HR Operations Manager

Dandara Living

Milton Keynes

On-site

GBP 48,000 - 64,000

Full time

9 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Competitive basic salary

Bonus Scheme

Car Allowance

33 days holiday (incl. bank holidays)

Private Medical Insurance

Employee Assistance Programme - EAP

Health Hero digital doctor - 24 hr

Health Assured Wisdom App

Cycle to Work Scheme

Employer matched pension scheme up to

Job summary

Dandara Living in Milton Keynes is seeking an HR Operations Manager to lead a Group HR Operations function, owning the employee lifecycle processes from onboarding to leavers across multiple sites. You will develop HR Assistants, establish workflows, data controls, and service standards to deliver a reliable, first-time-right HR service.

You’ll drive data quality, partner with HR Business Partners, and explore automation to streamline administration.

Qualifications

Strong experience within HR Operations, HR administration or an HR shared-services environment, ideally supporting multiple sites or businesses.
Demonstrated ability to lead and develop an operational HR team.
Excellent attention to detail and a right-first-time mindset.
Experience managing HR systems and employee data.
Strong process improvement and problem-solving skills.
Experience introducing controls, service standards and quality checks.
Confidence producing and quality-assuring HR reports and MI.
Good knowledge of HR policies, employment documentation, confidentiality and data protection.
Ability to challenge inconsistent ways of working and establish clear responsibilities.
A practical approach to automation, technology and AI.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach and develop our HR Assistants as one Group HR Operations team, establishing clear responsibilities, workflows and service standards.
Allocate workload across the Group, build knowledge and cross-cover within the team and create an environment where accuracy, responsiveness and accountability matter.
Oversee the quality and timely delivery of core HR transactions, including offers, contracts and onboarding.
Probation administration.
Promotions, transfers and contractual changes.
Family leave and absence administration.
Leaver processes.
Employee records and document control.
References and employment correspondence.
Payroll notifications and employee changes.
Approvals, authorisations and supporting documentation.
Introduce checks and controls to ensure documentation is accurate and right first time.
Review how transactional HR operates across the Group to simplify and standardise.
Map processes, remove duplication, and establish service standards.
Define boundaries between HR Operations, HR Business Partners, Resourcing, Payroll and line managers.
Explore AI/automation to speed up HR administration.
Produce accurate HR management information and reporting.

Skills

End-to-end lifecycle administration

Team leadership

Attention to detail

HR systems management

Process improvement

Data protection knowledge

Automation/AI mindset

Tools

COINS HR

Job description

HR Operations Manager

Location: Milton Keynes
Function: Group HR
Reporting to: Group HR Director
Team: HR Assistants

Build an HR Operations function that works brilliantly

We’re looking for an experienced HR Operations Manager to lead and develop our transactional HR service across Dandara Group.

Supporting our UK Housebuilding, Colby River and Dandara Living Developments businesses, you’ll bring our transactional HR activity together into one consistent, efficient and professional Group HR Operations service.

This is a hands‑on operational leadership role for someone who loves getting the fundamentals of HR right.

You’ll take ownership of the processes, systems, data and controls behind the employee lifecycle – ensuring contracts are accurate, employee changes happen when they should, HR data can be trusted and managers and employees receive a consistently high‑quality service.

Just as importantly, you’ll lead and develop our HR Assistants, creating a team with clear responsibilities, strong cross‑cover and a genuine right‑first‑time culture.

What you'll be doing

Leading HR Operations

You’ll lead, coach and develop our HR Assistants as one Group HR Operations team, establishing clear responsibilities, workflows and service standards.

You’ll allocate workload across the Group, build knowledge and cross‑cover within the team and create an environment where accuracy, responsiveness and accountability matter.

Owning the employee lifecycle

You’ll oversee the quality and timely delivery of our core HR transactions, including:

Offers, contracts and onboarding

Probation administration

Promotions, transfers and contractual changes

Family leave and absence administration

Leaver processes

Employee records and document control

References and employment correspondence

Payroll notifications and employee changes

Approvals, authorisations and supporting documentation

You’ll introduce appropriate checks and controls to make sure our employee documentation is accurate and right first time.

Improving how we work

This isn't simply about maintaining existing processes.

You’ll review how transactional HR currently operates across the Group and identify where we can simplify, standardise and improve.

You’ll map processes, remove unnecessary duplication and manual activity, introduce clear service standards and establish sensible boundaries between HR Operations, HR Business Partners, Resourcing, Payroll and line managers.

We also want someone who is curious about how AI and automation can make HR administration faster, simpler and more reliable.

Making our HR data dependable

You’ll take operational ownership of the quality and integrity of employee data within our HR system, currently COINS.

That means ensuring employee information is accurate, complete and updated on time, introducing validation and reconciliation controls and carrying out regular data‑quality audits.

You’ll also take ownership of producing accurate and consistent HR management information and reporting.

What we’re looking for

You’ll already have strong experience within HR Operations, HR administration or an HR shared-services environment, ideally supporting multiple sites or businesses.

We’re particularly interested in someone who can demonstrate:

Strong knowledge of end‑to‑end employee lifecycle administration

Experience leading and developing an operational HR team

Excellent attention to detail and a strong right‑first‑time mindset

Experience managing HR systems and employee data

Strong process improvement and problem‑solving skills

Experience introducing controls, service standards and quality checks

Confidence producing and quality‑assuring HR reports and management information

Good knowledge of HR policies, employment documentation, confidentiality and data protection

The confidence to challenge inconsistent ways of working and establish clear responsibilities

A practical approach to automation, technology and AI

Experience using COINS HR would be advantageous, but isn't essential.

What success looks like

Over your first 6–12 months, you'll have brought our HR Assistants together as a cohesive Group HR Operations team and created clear, consistent ways of working across our businesses.

Our employee lifecycle processes will be standardised, contracts and documentation will be more consistently right first time, our HR data will be trusted and stakeholders will know exactly what they can expect from HR Operations.

Most importantly, you'll create a dependable and scalable operational HR service that allows our HR Business Partners to spend less time checking administration and more time partnering with the business.

If you're an HR Operations professional who enjoys creating order, improving processes, developing people and making sure the detail is right, we'd love to hear from you.

What's in it for you?