People Business Partner - 12 months FTC (Mat cover)

Job description

Salary: Competitive plus car allowance and excellent benefits

Working Pattern: Full Time

Contract Type: Fixed Term

People Business Partner

The People Business Partner is a strategic partner to an executive member of the leadership team to shape and deliver people strategies that enable the business to achieve its objectives.

The role provides insight, challenge and influence at the most senior level, ensuring that people considerations are fully embedded in strategic decision-making.

Working within a team of specialist business partners, each with distinct portfolios, the People Business Partner leverages deep expertise across the colleague lifecycle to drive organisation-wide impact, growth and transformation.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic People Leadership and Coaching:

• Partner with an executive leader and their leadership team to shape business priorities through people-focused insight.
• Own the people plan for your portfolio, leading development, prioritisation and delivery in alignment with the group people strategy.
• Collaborate with chapter leads across Talent Development, Talent Acquisition, Reward, Communications, Data & Systems and EDI & Wellbeing to ensure business needs are captured and addressed in the plan.
• Drive measurable outcomes across performance, engagement, capability and culture.
• Influence and challenge senior leaders to ensure people considerations inform decision-making.
• Coach and develop senior leaders to strengthen leadership capability, team performance and cultural alignment.
  
  

Organisational Design And Change Leadership

• Lead organisation design initiatives, shaping structures, roles, capabilities and ways of working to deliver business strategy.
• Establish clear accountability and decision-making frameworks (RACI) across the portfolio.
• Lead change management for transformation initiatives, ensuring adoption, operational readiness and sustainable outcomes.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, innovation and adaptability across leadership teams and the wider organisation.
  
  

Talent And Workforce Planning

• Lead workforce planning and forecasting, ensuring the right people, skills and leadership capability are in place for immediate priorities and long-term growth.
• Drive leadership capability and organisational readiness, preparing leaders and critical roles for current and future needs.
• Lead succession planning for key roles, building strong pipelines and robust talent pools aligned to strategic priorities.
• Partner with the Talent team to translate group capability requirements into actionable plans, addressing gaps and strengthening skills.
• Provide guidance on recruitment and talent acquisition processes, ensuring key roles are filled with the right talent.
  
  

Reward And Compensation

• Collaborate with the Reward chapter lead to ensure business feedback informs group pay and benefits strategy.
• Lead the implementation of reward and compensation initiatives across your portfolio, supporting annual pay reviews and strategic decisions.
• Provide guidance on compensation for key and strategic roles, ensuring the business can attract, retain and develop critical talent.
• Own payroll-to-sales management for your portfolio, reviewing performance and forecasts with the exec member to ensure alignment with business priorities.
  
  

People Insights And Analytics

• Lead the use of people analytics to identify trends, risks and opportunities across your portfolio.
• Translate insights into actionable strategies that enhance engagement, capability, performance and culture.
• Partner with leaders to interpret colleague feedback and monitor progress against business goals.
• Review analytics with the exec member and leadership team regularly, translating findings into clear action plans.
  
  

Culture, Engagement And Inclusion

• Lead initiatives to strengthen culture, engagement and colleague experience, including insights from colleague surveys (Every Voice).
• Partner with leadership to foster inclusive, high-performing environments where colleagues can thrive.
• Coach leaders to interpret feedback, implement targeted action plans and reinforce organisational values.
  
  

Project Management And HR Technology

• Lead portfolio-wide people initiatives linked to business transformation and organisational projects.
• Collaborate with the Data & Systems chapter lead to drive adoption of people technology, improving efficiency, insight and decision-making.
• Provide business and people insights to inform future technology requirements, ensuring systems are fit for purpose, scalable and aligned to long-term business needs.
  
  

Employee Relations

• Partner with the People Shared Service team to manage complex ER cases effectively, balancing risk management with cultural impact.
  
  

KPIs and Measures of Success

• Improved employee engagement and retention (LTO)
• Time to hire
• Payroll-to-sales alignment
• Successful implementation of organisational change initiatives
• Strong succession pipelines and talent mobility
  
  

Experience

Strategic HR Expertise

• Proven experience partnering with executive teams to deliver business-aligned people strategies.
• Experience leading organisation design, workforce planning, talent strategy, succession planning and reward across multiple business areas.
  
  

Data-Driven Decision Making

• Skilled in using people insights and analytics to inform strategic decisions.
• Able to translate data into actionable strategies that drive engagement, capability, performance and culture.
  
  

Leadership & Stakeholder Management

• Highly skilled at influencing and challenging senior leaders effectively.
• Builds credibility and strong partnerships across functions.
• Coaches senior leaders to enhance leadership capability and team performance.
  
  

Business & Commercial Awareness

• Understands business strategy, commercial drivers and market trends.
• Links people strategies to business outcomes, including workforce planning, organisational capability and financial targets.
  
  

Project Delivery & Change Leadership

• Experienced in leading complex, portfolio-wide people initiatives and organisational projects.
  
  

Culture & Engagement

• Experienced in driving engagement, inclusion and culture initiatives.
• Skilled at interpreting colleague feedback to inform actionable improvements.
  
  

Communication & Coaching

• Strong facilitation, coaching and influencing skills.
• Able to provide clear, actionable guidance to senior leaders on people strategy and organisational effectiveness.
  
  

Benefits

In addition to competitive salaries, we also offer the below core benefits:

20% staff discount, which increases with length of service

Thrive Recognition Scheme

Wellbeing support provided by the Retail Trust

Life Assurance

Retail Rewards platform offering discounts for other retailers

Pension Scheme

Access to a wide range of career development

Additional benefits may apply depending on your role and area of the business

Extra information

Status

Closed

Education Level

Secondary School

Location

Liverpool

Type of Contract

Casual / Part Time Jobs

Profession type

Retail

Full UK/EU driving license preferred

No

Car Preferred

No

Must be eligible to work in the EU

No

Cover Letter Required

No

Languages

English