People Business Partner

Manpower has an exciting opportunity to join our client, the UK's largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education as a People Business Partner based at their prestigious site in Milton Keynes (this is a hybrid role and will require working from the office when required).

This is a fixed term contract for 1 year.

Depending on experience, this role is paying between 45,585 to 54,395 per annum.

You'll be joining the People Services Business Partnering Team in driving the relationship between People Services and a variety of units across the University.

As a People Business Partner, you will provide high quality, business focused and strategic level advice, guidance and support to a range of leadership teams throughout the OU. You will help deliver a range of strategic and operational people solutions whilst guiding on organisational design and development.

Key Accountabilities

• Place human centric thinking at the core of the way you work, to deliver an exceptional end-to-end customer experience, through collaboration with business unit stakeholders and the Areas of Expertise to build innovative and enduring people solutions.
• Become a trusted partner and valued member of the unit leadership team, driving and influencing the development of the unit agenda and strategy.
• Support business leaders to develop their leadership skills and enable them to explore and challenge their thinking by acting as a critical partner.
• In partnership with business areas, lead transformational change projects ensuring People Service legislation, policy and best practice from wider industry is considered. Anticipating the people impacts and ensuring that change management is undertaken in line with our values.
• Proactively create, analyse and interpret complex people analytics and business intelligence to work with the unit leadership to deliver desired business outcomes. Encouraging and enabling managers to make informed decisions through the manipulation of quality MI.
• Champion People Services initiatives across the business area, securing buy in, and embedding strategic People Services thinking in senior managers, including succession planning and talent management.
• In partnership with senior leaders, assess and understand the engagement levels and culture within the business area, and weave a programme of interventions to enable cultural evolution that benefits all colleagues and makes us a truly great place to work.
• Work with leadership to undertake workforce planning, supporting them in understanding their current people needs, determining their future needs and being the architect to bridge the gap.
• Reflect the experience of colleagues at all levels when engaging with senior management, acting as a coach and guide to leaders on how to engage employees, manage people and employee relations issues, build a performance-based culture and deliver business outcomes rather than outputs.
• Provide leadership on the people aspects of business plans and provide input, influence and solutions in collaboration with our Centres of Expertise and People Operations, on people and organisational issues including resourcing, capability build, talent and development, reward, organisational design, change management, employee relations, performance management and employee engagement.

Key Skills Required

• A creative and innovative mindset.
• Someone who sees systemic and cultural barriers as an opportunity to try something new, with the drive and resilience to deliver.
• Ability to create pace and momentum in their own work and to bring others on board.
• The credibility and the ability to influence at senior levels.
• Demonstrable experience of working on the full spectrum of people services at a business unit level, including talent development and organisation design, reward, change and performance management and employee engagement.
• Proven track record of understanding key drivers in a relevant business area and working in partnership with managers to measurably improve people management practices and outcomes.
• Evidence of operating as a true commercial partner through the delivery of value-added activity.

Our client promotes diversity in employment and welcome applications from all sections of the community.