Human Resources Business Partner

East Midlands Railway; East Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 53,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free travel on EMR trains and other UK

75% discount on other national rail

Discounted friends and family tickets

32 days annual leave

Personal development opportunities

Job summary

East Midlands Railway is recruiting an experienced HR Business Partner/HR Advisor for Derby Head Office on a fixed-term contract until 31 March 2027. The role focuses on managing complex employee relations cases in a unionised environment and partnering on the people strategy.

You will travel across the East Midlands Railway network, enjoy a first-class travel pass, and work in a hybrid setting with strong emphasis on coaching line managers and policy development.

Qualifications

• CIPD Level 5 or equivalent HR experience.
• Strong employment law knowledge and application.
• ER case management experience in a unionised environment.
• Excellent communication, coaching and stakeholder management.

Responsibilities

• Coach line managers to handle people issues and drive performance.
• Manage employee relations cases timely and legally.
• Support policy development and training under the bargaining framework.
• Contribute to succession planning and talent mapping.

Skills

ER case management

Coaching

Influencing

Negotiation

Communication

Teamwork

Education

CIPD Level 5 or equivalent

Job description

HR Business Partner/ HR Advisor, Location: Derby - Head Office

Contract Type: Fixed Term Salary: £45,000 to £53,000 per annum

Closing Date: Sunday 11 October 2026 Reference: 04-5826

Human Resources Business Partner - temp until the end of March 2027

We are looking to recruit an experienced HR professional on a temporary basis into our friendly and high performing HR team.

This role is being brought in during a busy HR period toprovide case management support to the business on all people related matters. We work in a unionised environment with complex terms and conditions and the successful candidate is going to need to be adept at resolving complex Employment Relations (ER) cases to positive resolution. In addition to ER casework, you will partner the area with the delivery and evaluation of our people strategy. We are looking for HR Advisers or BPs with ER case management experience who are ready for the next move.

This role is required to travel across the East Midlands Railway network, and we work in a hybrid way with “more time together than apart”. You will have a first-class duty travel pass on our trains for this, which will allow you to work while on the move.

As HR Business Partner you will:

• Provide coaching and training to line managers to develop their capability in managing people issues to enable optimum performance from their teams
• Ensure that employee relations cases are managed in a timely, professional and legal manner in accordance with employment legislation and business policy
• S Support the business as we apply our collective bargaining framework, including through policy development and training
• Drive the employee engagement scores for your customer base by providing support to the management teams with their action planning and providing appropriate HR interventions where required
• Assist your customers in the completion of robust succession plans and talent maps

To be successful in this role you should:

• Be CIPD level 5 or above qualified or equivalent relevant work experience in the HR profession.
• Possess excellent communication skills, with the ability to coach, influence and negotiate at all levels whilst building long-term relationships and maintain partnerships and collaboration.
• Have a comprehensive working knowledge of employment legislation and experience of applying this in a pragmatic way to meet organisational need.
• Well-developed understanding of HR policies and the ability to update or change these (and accompanying guidance) as necessary.
• Demonstrate high levels of resilience, a “can do” attitude and enthusiasm for proactively addressing people issues.
• Ideally would have previous experience of working within Human Resources in a unionised environment as well as experience in resolving the full range of employee relations matters in a pragmatic and compliant manner.
• Be a team player and able to work collaboratively with and through others

As well as a competitive salary, we’ll also offer you:

• 32 days annual leave (including bank holidays), rising to 34 days after 2 years of service
• Free travel on East Midlands Railway and other train companies operated by Transport UK
• 75% discount on other national rail train companies, including for partners and dependants
• Discounted friends and family tickets on the EMR network
• Various personal development and progression opportunities

We are open minded to applications from people who wish to have flexible working. Many of our staff work flexibly in many ways. Please talk to us at interview about the flexibility you need. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking. The HR team usually works 3-4 days a week in the office/at our stations.