Head of People Operations

Trl; Wokingham; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

TRL is seeking an experienced Head of People Operations to join the senior leadership team in Wokingham. You will shape people strategy, lead a progressive agenda and partner with leaders to drive growth and engagement.

The role combines strategic thinking with hands-on leadership, oversees talent development, workforce planning, and change programs, and uses data to inform decisions while ensuring compliant people practices.

Qualifications

• Significant senior HR leadership experience within a generalist environment.
• Proven ability to lead transformational change and build high-performing teams.
• Strong knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice.
• CIPD Level 7 qualification or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead a high-performing People function and strategic HR partnering.
• Drive workforce planning, talent reviews and succession planning.
• Oversee reward, compensation and benefits strategy.
• Embed a culture of engagement and continuous improvement.

Skills

Senior HR leadership

Generalist HR

Executive partnering

People analytics

Education

CIPD Level 7 or equivalent

Job description

Location: Hybrid / Wokingham, UK
job type: Permanent / Full-time
Sector and subsector: Business Operations | HR
Salary: Negotiable salary

Head of People Operations

Location: Wokingham/Hybrid

Shape the future of our people agenda

We're looking for an experienced and commercially-minded Head of People Operations to join our senior leadership team and play a key role in driving organisational performance through our people strategy.

Reporting to the Chief People Officer, you'll lead the delivery of a progressive people agenda that supports business growth, develops leadership capability, strengthens employee engagement and ensures we continue to attract, develop and retain exceptional talent.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a strategic HR leader who enjoys balancing long-term organisational development with hands-on business partnering and leadership support.

What you'll be doing

As our Head of People Operations, you'll be at the heart of shaping an environment where both our people and business can thrive. Working closely with the Chief People Officer and senior leadership team, you'll influence strategic decisions, build leadership capability and drive a culture that enables high performance, engagement and growth.

You'll lead the development of people initiatives that make a genuine difference, from strengthening our talent pipeline and succession plans to enhancing employee experience and embedding a culture where individuals can do their best work. Whether supporting organisational change, coaching leaders through complex challenges or identifying new ways to improve how we attract, develop and retain talent, you'll play a pivotal role in helping the organisation achieve its ambitions. You will use data, insight and commercial understanding to help leaders make informed decisions while ensuring our people practices remain consistent, compliant and aligned to strategic objectives.

You'll combine strategic thinking with practical delivery, using insight, innovation and strong relationships to ensure our people strategy translates into meaningful outcomes across the business.

Key areas of responsibility

• Leading and developing a high-performing People function.
• Driving strategic business partnering across the organisation.
• Leading workforce planning, talent reviews and succession planning.
• Overseeing reward, compensation and benefits strategy.
• Leading organisational design, change and transformation activity.
• Managing complex employee relations casework and organisational risk.
• Using people data and insight to inform decision making and business performance.
• Delivering strategic people projects that support culture, leadership and engagement.
• Deputising for the Chief People Officer when required.

About You

You're an experienced senior HR leader with a strong track record of delivering people strategies that create measurable business impact.

You bring a broad generalist background and are equally comfortable influencing at executive level, leading transformational change and developing high-performing teams. You combine commercial awareness with strong people expertise and have the credibility to challenge, coach and support leaders through complex business decisions.

You’ll also bring

• Significant senior HR leadership experience within a generalist environment.
• Experience operating as a Head of People, Senior HR Business Partner or in a similar senior role.
• Proven expertise across business partnering, talent management and employee relations.
• Experience leading organisational change, transformation and restructuring programmes.
• Strong knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice.
• Experience developing and implementing reward, compensation and benefits strategies.
• A track record of building and leading successful teams.
• CIPD Level 7 qualification or equivalent experience.

It would be great if you also have

• Experience working within a growing or evolving organisation.
• Exposure to organisational development and culture transformation programmes.
• Experience implementing talent, succession and workforce planning frameworks.

You will have the opportunity to shape and influence the people agenda at a strategic level while working closely with an ambitious leadership team. We offer a supportive culture, genuine flexibility and the chance to make a visible impact across the organisation.

If you're passionate about building high-performing teams, developing leaders and creating a great employee experience, we'd love to hear from you.

Please note that we reserve the right to close the vacancy early, should we receive a sufficient number of suitable applications.