HR Consultant

People Management Partners; Sevenoaks; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 62,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Office in Sevenoaks

Learning & development opportunities

Job summary

The Fractional HR Department is seeking an experienced People Partner to join our Fractional HR team. You’ll work as a true generalist, partnering with SME leaders to navigate growth, change and day‑to‑day people challenges with confidence.

Employee relations expertise is core; you’ll lead on complex matters when needed, deliver practical, legally sound advice, and shape HR projects while helping drive account development and service evolution.

Qualifications

• Solid UK generalist HR experience, ideally supporting SMEs.
• Clear, structured advice on HR matters even in fast-moving situations.
• Strong employee relations capability with confidence leading on cases.
• Good commercial judgement and understanding of small business realities.
• Excellent communication, warmth and professionalism.

Responsibilities

• Act as trusted People Partner to founders and directors to support growth through annual People Plans.
• Provide clear, legally compliant HR advice across the employee lifecycle.
• Lead on employee relations matters including disciplinaries, grievances, performance, sickness, redundancies, restructures, TUPE and changes to terms.
• Deliver HR projects, contribute to account development and evolve services with the team.
• Coordinate recruitment activity and support onboarding for client portfolios.
• Develop and embed performance management approaches across client organisations.
• Implement and manage partner HR systems.
• Coach and support managers in handling people issues.

Skills

UK generalist HR experience

Employee relations experience

Commercial judgement

Autonomous working

CIPD Level 5

HR consultancy experience

Education

CIPD Level 5 or equivalent

Tools

HR systems

Job description

Hybrid (WFH, Client Offices and minimum 1 day a month in Sevenoaks)

Full time (4 days considers with a Tuesday or Wednesday as the day off)

At The Fractional HR Department, we provide practical, flexible HR support for small businesses and growing teams, giving them expert people advice without the cost or complexity of a full‑time hire.

Our approach is simple, human and effective. We focus on clear advice, no‑nonsense processes and HR that genuinely helps businesses grow. We don’t hide behind jargon or over‑engineered solutions, we give our clients what they actually need, when they need it.

We work as an embedded extension of our clients’ teams, building close, trusted relationships with founders and leaders. Our clients are entrepreneurial, fast‑moving and values‑led, which means our roles are hands‑on, varied and full of opportunity to make a real impact.

The role

We’re looking for an experienced People Partner to join our Fractional HR team.

This is a true generalist partnering role, ideal for someone who enjoys autonomy, variety and working closely with SME leaders. You’ll support your own portfolio of clients, helping them navigate growth, change and day‑to‑day people challenges with confidence and calm.

Employee relations expertise is a core part of this role. While ER isn’t the majority of our work, you’ll need the confidence and judgement to lead on complex or sensitive situations when they arise, providing clear, practical and legally sound advice.

Alongside ER, you’ll deliver and shape HR projects, contribute to account development and play an active role in evolving our services, all with the support of our wider People Partner and HR Support Teams.

What you’ll be doing

• Acting as a trusted People Partner to founders and directors, supporting business growth through annual People Plans
• Providing clear, practical and legally compliant HR advice across the employee lifecycle
• Leading on employee relations matters including disciplinaries, grievances, performance, sickness, redundancies, restructures, TUPE, change processes and variations to terms
• Bringing structure and calm to evolving or ambiguous people situations
• Using HR data and insight to inform recommendations (e.g. absence trends, benchmarking)
• Identifying and delivering HR projects that strengthen people practices in ways that are simple, scalable and genuinely useful
• Coordinating recruitment activity and supporting effective onboarding
• Developing and embedding performance management approaches
• Implementing and managing our partner HR systems
• Coaching and supporting managers to build confidence in handling people issues
• Preparing and reviewing contracts, policies and core HR documentation
• Designing and delivering practical client training on topics such as appraisals, ER basics and manager capability

Account management & new business support

• Managing ongoing client relationships and undertaking periodic service reviews
• Identifying opportunities for additional project work or enhanced support
• Responding to inbound new business enquiries
• Helping prepare realistic scopes, proposals and resource forecasts, with a commercially minded approach

Contributing to our wider team

• Sharing insight and best practice across the People Partner team
• Contributing ideas to improve processes, tools and ways of working
• Supporting the development of specific service lines or offerings as we grow
• Delivering our training courses and hold webinars that build trust in our expertise, showcase our approach, raise brand awareness and naturally generate new opportunities

About you

You’ll thrive in this role if you:

• Have solid UK generalist HR experience, ideally supporting SMEs
• Bring strong employee relations experience and confidence leading on cases
• Can provide clear, structured advice even when situations feel fast‑moving or unclear
• Have good commercial judgement and understand the realities of small businesses
• Communicate with clarity, warmth and professionalism
• Can balance multiple priorities without losing sight of detail
• Enjoy working autonomously while valuing collaboration and shared standards
• Hold CIPD Level 5 (or equivalent)
• Experience within HR Consultancy

What you’ll get from us

• Exposure to a wide variety of industries and people challenges
• Accelerated learning and professional growth across ER, projects and partnering
• Flexible and hybrid working options
• A collaborative, supportive HR team who share knowledge and back each other
• Opportunities to shape services and influence how we work
• Free refreshments and snacks in the Sevenoaks office

Experience in a consultancy environment is welcome but not essential, what matters most is your ability to build trust, deliver practical HR and work confidently with SME leaders.

Working pattern

This role is offered on a full‑time, Monday to Friday basis.
However, we’re open to conversations about alternative working patterns (including part‑time or specific days/hours).

Sharing your preferences won’t affect your application, it simply helps us understand potential flexibility as we review candidates.