HR Manager

Compass Associates; Greater London; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Compass Associates is partnering with a growing early years nursery group in South London to appoint an experienced HR Manager to lead the people function across the organisation. You will work closely with founders, senior leaders and nursery managers, providing strategic HR leadership and hands-on operational support across the employee lifecycle.

You will take responsibility for day-to-day HR across the group, ensuring the right people, processes, culture and capability to support current

Qualifications

• Proven experience delivering strategic HR leadership across multi-site settings.
• Strong knowledge of employee relations, absence management and regulatory requirements.
• Experience coaching managers and developing HR processes across the employee lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Act as the primary HR contact for senior leaders and managers across the group.
• Provide trusted HR guidance across the employee lifecycle and best practices.
• Support and coach managers on people management, ER and performance issues.
• Manage complex employee relations cases including disciplinary, grievance and capability matters.
• Advise on sickness absence, return-to-work processes and reasonable adjustments.
• Oversee end-to-end recruitment and develop retention strategies for high-volume nursery roles.
• Support onboarding, induction and probation processes.
• Develop and monitor retention initiatives and people analytics to inform improvements.
• Assist with training, development, performance management and career progression.
• Ensure HR policies and documentation are accurate and compliant with UK legislation.
• Collaborate with payroll/finance to ensure accurate employee data and payroll processes.

Skills

Employee relations

Recruitment

HR policy & compliance

People management

Data reporting

Job description

HR Manager – Early Years / Nursery Group

Location: South London

We are partnering with a growing early years nursery group in South London to appoint an experienced HR Manager to take ownership of the people function across the organisation.

The business currently operates seven nursery settings with approximately 300 employees and has an ambitious growth strategy, with further expansion planned over the coming years.

This is an excellent opportunity for an HR professional who enjoys being close to the operation and wants to play a key role in shaping the people strategy of a growing organisation.

You will work closely with the founder, senior leadership, nursery managers and wider operational teams, providing a combination of strategic HR leadership and hands‑on operational support across the full employee lifecycle.

The Role

As HR Manager, you will take responsibility for the day‑to‑day HR function across the group, ensuring the business has the people, processes, culture and capability required to support both its current operation and future growth.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Acting as the primary HR point of contact for senior leaders, nursery managers and employees across the group
• Providing trusted HR advice and guidance across all aspects of the employee lifecycle
• Supporting and coaching nursery managers on people management, employee relations and best practice
• Managing complex and sensitive employee relations cases, including disciplinary, grievance, capability, absence and performance management
• Advising managers on sickness absence, long‑term absence, return‑to‑work processes and reasonable adjustments
• Supporting investigations and ensuring HR processes are handled fairly, consistently and in line with employment legislation
• Managing the end‑to‑end recruitment process, working with managers to identify workforce requirements and attract high-quality nursery professionals
• Developing effective recruitment and retention strategies in what can be a challenging early years labour market
• Supporting onboarding, induction and probation processes
• Developing and maintaining effective employee retention and engagement initiatives
• Identifying trends in turnover, absence, recruitment and employee relations and using data to recommend improvements
• Supporting the development of training, learning and development programmes
• Working with managers to identify skills gaps and development requirements
• Supporting performance management and appraisal processes
• Developing career pathways, succession planning and internal progression opportunities
• Helping to build a strong pipeline of future Nursery Managers and senior leaders
• Ensuring HR policies, procedures and employee documentation are accurate, current and consistently applied
• Keeping the organisation up to date with changes to UK employment legislation and HR best practice
• Ensuring appropriate HR processes are in place around safeguarding, safer recruitment and DBS requirements
• Working closely with operational leadership to ensure people practices support Ofsted requirements and the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
• Supporting managers with employee‑related issues arising from Ofsted inspections and regulatory requirements
• Maintaining accurate and confidential employee records
• Overseeing HR systems and ensuring employee data is accurate and up to date
• Producing regular HR reports and people analytics for the senior leadership team
• Monitoring key people metrics including headcount, turnover, retention, absence, vacancies and employee relations
• Supporting workforce planning as the organisation expands
• Reviewing organisational structures and staffing requirements across existing and new settings
• Supporting the HR requirements associated with new nursery openings, acquisitions and organisational change
• Developing consistent HR practices across all settings while recognising the individual needs of each nursery
• Supporting managers through restructures, changes in responsibilities and other organisational change
• Working with payroll and finance to ensure accurate employee information and effective payroll processes
• Supporting benefits, salary reviews and other employee reward processes
• Managing HR‑related suppliers and external advisers where required
• Ensuring compliance with GDPR and the confidential handling of employee information
• Promoting a positive, inclusive and high‑performance culture across the organisation

We are looking for an experienced HR professional who has ideally worked within early years, childcare, education, healthcare, hospitality or another people-intensive, multi‑site environment.

Early years experience would be highly advantageous, particularly where you have a strong understanding of the challenges around:

• Nursery recruitment and retention
• High‑volume frontline workforces
• Safeguarding and safer recruitment
• DBS processes
• Ofsted and regulatory requirements
• Employee relations within operational settings
• Absence and workforce management
• Developing Nursery Managers and operational leaders

If you're an experienced HR professional who enjoys working in a fast‑paced, people‑focused environment and wants to have a genuine impact on a growing early years organisation, we'd be keen to hear from you.