Director of HR Operations

Sysco; Ashford; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading foodservice supplier in the UK is seeking a Director of HR Operations to enhance its HR function across 8,500 employees. This role requires strong leadership in HR operations and deep expertise with Workday HCM. The Director will oversee payroll operations, implement continuous improvements, and collaborate across various departments to ensure operational excellence. Join a dedicated team committed to providing an inclusive work culture and supporting employee development.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Car allowance

Private healthcare

Bonus scheme

Flexible work arrangements

Qualifications

• Experience in high-paced, multi-site environments.
• Hands-on experience with Workday configuration and reporting.
• Sound knowledge of statutory requirements in payroll.

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire the HR Operations function.
• Ensure accurate payroll operations across multiple sites.
• Champion continuous improvement in HR processes.

Skills

Proven leadership in HR Operations

Deep experience with Workday HCM

End-to-end payroll operations expertise

Commercial acumen

Inspirational people leadership

Knowledge of UK employment law

Tools

Workday HCM

SAP

Job description

Job Description

Director of HR Operations

Location: Home based with travel to sites and Ashford Customer Support Centre

Package: Competitive salary, car allowance, bonus scheme, private healthcare, and more

Be part of what's next at Sysco GB. At Sysco GB (Brakes, Fresh Direct, KFF & Medina), we've laid the foundations of a bold HR transformation, investing heavily in people, process, and platforms. With the successful global implementation of Workday, we're ready to shift from build to scale.

As our Director of HR Operations, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping the future of colleague services for our 8,500+ colleagues nationwide. Reporting directly to the GB HR Director, you'll lead a talented team of 25 across HR Administration, Payroll, People Analytics & Systems.

Your impact:

• Lead & inspire the HR Operations function to deliver a streamlined, digitally enabled, colleague-first experience across the entire hire-to-retire lifecycle.
• Champion service delivery through continuous improvement, simplification, and automation, leveraging our global Workday platform by owning and optimising core HCM processes and user adoption across the GB business.
• Accountable for end-to-end payroll operations across GB, ensuring accurate and timely colleague pay across multiple sites, while maintaining full compliance with legal, regulatory, and audit requirements.
• Drive shared services maturity, embedding best-practice operations, robust SLA governance, and scalable service models that support our fast-moving, customer-centric business.
• Optimise people systems, data, and insights, ensuring timely, trusted analytics inform decision-making across all levels of the organisation, driving smarter workforce planning and improved business outcomes.
• Champion continuous improvement, streamlining policies, simplifying processes, and digitising manual tasks to free up HR capacity and improve turnaround times.
• Drive operational excellence, leading strong governance across SLAs, KPIs, service quality, and risk management, ensuring compliance and consistency in every interaction.
• Collaborate cross-functionally, working closely with HR Business Partners, Centres of Excellence, Technology, Change, PMO, Finance, and IT to deliver HR programmes and innovation.
• Lead HR project delivery, ensuring change is well-executed, people-centred, and delivers tangible business impact, supporting transformation and ensuring the function is agile and change-ready as the wider business evolves and scales.
• Strengthen operational compliance, embedding consistent policies, employment practices, and controls in partnership with our CoEs and Legal teams.
• Represent HR Operations on key steering groups and external forums, helping shape the broader people agenda across Sysco GB and Sysco International.

What you'll bring:

• Proven leadership in HR Operations or Shared Services functions at scale, ideally within high-paced, multi-site, or matrixed environments (experience in retail, distribution, logistics, or FMCG is a plus).
• Deep, hands-on experience with Workday HCM, with a track record of successfully embedding and optimising system processes, configuration, reporting, and user experience (knowledge of Time Tracking and Payroll modules are advantageous).
• Proven experience in end-to-end payroll operations, with a deep understanding of statutory requirements, tax regulations, and audit controls (SAP knowledge highly desirable).
• Commercial acumen, influencing skills, and the confidence to operate at both strategic and tactical levels.
• Demonstrated success in leading operational teams through transformation, with the ability to embed and sustain change.
• Inspirational people leadership, coaching, motivating, and growing teams while embedding a high-performance, customer-focused culture.
• A modern, progressive HR mindset, always seeking smarter ways to deliver value through digital, data, and design thinking.
• Resilience, pace, and a passion for getting things done well in complex and evolving environments.
• Sound understanding of UK employment law, contracts, policy governance, and audit/risk mitigation.

Why Sysco GB? We've laid the foundations for a modern HR function, digitally enabled, colleague-focused, and fit for the future. With Workday now in place and a culture built on inclusion, pace, and performance, we're ready to take HR and the business from good to great. This is your opportunity to shape what comes next.

The scope of this role may evolve over time, with opportunities to take on broader responsibilities in line with business needs and priorities. We offer flexibility, autonomy, and a package designed to reward you, plus award-winning food at near-cost price, an inclusive team, and a business that believes everyone should have a seat at the table, belong, and thrive.

We don't want you to "fit" our culture; we want you to help shape it. Additional Information: At Brakes, everyone is welcome. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone has a voice, is appreciated, and has the same opportunities. We work hard to ensure everyone feels part of our business, as we care for one another and connect the world through food and trusted partnerships. Our ultimate goal is to ensure everyone belongs and thrives at Brakes, and we recognize that Brakes can only thrive when everyone feels they belong. We'll do everything we can to support you during your application. If you need us to make any adjustments to our recruitment process, speak to our resourcing team who will be happy to support you.

Brakes, built on a passion for food and feeding the nation, is the UK's largest foodservice supplier. Every day, we deliver the highest quality fresh and frozen food and ingredients from our nationwide network of distribution centres to some of the nation's most famous pubs and restaurants, as well as schools, caterers, care homes, and hospitals. Our customers depend on us, and our 8,000-strong workforce is dedicated and proud to be part of this vital provision. And we're growing!