People Partner Lead

Gastronomy Head Office; Shrewsbury; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company car or car allowance

Job summary

Gastronomy Restaurants Ltd is seeking an experienced People Partner Lead to own and drive the People Plan across our KFC restaurant estate. The role is field-based with travel across the Midlands, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Liverpool and North Wales, requiring a full UK driving licence and occasional overnight stays.

You will work closely with Regional Coaches and restaurant managers, turning priorities into practical actions, coaching leaders and measuring outcomes in a fast-paced

Qualifications

• Strong experience in a People Partner, HR Business Partner or comparable role.
• Proven experience working across multiple operational locations.
• Experience in hospitality, retail, leisure, logistics or another fast-paced, customer-facing environment.

Responsibilities

• Spend the vast majority of the working week inside our restaurants, building a clear understanding of operational and People priorities.
• Own and drive the People Plan across the restaurant estate.
• Use People data and observations to identify trends, risks and opportunities.
• Turn strategic priorities into practical, time-bound action plans.
• Coach and challenge Regional Coaches, Area Coaches and restaurant managers.
• Hold operational leaders accountable for completing agreed People actions.
• Build leadership capability and help prevent recurring People issues.
• Lead engagement, retention, succession, talent and workforce-planning activity.
• Support organisational change and business transformation.
• Deliver leadership workshops and manager-development activity.
• Work with the Employee Relations Case Manager on complex People matters.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition and Learning and Development to provide joined-up People solutions.
• Track progress and demonstrate measurable People and commercial improvements.

Skills

People Partner experience

Cross-location collaboration

Change management

Business partnering with ops

Job description

Location: Field-based across the Midlands, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Liverpool and North Wales
Benefits: Company car or car allowance
Reporting to: Group People Director

Important working arrangements

This is not a remote, home-based or traditional hybrid role.

It is a highly visible, field-based position. The successful person will spend the vast majority of their working week visiting and working inside our restaurants.

There is no fixed base or guaranteed home-working day. Some administration may be completed from home or our Shrewsbury support office when operational priorities allow.

Regular travel across the full restaurant estate is an essential part of the role. Early starts and occasional overnight stays will be required. Travel plans and priorities may change in response to business needs.

A full UK driving licence is required because the role involves regular driving between restaurant locations.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered throughout the recruitment process and employment.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced People Partner Lead to own and drive the People Plan across our KFC restaurant estate.

Working closely with our Regional Coach, Area Coaches and restaurant managers, you will understand what is happening operationally, identify the most important People priorities and turn them into clear, practical actions.

This is not a policy-focused or purely advisory HR role. You will work alongside operational leaders, coach and appropriately challenge them, track agreed actions and make sure they are completed.

The role has no direct reports initially and no dedicated administrative support. You must be comfortable working independently, managing your own priorities and taking responsibility for activity from identifying a problem through to delivering and measuring the solution.

You will report to the Group People Director and work alongside our Employee Relations Case Manager, Talent Acquisition Lead, HR Officer and Learning and Development Lead.

What you will be doing

• Spend the vast majority of the working week inside our restaurants, building a clear understanding of operational and People priorities.
• Own and drive the People Plan across the restaurant estate.
• Use People data and what you observe inside the restaurants to identify trends, risks and opportunities.
• Turn strategic priorities into practical, time-bound action plans.
• Coach and appropriately challenge Regional Coaches, Area Coaches and restaurant managers.
• Hold operational leaders accountable for completing agreed People actions.
• Build leadership capability and help prevent recurring People issues.
• Lead engagement, retention, succession, talent and workforce-planning activity.
• Support organisational change and business transformation.
• Deliver leadership workshops and practical manager-development activity.
• Work with the Employee Relations Case Manager on particularly complex People matters.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition and Learning and Development to provide joined-up People solutions.
• Track progress and demonstrate measurable People and commercial improvements.
• Work independently and respond effectively when operational priorities change.

About you

You will need:

• Strong experience in a People Partner, HR Business Partner or comparable role.
• Proven experience regularly working across multiple operational locations.
• Experience within hospitality, retail, leisure, logistics or another fast-paced, customer-facing environment.
• Evidence of personally owning and delivering People priorities through to measurable results.
• The confidence to coach, influence and appropriately challenge senior operational leaders.
• Experience using People data to identify priorities and measure improvements.
• Strong commercial awareness and an understanding of how People decisions affect operational performance.
• The ability to turn strategy into clear actions and follow them through to completion.
• The confidence to work independently within a lean People structure.
• A practical, proactive and hands-on working style.
• A full UK driving licence.
• The ability to travel regularly across the full estate, including early starts and occasional overnight stays.

Company overview

Gastronomy Restaurants Ltd is a growing KFC franchise partner. We currently operate 49 restaurants across the Midlands, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Liverpool and North Wales, with further openings planned.

We employ approximately 1,500 restaurant colleagues and are investing in a newly structured People Team to support the continued growth of the business.

Our People Team brings together specialist expertise in People partnering, Employee Relations, Talent Acquisition, Learning and Development and People Services.

This is an opportunity to join a newly structured People Team and directly influence how the People agenda develops across a growing restaurant business.

You will have the freedom to shape and drive the People Plan while working alongside specialists in Employee Relations, Talent Acquisition, Learning and Development and People Services.

If you are commercially minded, enjoy working directly with operational teams and want to make a visible difference inside a growing multi-site business, we would like to hear from you.

Equality and adjustments

Gastronomy Restaurants Ltd is committed to providing equality of opportunity and welcomes applications from people of all backgrounds.

If you require a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, please let us know so that we can support you.