Senior People Business Partner

NHS; Kettering; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in the UK is seeking a Senior People Business Partner to provide strategic and operational leadership within care pathways. The role requires significant senior HR leadership experience, particularly in unionised environments, and offers flexible working options. Candidates must have a CIPD qualification and a proven track record in change management and employee relations.

Benefits

Flexible working practices

Agile working

Learning and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Significant experience in a unionised environment.
• Proven track record of managing complex employee relations.
• Experience with employment tribunals.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational people leadership.
• Lead change management programmes.
• Ensure best practice people management.

Skills

Senior HR leadership experience

Change management

Conflict management

Effective communication skills

Education

Masters degree or equivalent experience

CIPD qualification

Job description

Overview

Are you an experienced senior people leader looking for a new challenge? We are pleased to be recruiting a Senior People Business Partner to support our care pathways, with a focus on developing our people practices.

Operating as an integral and embedded member of the care pathway team, the Senior HR Business Partner is responsible for the provision of high quality strategic and operational People leadership to ensure best practice people management within their areas of responsibility, across the wider HR function and across the Trust. The post holder will have responsibility for leading a programme for change designed to deliver culture change and will also be designated strategic lead on initiatives and programmes for their allocated care pathway.

Responsibilities

This role will be a highly visible, inclusive and collaborative leader, ensuring delivery of the Trust's mission of "We make a difference together". They will provide people advice in all matters relating to the service within the assigned Care Delivery Pathways (CDP).

We are looking for candidates who have significant and successful senior HR leadership experience in a complex unionised environment subsequent to obtaining CIPD qualification. Candidates must have recent experience at a senior level in the NHS or relevant environment with proven track record of change management and have the ability to balance a multi-faceted workload with competing demands.

About us

NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools. We also provide health services to various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

NHFT promotes a culture of learning to improve the care and safety of our patients and staff, which focuses on people who enable our Trust to be 'outstanding' by supporting opportunity, innovation, development and growth.

NHFT actively encourages a strong balance between work and home life and supports staff with flexible and agile working practices to ensure staff can create a balance that is right for them. Agile working is promoted within this role, with systems to enable home-working in place and flexible working practices encouraged. The HR team are based at St Mary's Hospital, though are working remotely from home now using video conferencing, and all appropriate technology in order to fulfil the role requirements.

Details

Date posted: 29 October 2025

Pay scheme: Agenda for change

Band: Band 8a

Salary: £55,690 to £62,682 a year pa pro rata (Subject to Banding Outcome)

Contract: Permanent

Working pattern: Part-time, Flexible working

Reference number: 270-TG387-CORP-A

Job locations: St Mary's Hospital, Kettering, NN15 7PW

Job responsibilities

For further information on the advertised role, please refer to the job description located under the Supporting Documents heading. The full person specification can be accessed under the About You Section of the document.

Person Specification

• Educated to masters degree level with equivalent experience or competencies, including ongoing CPD
• Graduate CIPD
• Significant and successful senior HR leadership experience in a unionised environment
• Experience of managing complex employee relations issues and leading on employment tribunals
• NHS leadership experience with people management responsibilities
• Able to demonstrate positive leadership qualities as part of an empowered team
• Proven track record of change management
• Effective communications skills (including conflict management, influencing, negotiation)

Other requirements

Disclosure and Barring Service Check: This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration: Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer: Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust

Address: St Mary\'s Hospital, Kettering, NN15 7PW

Employer's website: https://www.nhft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)