HR Manager

Key Responsibilities

HR Operations & Systems

• Lead and manage day-to-day HR operations, ensuring compliance with employment law and safeguarding standards.
• Oversee implementation and management of the HR system, ensuring records are accurate, secure, and GDPR-compliant.
• Manage contracts and documentation, including offers, changes to terms, promotion and probation letters, and offboarding.

Recruitment, Onboarding & Offboarding

• Coordinate inclusive, values-aligned recruitment for both staff and associates.
• Maintain structured onboarding and induction processes for employees and associates.
• Lead offboarding processes including exit interviews and knowledge capture.
• Maintain clear documentation and checklists for onboarding/offboarding.

Employee Relations, Policies & Compliance

• Provide advice and support to staff and managers on people-related matters.
• Manage and review policies related to HR, safeguarding, inclusion, and hybrid working.
• Lead on grievance, disciplinary, misconduct and performance improvement procedures.

Learning, Development & Competency Frameworks

• Develop and embed competency frameworks to support career development and role clarity.
• Coordinate L&D activities, aligned with team needs and organisational priorities.
• Lead on planning and delivery of our Annual and Mid-Year Summits.
• Support line managers with development conversations and performance appraisals.

Performance, Probation & Promotion

• Coordinate the performance and development cycle, including probation reviews, check-ins and appraisals.
• Ensure timely and accurate communication and documentation for promotions and pay reviews.

Organisational Development & Inclusion

• Contribute to organisational development goals, including change initiatives and workforce planning.
• Promote and embed EDI principles in recruitment, policy, learning and everyday culture.
• Coordinate the Line Manager Forum and provide tools and support for effective people leadership.

Culture, Wellbeing & Engagement

• Lead mental health and wellbeing initiatives that support a psychologically safe workplace.
• Signpost staff to internal and external support, including any Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) 
• Develop wellbeing initiatives and provide signposting to internal and external support.
• Coordinate engagement activities such as staff surveys, internal events, and peer recognition.
• Foster a culture of inclusion, belonging and psychological safety aligned to IU values.

Payroll, Benefits & Benchmarking

• Liaise with the Finance team to support accurate and timely payroll processing.
• Contribute to salary benchmarking and benefits reviews.

HR Data, Insights & Risk

• Use HR system data to produce dashboards and insights to inform leadership decisions.
• Track and report on metrics such as turnover, diversity, engagement, and resourcing.
• Identify and manage people-related risks and contribute to the organisational risk register.
• Undertake any other reasonable duties as required by Senior leadership team, in line with the roles purpose and responsibilities. 

Key Projects

• Implementation of a new HR system
• Creation and embedding of competency frameworks
• Refresh of probation and promotion processes
• Formalisation of associate onboarding and offboarding
• Annual and mid-year summits coordination
• Development of staff handbook and policy library
• Workforce planning and HR insights for strategic decisions
• EDI integration and inclusion improvement planning

Person Specification

Essential:

• CIPD Level 5 qualified (or equivalent experience)
• Proven experience as an HR generalist or people and culture lead
• Strong understanding of UK employment law, HR compliance and best practice
• Experience leading recruitment, onboarding, L&D and employee relations
• Experience handling performance, grievance, disciplinary and misconduct processes
• Excellent communication, organisation and emotional intelligence
• Skilled in using HR systems and generating people insights

Desirable:

• Experience in a social enterprise, non-profit or values-led organisation
• Familiarity with associate/freelance workforce models
• Experience coordinating safeguarding or safer recruitment processes
• Knowledge of organisational development and change principles

Deadline for applications: 08/05/2025 9:00 am

Download application pack