Associate Business Partner

National Physical Laboratory (NPL); Teddington; Hybrid; GBP 52,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is seeking an experienced People Partner to embed change, empower managers and deliver people initiatives within a hybrid model with two days onsite in Teddington.

You will partner with leaders to advise on engagement, talent management, workforce planning and wellbeing, supporting a high-performance culture while ensuring policy compliance and risk management. Security clarity requirements apply, and diverse backgrounds are welcomed.

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience in a Generalist or People Advisor/Partner role.
• Deep knowledge and strong employee relations experience, confident handling sensitive matters.
• Experience supporting business areas with change, performance management, workforce planning and engagement activities.
• A good communicator with credibility to challenge, influence and coach leaders and managers.
• Ability to work autonomously while contributing to a collaborative People Team.
• Practical, solution-focused approach with strong judgement and attention to detail.
• Experience of managing people (two People Advisers).

Responsibilities

• Advise, guide and coach managers to deliver the People Strategy.
• Partner with Strategic People Partner and other HR functions to support engagement and workforce initiatives.
• Provide guidance on complex policy development, change and performance issues.
• Act as a SME on ER and policy issues to enable timely resolution of matters.
• Drive continuous improvement to meet evolving business and statutory requirements.
• Use data and analytics to provide informed, evidence-based advice.
• Coach and develop People Advisers within the team.

Skills

Generalist/People Adviser

Employee relations

Change management

Performance management

Workforce planning

Engagement activities

Organisational effectiveness

Communication

Autonomy

People management

Job description

This is an exciting time to join NPL as the organisation embraces the mission and opportunity to provide the measurement capability that underpins the UK's prosperity and quality of life. NPL's vision is to deliver extraordinary impact from excellent science and engineering as an exemplary national laboratory. This mission reaffirms the pivotal role the organisation plays in supporting the UK's national challenges as well as the needs of industry.

We work in a hybrid way, with a mix of remote and office working (minimum two days onsite in Teddington).

Our close knit, supportive and experienced People Team are looking for an experienced People Partner who loves working closely with leaders and teams to embed change, improve capability and empower managers to resolve ER issues effectively. You will be a trusted partner who will play a key role in delivering people initiatives.

You will be a pivotal member of the People Team, this role promises a stretching experience with the opportunity to positively impact the NPL journey and boost the engagement of a diverse and talented workforce. You will enjoy working closely with leaders and teams to embed change, improve capability and empower managers to resolve ER issues effectively. You will be a trusted partner who will play a key role in delivering people initiatives.

Role Focus

This is a role of many parts where you will be part of a team that is advising, guiding and coaching managers to help us deliver our mission and vision. You will:

• Work in partnership with a Strategic People Partner supporting specific business areas, and with specialist People team functions, to promote and support engagement, talent management resourcing, workforce management, team wellbeing, D&I and L&D initiatives, working to build a high-performance culture
• Provide advice and guidance on complex policy development, change and performance management to support business capability
• Act as a subject matter expert on complex ER and policy issues, providing quality advice to managers and leaders, supporting them to make risk-informed, confident decisions to enable timely and effective resolution of matters
• Support delivery of the People Strategy, taking ownership of specific allocated projects or parts of the annual People cycle, ensuring effective delivery and implementation
• Drive continuous improvement to respond to evolving business and statutory requirements
• Use data to provide informed advice based on analytics and business metrics
• Manage, coach and develop People Advisers within the team and act as a mentor to colleagues when required

Throughout your work, you will ensure that NPL's interactions with employees are fair, aligned with agreed processes and legally compliant across all employment touchpoints, while mitigating risk.

To be successful, you'll bring:

• Demonstrable experience in a Generalist or People Advisor/Partner role
• Deep knowledge and strong employee relations experience, confident handling a variety of complex and sensitive matters
• Experience supporting business areas with change, performance management, workforce planning, engagement activities, and organisational effectiveness
• A good communicator with the credibility and confidence to challenge, influence and coach leaders and managers
• The ability to work autonomously while contributing effectively to a collaborative People Team
• A practical, solution-focused approach with strong judgement and attention to detail
• Experience of managing people (or interest and ability to take on people management). You will be responsible for two People Advisers.

Beyond that, we're looking for someone who'll thrive in an environment like ours. At NPL, we learn from and respect each other and work together to do better. And while we're always looking to stretch beyond what we know, we don't make things more complicated when there's no need.

We strive to offer a great work-life balance - if you are looking for full-time, part-time or flexible options, we will try to make this work where possible.

We actively recruit citizens of all backgrounds, but the nature of our work in specific departments means that nationality, residency and security requirements can be more tightly defined than others. You will be asked about this throughout the recruitment process. To work at NPL, you will need to obtain BPSS security clearance.