Associate HR Business Partner

Nottingham Trent University; Nottingham; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK university is seeking an experienced Associate HR Business Partner to provide proactive HR support across various departments. The role involves building influential relationships, managing employee relations, and leading HR projects. Ideal candidates will have a strong HR lifecycle experience, excellent influencing skills, and knowledge of employment law. This position offers hybrid working and a range of benefits including professional development opportunities.

Benefits

Hybrid working environment

25 - 30 days annual leave

Salary Sacrifice Retirement Savings Plan

Health and wellbeing services

Professional development opportunities

Qualifications

• Strong experience across the full HR lifecycle in large organizations.
• Excellent relationship-building and influencing skills.
• Proactive and solutions-focused approach, able to balance priorities.
• Up-to-date knowledge of employment law and HR best practices.
• Experience with complex employee relations cases.

Responsibilities

• Support managers with resourcing, reward, and performance management.
• Build strong, influential relationships as a trusted partner.
• Champion change management to support long-term goals.
• Partner with HR specialists in policy and organizational development.
• Lead projects to enhance employee engagement.

Skills

Relationship-building

Influencing skills

HR lifecycle experience

Employment law knowledge

Complex employee relations

Education

CIPD qualification (or working towards it)

Job description

Are you an experienced HR professional who thrives in a dynamic, people-focused environment? At Nottingham Trent University (NTU), we re seeking an Associate HR Business Partner to play a pivotal role in supporting our academic and professional services teams. This is your chance to make a real impact - helping to shape organisational culture, drive change, and enable colleagues to achieve their full potential.

As part of our HR Business Partnering team, you ll provide proactive, customer-focused HR support across a diverse portfolio of departments. You ll work closely with leaders, managers, and staff to deliver effective HR solutions that align with NTU s strategic objectives. From employee relations to organisational development, you ll be involved in the full range of HR activities, including:

Responsibilities

• Supporting managers with resourcing, reward, and performance management.
• Building strong, influential relationships as a trusted partner on people and business issues.
• Championing and facilitating change management to support NTU s long-term goals.
• Partnering with specialist HR colleagues in policy, reward, health & safety, EDI, and organisational development.
• Leading on projects and initiatives that enhance employee engagement and organisational effectiveness.

What You ll Be Doing

• Acting as a mentor and coach to managers, supporting them with job design, recruitment, performance, and complex employee relations matters.
• Balancing the successful delivery of key projects with hands‑on support for ongoing casework.
• Guiding and advising on formal processes, including discipline, grievance, redundancy, and settlement agreements.
• Providing workforce insights and analysis to inform strategic planning.
• Managing and motivating colleagues to ensure high‑quality service delivery across the HR Business Partnering team.
• Keeping up-to-date with HR best practice, sector trends, and legislative changes.
• Deputising for the HR Business Partner when required.

Qualifications

• Strong experience across the full HR lifecycle, ideally within a large or complex organisation.
• Excellent relationship‑building and influencing skills.
• A proactive and solutions‑focused approach, with the ability to balance competing priorities.
• Up-to-date knowledge of employment law and HR best practice.
• Experience of handling complex employee relations cases.
• CIPD qualification (or working towards it) is highly desirable.

Nottingham Trent University is a successful and ambitious university that is recognised for its innovation and inclusivity and being bold enough to do things differently. This is an exciting time to join the HR team focused on Empowering People a key theme in delivering the strategic plan University, reimagined . Our HR team is responsible for our NTU colleagues employment needs. We cover a wide range of HR and Organisational Development services, including Health, Safety and Wellbeing, Resourcing and Reward and Recognition. Distinctive and disruptive, we empower people to do the right thing. We are bold in exploring unfamiliar paths and pursuing novel solutions. If you have a passion for making a real difference, joining us in HR at NTU could be the perfect role for you.

Benefits

• Hybrid working - Join us in a flexible working environment that blends the best of both worlds. This hybrid position offers the freedom to work remotely while staying connected through regular in‑person collaboration.
• 25 - 30 days annual leave, plus statutory bank holidays and 5 university closure days pro rata.
• Salary Sacrifice Retirement Savings Plan with life assurance and income protection. Available to colleagues who choose to opt out of the contractual pension scheme. Minimum colleague contributions of 0% matched with minimum NTU contributions of 8%.
• Range of health and wellbeing services, including a Health Cash Plan, voluntary benefits, discounts, and savings for all colleagues.
• Access to a wealth of formal and informal professional development opportunities to develop your skills and advance your career.
• And a whole lot moreFind out more about the range of benefits we offer.