People Partner

Avove Utilities; Chorley; On-site; GBP 52,000 - 74,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Enhanced annual leave

Company car or allowance

Medicash health cash plan

Company pension scheme

Life assurance

Family friendly policies

Lifestyle benefit options

Financial wellbeing programme

Employee assistance program

Volunteering days

Charity matched giving

Job summary

Avove Utilities is seeking a skilled People Partner to join our People & Culture team in the UK. Based from our Chorley or Warrington office, with travel to other sites as required, you will advise leaders, shape talent strategy, and drive employee engagement to support high-performing teams.

You will collaborate with HR, L&D and operations to deliver proactive people initiatives, support change programs and ensure regulatory compliance, all while enhancing the employee experience and

Qualifications

• Strong HR generalist knowledge with an understanding of employment law and HR best practice.
• Provide pragmatic, commercially focused HR advice and solutions.
• Strong stakeholder management and coaching managers.
• Analytical mindset with data-driven insights.
• Resilient, proactive, and adaptable in a fast-paced environment.
• Passion for developing people and high-performing teams.
• Experience in People Partner/HRBP or similar roles.
• Experience in talent management, succession planning and workforce planning.
• Track record of improving engagement and organisational development.
• CIPD qualification or working towards is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Build deep understanding of accounts and deliver people solutions to workforce challenges.
• Coach managers and resolve employee relations issues while mitigating risk.
• Develop proactive workforce and resource plans; identify future skills needs.
• Collaborate with Learning & Development to shape development plans.
• Drive succession planning and leadership development.
• Influence managers to adopt innovative HR practices that benefit the business.
• Lead engagement and retention initiatives to improve employee experience.
• Analyse people data to identify trends and inform actions.
• Support HR policies, processes, and wider People & Culture initiatives.
• Assist with strategic projects and organisational change.

Skills

HR Generalist

Employee Relations

Stakeholder Management

Data Analytics

Talent Management

People Partner Experience

Education

CIPD qualification

Tools

HRIS Systems

Job description

We are looking for a People Partner to join our People and Culture department!

Location:

Based from our Chorley or Warrington office, with occasional travel to other Avove locations as required.

Benefits:

Enhanced annual leave, company car or allowance, family-friendly policies, Medicash health cash plan

Due to continued team growth, we are looking to appoint a People Partner to join our People & Culture team. As a trusted advisor to the business, you'll play a key role in driving performance through talent, capability, and culture. Working closely with leaders, you'll help build high-performing teams, provide expert HR guidance, lead on employee relations matters, and deliver people initiatives that attract, retain, and develop exceptional talent.

Responsibilities:

• Build a deep understanding of the accounts you support, using your knowledge of the business and operational environment to deliver effective people solutions and tackle workforce challenges.
• Act as a trusted advisor and coach to managers, enhancing people capability, embedding best practice, and supporting the successful resolution of employee relations matters while mitigating business risk.
• Develop and implement proactive workforce and resource plans, identifying current and future skills requirements, addressing capability gaps, and supporting talent attraction and retention strategies.
• Partner with the Learning & Development team to assess workforce capability, identify future development needs, and shape learning plans that support both colleague growth and business objectives.
• Drive succession planning activities, identifying key talent and future leaders while ensuring robust development plans are in place to support career progression.
• Influence and coach managers to embrace innovative solutions, make informed commercial decisions, and adopt best practices that deliver long-term business benefits.
• Lead colleague engagement and retention initiatives, creating action plans that strengthen employee experience, reduce attrition, and reinforce Avove as a great place to work.
• Analyse people data and performance metrics to identify trends, provide meaningful insights, and recommend actions that improve organisational performance.
• Contribute to the development and continuous improvement of HR policies, processes, and people initiatives, ensuring they remain practical, effective, and aligned to business needs.
• Support the delivery of strategic business projects, organisational change programmes, and wider People & Culture initiatives.
• Undertake any other duties reasonably required to support the People & Culture team and wider business objectives.

Skills/experience Required:

• Strong HR generalist knowledge with a good understanding of employment law and HR best practice.
• Ability to provide pragmatic, commercially focused HR advice and solutions.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to coach and influence managers at all levels.
• Analytical mindset, with the ability to use data and insights to drive business performance.
• Resilient, proactive, and adaptable in a fast-paced environment.
• Passion for developing people, improving engagement, and building high-performing teams.
• Previous experience in a People Partner, HR Business Partner, or similar role.
• Proven experience managing employee relations cases and coaching managers.
• Experience in talent management, succession planning, and workforce planning.
• Track record of driving colleague engagement and organisational development initiatives.
• CIPD qualification (or working towards) is desirable.

What’s in it for you

We offer a rewarding salary that is tailored to your skills and experience. But that’s not all! We celebrate hard work and give recognition to our colleagues. In addition to this, we understand that one size doesn’t fit all so everyone has access to a variety of flexible benefits that work for you.

• Company pension scheme
• Life assurance
• Family friendly policies
• A selection of lifestyle benefit options
• Financial wellbeing programme
• Employee assistance program for health and wellbeing and onsite mental health first aiders to support our colleagues
• We love to give back so we offer you volunteering days in your community and charity matched giving where we will boost your fundraising.

About us

We design, build and maintain the UK’s utilities infrastructure to help transform local communities for the better. We provide cutting-edge and sustainable engineering solutions and play a critical role in helping to keep the water running, the lights on and people connected.

We are an expert, responsible and agile partner, providing vital services to water, power and telecommunications sectors. We work closely with our clients to help protect and improve their assets, enhance customer experience and protect the natural environment. Everything we do is designed to drive continual improvement and move life forward.

We are proud to work in partnership with leading utility providers, including Severn Trent, United Utilities, Yorkshire Water, Northern PowerGrid, Northumbrian Water Group, Welsh Water, and Scottish Power Energy Networks.

We are an equal opportunities employer

We welcome applications from candidates of all races, genders, disabilities, religions, ages and sexual orientations. We know that having a diverse workforce encourages new perspectives, inspires creativity and creates an engaging workplace and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment where all colleagues can thrive. When it comes to inclusion, we’re making sure we keep up the progress with our Communities of Practice, who help us do just that.