Senior People Business Partner

Svitzer is a leading global towage and marine services provider operating across 37 countries with over 4,000 employees. Founded in 1833, Svitzer builds on almost 200 years of experience, and our powerful tugboats and experts in towage work tirelessly to keep goods flowing, businesses thriving, and communities connected. In the UK, our people work in a demanding, safety-critical, operational environment. Supporting them well is not optional – it’s business critical.

We’re looking for an operational, hands-on Senior People Business Partner for 12 months maternity cover. Start 1st July 2026 until 30th June 2027. You’ll be operating at senior stakeholder level, influencing decisions, leading a capable HR team, and navigating a complex, unionised environment where credibility and judgement matter. Location Remote or hybrid from one of our UK port locations (Middlesbrough, Southampton, Bristol, Gravesend, Felixstowe, Liverpool, Milford Haven or Immingham), with travel across our UK operations.

Package includes:

• up to 10% contributory pension
• Private health & dental plan
• 10% bonus

The Role:

• Partner directly with senior leadership to execute people strategy aligned to business priorities.
• Stay close to the operational detail—particularly across employee relations, industrial relations, and organisational change.
• Lead a HR team (x2 HRBPs, Advisor, Wellbeing Specialist) and act as the go-to advisor on all people matters, ensuring the business remains compliant, commercially focused, and people-led.

What You Will Be Doing:

• Partner with senior leaders to shape and deliver people strategy.
• Lead on industrial and employee relations, including union engagement.
• Drive organisational change, restructures, and transformation.
• Lead and develop a small, capable HR team.
• Own risk, compliance, and governance across people matters.

What Matters:

• Strong, hands-on ER and UK employment law experience.
• Proven ability to influence decisions at senior level.
• Experience operating in complex, unionised or regulated environments.
• Commercial judgement and the confidence to challenge.

What We’re Looking For:

• Proven experience operating as a Senior HRBP in an operational environment.
• Strong track record influencing senior stakeholders and shaping decisions.
• Deep, hands-on experience in employee relations and UK employment law.
• Experience in unionised and/or regulated environments.
• Practical experience of tribunals, redundancies, and consultation processes.
• CIPD Level 7 (or equivalent experience).

What Sets You Apart:

• Confident operator—you challenge constructively and hold your ground.
• Pragmatic—you focus on outcomes, not theory.
• Resilient—you stay effective under pressure.
• Sound judgement—you make the right call, even when it’s not the easy one.

Building a Diverse Workplace:

In Svitzer we value the diversity of our talent and will always strive to recruit the best person for the job – we value diversity in all its forms, including but not limited to gender, age, nationality, race, sexual orientation, disability, or religious beliefs. We are proud of our diversity and see it as a genuine source of strength for building high performing teams. We are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles, and we are excited about hearing from you!