People/HR Manager

Unify by Bruntwood; Manchester; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

28 days holiday

Birthday off

Volunteer time

Sabbatical up to 12 months

Healthcare cash plan

Life assurance

Pension matching

Discounts & cashback

Enhanced maternity leave

Learning loans

Job summary

Unify by Bruntwood is seeking a strategic HR leader to own the people agenda for the Unify division from Manchester head office with some travel to Leeds and Liverpool. You will work with senior leaders and a dedicated People team to drive growth, lead TUPE activities, and implement scalable people practices across a fast-paced, customer-focused business.

Responsibilities include embedding the people plan, delivering complex restructures, overseeing payroll, onboarding, and performance

Qualifications

• Deep understanding of UK employment legislation, restructures, and hands-on experience leading large-scale TUPE processes.
• End-to-end people operations: onboarding, performance management, reward/pay structures, and exit strategies.
• General payroll oversight and compliance to ensure accurate, timely execution.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Bruntwood Group People Director and Unify leadership to implement a people plan aligned with strategy and culture.
• Embed within Unify leadership to diagnose issues, challenge ways of working, and address people requirements.
• Lead on large TUPE processes and restructures to ensure successful delivery and integration.
• Collaborate with People & Talent and finance to align projects and develop the workforce.
• Build and develop a small people team (People Coordinator, People Advisor, Payroll Specialist).
• Own the colleague life cycle from onboarding to exit to ensure a seamless experience.
• Drive engagement initiatives with surveys, focus groups, and action planning.

Skills

UK Employment Law

TUPE leadership

Onboarding

Performance & reward management

Payroll compliance

Data-driven decision making

People leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Job description

Unify by Bruntwood provides specialist cleaning solutions across commercial offices, retail and the education sector.. Passionate about our customers and our people, we aim to lead the way in providing solutions that are exceptional, flexible and always built around our customers.

Our cleaning solutions are always tailored to your needs, supporting productivity, wellbeing, and great first impressions. We combine dependable day-to-day delivery with a deep-rooted commitment to sustainability, fair employment and social value.

Here is a link to our website and our Linkedin page to give you a feel for who we are and what we do: Unify - Unify LinkedIn

Ways of working and the team:

This role will primarily be based at our head office in Manchester City Centre - Union, however we also operate across Leeds and Liverpool, so there will be some travel to these locations when necessary.

Some examples of the space we operate in include (hyperlinked below):

Bloc, Alderley Park, Circle Square, Pall Mall, West Village & The Exchange

You’ll take full ownership of our Unify division that currently employs 650 amount of colleagues, with ambition and trajectory to scale. Working closely with a dedicated People Advisor and a People Coordinator to support this growth under your leadership.

This is an incredible opportunity to spearhead the operational growth of a fast paced, disruptive and dynamic business as part of a passionate, engaged leadership team. Within a well respected and recognised organisation in Bruntwood where you can lean on further expertise in and out of people practices, to drive business growth and creative thinking.

Expansion:

Unify goes from strength to strength - growing from 210 to 370 customers in 2025, and now exceeding more than 600. We’re aiming to continue this growth and also look at other complimentary services to our offering. So it’s vital we scale in the right way, where this role will play a crucial part.

What we’re looking for:

• A progressive, non-bureaucratic approach to HR.
• Deep understanding of UK employment legislation, restructures, and hands-on experience leading large-scale TUPE processes.
• Sound knowledge of end-to-end people operations, including onboarding, performance management, reward/pay structures, and exit strategies.
• General understanding and oversight of payroll processes and compliance to ensure accurate, timely execution.
• Ability to demonstrate sound judgment and decisiveness in a fast-paced environment, making timely people-related decisions aligned with business and legal requirements
• Ability to leverage people metrics and data to identify trends, simplify insights, and propose actionable, evidence-based business solutions.
• Ability to build strong relationships, constructively challenge senior leaders and align people strategies with commercial objectives.
• Ability to coach, consult and challenge in a constructive manner, with confidence and resilience to influence at all levels;
• Ideally managerial experience; supporting, developing and coachingAdvisors/Coordinators in previous roles.

What you’ll be doing:

• Working with the Bruntwood Group People Director and Unify leadership team to create and execute a people plan that enables Unify to deliver its strategic objectives whilst aligning with our culture and values.
• Embed yourself within the Unify leadership team to understand any business issues, challenge ways of working, assess people requirements and implement solutions to address these.
• Lead on large TUPE processes and restructures to ensure they are delivered successfully
• Work closely with the wider People & Talent team to align key projects where appropriate or propose alternatives more suitable for the Unify workforce.
• In collaboration with the broader people team and finance team, you will lead and develop a small people team of a People Coordinator, People Advisor and Payroll Specialist
• Own the colleague life cycle and key people practices from onboarding, performance, pay & reward to exit to ensure the delivery of a seamless people experience.
• Drive colleague engagement initiatives, including surveys, focus groups, and action planning, to enhance employee experience and workplace satisfaction.
• Build capability in our management teams on how to facilitate team reviews, set goals, measure results and how to have regular and human conversations.
• Use data and insights to identify areas for improvement and propose data led solutions.

We really believe that if you’re brilliant to work with, you deserve brilliant things in return:

• 28 days holiday plus you get your Birthday off work - and if that’s not enough you can also buy & sell holidays too
• 24 hours a year volunteer time - there are endless opportunities for you to get involved in supporting the causes that matter most to you
• Sabbatical of up to 12 months so you can take a career break after five years with us
• Healthcare cash plan for all colleagues, so you can claim back medical expenses like optical, dentist & physiotherapy. We also offer private healthcare cover on an opt in basis too
• Life assurance cover for all colleagues
• Up to 8% matched pension scheme
• Discounts & cashback at leading retailers
• Enhanced maternity - 26 weeks fully paid leave
• Interest free learning loans to help you develop new skills

In addition to what to expect within the role and your benefits, it’s good to know that you’ll be working for a business that gives back - The Oglesby Charitable Trust has donated more than £25m since it started out in 2001. Supporting charities across Arts and Culture, Education, Environment, Medical Research and Social & Health Inequality.