HR Business Partner

Standard Life plc; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical cover

38 days annual leave

Excellent pension

Life assurance 12x salary

Career breaks

Income protection

Volunteering days

Job summary

Standard Life plc is seeking experienced HR Business Partners to join our Pensions & Savings HR Partnering team on permanent and fixed-term opportunities. You’ll shape organisational design, leadership capability and workforce transformation in partnership with senior leaders.

You’ll operate across locations with hybrid working, contributing to strategic people priorities and delivering practical people solutions in a regulated financial services context.

Qualifications

• Experience in HR business partnering and strategic change.
• Ability to translate business strategy into people priorities.
• Strong collaboration and influencing skills.

Responsibilities

• Shape operating models and organisational structures to meet customer needs.
• Lead complex organisation design and change initiatives.
• Identify capabilities and talent needs as technology and data evolve.
• Strengthen leadership effectiveness and succession planning.
• Coach senior leaders and provide commercially informed perspectives.
• Use people data to identify risks and inform decisions.
• Build high-performing, inclusive cultures.
• Collaborate across Talent, Learning, Reward and wider People teams.

Skills

HR business partnering

Organisation design

Transformation

Strategic change

Job description

Job Description

HR Business Partner Opportunities - FTC/Permanent opportunities

Help shape the future of retirement in the UK

Job type: Permanent and fixed-term opportunities

Salary and benefits: Competitive salary plus an indicative bonus range of 16-32%, private medical cover, 38 days annual leave, excellent pension, 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more.

Closing Date: 21/10/2026

Location: Birmingham, Bristol, London, Telford or Edinburgh, with hybrid working

Flexible working - These opportunities can be based in Birmingham, London, Bristol or Edinburgh, combining time in the office with working from home. All our roles are open to part-time working, job sharing and other forms of flexibility. During the recruitment process, we’ll discuss what’s important to you and how that can be balanced with the requirements of the role. You can read more about flexible working here.

We have incredible opportunities to join us here at Standard Life as an HR Business Partner within our Pensions & Savings HR Partnering team.

What if your next HR role helped shape the future of retirement in the UK?

At Pensions & Savings, we’re investing in the capabilities, technology and customer experiences that will define our next chapter of growth. As we transform our business, our HR team is playing a critical role in helping leaders build the organisation, culture and talent needed to succeed.

We have a number of permanent and fixed-term opportunities and are looking for experienced HR Business Partners who are energised by complex change and want to make a visible difference. You’ll work alongside senior leaders to shape organisational design, leadership capability, workforce transformation and the future skills our business needs. If you’re excited by the opportunity to influence important business decisions, challenge thinking and help create an organisation equipped for the future, we’d love to hear from you.

Who are we?

We’re Standard Life, a retirement specialist focused entirely on retirement savings and income. We champion the belief that everyone’s journey to and through retirement can be better, and for more than 200 years, we’ve been helping our customers plan and prepare for their financial futures.

Life today is increasingly complicated, uncertain and unpredictable. People move through different careers, face unexpected moments and navigate important choices. We offer our colleagues flexibility, trust and benefits that work for whatever life brings. In return we expect curiosity, connection, accountability and high standards. We make room for what matters - so you can bring your best, every day.

The role

This is an opportunity to work at the point where business strategy and people strategy come together.

You’ll build a deep understanding of the area you support, the outcomes it needs to deliver and the organisational challenges it faces. From there, you’ll work with leaders to translate strategic ambition into practical people priorities and move them into action.

Depending on the role and business area, you could be helping to:

• Shape operating models, organisational structures and accountabilities around the needs of our customers.
• Lead complex organisation design and change, helping leaders and colleagues move successfully from current to future ways of working.
• Identify the capabilities, skills and talent needed as technology, data and AI continue to change how work is delivered.
• Strengthen leadership effectiveness, succession and talent pipelines.
• Coach and constructively challenge senior leaders, bringing an independent and commercially informed perspective.
• Use people data, business insight and evidence to identify risks, uncover opportunities and influence better decisions.
• Build high-performing, customer-focused and inclusive cultures.
• Connect expertise across Talent, Learning, Reward, Culture, Inclusion and wider People teams to deliver joined-up solutions.
• Balance strategic transformation with the immediate people priorities that keep the business performing well.

Our HR Business Partners are not here simply to implement decisions after they have been made. You’ll be expected to get close to the business, contribute early, navigate ambiguity and help leaders make strong, sustainable choices for our customers, colleagues and organisation.

What We’re Looking For

We’re interested in meeting experienced HR professionals who can combine strategic thinking with pragmatic delivery.

You’ll Bring

• Strong HR Business Partnering, organisation design, transformation or strategic change experience.
• The ability to understand business strategy and translate it into clear organisation, workforce, talent and culture priorities.
• Confidence and credibility when partnering with, coaching and challenging senior leaders.
• Commercial awareness and sound judgement, with the ability to balance different business, colleague and customer considerations.
• Experience of navigating complexity, ambiguity and competing priorities.
• The ability to work across organisational boundaries and bring together different teams and specialists to deliver an outcome.
• A collaborative, curious and solutions-focused approach.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to bring clarity to complex issues.
• An interest in how technology, data and AI are changing organisations, roles and workforce requirements.

Experience in financial services or another complex, regulated environment would be valuable, but it isn’t the only background we’re interested in. If you’ve supported meaningful transformation in a large, customer-focused organisation, we’d like to hear what you could bring.

Why join us?

This is an exciting point at which to join Standard Life. Our ambition creates opportunities to rethink how we organise around customers, how work gets done and how we build the leadership and capabilities needed for the future.

You’ll Have The Opportunity To

• Influence significant business and organisational change.
• Work with senior leaders on complex, high-profile challenges.
• Shape decisions rather than simply implement them.
• Build experience across areas including customer, digital, technology, operations and transformation.
• Join a supportive HR community focused on strong partnerships and meaningful outcomes.
• Contribute to work that can make a real difference to colleagues and millions of customers planning for their financial futures.

We Want To Hire The Whole Version Of You

We’re committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome, and we encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.

We know that strong candidates don’t always follow the same career path or meet every requirement listed in an advert. If your experience looks different from what we’ve described, but you believe you can bring value to our team and ambition, we’d still love to hear from you.

If you require any adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you perform at your best.

We’ll review applications as they arrive and may close the campaign before the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply early.

Find Out More About Working At Standard Life

Guide for Candidates: standardlifeplc.pagetiger.com/guideforcandidates

Find or get answers from our colleagues: www.standardlifeplc.com/careers/talk-to-us