HR and Staffing Manager in Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle United Football Club, St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4ST

circa £35,000pa + excellent benefits

40hrs pw 5/7 Evening and weekend work required - required to work all NUFC home games and events

Free onsite parking

At Sodexo Live!, we create exceptional experiences at some of the UK’s most iconic venues. We are proud to deliver world-class hospitality at Newcastle United Football Club, St James’ Park, and we’re now looking for an experienced and proactive HR and Staffing Manager to lead our people operations across both Hospitality and Stadium Catering.

This is a high-impact, hands-on role, managing a large casual workforce in a fast-paced, event-driven environment. If you thrive on operational challenge, love building and supporting teams, and are passionate about service excellence, this could be the role for you.

What You’ll Do

• As HR and Staffing Manager, you’ll be responsible for the full end-to-end people and staffing lifecycle, supporting senior managers and operational teams to ensure we have the right people, in the right place, at the right time — for every matchday and event.
• You’ll oversee staffing levels, compliance, training, payroll and HR activity across a 52,350-seat stadium, managing up to 2,000 casual workers and 90 contracted employees.
• This is a highly visible role, working closely with site leadership, the wider Sodexo Live! team, and our client.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead recruitment, onboarding and induction for all casual and contracted staff
• Plan and manage staffing numbers in line with operational demand and budgets
• Design and deliver training and induction programmes for casual teams and new starters
• Support Heads of Department with workforce planning and skills development
• Oversee weekly payroll, rate changes and matchday recharges
• Ensure full compliance with Right to Work, safeguarding, training and company policies
• Maintain accurate personnel files, training records and labour systems
• Manage sickness, holidays, probation reviews and contractual changes
• Reduce agency reliance through effective recruitment and retention strategies
• Support matchday operations including staff check-in, incident management and escalations
• Monitor labour costs, forecast demand and report against budget
• Liaise with Sodexo Live! teams nationally to share best practice and implement change
• Provide HR guidance and support to HODs and site leadership
• Proactively plan staffing for fixtures and events 4–6 weeks in advance
• Support recruitment events, seasonal campaigns and pre-season training programmes

What You Bring

• Proven experience in HR, staffing, people operations or workforce management
• Experience managing large, high-volume workforces, ideally in stadiums, hospitality or contract catering
• Strong administrative skills with excellent attention to detail
• Experience of payroll processes and compliance requirements
• Confident delivering training and group inductions
• Ability to build strong relationships with senior stakeholders and operational teams
• Graduate calibre or equivalent professional experience
• CIPD and/or IOSH qualifications (or working towards) desirable

What we offer

• Unlimited access to an online platform offering mental health and wellbeing support.
• Employee Assistance Programme to help with everyday issues or larger problems where you may need additional support, including legal and financial advice, support with work related issues or personal issues such as bereavement.
• Access to a free health and wellbeing app that provides rewards for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and includes access to a 24hr virtual GP and various other services.
• The Sodexo Discounts Scheme, offering great deals 24/7 (also open to friends and family) and/or the prepayment cashback card.
• Money Insights and financial benefits via the Salary Finance Platform.
• Save for your future by becoming a member of the Sodexo Retirement Plan
• A Death-in-Service benefit for colleagues who pass away whilst employed by Sodexo
• Opportunities to enable colleagues to grow and succeed throughout their career at Sodexo, including a variety of learning and development tools.
• Cycle to Work Scheme to help colleagues to do their bit for the environment whilst keeping fit.
• Volunteering Opportunities to enable all colleagues to help support worthwhile causes in our communities.
• Flexible and dynamic work environment

Ready to be part of something greater? Apply today!

Sodexo reserves the right to close this advertisement early if we are in receipt of a high volume of applications.

About Sodexo

At Sodexo, our purpose is to create a better every day for everyone to build a better life for all. As the global leader in services that improve the Quality of Life, we operate in 55 countries, serving over 100 million consumers each day through our unique combination of On-Site Food and FM Services, Benefits & Rewards Services and Personal & Home Services.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer. We are a forces friendly employer. We welcome and encourage applications from people with a diverse variety of experiences, backgrounds, and identities. We encourage our employees to get involved with our Employee Networks such as Pride, Sodexo Parents & Carers, Sodexo Disability, Ability network, So Together, Generations and Origins.

We’re a Disability Confident Leader employer. We’re committed to changing attitudes towards disability, and making sure disabled people have the chance to fulfil their aspirations.