People Business Partner in Northam

Employment Type: Full‑time

Hours of Work: 37.5 hours

Location: Hybrid with 3 days in either our Norwich or Bideford HQ

Travel: Chapter is evolving at a pace. Our teams are growing, our ways of working are maturing, and our culture is moving forward with purpose. The People Team plays a critical role in that journey, and we’re looking for a People Business Partner who brings expertise, charisma and authenticity.

This isn’t a role for someone who wants routine. It’s for someone who enjoys pace, is comfortable with change, and can bring clarity, confidence, and commercial thinking into conversations that matter. Someone who understands people deeply, but who also knows how organisations work and how to help them work better. Most importantly, it’s for someone who can be brilliant and grounded. Skilled and humble. Confident and genuinely collaborative.

What will I be doing?

Reporting to our Head of People, you’ll partner closely with leaders and teams, providing practical, confident guidance across everything from performance and capability to engagement, workforce planning, and organisational change. You’ll be a steady voice in complex moments and a thoughtful challenger in the right ones.

You’ll play a key role in shaping our approach to TUPE transitions and integration, ensuring we balance operational requirements with a strong, people‑centred experience. There’s also space to evolve how we work refining policies, improving processes, and supporting a culture that feels inclusive, fair, and high‑performing. You’ll be part of a supportive People Team that values clear thinking, open conversation, and continuous improvement.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and deliver People initiatives across the full employee lifecycle, including workforce planning, restructuring, resourcing, talent management, pay and reward, performance management, engagement, and employee relations.
• Support TUPE processes and employee transfers, ensuring smooth transitions, cultural alignment, and a positive employee experience.
• Partner with managers and teams to build strong working relationships, enhance morale, improve productivity, and reduce absenteeism.
• Embed a high‑performance culture through effective performance management, absence management, coaching, and development initiatives.
• Work with senior leaders to design, implement, and enhance HR policies, processes, and frameworks that enable business growth, scalability, and an excellent employee experience.
• Manage complex employee relations matters, providing clear, pragmatic advice in line with UK employment law and best practice.
• Collaborate with the wider People Team to create a culture where employees feel supported, engaged, and able to thrive.
• Adapt quickly to change, maintaining enthusiasm, resilience, and a positive, solution‑oriented mindset when business needs evolve.

Your next chapter

We know that the perfect candidate who ticks every box doesn’t exist, so if you’re excited by the role and can do most of the below, please get in touch. You could be exactly what we need!

Experience & Expertise

• Significant HR / People Business Partner experience, with strength in both operational delivery and strategic partnering.
• Demonstrable experience in a scaling or multi‑site organisation, ideally with organisational change or TUPE exposure.
• Strong TUPE expertise, including employee integration and cultural alignment.
• A track record of delivering HR initiatives that balance business needs with a strong employee experience.
• Proven experience in performance and absence management, driving accountability and maintaining high standards.

Skills & Attributes

• Excellent interpersonal, influencing and coaching skills, with credibility at all levels.
• Confident and proactive, able to shape policy, processes, and People initiatives that support growth and operational success.
• Highly adaptable, energetic, and comfortable working at a pace.
• A constructive, solutions‑focused approach to challenges.
• Resilient, calm under pressure, and able to manage sensitive and complex situations with discretion and sound judgement.
• Passionate about employee engagement, culture development, and creating an inclusive, positive workplace experience.
• A genuine, straightforward communication style that’s approachable yet credible.

Qualifications

CIPD Level 7 (or equivalent experience) preferred.

What’s in it for you?

We believe in taking care of our team. As well as joining a rapidly growing company with a good culture and opportunities for employee development, we provide competitive salaries and a range of benefits, including:

• 25 days’ paid holidays plus bank holidays.
• A special day off for you or a loved one’s birthday.
• £500 paid towards a holiday of your choice.
• A paid day to volunteer with a charity close to your heart.
• A friend’s and family discount scheme.
• Life assurance for your peace of mind.
• Social clubs for pet lovers, fitness enthusiasts, gardeners, sustainability champions, nutrition enthusiasts and more.
• Exciting social events, including our famous Christmas parties.

Who are we?

We’re Travel Chapter – the holiday home people – and we’re on a mission to showcase great places to stay in the UK. While we’ve grown over the years from a small South West holiday letting agency to one of the market leaders in the industry, we’ve never lost sight of our strong family ethos, and we keep the same values at the heart of everything we do. Along the way, we’ve nurtured a caring and collaborative culture that drives us forward and keeps our team inspired and motivated every day.

Highlighted by our place on the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2024 list, the people behind our company are at the heart of everything we do and it’s a place where everyone is welcome; a place that’s friendly and fair; a place that encourages people to be bold, explore new ideas and push the boundaries of what they do every single day.

We are passionate about what we do, and we take a common‑sense approach to getting things done. Inevitably, things go wrong from time to time, and we do everything we can to make it right. We learn from it and adapt, remembering to stay curious and never stop evolving.

Diversity is key to our success, and we work hard to make sure we’re inclusive. Let us know if you need any adjustments made to the application or selection process so you can do your best. We’ll be happy to help.