People Operations Associate - 6 Month FTC

Aztec Financial Services (UK) Limited; Southampton; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus scheme

Flexible, hybrid working

Ability to work abroad for up to 3?3?6

Generous holiday allowance

Pension scheme

Private medical insurance

Life assurance

Worldwide travel insurance

Health and wellbeing programmes

On-site parking

Job summary

Aztec Financial Services (UK) Limited is seeking a People Operations Associate to deliver accurate employee lifecycle services across the Aztec Group. This fixed-term role supports onboarding and offboarding, ensuring data accuracy, compliance, and a positive colleague experience.

You will work under supervision to complete defined HR activities, manage cases, and liaise with stakeholders, COEs, and external providers.

Qualifications

• Essential experience in a fast-paced operational/employee administration environment.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to follow structured processes.
• Clear written and verbal communication; professional tone.
• Proficiency with MS Office, especially Excel and Planner.
• Familiarity with HRIS/Workday or other HR systems.
• Customer-focused mindset with a willingness to learn.

Responsibilities

• Handle onboarding and offboarding processes, including pre-employment checks and leaver documentation.
• Maintain accurate data across HR systems and payroll processes in line with GDPR and internal controls.
• Respond to colleague & manager queries via cases or inbox, ensuring timely resolutions.
• Support Lifecycle activities: job changes, promotions, time off, and absence requests with accuracy.
• Collaborate with COEs and external suppliers to deliver People Operations services.

Skills

Operational administration

Attention to detail

Communication skills

MS Office (Excel & Planner)

Workday / HRIS familiarity

Customer service mindset

Tools

Workday

Job description

At Aztec, we're committed to building and nurturing a diverse and inclusive workforce where everyone feels valued, respected, and able to grow. We know that different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences strengthen our business and we welcome applications from all individuals. So, if your experience doesn't exactly match with every part of the job description, but you are excited about the role, we would still like to hear from you. If you are passionate, curious, innovative and data driven, you could still be a good fit.

About the role

The People Operations Associate is a key member of the People Operations team, responsible for delivering accurate, timely, and high-quality employee lifecycle services across the Aztec Group. This is a fixed term role that will support Onboarding & Offboarding and the Internal Lifecycle team and focuses on executing structured, operational activities and contributes to a positive colleague experience, ensures data accuracy and compliance, and actively develops foundational HR knowledge and professional expertise.

Key Responsibilities

• Working with and under the direction of the Senior Associate and People Services Operations Manager/s Operational Effectiveness Accurately complete day-to-day activities in line with documented procedures, SLAs, jurisdictional legislation and internal controls.
• Take responsibility for defined areas of specialism including ongoing regular meetings and associated follow up activities, keeping the Senior Associate updated on progress and flagging any input required.
• Complete onboarding and offboarding processes, including pre-employment screening, right-to-work checks, contractor administration, and leaver documentation.
• Administer/initiate internal lifecycle changes, such as job changes, promotions, secondments, time off and leave of absence requests ensuring timely completion and data accuracy.
• Service Delivery & Case Management Respond to colleague and manager queries via cases, or inbox management tools, including cases where we respond on behalf of another People Team or the case is passed to us to respond.
• Proactively self-assign cases, tasks, and emails that are linked to own activities/areas of responsibility.
• Escalate non-standard queries, exceptions, or potential risks to Senior Associates in a timely and clear manner.
• Liaise with internal stakeholders, COEs, and approved external suppliers to support the delivery of People Operations.
• Deliver work to agreed timelines, maintaining high standards of professionalism and customer service, whilst managing relevant stakeholder expectations.
• Ensuring timely and accurate completion of relevant monthly payroll impacting/deadline driven tasks.
• Quality, Risk & Controls Follow internal policies, procedures, and governance requirements when completing tasks and maintaining systems.
• Complete defined checks and validations, highlighting discrepancies or issues to Senior Associates, ensuring data and payroll integrity and GDPR compliance.
• Continuous Improvement & Learning Contribute ideas to improve efficiency, accuracy, and colleague experience within existing processes.
• Actively build HR, HRIS (Workday), and operational knowledge through hands on experience and knowledge sharing among the team.
• Potential to support a small project relevant to the People Operation remits and assist with cyclical projects such as pay review and promotions.

Skills, Knowledge & Experience

• Essential Experience in a fast paced operational /employee administration environment.
• Strong attention to detail with the ability to follow structured processes and guidance.
• Clear and professional written and verbal communication skills.
• Confidence working with systems and data; strong MS Office capability specifically Excel & Planner.
• Demonstrates ownership, curiosity, and a willingness to learn.
• An understanding of the core elements of policies, processes and procedures.
• Strong interpersonal skills, and a proven ability to develop good working relationships, as an individual and as a collaborative member of a team.
• Ability to demonstrate a customer service mindset, with a passion for and commitment to improving the employee experience, anticipating the needs of our customers.
• Familiarity with Workday or another HRIS/HCM system.
• Desirable Exposure to HR administration/operations or shared services environments.

Benefits

• Discretionary bonus scheme
• Flexible, hybrid working
• Ability to work abroad for up to 3 weeks per annum
• Generous holiday allowance
• Pension scheme
• Private medical insurance, including eye care
• Life assurance (death in service and critical illness benefit)
• Worldwide travel insurance
• Health and wellbeing programmes
• On-site parking

With an ambitious vision for further growth, we're always on the lookout for bright individuals to join our journey. Progress your career with a company that will support you every step of the way.

At Aztec, we provide talented and dynamic individuals with the opportunity to build a rewarding career. We're an ambitious company, committed to building long-term partnerships with our clients and delivering operational excellence at every stage of their fund's lifecycle. Our culture is what makes us a standout place to work. Our people are at the heart of our business: putting clients first; delivering service excellence; working as one team; building lasting connections and embodying our values and purpose. Join us and discover what makes us the bright alternative.