People Partner

RIVER ISLAND; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Staff discount 50%

Retail Trust benefits

Onsite gym

Onsite restaurant & cafe

Flexible working

Give as you earn scheme

Training and qualifications

Private pension

Healthcare option

Job summary

River Island is seeking a People Partner to partner with leaders across the business, delivering proactive, commercially focused people support that drives performance and employee experience.

You will act as a trusted advisor to leaders, shaping people priorities through data-led interventions, coaching, organisational change and talent development, while ensuring an inclusive and high-performing culture at River Island's West London head office.

Qualifications

• Strong commercial acumen aligned to business performance.
• Excellent stakeholder management and relationship-building.
• Coaching and influencing leaders.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Diagnostic and problem-solving capability.
• Balance operational delivery with strategic thinking.
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills.
• Thrives in ambiguity and fast-paced environments.
• Analytical capability with attention to detail.
• Collaborative and solutions-focused approach.
• Resilient and calm under pressure.
• Passion for employee experience, inclusion, and leadership development.
• Experience in employee relations, organisational change, performance management, talent and engagement.
• Experience coaching and influencing leaders.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Partnering & Stakeholder Support: Build trusted relationships and provide commercially focused people partnering aligned to business priorities.
• Support leaders to drive performance, engagement, capability and team effectiveness.
• Leadership Coaching & Capability: Coach leaders to build high-performing and inclusive teams.
• Support a consistent and performance-led leadership culture across business areas.
• Talent & Succession Planning: Support talent identification, succession planning and development across allocated business areas.
• Contribute to building sustainable leadership and talent pipelines.
• Organisational Change & People Initiatives: Support delivery of organisational change initiatives and people priorities.
• Ensure change activity is delivered consistently with employee support and engagement.
• People Insights & Data: Use people data and insights to identify risks, trends and opportunities.
• Support evidence-based people interventions and decision making.
• Employee Relations & Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with Employee Relations and Centres of Expertise to deliver joined-up people solutions.
• Contribute to People Team initiatives while promoting inclusion, wellbeing and positive employee experience.

Skills

Commercial acumen

Stakeholder management

Coaching & influencing

Communication skills

Analytical thinking

Organisational change

People data analysis

Leadership development

Resilience under pressure

Employee experience

Inclusion

Leadership coaching

Education

CIPD Level 5

Job description

The People Partner role is responsible for partnering with stakeholders across their business area to provide proactive, commercially focused people support that drives organisational performance and employee experience.

The role acts as a trusted advisor to leaders, supporting the delivery of people priorities through strong stakeholder relationships, data-led interventions, leadership coaching, organisational change support, and talent development activity.

Responsiblities:

Strategic Partnering & Stakeholder Support

• Build trusted relationships with stakeholders and provide commercially focused people partnering support aligned to business priorities.
• Support leaders to drive performance, engagement, capability, and team effectiveness.

Leadership Coaching & Capability

• Coach and support leaders to build high-performing and inclusive teams.
• Support a consistent and performance-led leadership culture across business areas.

Talent & Succession Planning

• Support talent identification, succession planning, and development activity across allocated business areas.
• Contribute to building sustainable leadership and talent pipelines.

Organisational Change & People Initiatives

• Support delivery of organisational change initiatives and people priorities within business areas.
• Ensure change activity is delivered consistently and with appropriate employee support and engagement.

People Insights & Data

• Use people data and insights to identify risks, trends, and opportunities.
• Support evidence-based people interventions and decision making.

Employee Relations & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work collaboratively with Employee Relations and Centres of Expertise to deliver joined-up people solutions.
• Contribute to People Team initiatives while promoting inclusion, wellbeing, and positive employee experience.

Skils:

• Strong commercial acumen and focus on business performance.
• Excellent stakeholder management and relationship-building capability
• Strong coaching and influencing skills.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Good diagnostic and problem-solving capability.
• Ability to balance operational delivery with strategic thinking.
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills
• Comfortable working in ambiguity and fast-paced environments.
• Strong analytical capability with attention to detail.
• Collaborative and solutions-focused approach.
• Resilient and calm under pressure.
• Passion for employee experience, inclusion, and leadership development.
• Strong integrity and sound judgement.
• Experience supporting employee relations, organisational change, performance management, talent, and engagement activity.
• Experience coaching and influencing leaders.
• Ability to analyse people data and translate insights into practical actions.
• Strong commercial awareness and understanding of operational business environments.
• Previous experience within a People Partner, HR Advisor, HR Business Partner, or equivalent people-focused role.
• CIPD Level 5 qualified or equivalent experience

About Us

We're a much-loved brand with an exciting future. Our Islanders are a diverse bunch of bright, talented people who love working together - and are proud of the work they do. Progression here can take you in all kinds of directions. This is what a career at River Island is like. And this is where yours starts.

This role is based at our Head Office in West London. Check us out here on a map.

What we can offer you:

• Generous 50% staff discount so you can treat yourself to the latest products, and a bargain staff shop on site!
• Reducing Islanders everyday expenses through discounts, benefits, financial advice, wellbeing solutions and more through the Retail Trust.
• A free onsite gym, subsidised restaurant & café to fill you needs. Various social events to socialise throughout the year.
• Every family is unique, we support Islanders with all different family setups enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption & fertility treatment. We also work closely with the Retail Trust to create dedicated support for all our Islanders!
• Flexible working, on top of payday and summer early finish Fridays.
• Give as you earn scheme, a 'Giver Island' day each year and receive matched funding.
• Support with upskilling through on the job training and qualifications. A succession plan if you want to progress.
• A generous bonus scheme & private pension plan.
• The choice to opt in for healthcare through our provider AXA.
• 25 days paid holiday, exclusive of Bank Holidays. With the added option to purchase additional holiday twice a year for whatever the need!

Keeping You Safe

At River Island we are committed to the safeguarding of all of our employees regardless of age or job role. We will fulfil our obligation under the Prevent duty which seeks to stop extremism and extremist views from materialising in our business. We promote and encourage the belief in British Values- including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. To find out more, please visit www.gov.uk.

Our Island is made up of a diverse community, where we all belong and feel part of something bigger. We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles unless operational requirements prevent otherwise. To find out more about this interview process, check out our hiring process below.