time to get to know people beyond their role.
  • Treats people with respect and in a fair and consistent way.
  • Recognises when colleagues are under pressure and volunteers to assist them where possible.
• Collaborates with others
  • Works within teams and across boundaries to share knowledge and achieve results.
  • Identifies and builds relationships required to achieve the best outcomes for the firm.
  • Engages people with the right skills, knowledge and expertise to provide advice and assist with tasks.
  • Connects other people in the firm who have mutual interests or work objectives.
  • Generously shares their time, knowledge, expertise and talent to support others’ success.
• Enhances the Client Experience
  • Creates opportunities to enhance the experience of the firm’s clients through their daily tasks.
  • Behaves consistently with the firm’s values in their interactions with others.
  • Conducts themselves in a way that reflects positively on the firm’s brand, both inside and outside the firm.
• Achieves Results
  • Maintains focus and drive to achieve quality outcomes.
  • Focuses their time and efforts on issues that will have the greatest impact on agreed objectives.
  • Anticipates responses and plans their approach accordingly.
  • Looks for the most effective way to achieve outcomes.
  • Maintains perspective and optimism when faced with setbacks.

Working Pattern

• Full time

Location

• Belfast

Contract type

• Permanent Contract

We comply with Equal Opportunities regulations and are committed to attracting people from all backgrounds and creating a respectful and inclusive culture where everyone thrives.