HR People & Culture Manager - Leading Personal Travel Brand. Hybrid in Christchurch

Do you enjoy creating great employee experiences, coaching managers and improving the way People functions operate? Are you looking for a role where you'll have genuine ownership, the autonomy to make decisions and the opportunity to influence how a growing business supports its people? If you're a commercially minded HR professional who enjoys solving problems, improving processes and getting things done, we'd love to hear from you.

The Role at a Glance:

• Hybrid Working | Christchurch, Dorset (3 days onsite)
• Competitive Salary DOE
• Full-Time | Permanent

Function: Stand-Alone People Function

Culture: Entrepreneurial | Collaborative | Fast-Moving | High Trust | High Ownership

Benefits: Competitive Salary + Private Medical + Pension + Ongoing Professional Development + High Levels of Autonomy & Ownership

The Mission

Our People & Culture function exists to ensure every employee receives consistent, professional and commercially focused HR support throughout their employment. We need someone who enjoys building relationships, solving problems, improving processes and helping managers make confident people decisions. You'll be responsible for delivering the full employee lifecycle, acting as the first point of contact for managers and employees while continuously improving our HR processes, systems and employee experience. This is a varied, hands-on role where no two days are the same.

Success in this Role Looks Like:

• Managers receive practical, commercially focused HR advice.
• Employee relations cases are managed confidently, consistently and in line with employment law.
• Recruitment, onboarding and payroll run efficiently with an excellent employee experience.
• HR processes are continually improved, making life easier for both employees and managers.

What You'll Own

• Employee Relations & HR Advisory: Provide day-to-day HR support to managers and employees, managing employee relations matters including absence, disciplinary, grievance, conduct and performance while coaching managers to build confidence in handling people issues.
• Recruitment & Employee Lifecycle: Manage recruitment from vacancy through onboarding, ensuring an excellent candidate experience and smooth employee lifecycle including contracts, inductions, probation and offboarding.
• Payroll & Benefits: Coordinate monthly payroll and employee benefits administration, ensuring all employee changes are processed accurately and on time.
• HR Systems & Process Improvement: Maintain HR systems and records, produce workforce reports and continually improve HR processes, policies and documentation to increase efficiency and compliance.
• People Projects & Culture: Support organisational change, employee engagement initiatives, internal communications and wider People & Culture projects that strengthen organisational performance.

About You

This role is for someone who enjoys balancing operational HR with strategic thinking and who thrives in a stand-alone People function. You're:

• A trusted advisor who builds credibility quickly.
• Commercially minded and pragmatic.
• Organised and able to manage multiple priorities.
• Calm under pressure and confident handling sensitive situations.
• Passionate about improving employee experience and organisational culture.

Skills:

• Hold at minimum a CIPD 5+ professional certification.
• Comfortable making independent decisions.
• Naturally proactive, taking ownership and seeing tasks through to completion.
• Highly collaborative, building strong relationships across every area of the business and with key partners.

What You're Great At

• Employee Relations and Employment Law
• HR Advisory and Manager Coaching
• Recruitment and Workforce Planning
• Payroll and Benefits Administration
• HR Systems and Process Improvement
• HR Reporting and Workforce Analytics
• Stakeholder Management
• Organisational Change
• Policy Development
• Building trusted relationships across the business

What Will Frustrate You Here (So You Shouldn't Apply)

• You prefer highly structured environments with narrowly defined responsibilities.
• You enjoy administration more than building relationships.
• You need close supervision to prioritise your workload.
• You are uncomfortable balancing operational HR with continuous improvement.

Why This Role Matters

Our people are central to our success. By providing practical HR support, coaching managers, improving processes and ensuring a positive employee experience, this role helps create an engaged, high-performing workforce while enabling the business to achieve its wider strategic objectives. If you're ready to take ownership, build trusted relationships and help shape a high-performing, people-first culture, we'd love to hear from you.

Your Background / Previous Roles May Include: People & Culture Manager, People & Culture Lead, HR Manager, HR Business Partner, Senior HR Advisor, HR Advisor, HR Generalist, People Partner, People Operations Manager or Human Resources Manager.