Strategic HR Leader – Production Site

The HR Manager is responsible for delivering the full HR lifecycle across the production facility. The role provides both operational and tactical HR support to site leadership, ensuring effective people management practices across the employee lifecycle.

The role partners with managers to support recruitment, employee relations, workforce planning, engagement and capability development. It ensures consistent application of company policies and UK employment legislation while fostering a positive, compliant, and high-performing workplace.

Working closely with the HR Business Partner and central HR team based in Cambridge, the HR Manager supports the implementation of wider HR initiatives while ensuring solutions are appropriate for the production environment.

Your responsibilities in this role include:

• Support the HR Business Partner in delivering the HR strategy at site level, ensuring alignment with operational and business objectives.
• Act as a trusted advisor to the management team on people-related matters.
• Provide pragmatic HR guidance to support operational decision-making within a fast-paced production environment.
• Manage employee relations issues including disciplinary, grievance, absence management, and performance management processes ensuring fair and consistent outcomes.
• Provide guidance and coaching to managers on people management best practices.
• Ensure fair and consistent application of company policies and employment legislation and in line with best practice.
• Lead and manage complex employee relations investigations in line with company policy and employment legislation.
• Support end-to-end recruitment processes for production and site-based roles, ensuring timely hiring to meet operational requirements.
• Support department managers to forecast workforce planning, forecasting staffing requirements and identifying capability gaps.
• Oversee onboarding and induction processes for new employees.
• Manage absence processes including monitoring absence trends, supporting line managers with return-to-work processes, and coordinating occupational health processes.
• Work with managers to identify training and development needs and support the implementation of training plans aligned with operational requirements.
• Support apprenticeships, skills development, and mandatory compliance training within the production workforce.
• Support initiatives to improve employee engagement, retention, and wellbeing including surveys, action planning, and local engagement activities.
• Promote a positive workplace culture aligned with company values.
• Work closely with the central HR team in Cambridge to ensure consistent delivery of HR policies, processes, and initiatives.
• Maintain accurate HR records and support HR reporting, metrics, and people data analysis where required.
• Support organisational change initiatives including restructures, process improvements, or workforce changes.
• Work closely with Health & Safety team to promote a safe working environment.

Apply if you have most of the following:

• Proven experience in a HR Manager, HR Generalist or Senior HR Advisor role with broad HR lifecycle exposure.
• Strong employee relations knowledge with experience managing employee relations cases independently.
• Experience supporting operational or production environments.
• Experience advising and supporting line managers.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills.
• Strong organisational and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to work both strategically and operationally within a hands-on HR role.

Technical skills/qualifications:

• CIPD Level 3 or Level 5 qualification or equivalent experience.
• Sound knowledge of UK employment law.

The benefits of this role include:

• Opportunity to be one of the first hires into a busy new facility.
• Help shape and support the full employee lifecycle.
• This role will evolve with the site and could expand with new programmes.