Senior People Manager - Creative / Entertainment Sector

The Partnership Group; Greater London; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading creative agency in London seeks a Senior People Manager to oversee people operations, drive talent development, and manage compliance with UK employment law. The ideal candidate will have strong HR experience in a creative or entertainment environment and will be CIPD qualified. This role requires excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to manage sensitive issues while supporting a culture of continuous development and feedback.

Benefits

Creative working environment

Opportunities to influence business plans

Competitive salary

Qualifications

• Comprehensive HR experience within a creative or entertainment environment.
• Strong knowledge of current UK employment law and People best practices.
• Ability to switch from operational delivery to strategic tasks.

Responsibilities

• Oversee day-to-day people compliance, policy, and practice.
• Lead performance management cycles and career development planning.
• Implement People plan aligned with business objectives.

Skills

HR experience

Excellent interpersonal skills

Knowledge of UK employment law

Ability to manage sensitive issues

Talent development

Education

CIPD qualified or equivalent experience

Job description

Overview

Job Title: Senior People Manager (Relevant industry related experience please)

Location: Soho, London

Reports To: Commercial & Operations Director

Contract Type: Full-Time / Permanent (Min. 4 Days in Office)

About Us

The Partnership Group brings together leading talent, literary and below-the-line agencies, covering every aspect of the entertainment industry, as well as TV/film development and production services, live events, and podcasts. Our network of companies include; The Artists Partnership, Sayle Screen, Sara Putt Associates, Henneman Agency, The Development Partnership, Seventh Live Events and Unlocked Podcasts.

Our high-performing teams are commitment to delivering the highest quality service to our clients and partners. We pride ourselves on nurturing talent and building a strong and supportive culture for everyone to thrive. As we continue to grow, we're looking for an exceptional Senior Manager to drive the people agenda, demonstrating a people centric and commercial mind set to support the next chapter of our journey.

Role Overview

As the Senior People Manager, you will ensure the day-to-day people administration activities are flawlessly delivered. In addition, you will be responsible for executing our People Plan across the business. This important role combines operational people excellence with strategic vision of what makes a workplace thrive. You will work closely with the Senior Leadership Team to build a culture of continuous development and feedback.

Key Responsibilities

People Operations

• Oversee all day-to-day aspects of People compliance, policy, and practice—including contracts, records, onboarding, and offboarding.
• Be proactive and anticipate change around UK employment law and legislation and communicate to management.
• Trusted to manage complex and difficult employee relations cases with empathy, discretion, and professionalism.
• Work with finance/payroll teams to ensure timely and accurate pay and benefits administration.

Talent Management & Development

• Lead performance management cycles, career development planning, and succession initiatives.
• Identify training needs and skills gaps and deliver relevant learning and development initiatives.
• Actively support managers in coaching conversations, feedback frameworks, and team development.

People Plan & Culture

• Implementing an approved People plan aligned with the business’ objectives and values.
• Act as a key advisor to management on organisational design, change management, and people planning.

Recruitment & Onboarding

• Responsible of sourcing the best talent and supporting the recruitment process.
• Design and manage onboarding experiences that support fast integration and long-term engagement.

Wellbeing

• Support the senior leadership team to build a healthy and motivated team by providing tools and training to spot early signs of burnout and manage workload conversations promptly.
• Source and manage our core wellbeing provision (e.g. EAPs) and coordinate specialist support with training or external providers where needed.
• Deliver a small number of high-impact wellbeing actions each year to support holistic stress management, work-life balance, and financial wellbeing awareness.

Person Specification

Essential

• Comprehensive HR experience, ideally within a creative, media, or entertainment environment.
• Ability to switch from day -to -day operational delivery to strategic tasks
• CIPD-qualified or equivalent experience.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; able to build trust with stakeholders at all levels.
• Strong knowledge of current UK employment law and People best practice.
• Confidently manage sensitive and difficult issues with discretion, professionalism, and nuance.
• Forward thinking, passionate and the ability to work at pace.

Desirable

• Experience in small-to-medium-sized businesses where you’ve built or significantly shaped HR functions.
• Knowledge of working with agents, creatives, or freelancers.
• Passion for talent development and supporting people in high-performance roles.

What We Offer

• A creative and collaborative working environment
• Opportunities to help shape and influence business and people plan
• Competitive salary