HR Manager EMEA (Maternity Cover) in Leighton Buzzard

The Human Resources Manager, EMEA acts as a strategic HR business partner to leaders and employees across the UK, Singapore and designated European locations, providing commercially focused HR guidance, support and partnership aligned with Peli BioThermal’s business objectives. The role is responsible for delivering and continuously improving the people agenda across the region, including employee relations, talent acquisition, performance management, compensation and benefits, learning and development, employee engagement, organisational change, workforce planning and HR operations. The HR Manager ensures HR practices are legally compliant, consistent with Peli BioThermal and Corporate HR policies, and appropriate to local employment legislation and business requirements across the countries supported.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Partners with senior leaders and line managers to support the business strategy, workforce planning and organisational capability, translating business requirements into effective people solutions.
• Provides expert HR advice and guidance to managers on employee relations matters, including disciplinary, grievance, absence, capability, performance, probation and other complex employee matters, ensuring fair, consistent and legally compliant outcomes.
• Partners with senior leaders on organisational design, restructuring, redundancy and change management activities, ensuring appropriate consultation and compliance with applicable local employment legislation.
• Leads UK recruitment activity, partnering closely with hiring managers and recruitment agencies to manage vacancies from approval and sourcing through to offer and onboarding, including management of temporary and contract providers.
• Manages the end-of-end employee lifecycle for the UK, including offers, employment contracts, new hire documentation, onboarding, contractual changes and leaver processes.
• Manages UK payroll administration in close partnership with Payroll, ensuring employee changes and payroll inputs are accurate, complete and processed within required deadlines.
• Leads and coordinates the annual performance and development cycle, including goal setting, development plans, mid-year and year-end reviews, merit and bonus processes, providing guidance and support to managers.
• Supports talent and succession planning, identifying development needs, critical roles and opportunities to strengthen organisational capability.
• Leads learning and development initiatives across the region, including apprenticeships, professional development and management capability programmes.
• Manages the UK employee benefits offering, including the implementation and launch of new benefits, annual renewals, vendor relationships, employee communications and ongoing administration and maintenance.
• Supports compensation and reward activities, including salary benchmarking, job descriptions, job evaluation and recommendations to ensure reward practices remain competitive, fair and aligned with business requirements.
• Manages the HRIS for the region, ensuring employee data integrity, system functionality and effective HR processes, and provides HRIS guidance and training to managers and employees.
• Owns HR reporting and analysis, including monthly headcount, turnover, absence, recruitment, employee relations and other key people metrics, providing meaningful insights and recommendations to leadership.
• Manages employee listening and engagement activities, including employee surveys, roundtables, communications and action planning, working with leaders to respond to feedback and continuously improve the employee experience.
• Leads and coordinates employee engagement initiatives and Company events for the UK site.
• Owns the review, development, implementation and ongoing maintenance of UK HR policies, procedures and the Employee Handbook, ensuring they remain legally compliant and aligned with Peli BioThermal and Corporate requirements.
• Ensures HR processes and practices across the assigned region comply with applicable local employment legislation and regulatory requirements.
• Leads and supports HR projects and cross-functional initiatives in line with the annual HR operational plan and wider business priorities.
• Identifies opportunities to continuously improve HR processes, systems and services, using employee feedback, benchmarking, data and best practice to recommend and implement improvements.
• Actively supports and complies with Peli BioThermal’s policies, procedures and commitments to Quality, Health and Safety and continuous improvement, and performs other duties as reasonably assigned.

Job Requirements

• CIPD Level 5 qualification or above, or equivalent HR/professional qualification or a relevant degree.
• Significant generalist HR experience, ideally within a multinational organisation and/or manufacturing environment.
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law, with experience supporting employees across multiple countries, is highly desirable.
• Demonstrable experience managing complex employee relations matters, including disciplinary, grievance, capability, absence and performance management.
• Experience supporting organisational change, restructuring and redundancy processes.
• Strong experience across recruitment, compensation and benefits, performance management, talent development and employee engagement.
• Ability to build credible relationships and influence managers and senior leaders at all levels of the organisation.
• Commercial minded, with the ability to translate business requirements into practical HR solutions.
• Strong analytical skills with experience interpreting HR data, trends and metrics to support business decisions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, presentation, organisation and project management skills.
• Strong knowledge of HRIS platforms and Microsoft Office; experience using Dayforce is preferred.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, work independently and exercise sound judgement when handling confidential and sensitive matters.

Additional Information

• Demonstrates strong personal drive and an intellectual curiosity.
• Thinks and acts as part of the business.
• Actively supports and complies with Peli BioThermal's objectives, guidelines and commitment to Quality and Safety, with an emphasis on continual improvement.
• Must be able to interact effectively and cooperatively with employees at all levels.
• Must have the ability to complete assignments within the time specified by the Manager.

Peli Biothermal is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex including sexual orientation and gender identity, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.