HR Partner

European Molecular Biology Laboratory; Greater London; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 49,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical insurance

30 days annual leave

Relocation package

Shuttle service (Heidelberg)

Job summary

EMBL is seeking an experienced HR Partner to amplify our people strategy across our international organisation in Heidelberg. You will guide managers, analyse people metrics, and shape People Plans to address future workforce needs while fostering an inclusive, high-performance culture.

You will collaborate with senior stakeholders to deliver strategic and operational HR support, drive change, and promote best practices across teams, ensuring value-added HR services and a proactive,

Qualifications

• Proactive team player with a flexible, customer-focused approach.
• Degree or professional qualification in HRM or related field; apprenticeship acceptable.
• Strong business partnering experience with PM, analytics and problem-solving.
• Experience in driving employee development and learning culture.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management across levels and cultures.
• Knowledge of employment legislation and HR best practices.

Responsibilities

• Provide HR guidance on policies and practices to deliver value through People Plans.
• Influence and coach managers to apply the people agenda effectively.
• Support staffing decisions with root-cause analysis and inclusive practices.
• Leverage data and external/internal insights to shape HR solutions.
• Drive high performance and manage performance issues.
• Collaborate across HR to deliver major people-centered projects and processes.
• Act as a change agent, driving adoption of HR technology and processes.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Data analysis

Change management

People development

Communication

Project management

HR policy guidance

Intercultural awareness

Education

HRM degree or related qualification

Tools

Workday

Job description

At EMBL, our vision is to create a more inclusive research and work culture that leverages diversity, in its broadest sense to enhance our role as a leader in the life sciences in Europe and globally.

Joining the Human Resources team in Heidelberg, you will have the opportunity to support scientists around the world, whose mission is to improve biodiversity in the face of climate change and make discoveries leading to improved human health. EMBL is an intergovernmental organisation, and is an Associated member of Coordinated organisations.

As part of our team’s evolution, we are looking for an experienced HR Partner to amplify our cultural & business partnering activities and footprint into the future. This opportunity would suit someone who is interested in handling a wide variety of HR matters and queries at both a strategic and operational level and is excited by contributing to shaping and implementing effective people strategies and activities within the organisation.

Your role

With an excellent understanding of the organisation, its strategy, and a very good understanding of the people challenges faced by the organisation, you will help your designated areas to create a culture and people approach and to identify people priorities to address future workforce needs.

Through providing HR guidance, analysing people metrics and trends as well as working with management to improve work relationships and productivity, you will impact all stages of the employee life cycle in our diverse and international organisation. No one day is the same and there is always something different happening but in particular, you will be responsible for the following:

• Providing HR support on HR policies and practices that ensure fairness and expediency and providing partnership to the organisation to deliver value added services by shaping the design and supporting the delivery of People Plans with a focus on delivering what the organisation needs tactically to sustainably improve for the future.
• Influencing and developing strong relationships with all stakeholders to proactively advise and coach managers on how the people agenda may be ‘worked’ to deliver success achieving high levels of trust, respect and professionalism.
• Challenging people managers to get to the root of people and business issues and supporting them in the effective staffing of their teams ensuring inclusivity in how we develop and who we promote.
• Bringing people expertise to develop solutions to help the organisation to deliver its strategy and being one step ahead in terms of understanding, data and insight (externally and internally) to role model HR skills and professionalism.
• Driving a culture of high performance where talent is recognised, stretched and poor performance managed.
• Collaborating across the HR function to develop integrated solutions and ensure execution for major people-centered projects and processes with a ‘one team’ approach that boost employee morale and satisfaction.
• Acting as change agent to oversee new processes, help drive end-user adoption of HR technology, tools and solutions and to drive other change management across the organisation.

