Head of HR, UK

Ocean Red; Greater London; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Ocean Red seeks a Senior HR leader for its London office to sit on the UK leadership team and build the UK HR capability. You will own the UK People Agenda, advise leadership, and make HR visible and trusted locally.

You will lead organisational change, workforce design and the HR side of restructurings and integrations, working closely with central HR and finance on rewards and cost planning.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in senior HR leadership or HR business partnering roles in international, matrixed organisations.
• Strong UK employment law and employee relations experience.
• Proven track record in organisational change, restructurings and senior stakeholder advisory.
• Experience working with central or outsourced HR service models.
• Financial services or regulated industry experience; M&A or integration exposure is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Advise UK leadership on organisational effectiveness, succession, engagement, culture and leadership development.
• Set direction on complex employee relations, conduct and performance matters, sensitive exits, redundancies and settlements with Legal input.
• Lead workforce planning, organisational design, and HR aspects of restructurings, acquisitions and integrations.
• Partner with group Reward and Finance on annual compensation decisions and workforce cost planning.
• Ensure UK HR compliance with employment law, data protection and governance; oversee HR risk audits.
• Represent UK priorities in group HR discussions and collaborate with central HR functions.

Skills

HR Leadership

Stakeholder Advisory

Organisational Change

People Strategy

Job description

The senior HR leader for the London office of an international financial services group, sitting on the UK leadership team. Part of the job is the full HR toolkit: employee relations, organisational change and leadership development. The bigger part is making HR visible and trusted in the office again, and building the UK team around it.

The work

This group runs HR globally, with a central service model and the group HR function setting much of the direction. London needs a senior HR leader on the ground: someone the UK leadership team relies on, and someone employees come to with the things they would never type into a ticket. The UK HR team is small today and needs building out. The group is growing through acquisition, so the remit is likely to grow with it.

What you'll own

The UK People Agenda, co-created with local leadership and aligned with group HR priorities. You'll be the trusted advisor to the UK leadership team, and the person who makes HR worth using again.

• Advise UK leadership on organisational effectiveness, succession, engagement, culture and leadership development
• Set the direction on complex employee relations, conduct and performance matters, sensitive exits, redundancies and settlements, working with Legal when needed
• Lead workforce planning, organisational design and the HR side of restructurings, acquisitions and integrations
• Partner with group Reward and Finance on annual compensation decisions and workforce cost planning
• Keep HR compliant with UK employment law, data protection and internal governance, and oversee audits and HR risk
• Represent UK priorities in group HR discussions, and build a strong working relationship with the central HR functions

What you'll need

Judgement and personality matter as much as the CV here. You know when to challenge, when to hold back and when to de-escalate, and you can keep local leadership and group HR on side at the same time.

• 10+ years in senior HR leadership, HR business partnering or broad generalist HR, in an international, matrixed business
• Strong UK employment law and employee relations: you've seen most cases before
• A track record in organisational change, restructuring and senior stakeholder advisory
• Experience working alongside a central or outsourced HR service model
• Financial services, banking or another regulated industry is an advantage, as is M&A, integration or reward governance experience

What happens next

A screening call with me first. If it's a fit, I'll make the Candidate Submission, then three stages, all in person at the London office: HR leadership, the UK Country Head, then a final sign-off. The client wants to move quickly. I'll share the client name once we've had a confidential conversation.