People and Culture Lead

Role Purpose

The People & Culture (P&C) Lead delivers an effective, responsive and commercially aware P&C service across the UK, Ireland and Nordics. Working with local management and the regional P&C team, the role supports the employee lifecycle, provides practical advice to managers and ensures regional initiatives are implemented consistently with appropriate local adaptation.

The role acts as a trusted P&C partner and change agent, balancing employee experience, business needs and local legal requirements while improving P&C processes and service delivery.

Key Responsibilities

P&C Operations & Employee Lifecycle

• Deliver accurate and timely employee lifecycle processes and administration.

• Support managers, employees, new joiners and leavers, and improve P&C processes and controls.

Recruitment & Onboarding

• Manage recruitment from role scoping and shortlisting through selection and appointment.

• Partner with hiring managers and Talent Acquisition to deliver consistent, inclusive onboarding.

Employee Relations

• Advise managers on disciplinary, grievance, absence, performance, capability and other employee matters.

• Manage cases in line with applicable legislation, policy and good practice, maintaining accurate and confidential records.

• Escalate higher-risk or complex matters to the Regional P&C Manager or specialist advisers.

Policy, Compliance & Employment Practice

• Implement and communicate central and regional P&C policies across the countries and entities supported.

• Recognise local legal and employment-practice differences and seek country-specific expertise where required.

• Identify and escalate potential non-compliance with policies, regulatory requirements or codes of conduct.

People Data & Insights

• Analyse people data to identify workforce trends, risks and opportunities.

• Maintain data quality and use HR systems appropriately, protecting confidential employee information.

Stakeholder Partnership

• Build trusted relationships with management, employees and regional stakeholders.

• Provide pragmatic advice that balances employee experience, legal risk and operational needs, constructively challenging where appropriate.

• Collaborate with regional and central P&C colleagues on business and people priorities.

Workforce, Talent & Engagement

• Support workforce planning, talent and succession activity, employee engagement, learning and retention.

• Help managers identify capability needs and suitable development actions.

Communication & Change

• Deliver clear P&C communications and support organisational change and regional programmes.

• Ensure change activity is appropriately planned, documented and communicated in line with local requirements.

Qualifications & Experience

Essential

• Proven P&C/HR generalist experience providing end-to-end support across the employee lifecycle.

• Experience supporting managers and employees across multiple entities, locations or countries, ideally in an international or matrix organisation.

• Strong employee relations experience, including disciplinary, grievance, absence, performance and capability matters.

• Sound working knowledge of UK employment law and experience supporting, or working alongside colleagues supporting, Ireland and/or Nordic countries.

• Understanding that legislation, collective arrangements and employment practices vary by jurisdiction, with the judgement to seek specialist advice when needed.

• Experience in recruitment, onboarding, policy implementation and organisational change.

• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, including confidence advising and constructively challenging managers.

• Ability to use people data and HR systems to identify trends and support decisions.

• Excellent written and spoken English, strong organisation skills and sound judgement when managing competing priorities and confidential matters.

Qualifications

• A recognised HR, People Management, Business Management or related qualification, or equivalent relevant professional experience.

• CIPD Level 5 or above, or an equivalent recognised HR professional qualification, is desirable.

• Commitment to continuing professional development and maintaining current employment-law and P&C knowledge.

Desirable Experience

• Direct P&C responsibility across the UK, Ireland and/or one or more Nordic countries.

• Experience within a European or international P&C structure.

• Exposure to collective consultation, employee representative bodies or collective labour arrangements.

• Experience supporting restructuring, consultation or employee relations projects across more than one jurisdiction.

• Experience in workforce planning, talent, succession, engagement and learning and development.

• Experience adapting regional or global P&C programmes to local requirements and supporting geographically dispersed teams.

Regional Role Requirements

• Provide consistent support across the region while recognising differences in legislation, employment practice, culture and employee representation.

• Build credible relationships across multiple locations and legal entities.

• Exercise sound judgement over local management, escalation and specialist support.

• Work effectively across different cultures, management styles and business environments.

• Undertake regional business travel as reasonably required.

Benefits

• Competitive pension scheme.

• Private medical healthcare and Medicash

• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays.

• Hybrid and flexible working arrangements appropriate to the role.

• Car allowance

Personal Attributes

• Commercially aware, pragmatic and solutions-focused.

• Credible, approachable and able to build trust at all levels.

• Culturally aware, adaptable and comfortable working across countries.

• Confident handling sensitive issues and working with appropriate independence.

• Resilient, organised, collaborative and proactive in improving employee experience and P&C delivery.

What Success Looks Like

Success means delivering a credible, accessible and solutions-focused regional P&C service. The P&C Lead combines reliable operational delivery with effective stakeholder partnership, sound management of employee matters, useful people insights and successful implementation of P&C initiatives.