You have

• We are looking for a proactive team player who is comfortable to engage with a wide range of audiences with a flexible, customer-focused, and outcome-orientated approach able to excel in high-pressure situations. You are an authentic, collaborative and commercially minded professional with a healthy amount of ambition and determination.
• As our ideal candidate, you are degree educated, have a professional qualification in Human Resource Management or completed an apprenticeship in Human Resources Management, Public/Business Administration or a related field.
• Ideally, you have strong business partnering experience and project management, analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to use data and metrics to drive decision-making and measure program effectiveness.
• Being passionate about innovation, you are experienced in driving employee development and contributing to a positive learning culture with facilitation & communication skills and the ability to engage and inspire diverse audiences for change and transformation.
• You bring energy, compassion and enthusiasm to the team and will be comfortable influencing change and dealing with people at all organisational levels to assume responsibilities with results-focus and with achievement of best practice top of mind.
• With a commitment to providing exceptional customer service, you are able to effectively communicate and collaborate cross-functionally, building strong partnerships with colleagues of different cultural backgrounds. Internal stakeholder management capability as well as coaching skills have supported you when partnering with colleagues to solve problems, seize opportunities and advance the mission across an organisation whilst being skilled at engaging through difference and valuing bringing together multiple perspectives.
• You are a curious quick learner who constantly looks for ways to improve, a critical thinker, a systems and process extraordinaire, and a thoughtful and consistent communicator with the ability to actively listen, network and benchmark good practice.
• Motivated to make a difference with a pro-active approach, you bring good knowledge of principles of employment legislation (be it in any national system or in intergovernmental organisations), application and compliance, current issues and thinking in HR best practice.
• You have demonstrated experience in navigating conflict and facilitating conversations with previous exposure to the development and implementation of HR initiatives to diverse, dispersed and dynamic teams.
• You thrive when you can contribute creative resolutions to a diverse range of complex problems whilst keeping the best interest of the organisation in mind when seeking solutions.

You may also have

• Prior experience in using Workday
• Knowledge of HR processes and procedures in international organisations
• Exposure to and work experience in a multicultural environment, ideally in a science organisation
• Good knowledge of another European (such as French, German, Italian or Spanish) language

Contract length: 2 years fixed term

Salary: Grade 6; Monthly salary from EUR 4.713,20 after tax, plus generous benefits and financial allowances based on individual circumstances. Excluding 12.99% personal pension and insurance contributions.

Why join us

EMBL is curiosity-driven, community-oriented and international. As an inclusive, equal opportunity employer, we believe that diversity enables us to collaborate more effectively and be innovative in our approaches. We are, therefore, committed to creating an inclusive and flexible culture - one where everyone can realise their full potential and make a positive contribution to our organisation.

We encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing team – we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and personal experiences reflect the diversity of the populations that our science serves. We actively encourage applications from all genders and cultures, ethnic groups and all demographics to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights at this transformational point in our people strategy.

Enjoy lots of benefits:

• Financial incentives: Salary free of income tax, Monthly family, child and non-resident allowances, annual salary review, pension scheme, death benefit, long-term care, accident-at-work and unemployment insurances
• Flexible working arrangements
• Private medical insurance for you and your immediate family (including all prescriptions and generous dental & optical cover)
• Generous time off: 30 days annual leave per year, in addition to public holidays
• Relocation package including installation grant (if applicable)
• Campus life: Free shuttle bus (Heidelberg), library, subsidised on-site cafeteria, casual dress code, extensive sports and social club activities (on campus and remotely)
• Family benefits: Kindergarten (Heidelberg), 10 days of child sick leave, generous paid maternity/parental leave and monthly family & child allowances
• Benefits for international newcomers: Visa exemption, education grant for private schooling, financial support to travel back to your home country every second year and a monthly non-resident allowance.

What else you need to know

• International applicants: We recruit internationally and successful candidates are offered visa exemptions. Visit our International Applicants page, to find out more.
• EMBL is a signatory of DORA. Find out how we apply DORA principles to our recruitment and performance assessment processes here.
• Diversity and inclusion: At EMBL, we believe that diverse teams drive innovation and scientific excellence. We encourage applications from candidates of all genders, identities, nationalities and/or any other diverse backgrounds.

Closing Date

18/10/2026