People Business Partner in London - Merrifield Consultants

People Business Partner
Salary: £51,500 per annum
Contract: 12-month fixed-term contract, hybrid 1 day a week in the office
Location: London

Merrifield Consultants are delighted to be partnering with a professional leadership body to recruit a People Business Partner on a 12-month fixed-term contract.
This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced HR professional to join a purpose-led organisation and provide strategic, commercially focused people partnering across the organisation, whilst playing a key role in supporting the development of its people services.

Summary of the role
As People Business Partner, you will act as a trusted strategic partner to senior leaders and line managers, providing expert advice across the full colleague lifecycle.
You will support workforce planning, talent, employee relations, engagement, performance and organisational change, whilst identifying opportunities to improve people processes and services.
The role will also take responsibility for specific shared services activity, HRIS development and partnering with a wholly owned subsidiary, working closely with the wider People team.

Details of the role
This is a varied and influential People Business Partner position, ideal for someone who enjoys working in a complex, fast-paced environment and can balance strategic thinking with hands-on delivery.
You will build strong relationships with senior stakeholders, providing credible advice, constructive challenge and practical people solutions. You will also play an important role in supporting organisational change, strengthening colleague engagement and ensuring people initiatives align with wider organisational objectives.

A key aspect of the role will be working closely with the Managing Director and Head of People Partnering, alongside colleagues across the wider People team, to develop and deliver the people strategy and ensure an effective, responsive service to the organisation.

The successful candidate will also have the opportunity to contribute to HRIS development, people metrics, engagement activity, workforce planning, talent mobility and continuous improvement across people processes and services.

Responsibilities

• Partner with senior leaders and line managers to develop and deliver people plans aligned with organisational objectives.
• Provide expert advice, guidance and constructive challenge throughout the colleague lifecycle, including workforce planning, recruitment, talent, performance, employee relations and change.
• Triage and manage complex people issues, working with colleagues across the People and Legal teams where appropriate.
• Coach and support line managers and colleagues, helping to build confidence and capability in people management.
• Build trusted and effective relationships with key stakeholders through an authentic, collaborative and solutions-focused approach.
• Support talent gap analysis, workforce planning and succession planning for key roles.
• Contribute to mentoring and coaching initiatives to support knowledge transfer and skills development.
• Support strategic colleague engagement and EDI activity, using data and insight to identify areas for improvement.
• Develop and support colleague engagement surveys and use feedback to identify and prioritise improvements to the colleague experience.
• Support internal communication and engagement activity, including organisation-wide events and meetings.
• Contribute to HRIS development and improvements, working with relevant suppliers and stakeholders.
• Support people operations activity, including payroll and pension processes.
• Monitor people metrics and identify opportunities to improve processes, systems and services.
• Ensure people activity is delivered effectively and in line with relevant policies, legislation and service requirements.
• Mentor and guide less experienced members of the People team and line managers where appropriate.

Person specification

• We are looking for an experienced People Business Partner or senior People/HR professional who can operate confidently at both a strategic and operational level.
• You will ideally bring:
• Proven experience working as a People/HR Adviser or Business Partner within a complex, fast-paced organisation.
• A strong track record of providing commercially focused employee relations advice and support.
• Experience of supporting organisational change and navigating the people implications of change, ideally including areas such as TUPE, contractual change and culture change.
• CIPD qualification or equivalent experience.
• Strong knowledge of employment legislation and best practice.
• The ability to develop practical people plans and translate organisational objectives into effective people activity.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the confidence to influence and build relationships at all levels.
• Strong coaching and stakeholder management skills.
• A proactive, change-oriented approach, with a genuine interest in improving people services, systems and processes.
• The ability to work collaboratively while also taking ownership and using sound judgement.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced People Business Partner to join a respected, purpose-led professional leadership body and make a genuine impact across its people agenda.
If you are a commercially minded HR professional who enjoys partnering with senior stakeholders, navigating change and delivering meaningful improvements to the employee experience, Merrifield Consultants would love to hear from you.

Please apply today with your CV to be considered for this exciting opportunity.

We practice a diverse and inclusive recruitment process that ensures equal opportunity for all we work with, irrespective of race, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, age or gender. As an organisation, we encourage applications from all backgrounds and will ensure measures are met when required, to allow a fair process throughout.