People Partner

Avove Utilities; Warrington; On-site; GBP 44,000 - 55,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Enhanced annual leave

Company car or allowance

Medicash health cash plan

Pension scheme

Job summary

Avove Utilities seeks a People Partner to join our People & Culture team. Based from our Chorley or Warrington office with occasional travel to other Avove locations, you will advise the business on people strategies, lead employee relations, and help attract, retain and develop top talent.

Working closely with leaders, you'll build high-performing teams, implement talent initiatives, analyse people data, and shape policies to drive performance while maintaining a positive employee

Qualifications

• 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.

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

HR generalist

employment law

stakeholder management

data-driven HR

employee relations

talent management

succession planning

organisational development

coaching managers

Education

CIPD qualification (or working towards)

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.

Salary: £44,000 - £55,000 (Depending on experience)

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.

• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays
• Company car or car allowance
• 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.