Human Resources Business Partner

COWI; Glasgow; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

28 days holiday

Private health care

Hybrid working

Pension scheme

Life assurance

Maternity/Paternity leave

Job summary

COWI is seeking an HR Business Partner to work with UK & Ireland leadership, implementing the people strategy and driving performance and engagement across the business. You will partner with senior leaders, manage employee relations, advise on UK employment law, and support acquisitions and integrations while shaping organisational capability in a complex matrix environment.

This role is based in Derby or Glasgow with occasional travel, offering hybrid working, a strong benefits package,

Qualifications

• Significant HR/P&O Business Partner experience within a complex organisation.
• Experience working with leaders to provide guidance, support, and shape key decisions.
• Extensive knowledge of employee relations and experience handling complex cases.
• Comprehensive knowledge of UK employment law.
• Ability to interpret people data and provide meaningful business insight.
• Highly developed skills in communication, building relationships, and managing stakeholders.
• Experience supporting acquisition and integration activities.
• Fully CIPD qualified/chartered member or equivalent.
• Solid communication, persuasion and relationship-building skills.
• Experience within engineering, consultancy, construction or professional services environments.
• Experience working within a matrix or international organisation.

Responsibilities

• Provide trusted advisory to business leaders on people matters.
• Align people priorities with business objectives and support the People Strategy implementation.
• Translate business needs into practical people solutions to enhance performance.
• Coach leaders to build leadership capability and onboarding.
• Facilitate leadership development initiatives per the Leadership Pipeline.
• Support talent reviews and succession planning to grow and retain talent.
• Analyse people data to inform decision-making and monitor trends.

Skills

HR Business Partner experience

Employee relations expertise

UK employment law knowledge

Communication & stakeholder management

Acquisition/integration experience

Matrix/international organisation

Education

Fully CIPD qualified/chartered member or equivalent

Job description

Do you want to partner our leaders to achieve business objectives? Can you provide guidance on performance management? Are you an experienced HR professional? Then, read on. This could be the perfect opportunity for you.

Create Solutions that will enable a better tomorrow

To work alongside our business leaders and offer trusted guidance on people matters, we are seeking an HR Business Partner to join us. Working on the implementation of COWI's people strategy across the UK & Ireland business, you’ll support the Head of Engineering and partner closely with our senior leaders to enhance business performance, leadership effectiveness and employee engagement.

Based in either Derby or Glasgow, with occasional travel to our other UK offices the selected candidate will help shape organisational capability, improve leadership performance, support talent development, ensuring consistent application of people policies and practices. The role will also support business change, acquisitions and post-acquisition integration activities as required.

Your key responsibilities will be:

Strategic Business Partnering

• Act as a trusted advisor to business leaders on all people-related matters.
• Partner with leaders to align people priorities with business objectives and support the implementation of the COWI People Strategy across the business.
• Translate business needs into practical people solutions that enhance organisational performance.

Leadership Development & Coaching

• Coach and support leaders to build leadership capability and effectiveness, including supporting the onboarding and development of new leaders.
• Facilitate leadership development initiatives in line with the COWI Leadership Pipeline.
• Challenge and shape leadership behaviours to promote a high-performance culture.

Talent Management & Succession Planning

• Support talent reviews, initiatives and succession planning activities, that support employee growth and retention.
• Identify workforce capability needs and development opportunities.
• Partner with leaders to build diverse talent pipelines aligned with future business needs.

Performance & Employee Experience

• Provide guidance on performance management processes and capability development.
• Support leaders with employee engagement initiatives and action planning activities.

Employee Relations

• Manage complex employee relations matters, including disciplinary, grievance, capability and absence management cases.
• Provide risk-based advice to managers in line with employment legislation and company policy.
• Support organisational change and consultation processes where required.
• Ensure a fair, consistent and pragmatic approach to employee relations.

Organisational Change & Integration

• Support organisational design and change programmes, ensuring effective communication and change management practices are embedded throughout projects.
• Provide people support during acquisitions and post-acquisition integration activities.

Data, Governance & Compliance

• Analyse people data and provide insight to support business decision-making.
• Monitor trends relating to attrition, engagement, absence and performance.
• Ensure compliance with employment legislation, company policies and governance requirements.
• Support implementation of global people processes and initiatives.

Your skills. Our team. Together we design the future.

The first step to success in this role is that you are eager to collaborate with the people around you, whether they are colleagues, partners, or customers. Developing ties with others is something you do by acting respectfully and delivering on your promises. And you never get set in your ways but keep exploring new insights and ways to improve.

On top of that, you’ll have:

• Significant HR/P&O Business Partner experience within a complex organisation.
• Experience working with leaders to provide guidance, support, and shape key decisions.
• Extensive knowledge of employee relations and experience handling complex cases.
• Comprehensive knowledge of UK employment law.
• Ability to interpret people data and provide meaningful business insight.
• Highly developed skills in communication, building relationships, and managing stakeholders.
• Experience supporting acquisition and integration activities.
• Fully CIPD qualified/chartered member or equivalent.
• Solid communication, persuasion and relationship-building skills.
• Experience within engineering, consultancy, construction or professional services environments.
• Experience working within a matrix or international organisation.

A place to work and so much more

At COWI, we work together with our customers to shape a sustainable and liveable world. We do it by applying our knowledge and curiosity – and sometimes even our courage – to create the solutions the world needs today to enable a better tomorrow. We support our customers’ transition towards increased sustainability. We strive to lead by example by embedding environmental management, social responsibility and good governance into our business practices and the options we provide to our customers.

We value differences and development and cultivate an environment of belonging and having fun. Because that is what brings out the best in you, at work and at home.

With offices primarily located in the Nordic region, the UK, Ireland, North America and India, we are currently more than 8,000 people who bring their expertise in engineering, architecture, energy and environment into play.

What we also offer:

To us, a fair reward is more than a competitive salary. We want to take care of our people professionally and personally as well.

Some of our benefits include:

• 28 days' holiday plus all UK bank and public holidays
• Formalised development plans and yearly promotion opportunities
• Private health care, for you and a contribution from you for your immediate dependents
• Flexible and hybrid working conditions
• Annual subscription fees paid for your membership of two Professional Institutions
• Group personal pension scheme – salary exchange
• Life assurance
• Maternity Leave: 1-20 weeks full pay, 21-26 weeks half pay, 27-39 Statutory (SMP) 40-52 weeks unpaid (eligibility criteria will apply)
• Paternity Leave: 12 weeks full pay (eligibility criteria will apply)

Optional benefits include:

• Electric vehicle lease
• Annual Rail card (available for under 30s)

If you have any unanswered questions about the role or what we have to offer, please reach out to Ciaran Gilfedder at [e-mail].

Get to know us even better at our website, www.cowi.com where you can learn more about our projects, our strategy, what we want to achieve and what life is like at COWI.

Equal opportunity employer

COWI provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to ethnicity, colour, religion, gender, national origin, age or disability. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.