HR Business Partner

Ellison Institute of Technology; Oxford; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave

Pension

Life insurance

Income protection

Private medical insurance

Employee discounts

Electric car scheme

Cycle to Work

Coaching & Therapy

Job summary

Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) seeks an experienced HR Business Partner to support a diverse population of scientists, researchers and operational teams in the UK. The HRBP will work with leaders to align people strategies with organisational goals, manage workforce planning, talent development and employee relations in a fast-paced, research-driven setting.

The role emphasises partnership with senior stakeholders, data-driven decision making, and driving change initiatives while

Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent in HR, business administration or related field.
• Strong knowledge of HR principles, UK employment law, and policies.
• Experience partnering across the employee lifecycle including ER, performance, and change.
• Proven ability to handle complex employee relations with tact and discretion.
• Analytical mindset with HR metrics to drive decisions.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder relationship skills.
• Strong organisational and project management abilities.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational HR support to leaders across the organisation.
• Lead workforce planning, organisational design, and capability building.
• Advise on employee relations investigations, grievances and performance concerns.
• Coach managers on performance reviews, development plans and feedback.
• Analyse HR data to inform decisions and drive improvements.
• Ensure compliance with UK employment law and internal policies.
• Lead change management and culture initiatives in a research environment.
• Champion DEI and partner with senior leaders on people strategies.

Skills

Strategic HR partnership

UK employment law

Employee relations

Talent development

HR data analytics

Communication

Project management

Stakeholder management

Education

Degree in HR/Business Administration

Tools

HRIS

Payroll systems

Job description

Join us at EIT:

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we're on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionaryscientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators and innovators to tackle humanity's greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

This is ambitious work - work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you'll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society. Explore more at www.eit.org.

Your Role:

We are seeking a proactive and commercially minded HR Business Partner to support our rapidly growing population of scientists, researchers, technical specialists, and operational teams. Working closely with leaders across the organisation, the HRBP will provide strategic and operational HR support that enables EIT's ambitious life sciences and research agenda.

This role will play a key part in building a high-performing, mission-driven workforce, supporting organisational growth, workforce planning, talent development, employee relations, and culture initiatives within a dynamic, research-led environment. The successful candidate will have experience partnering with senior stakeholders, navigating complex organisational challenges, and supporting employee populations in highly specialised or knowledge-intensive settings. Experience within life sciences, healthcare, research, technology, or other innovation-focused organisations would be highly advantageous.

Your Responsibilities:

• Strategic HR Support: Collaborate with business leaders across scientific, technology, engineering, operational and corporate teams to align people strategies with organisational objectives. Support workforce planning, organisational design, succession planning and capability building to ensure the business has the talent required to drive scientific innovation and commercial growth.
• Employee Relations and Employment Law: Serve as a trusted advisor on complex employee relations matters, including investigations, grievances, disciplinary processes and performance concerns. Ensure all activities are managed in accordance with UK employment law, company policies and the high standards expected within a regulated life sciences environment.
• Talent Management and Development: Partner with the Talent team and business leaders to attract, engage and retain high-calibre scientific, technical and commercial talent. Support the development of talent pipelines for critical roles, identify capability gaps, and implement learning and development initiatives that strengthen organisational expertise and future leadership capability.
• Performance Management: Support managers in establishing clear performance expectations aligned to business objectives and organisational values. Provide coaching and guidance on performance reviews, development planning, continuous feedback and performance improvement processes to foster a high-performing culture.
• HR Analytics and Reporting: Analyse workforce data, employee engagement trends and organisational metrics to provide data-driven insights that support business decision-making. Monitor key indicators including retention, diversity, capability development and talent movement to improve organisational effectiveness.
• Policy and Compliance: Ensure HR practices comply with UK employment legislation and internal policies, while supporting adherence to industry-specific regulatory requirements and quality standards. Contribute to the development and continuous improvement of people policies, procedures and governance frameworks.
• Organisational Change and Growth: Support business transformation, change management initiatives and organisational growth activities, including restructures, integration programmes, team effectiveness initiatives and culture development. Help leaders navigate periods of change while maintaining employee engagement and performance.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I): Champion diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that support innovation, collaboration and a sense of belonging. Partner with leaders to embed inclusive practices across recruitment, development, succession planning and employee experience programmes, ensuring diverse perspectives contribute to scientific and business success.

Essential Skills, Qualifications & Experience:

• Degree in Human Resources, Business Administration or a related discipline, or equivalent qualification through relevant professional experience.
• Strong knowledge of HR principles, policies, procedures and UK employment legislation.
• Experience providing HR business partnering support across the employee lifecycle, including employee relations, performance management, talent development and organisational change.
• Significant experience managing complex employee relations matters with sensitivity, sound judgement and discretion.
• Strong analytical skills with experience using HR data and metrics to inform decision-making and provide actionable business insights.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to influence and build effective relationships with stakeholders at all levels.
• Strong organisational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver results in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated problem-solving capability, with the ability to identify issues, evaluate options and implement effective solutions.
• Adaptable and resilient, with a proactive and solution-focused approach to change and ambiguity.

Desirable Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• CIPD Level 5 or Level 7 qualification.
• Experience within biotechnology, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, research or other highly regulated environments.
• Experience supporting high-growth, scaling or transformational organisations.
• Knowledge of workforce planning and talent management approaches for scientific, technical or specialist populations.
• Experience supporting organisational design, change management or business transformation initiatives.
• Experience developing and implementing diversity, equity and inclusion programmes.
• Experience partnering with senior leaders to drive people strategies aligned to organisational objectives.
• Understanding of quality, compliance and governance requirements within regulated environments.

We offer the following benefits:

• Enhanced holiday. Our annual leave allowance is 25 days plus 8 bank holidays and an additional 3 days between Christmas and New Year. You will also have the opportunity to purchase an additional 5 days annual leave in January and July.
• Pension - Employer contribution 7.5%, minimum employee contribution 5%
• Life Assurance.
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance as standard for you, your partner and any dependents. Including hospital Cash Plan
• Employee discounts
• Electric car scheme
• Nursery Salary Sacrifice scheme
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Family Planning
• Neurodiversity support including advise and assessments
• Coaching & Therapy services

Working Together - What It Involves:

• You must have the right to work permanently in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary. In certain cases, we can consider sponsorship, and this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
• You will live in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford (or be willing to relocate).