People Partner - Vets for Pets

Home Limited; Cheadle; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Vets for Pets is seeking a Regional People Partner to lead the People Strategy across Northern Ireland, Scotland, North Wales and parts of England, field-based with travel 2-3 days a week. You'll partner with Regional Directors, Business Development Partners and Practice Owners to shape regional plans and drive engagement, leadership capability and commercial success within our Joint Venture model.

This maternity cover role starts January 2027, with regular overnight stays and meetings at

Qualifications

• Experienced HR Business Partnering, ideally in a retail/multi-site environment.
• Strong employee relations background with capability to coach, influence and challenge stakeholders.
• Able to shape strategic people plans while managing day-to-day priorities.
• Highly organised, self-managing and adaptable to changing business needs.

Responsibilities

• Translate the People Strategy into regional people plans that support engagement and growth.
• Act as a trusted advisor, coaching and challenging leaders to build leadership capability.
• Use data and insights to identify trends and improve engagement and retention.
• Support workforce planning, succession planning and talent development.
• Collaborate with Talent Acquisition and Learning to attract and develop talent.
• Navigate complex employee relations and policy application with leaders.

Skills

HR Business Partnering

Employee relations

Stakeholder engagement

Communication skills

Emotional intelligence

Job description

Contract: 12 Month Maternity Cover

Start Date: January 2027

Location: Field Based

About the Role

At Vets for Pets, our people are at the heart of everything we do. As a Regional People Partner, you'll play a key role in bringing our People Strategy to life across your region, partnering with leaders to create thriving, high-performing practices where colleagues can do their best work.

Working closely with Regional Directors, Business Development Partners, Practice Owners and the wider People Team, you'll provide strategic guidance, insight and challenge to help drive engagement, develop talent, strengthen leadership capability and support sustainable business growth. Using data and people insights to identify priorities, you'll shape and deliver regional people plans that balance colleague experience, practice effectiveness and commercial success within our unique Joint Venture model.

This is a highly visible partnering role where you'll act as a trusted advisor, change champion and people expert, helping to build a great place to work while enabling growth, enhancing performance and fostering a connected, collaborative culture across the region.

This is a field-based role supporting practices across Northern Ireland, Scotland, North Wales and parts of England as far south as Worcester. You'll spend approximately 2-3 days per week travelling across your region, building strong relationships and providing hands‑on support to leaders and practices.

With the flexibility to manage your own diary, the role requires regular overnight stays and a willingness to travel extensively. You'll also attend team and stakeholder meetings at our Handforth and Stafford Support Offices, typically once per month at each location.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with Regional Directors, Business Development Partners and Practice Owners to translate the People Strategy into impactful regional people plans that support engagement, retention, growth and business performance.
• Act as a trusted advisor, providing coaching, challenge and expert people guidance to build leadership capability and drive a high-performing culture.
• Use people data and insight to identify trends, mitigate risks and implement initiatives that improve colleague engagement, retention and practice effectiveness.
• Support workforce planning, succession planning and talent development, ensuring strong pipelines for key clinical and non-clinical roles.
• Work closely with Talent Acquisition and Learning teams to attract, develop and retain great talent across the region.
• Provide expert support on complex employee relations, performance management, absence management and policy application, helping leaders navigate people matters confidently and consistently.
• Drive an outstanding colleague experience through effective onboarding, development, recognition and wellbeing initiatives.
• Partner with operational leaders to optimise workforce effectiveness, improve resource planning and support sustainable commercial performance.
• Lead and support people aspects of change initiatives, helping practices adapt successfully while maintaining engagement and performance.
• Champion collaboration across the wider People Team and Pets ecosystem, connecting leaders to the expertise, tools and support they need to succeed.
• Contribute to strategic people projects and continuous improvement initiatives that enhance the colleague and customer experience.

About You

We're looking for an experienced People Partner who thrives in a fast‑paced, commercially focused environment and is passionate about helping leaders and teams succeed.

You’ll bring proven HR Business Partnering experience, ideally gained within a retail or similar multi-site environment, alongside a strong employee relations background and the confidence to coach, influence and challenge stakeholders at all levels. Equally comfortable shaping strategic people plans and managing day‑to‑day operational priorities, you’ll be highly organised, able to manage your own workload and adaptable to changing business needs.

You’ll be a collaborative team player who enjoys building relationships, working remotely and partnering with colleagues across different locations. With strong emotional intelligence, sound judgement and excellent communication skills, you’ll be trusted to navigate complex people matters while supporting leaders through periods of growth and change. You’ll be someone who can hit the ground running, manage your time effectively and understand the flexibility required in a field‑based role that doesn’t always fit a traditional 9‑to‑5 schedule.

Why Join Us?

This is an opportunity to work in a genuinely rewarding role where you’ll build strong, trusted relationships with Practice Owners and leaders while supporting the incredible work they do every day. You’ll join a friendly, experienced and supportive team that values collaboration, flexibility and trust, giving you the freedom to manage your own diary and work autonomously without micromanagement.

As part of a growing and exciting business, you’ll work with talented colleagues across both our Support Office and field teams, influence meaningful people initiatives and play a key role in creating a great place to work for practices across the region.

Pets just see people. They aren’t biased and they don’t discriminate. We take our inspiration from pets, and we value and respect difference in all its forms. Our aim is to reflect the diversity of the communities we operate in, and every colleague can help us achieve this. We encourage our people to be themselves so even if your skills and experience don’t perfectly align, if you think you can make a unique contribution through your values and behaviours, we want to hear from you.