HR Business Partner

Barry Callebaut Group; Banbury; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading food and beverage manufacturer in the UK is seeking an HR Business Partner to support functional leaders in people-related processes. The ideal candidate will have 5+ years of HR experience, strong analytical skills, and a solid understanding of UK legislation. This mid-senior level role offers an opportunity for professional development within a hybrid working environment. You will play a key role in fostering a positive culture and driving engagement across teams.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in HR, ideally in Commercial/B2B/FMCG.
• Experience leading change projects and talent/performance management.
• Strong knowledge of UK employment legislation and employee relations.

Responsibilities

• Provide business-focused Employee Relations advice.
• Champion talent processes and lead succession planning.
• Support transformation initiatives and communicate with employees.

Skills

Employee Relations

Talent Management

Change Management

Analytical skills

Stakeholder Management

Communication skills

Problem-solving

Customer focus

Education

Degree

CIPD Level 5

Tools

SAP

ServiceNow

SuccessFactors

Atoss

Microsoft Suite

Job description

HR Business Partner – Barry Callebaut Group

About The Role

The HR Business Partner will support UK functional leaders in all people-related processes, ensuring compliance with legislation and driving engagement strategies to achieve organisational goals. Responsible for Employee Relations, Talent Management, Reward, Learning, and core HR processes, the role reports to the HR Director UKI and collaborates with global HR teams. You will play a key role in creating a positive and high-performing culture across both factory and commercial teams, partnering closely with operational leaders to ensure that our people strategies drive productivity, capability and engagement on site. This role offers excellent development opportunities for a driven HR professional to broaden their exposure across both manufacturing and commercial environments, with potential to progress into more senior HR or regional roles within the wider Barry Callebaut organisation. We currently operate a home/office working pattern. The expectation is that you will be in the office a minimum of 3 days a week, or more if required.

Key Responsibilities

• Employee Relations: Provide pragmatic, business-focused ER advice to line managers; proactively identify trends; and work to create a culture of trust, fairness and open communication across the organisation.
• Talent & Performance Management: Champion culture and key talent processes (performance management, engagement, development, DEI) and lead on talent identification and succession planning for critical roles, ensuring robust development pipelines and readiness for future growth.
• Change Management: Support transformation initiatives by providing insight on workforce impacts, facilitating consultation, and ensuring timely and effective communication with employees and union partners.
• Organization Design: Lead organisation reviews to align capability, headcount and structure with operational efficiency and business growth priorities.
• Learning: Work with leaders and individuals to identify learning needs and solutions.
• Reward: Utilizing the global reward framework, work with leaders to ensure compensation is performance related, fair and competitive.
• Core HR Team processes: Take ownership of core activities from benefits to supporting external partners engagement, and contribute to continuous improvement of HR processes, reporting and data accuracy.

About You

• Degree and minimum CIPD Level 5 preferable.
• Minimum 5+ years of experience within HR, ideally within Commercial/B2B/FMCG organisations.
• Experience leading organisational/culture change projects and talent/performance management.
• Excellent knowledge of UK legislation and proven track record in employee relations, including union experience.
• Strong analytical and data-driven approach, able to interpret HR metrics and provide insight to leaders.
• Experience with SAP & HR systems (ServiceNow/SuccessFactors/Atoss preferred).
• Good knowledge of Microsoft suite.
• Strong customer focus with excellent relationship‑building skills.
• Effective multitasking, prioritisation, and time‑management abilities.
• Proven problem‑solving, influencing, and communication skills with solid stakeholder management.
• Able to challenge constructively and influence at all levels.
• Drives culture, engagement, and employee development with integrity and resilience.
• Passionate about creating a positive employee experience and fostering inclusion, performance, and continuous improvement.
• Adaptable, self‑motivated team player who thrives in change.

At Barry Callebaut, we are committed to Diversity & Inclusion. United by our strong values, we thrive on the diversity of who we are, where we come from, what we’ve experienced and how we think. We are committed to nurturing an inclusive environment where people can truly be themselves, grow to their full potential and feel they belong. #oneBC - Diverse People, Sustainable Growth.

Seniority level: Mid‑Senior level

Employment type: Full‑time

Job function: Human Resources

Industries: Food and Beverage Services and Food and Beverage Manufacturing