People Partner

UNAVAILABLE; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A successful international media company is seeking a People Partner to provide strategic HR services over a 12-month maternity cover. In this role, you will collaborate with senior leadership and managers to offer people-first solutions. You will also influence organizational change, oversee recruitment processes, and support employee relations. This position requires strong interpersonal skills and a solid understanding of UK employment law, along with a CIPD qualification or progress towards it. The company offers flexible working arrangements and a range of benefits.

Benefits

Competitive salary

25 days holiday plus bank holidays

Flexible working schedule

Pension scheme

Health Cash Plan

Life Assurance and Income Protection

Qualifications

• Strong interpersonal, diplomacy and negotiation skills.
• Proven project management skills.
• Knowledge of UK employment legislation.

Responsibilities

• Build strong professional relationships with leadership.
• Drive organizational change through HR strategies.
• Support managers on employee relations issues.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Project management

Relationship building

Negotiation skills

Understanding of UK employment law

Education

CIPD qualification or working towards

Job description

Overview

Haymarket is a successful international specialist media company. We have over 60 market-leading brands in the consumer and B2B markets across the UK, US, Asia, India and Germany, connecting people and communities across digital, print, festivals, awards, conferences and exhibitions.

Overview

Are you looking to progress your career in HR? Or are you a current Business Partner looking for a new challenge in 2026, where you can genuinely help shape the culture and people initiatives?

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a People Partner to join our UK People team— a 12-month fixed-term maternity cover— to provide a strategic, people-first, and proactive generalist HR service to our business

As a key member of our People team, and reporting to our Head of People, you’ll be acting as the crucial link between our Senior Leadership, managers and employees, within your dedicated client group. Understanding the business and our people will be key to your success in this role, enabling you to provide pragmatic solutions to meet business goals and needs whilst also progressing your own career.

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities:

This list is not exhaustive, if you are passionate about HR and the work we do at Haymarket, then we would be keen to hear from you regardless of whether you meet all of the criteria below, as we offer varied development and coaching opportunities.

People Partnering:

• Act as an integral part of the business by building strong professional relationships with the Senior Leadership Team and line managers, advising them on all people-related activities, including resourcing, performance management, promotions and change management.
• Influence and drive organisational change by developing clear strategies that link HR policies to business objectives.
• Monitor the quality of services delivered (i.e. timeliness, accuracy, efficiency and responsiveness) and take prompt, corrective action if needed.
• Lead business change initiatives, i.e. TUPE, restructures.
• Support the development and implementation of people policies.

Recruitment & Retention:

• Partner with the Talent Acquisition Manager to develop, manage and provide advice to hiring managers for both internal and external recruitment.
• Ensure that our recruitment practices are aligned with our diversity, equity and inclusion ambitions.
• Oversee and champion employee retention programs, including stay interviews, career path discussions and engagement surveys, ensuring timely follow-up and action planning.

Employee Relations:

• Support managers by providing comprehensive and consistent advice on employee relations issues.
• Provide information and advice on the interpretation of company policies in line with local legislation, including disciplinaries, grievances and appeals.
• Proactively work with managers in improving performance management processes by developing managers’ competence and confidence.
• Promote a culture of employee engagement and communication.

Skills / Experience / Knowledge / Minimum Criteria

Responsibilities (Minimum role criteria)

This role will suit you if you:

• Have strong interpersonal, diplomacy and negotiation skills
• Prioritise building and maintaining strong business relationships
• Pride yourself on your professional integrity
• Have proven strong project management skills
• Can build credibility and influence at all levels throughout the organisation
• Have a track record of influencing the People agenda
• Have sound knowledge of UK employment legislation and best practice
• Are able to deal with situations of conflict and stressful discussions sensitively and effectively
• Are confident in handling different types of personalities with professionalism and a good sense of humour!
• Ideally, you will be CIPD qualified (or working towards this)

Applicants must have theright to work in the UK— we areunable to provide visa sponsorship.

Disability Confident

We are a Disability Confident employer and offer guaranteed interviews to all disabled applicants who meet the above minimum role criteria.

To be considered as part of this initiative, please ensure you indicate if you have a disability when applying for the post. If you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to fully participate in the recruitment process, please contact us at [e-mail].

Why work with us?

People are our greatest asset here at Haymarket Media Group. As we serve our audiences, clients and communities, we are committed to driving the meaningful change necessary to build a better world. Our principles of diversity, inclusion, respect, responsibility and sustainability are at the heart of our business. We are a socially and environmentally responsible business and we are delighted to announce that as of November 2025, we are now a proud certified B Corp!

Our benefits include:

• Competitive salary
• 25 days holiday per year excluding bank holidays (increasing 1 day per year of service up to 30 days)
• Work from anywhere in the world for up to 3 weeks of the year with our ‘Work from Anywhere’ days
• Flexible working schedule (core hours in place from 10am-3pm)
• Generous contributory pension scheme through Aviva
• Electric car salary sacrifice scheme through Octopus
• Health Cash Plan through Healix
• Life Assurance and Group Income Protection schemes
• Family friendly policies
• Cycle to Work scheme and/or season ticket loan
• Payroll Giving scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Regular individual and team rewards and incentives for outstanding performance
• Comprehensive training and career development programmes

More about working for Haymarket

We want to support our people to balance their personal and professional lives and we believe our range of benefits encourages this. We feel that nothing beats face-time with our colleagues and we’ve therefore adopted a blended working model where full time employees can expect to spend 3 days of their week in the office and the other 2 working at a location of their choice.

As a global business operating in diverse markets, Haymarket is inherently multicultural. Globally we are committed to attracting, developing and retaining talent who reflect the communities we serve. We equally recognise our broader responsibility to society as a whole. We will use our power and influence to drive diversity, equity and inclusion within our markets.

As such, we are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and are committed to ensuring that all candidates are given the same opportunity to succeed regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, marital status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion, age or disability.

If you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to fully participate in the recruitment process, please do contact us at [e-mail].

Come and join us and see for yourself how Haymarket is an enriching, empowering and exciting place to work.