People Partner - Engineering

AI Startups UK; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work policy

Inclusive culture

Job summary

Wayve in London is seeking a People Partner to support Engineering, delivering a high-quality employee experience in a fast-paced, technical environment. You will partner with the Senior People Partner for Engineering, shape performance, engagement, L&D, and day-to-day advisory work, and act as a trusted contact for staff and managers.

You will own routine processes, help develop People resources, collaborate on initiatives, report on engagement, and support HR policy alignment and offboarding.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience as a People Partner or Advisor in a fast-paced scaling organisation.
• Experience partnering with Engineering or technical teams and communicating with technically minded stakeholders.
• Strong employee relations capability with UK employment law knowledge and end-to-end case handling.
• Ability to coach and influence managers and drive decision-making in sensitive situations.
• Experience delivering engagement, performance, change, learning, reward or policy initiatives.
• Strong judgement, problem-solving, and ability to navigate ambiguity.
• Proficiency in using People data, feedback, and HR systems to derive actionable insights.

Responsibilities

• Independently manage Employee Relations cases, including documentation and follow-up.
• Provide first-level coaching and advisory support to Managers and Employees.
• Serve as first contact for People-related queries and triage complex issues.
• Collaborate on People initiatives, engagement, retention, and performance programs.
• Assist data collection and reporting from People systems for audits and management requests.
• Draft and update resources for handbooks and intranet; support policy updates.
• Support offboarding processes and exit interviews; ensure documentation.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition and local stakeholders to support hiring efforts.

Skills

People partnering

Engineering liaison

Employee relations

Coaching managers

Policy development

Data analytics

Communication skills

Job description

About us

Founded in 2017, Wayve is the leading developer of Embodied AI technology. Our advanced AI software and foundation models enable vehicles to perceive, understand, and navigate any complex environment, enhancing the usability and safety of automated driving systems.

Our vision is to create autonomy that propels the world forward. Our intelligent, mapless, and hardware-agnostic AI products are designed for automakers, accelerating the transition from assisted to automated driving.

In our fast-paced environment big problems ignite us- we embrace uncertainty, leaning into complex challenges to unlock groundbreaking solutions. We aim high and stay humble in our pursuit of excellence, constantly learning and evolving as we pave the way for a smarter, safer future.

At Wayve, your contributions matter. We value diversity, embrace new perspectives, and foster an inclusive work environment; we back each other to deliver impact.

Make Wayve the experience that defines your career!

The role

As a People Partner supporting Engineering, you'll play a key role in delivering a high-quality employee experience in a fast-paced, technical environment. Partnering closely with the Senior People Partner for Engineering, you'll support defined projects across areas like performance, engagement, L&D, and day-to-day advisory work, acting as a trusted first point of contact for employees and managers. You'll take ownership of routine processes, contribute to developing People resources, and support Employee Relations cases by preparing documentation, drafting communications, and guiding policy-aligned decisions. You'll also collaborate on broader People team and company-wide initiatives, helping to drive consistency, inclusion, and continuous improvement across the organisation. This role is ideal for someone with solid generalist People experience in a dynamic, scale-up setting, confident working with technically-minded stakeholders and ready to deepen their impact.

Key responsibilities:

• Employee Relations: Independently manage ER cases, including documentation, note-taking during meetings, and following up on action points, escalating as needed. Support investigations, grievance handling, and performance management processes. Maintain the employee relations tracker to report on insights and areas of concern to inform recommendations for improvements. Maintain employee records with up to date case information.
• Local Coaching and Advisory: Provide first-level support in advising Managers and Employees, escalating when required.
• First Point of Contact: Serve as the first point of contact for employees and managers seeking support on People-related queries such as policies, benefits, and system navigation. Triage queries and elevate more complex issues to the relevant People Partner or people operations.
• Project Support: Collaborate with People Partners on People initiatives and project work, such as employee engagement, retention strategies, and performance management.
• Data and Reporting: Assist in data collection, analysis, and generating reports from People systems for analysis, compliance audits, or management requests.
• People Documentation: Support in drafting and updating manager and employee resources for handbooks and intranet platforms.
• Policy development: Ensure People policies and procedures are up-to-date, legally compliant, and easy to access for employees and managers.
• Offboarding: Support offboarding processes, including exit interviews and follow-up on necessary documentation.
• Engagement: Preparing engagement reports and insights, surfacing relevant themes and partnering with the Senior People Partner and business leaders on actions.
• Talent Team support: Liaise with Talent Acquisition and build relationships with local stakeholders to support hiring efforts where needed.

About you

In order to set you up for success as a People Partner at Wayve, we're looking for the following skills and experience.

Essential

• Demonstrated experience in a People Partnering or Advisory role within a fast-paced, scaling organisation, with a strong foundation across core People practices and the employee lifecycle.
• Experience partnering with Engineering or similarly technical teams, with the ability to adapt People practices and communication to suit technically minded stakeholders.
• Strong employee relations capability and working knowledge of UK employment law, including independently managing performance, grievance, investigation and absence cases from start to finish.
• Demonstrated ability to coach and influence managers, challenge constructively, clarify ownership and support effective decision-making in complex or sensitive situations.
• Experience delivering initiatives across several areas, such as engagement, performance management, organisational change, learning and development, reward, wellbeing or policy development.
• Strong independent judgement and problem-solving skills, with the ability to navigate ambiguity, balance competing priorities and drive work through to completion.
• Confidence using People data, employee feedback and HR systems to identify trends, surface risks and develop practical recommendations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to build credibility and tailor advice for employees, managers and senior stakeholders.

Desirable

• Experience in a fast growth environment (preferably a start-up).
• Experience supporting people across multiple geographies.
• Proficiency in AI tooling to support workflows.
• UK Employment law knowledge and best practice.

This is a full-time role based in our office in King's Cross. At Wayve we want the best of all worlds so we operate a hybrid working policy that combines time together in our offices and workshops to fuel innovation, culture, relationships and learning, and time spent working from home.

Wayve is committed to creating an inclusive interview experience. If you require any accommodations or adjustments to participate fully in our interview process, please let us know.

We understand that everyone has a unique set of skills and experiences and that not everyone will meet all of the requirements listed above. If you're passionate about self-driving cars and think you have what it takes to make a positive impact on the world,

DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities, and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non-discriminatory.

For more information visit Careers at Wayve.

To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve

For US candidates only, please visit E-Verify Notice and Participation and Right to Work