People Services Specialist

Baillie Gifford & Co; City of Edinburgh; Presencial; GBP 42.000 - 62.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

Baillie Gifford & Co seeks a People Services Specialist to manage complex, sensitive operational work across the employee lifecycle and provide trusted advice to colleagues and managers. You will help transform People Services toward simpler, more digital services while maintaining strong controls.

You will bring hands-on experience in HR operations, with expertise in payroll, benefits, right to work, visas and data governance, ensuring high-quality service and compliance across 1,550 colleagues

Formación

• Significant hands-on experience in People Services or HR operations across the employee lifecycle.

Responsabilidades

• Takes ownership of complex, sensitive or specialist operational work across the employee lifecycle.
• Advises on operational delivery of complex people processes and business changes.
• Provides expertise in specialist areas such as payroll, benefits, right to work, visas, data, or regulated processes.
• Acts as a trusted face of the People team, providing knowledgeable, accessible support to colleagues and managers.
• Maintains integrity of critical people data and supports audit, risk and compliance activities.

Conocimientos

People Services

HR operations

Payroll

Benefits

Right to work

Visas

Data management

Regulated processes

Educación

Bachelors degree in HR or related

Herramientas

HR systems

Descripción del empleo

Job Title: People Services Specialist

Department: Human Resources-BG-UK

Overview of Department

The people team develops the capabilities, culture and experiences that create a human and commercial edge for Baillie Gifford. We exist to make the firm the world’s most distinctive place to grow a career, investing in our people with the same long‑term conviction as our portfolios and continually reimagining how work is done to outpace the industry. The team supports the full people lifecycle, including people operations, people partnering, leadership, learning and capability development, attraction and resourcing, organisational culture, reward, wellbeing and the end‑to‑end people experience. Through this work, we ensure that people and performance are deeply connected and that our colleagues are equipped to deliver long‑term value for clients.

Purpose of Role

Our People Services team brings our people strategy to life through the day‑to‑day moments that matter, resolving colleague queries and delivering the core operational processes that support people throughout their time at the firm. Supporting around 1,550 colleagues across 11 countries, the team combines responsive support, specialist expertise, sound judgement and strong controls to deliver a seamless, reliable people experience. As a People Services Specialist, you'll take ownership of complex, sensitive and non‑standard operational work across the employee lifecycle, providing trusted advice and ensuring issues are resolved effectively and with care. You'll also play an important role in transforming how People Services works as we move towards simpler, more connected and increasingly digital services. Drawing on your operational expertise, you'll challenge existing ways of working, identify root causes of problems and work with colleagues across People Operations to design, test and embed better solutions. You'll help us deliver an excellent service today while fundamentally improving how we operate for the future.

Responsibilities

Service delivery and operational expertise

• Takes ownership of complex, sensitive or specialist operational work and queries across the employee lifecycle, ensuring high‑quality service and effective resolution.
• Advises on the operational delivery of complex people processes and business changes, helping design practical, well‑controlled approaches across processes, data and systems.
• Provides deeper expertise in one or more specialist areas such as payroll, benefits, right to work, visas, organisational data or regulated processes, applying sound judgement and resolving exceptions.
• Acts as a trusted face of the People team, providing knowledgeable, accessible and human support to colleagues and managers.

Service quality, risk and resilience

• Maintains the integrity of critical people data, investigating and resolving complex or recurring issues across systems, workflows and organisational structures.
• Supports audit, risk and compliance activity, investigating exceptions and addressing control or process weaknesses.
• Coordinates the resolution of complex operational incidents and service failures, involving the right stakeholders and embedding lessons learned.
• Strengthens service quality and resilience by identifying recurring issues, improving documentation and building cross‑cover for critical activities.

Insight and transformation

• Uses service data, feedback and operational experience to identify recurring problems, understand root causes and prioritise meaningful improvements.
• Challenges existing processes end to end, identifying opportunities to remove unnecessary complexity, manual effort, handoffs and risk.
• Works with People Product and People Technology colleagues to shape, test and embed improved processes, digital workflows, self‑service, automation and AI‑enabled solutions.
• Supports the adoption of new ways of working, helping ensure improvements deliver better outcomes for colleagues and the team.

Team development

• Builds team capability by sharing specialist expertise, coaching others, improving guidance and embedding consistent standards and ways of working.

What success looks like

Trusted operational expertise: Complex people processes and issues are managed accurately, consistently and with sound judgement, giving colleagues and managers confidence in the service they receive.

Strong operational control: People data, systems and controls are maintained to a high standard, reducing risk and improving reliability.

Simpler, digitally enabled services: Improvements remove unnecessary manual effort, strengthen controls and make services easier to use and deliver, with evidence of better outcomes.

Greater team capability: Specialist knowledge, digital confidence and improved ways of working are shared across the team, building capability, consistency and resilience.

Your knowledge and experience

Significant hands‑on experience in People Services or HR operations, including complex, sensitive or specialist work across the employee lifecycle. Demonstrable expertise in one or more specialist operational areas such as payroll, benefits, right to work, visas, organisational data or regulated processes. Strong judgement and problem‑solving skills, with experience interpreting policy, managing risk and resolving non‑standard situations. Experience identifying and delivering improvements to operational processes, including helping implement more efficient, reliable or technology‑enabled solutions. Confidence using HR systems, digital tools and data, with the ability to learn new technologies and apply them in practice. Curiosity about how technology, including AI and automation, can improve service delivery and reduce manual effort. Strong relationship‑building and communication skills, with the ability to provide clear, practical advice and work collaboratively with others.

The type of candidate that we're looking for

We're looking for someone who combines hands‑on operational expertise with sound judgement, a strong sense of ownership and a genuine commitment to delivering an excellent colleague experience. You'll enjoy solving complex problems, navigating sensitive situations and balancing the needs of colleagues with operational efficiency, compliance and risk. You’ll naturally look for opportunities to improve how work is done, looking beyond the immediate problem to understand what could work better, embracing new technology and helping turn ideas into practical, sustainable improvements. You’ll build strong relationships across the People team, sharing specialist knowledge, coaching others and helping to embed consistent, high‑quality ways of working. Calm, curious and pragmatic, you’ll be motivated by delivering an excellent service today while helping to shape even better services for tomorrow.

Critical skills

• Systems thinking
• Improvement mindset
• Digital effectiveness (including AI)
• Nurture relationships
• Team working

Additional information

Additional information: Question 1 – Describe a time when you resolved a complex or sensitive operational issue that required sound judgement and specialist expertise. Question 2 – Tell us about a time when you improved a People service, process or operational activity, making it more effective, consistent or reliable.

Closing Date November26,2026

About Baillie Gifford

At Baillie Gifford, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful culture in which each of our colleagues can thrive and develop. We believe that our clients are best served by a diverse workforce with the experiences, ideas and perspectives that this brings. Baillie Gifford is an independent, private partnership, which allows us to focus entirely on our clients and their investments. It helps our stability, motivation and culture and enables us to take a long‑term view on all that we do, including staff development, client relationships and investing. And just like with our investments, we’re good at spotting potential in our employees. Join us and we’ll actively support you to explore the possibilities of your career and interests. We’ll give you on‑going training and development, all to ensure you have valuable opportunities to grow your unique talents and pursue your goals. We’re also incredibly committed to the wellbeing of our employees. This is just a taste of our culture. One that was created by the partners who own and will work with you everyday in the firm. People who are always on hand to hear your ideas and suggestions of how to make Baillie Gifford an even better place to be. So, if this sounds like somewhere you could realise your full potential, then our next investment could be you.