HR Business Partner

HR Business Partner | Nr Carlisle and North East | £48,000–£55,000 basic + £6000 Car Allowance + 10% Bonus | Full Time | On Site Across Two Sites

Are you an HR generalist who’s ready to run your own patch, with a manager who backs you rather than watches over you? Would you like your week to run from a probation meeting on the shop floor to presenting to the senior leadership team?

Foxgroves are working exclusively with a well-established manufacturer with a strong name in its market. The business you’ll support runs across two UK sites, one near Carlisle and one in the North East. It’s commercially driven and growing, so the next few years will bring real change and growth.

This is a true generalist HRBP role covering the full employee lifecycle, from hiring to exits. You’ll report to the HR Director, who is based off site. You’ll have a weekly one-to-one and plenty of support, but day to day you’ll run your own patch. You’ll also sit on the UK HR Management Team, shaping HR strategy as well as delivering it.

You can be based at either site:

• North East-based, with two days a week Nr Carlisle
• Nr Carlisle-based, with at least one day a week in the North East

The Role

You’ll be the visible, go-to HR presence for managers and employees across both sites. 

Employee relations and casework

• Guide team leaders through capability, conduct and absence cases
• Handle the more difficult conversations and conflict yourself when needed
• Keep the business compliant with employment law, including for a small number of colleagues outside the UK
• Take part in employee relations reviews across the group

Change and projects

• Lead and support strategic projects, including TUPE, restructures and closures
• Support due diligence on businesses the group plans to buy, and help integrate them once they join
• Drive continuous improvement, in a business where it’s built into how things are done

Developing people and managers

• Write and deliver training sessions for managers
• Deliver the talent strategy, including succession planning and talent reviews with senior leaders
• Make sure top talent have development plans in place and that these get reviewed
• Help shape investment in early talent and keep recruitment quality high

Engagement and reward

• Work with the HR Director and senior leaders to act on the annual employee survey and improve engagement year on year
• Support the annual pay review
• Pull a short monthly report on payroll extras and check overtime with managers (payroll itself is run centrally)

You’ll be a natural relationship builder: down to earth, approachable and easy to deal with. People will need to trust you quickly. This is a busy, dynamic role so you’ll need to be proactive, comfortable with complexity and happy to work things out for yourself.

• Extensive HR generalist experience, ideally in manufacturing, distribution or a similar operational setting
• Sound employee relations and employment law knowledge, with the confidence to handle conflict and difficult conversations
• Experience of managing change, such as TUPE, restructures or consolidation, ideally with some organisational development exposure
• Experience of running HR projects from start to finish
• The confidence to train managers and present to senior leaders
• Commercial awareness and good analytical skills, and the ability to turn data into something useful
• CIPD qualified, and/or an HR or business degree
• Discretion and good judgement
• A full UK driving licence, and the flexibility to work across both sites, with occasional overnight trips to head office in the Midlands. 

Why You’ll Love Working Here

• £48,000–£55,000 basic salary, depending on experience
• £6000 a year car allowance, paid monthly. Use it towards the salary sacrifice car scheme or put it towards your own car
• Annual bonus of up to 10%, based on group performance and personal objectives
• Pension via salary sacrifice, with 4% employer contribution
• Company sick pay scheme
• Hours - 8-5pm Mon to Thursday and early finish on Fridays, with flexibility on hours on your travel days
• A stand-alone role with real autonomy, backed by a supportive manager and a wider HR team 
• The resources, career paths and specialist support of a large global group
• A growing business with acquisitions and change on the horizon, so there’s plenty to get stuck into

Foxgroves Recruitment acts as an employment agency for vacancies on behalf of clients, following fair and inclusive recruitment practices in line with the Equality Act 2010. All appointments are subject to pre-employment screening, including right to work checks, reference checks, and qualification verification. Reasonable adjustments are available for individuals with disabilities throughout the recruitment process.