People Advisor

Hippo; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Contributory Pension Scheme

25 Days Holiday

Perkbox access

Critical illness cover

Private health/dental options

Wellbeing sessions

Job summary

Hippo, a Leeds-based digital consultancy, is seeking a People Advisor to support managers and navigate employee relations, policy, and culture. You will analyse people data, drive engagement, and streamline processes to scale the business while upholding values of being human, pragmatic and ambitious.

The role requires presence in the Leeds office one day per week and offers a range of benefits as part of a diverse, inclusive environment.

Qualifications

• Experience advising on employee relations, end-to-end ER case management.
• Ability to analyse people data and present trends to stakeholders.
• Experience in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Strong communication and coaching skills for managers.

Responsibilities

• Manage a varied caseload of ER issues end-to-end, translating policy into practical advice.
• Own policy development, ensuring compliance and ease of navigation.
• Analyse people data to derive actionable, evidence-based insights.
• Identify workflow friction and implement improvements or automations.
• Coordinate surveys and internal communications to support wellbeing and inclusion.

Skills

ER Advisory

Data literacy

Stakeholder management

Communication

Policy development

Education

CIPD qualification or studying

Job description

About The Role

Hippo is a rapidly growing digital consultancy passionate about building and delivering transformative digital solutions for a diverse range of Public and Private sector clients. We are recruiting for an experienced People Advisor to support our ever-evolving workforce. We work at the intersection of strategy, design, and technology to solve complex problems and create lasting value. Our collaborative and agile culture empowers our teams to make a genuine impact.

As a consulting business, our people are our greatest asset; as People Advisor you will play an important role in ensuring our Hippos are supported and engaged throughout their employee lifecycle. As a People team we work closely with stakeholders from across Hippo to ensure our values of being human, pragmatic and ambitious are reflected in our people processes and policies.

This role requires the successful candidate to be in our Leeds office one day per week.

Your Role in a Nutshell

Your purpose is to provide high-quality, responsive advisory support to ensure our team is proactively promoting a progressive and positive culture. You will support our managers, helping them navigate the complexities of people management while driving engagement and retention. You will balance a pragmatic, problem-solving approach with a deep focus on data-driven insights to help Hippo scale effectively.

Key Accountabilities:

• Employee Relations & Manager Support: Manage a varied caseload of ER issues (probation, absence, grievances) end-to-end, translating policy into practical, human-centric advice for line managers.
• Policy Development: Own the evolution of our policies and procedures, ensuring they are compliant, inclusive, and easy to navigate.
• Data & Insights: Analyse people data to find the story behind the numbers, providing actionable insights to support evidence-based decision-making.
• Continuous Improvement: Identify friction points in our workflows and implement automations or process improvements to streamline the Hippo experience.
• Culture & Wellbeing: Coordinate employee surveys, manage internal communications (newsletters/All-Hands), and support the delivery of our wellbeing and DI&B strategies.

About the Candidate

Essential Experience

• Advisory Background: Proven experience in an HR/People advisory role, specifically managing end-to-end Employee Relations processes.
• Qualifications: CIPD qualified or currently working towards your certification.
• Data Literacy: Confident in analysing people data and presenting trends or findings to stakeholders.
• Fast-Paced Delivery: Experience working in a dynamic, rapidly growing environment where you have managed multiple tasks under pressure.
• Communication: Highly developed relationship-building skills with the ability to coach managers and influence at various levels.

Desirable Experience

• Consultancy/Tech Sector: Experience working within a digital consultancy or a high-growth technology firm.
• Process Automation: Previous experience identifying and implementing HR software improvements or workflow automations.
• Culture & Engagement: Experience facilitating engagement initiatives or working closely with Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (DI&B) leads.

About The Company

Alongside working with some of the most talented people out there and on-top of a competitive salary, which we’re transparent about from the outset, you can also expect a range of benefits:

• Contributory Pension Scheme (Hippo 6% & Employee 2%)
• 25 Days Holiday plus UK Public Holidays
• Perkbox access for a wide range of discounts
• Critical illness cover
• Life assurance and death in service cover
• Volunteer days
• Cycle-to-work scheme for the avid cyclists
• Salary sacrifice electric vehicles scheme
• Season ticket loans
• Financial and general wellbeing sessions
• Flexible benefits scheme with options of:
• Private health cover
• Private dental cover
• Additional company pension contributions
• Additional holidays (up to an extra 2 days)
• Wellbeing contribution
• Charity contributions
• Tree planting

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Hippo

At Hippo, we’re dedicated to creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace that works for everyone. We understand that having a diverse team unlocks our capacity for innovation, creativity and problem solving. Only by building a community of diverse perspectives, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds can we create an environment where all can contribute and thrive.

We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups including women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent and people with disabilities. We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process that reflects our workplace culture. We are a registered Disability Confident Employer, Mindful Employer, Endometriosis Friendly Employer and a member of the Armed Forces Covenant. Hippo continually strives to remove barriers, provide accommodations and offer reasonable adjustments to ensure equity throughout our practices.

Hi, we’re Hippo

At Hippo, we design with empathy and build for impact. We do this by combining data-informed evidence, human-centred design and software engineering. We're a digital services partner who is genuinely invested in helping our clients thrive as modern organisations. Our delivery methodology is truly agile, from concept to reality, supporting innovation and continuous improvement to achieve your desired outcomes.

We firmly believe that technology should serve humanity, not the other way around. We take a human-centred approach to everything we do because we understand that complex problems require a service design approach. This means understanding how users behave and ensuring our solutions work for them in the real world.

Our combination of data, design, and engineering delivers bespoke digital services that make a positive and meaningful impact on organisations and society.

Have a look through our Website at Our Story & Purpose, Our Culture & Values, Case Studies and Our Solutions & Services to find out some more!

Hippo Locations

We are headquartered in Leeds and have offices across the UK in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London and Bristol. We're on the lookout for top talent nationwide but you need to be located within reasonable travelling distance from one of our offices. Given the dynamic nature of a consulting business, you may be required to work on-site at a Hippo office or at an in/out of town client location for a number of days per week (client dependent) and therefore candidates will need to be open/flexible to travel and working on one of those sites at least 2 days per week. We offer a generous relocation support package of up to £8,000 (please ask for terms and conditions) to help make your move a smooth one.