Senior Talent Business Partner

The opportunity for you

As a Senior Talent Business Partner based at Taylor Wessing’s London office, you will provide exceptional HR support and client service to your designated client group, working closely with leadership to foster a high‑performance culture. You will partner with the Head of Talent Advisory & Operations and the Talent Director to deliver the firm’s strategy through complex, challenging projects. You will also serve as an escalation point for generalist HR queries, particularly in employee relations matters. Occasional travel to Liverpool may be required.

Key Responsibilities

• Business Partnering
  • Build strong client relationships with key individuals in areas of responsibility, providing commercial HR advice and strategic counsel to leadership, including at Board level.
  • Work collaboratively with leaders to understand people requirements and identify appropriate programmes and initiatives to drive a high‑performance culture.
  • Ensure focus on employee engagement activities with senior leaders, identifying local and firm‑wide key improvement areas.
  • Collaborate across the Talent team to deliver client‑group needs, including working closely with Acquisition on recruitment strategies and Development on training and development opportunities.
• Strategic Talent Activities and Projects
  • Lead the execution of annual people processes: business planning, budgeting, promotions, performance reviews and salary/bonus evaluations.
  • Ensure robust talent‑management practices that align with the firm’s growth and inclusion strategy.
  • Collaborate with the Head of Talent Advisory & Operations and the Talent Director on firm‑wide strategic projects to advance the people agenda.
  • Support broader Talent project delivery, contributing to the firm’s Responsible Business agenda and management‑development initiatives.
  • Facilitate the integration of the firmwide Talent system across your client group while advocating for process and cultural changes.
• Employee Relations
  • Serve as an escalation point for formal disciplinary, capability or grievance procedures, leveraging team expertise on complex issues to ensure commercial outcomes.
  • Provide impartial guidance to line managers on talent matters such as performance, absence management and employee wellbeing.
  • Conduct welfare conversations with employees as needed, ensuring confidentiality and maintaining morale and engagement.
  • Play a key role in ensuring new joiners are well‑integrated throughout their probation period and oversee all onboarding processes in collaboration with other Talent teams.
  • Coordinate with Occupational Health Advisors by referring cases as necessary and implementing recommendations.
• Leadership
  • Act as a senior member of the Talent team, sharing best practices across different areas.
  • Foster cross‑team connections to deliver excellence in people‑related projects and activities.
  • Provide leadership and guidance to junior members of the Talent Advisory team.

Essential – Knowledge, skills and experience

• Proven experience operating at a commercial and strategic HR level within a professional services environment.
• Strong motivation to deliver exceptional client service, responsive to and anticipating internal client needs.
• Excellent communication skills, engaging effectively with individuals at all levels both verbally and in writing.
• Solid background in managing relevant employee‑relations cases.
• Experience with performance review and salary review cycles.
• Demonstrated success in HR project delivery.
• Resilience and ability to perform effectively under pressure.
• High organisational skills, with a proven ability to multitask and prioritise workload efficiently.
• Exceptional attention to detail.
• Professional manner – confident, approachable and adaptable.
• Ability to work well within a team and contribute positively to its dynamics.

Desirable

• Proficiency in working with an HR system.
• Experience in the legal sector or other professional services environments.
• Strong administrative skills, including a good working knowledge of MS Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.

Benefits

• Hybrid working: a mix of remote work with three days per week in our award‑winning offices.
• Holiday: basic annual entitlement of 25 days, an additional discretionary paid day in December, and the option to purchase up to five extra days each year (prorated).
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave: after one‑year service, up to 26 weeks of full‑pay leave for birth or adoption.
• Additional benefits include a comprehensive flexible benefits package.

Our culture

Nurturing a diverse, inclusive culture, we enable all talent to flourish, spark creativity and power innovation. We value and celebrate differences, ensuring all candidates are treated fairly regardless of age, caring responsibilities, disability, gender identity, marital status, neurodiversity, pregnancy, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and socio‑economic background.

The way we work

At Taylor Wessing, we never settle for average. We are creative thinkers, problem solvers and continuous learners who excel at what we do, believing our best work is still ahead of us. We are large enough for you to achieve your ambitions, yet connected enough to be a true community.

Taylor Wessing is a global law firm that serves the world’s most innovative people and businesses. With 1250+ lawyers, 350+ partners, 26 offices and 16 jurisdictions, we are expanding our Talent Advisory team with the addition of a Senior Talent Business Partner.