Head Of People Business Partnering

Unit: People Services

Salary: £74,351 to £89,185

Location: Milton Keynes

Please quote reference: 21500

Terms: Full-time, Permanent

Closing Date: 12 March 2024 - 12:00 noon

Flexible and remote working is an option but must be able to attend Milton Keynes as required.

Change your career, change lives

The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education.

People Services is committed to providing The Open University with high-quality people solutions and is valued for its efficiency, expertise, partnering capability and service.

The role

We are looking for an exceptional Head of People Business Partnering to lead, develop and further embed our People Business Partnering team across the organisation. As we continue to evolve and innovate as the market leader in supported distance learning, it’s an exciting time to join the OU where you will play an important role in supporting colleagues from across all four nations.

As the Head of People Business Partnering you will pro-actively devise and drive forward People Services plans and strategies aligned to the OU strategic agenda whilst further developing a team of skilled HR business partners. With support from a team of HR professionals, you will be working very closely with other areas across the University to provide a holistic view on succession planning, workforce planning and organisational design, ensuring the people agenda is considered and planned for appropriately.

Although this role is aligned to our Milton Keynes office, we are flexible on location across the UK, with the understanding that occasional onsite attendance will be required.

Skills and experience

This role is for you if you:

• Are an experienced HR professional with extensive generalist human resources experience in a complex and unionised environment at senior business partner level. Are adept at working with senior leaders to create and bring to life strategic people plans. Have experience of leading, developing and performance managing a team of HR professionals in a Business Partnering capacity. Possess broad understanding of all HR disciplines, including leadership capability building, organisation development, talent management, employee relations, employment law. Can evidence proven success with proactive stakeholder management at varying levels.

The full summary of duties and skills required for the role can be found within the Job Description here.

If you would like to discuss the application or recruitment process before making an application, please contact Marion Child at Resourcing Hub on 01908 655544 or Resourcing-hub@open.ac.uk quoting the reference VRF 21500

What you get in return

We have a strong commitment to providing training and development in and beyond your current role. This includes thorough induction into the organisation and regular reviews of your training and development needs.

We also offer a great range of benefits that support our employees and their families for the long term. Staff Benefits include an attractive pension proposition and 33 days holiday per annum pro rata, plus Bank Holidays and Christmas closure days