Senior PX Business Partner (10 month FTC)

Sony Music; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading music company is seeking a Senior People eXperience Business Partner for a 10-month fixed-term contract in London. This role involves partnership with client groups, driving HR operations, and enhancing the employee experience through innovative initiatives. Candidates must have extensive HR experience, strong communication skills, and a solid understanding of UK employment law. Key responsibilities include coaching, managing payroll, and collaborating on people strategies, offering a dynamic opportunity to contribute to organizational success.

Benefits

Private medical cover

Generous pension scheme

Life assurance

Income protection

Time off over winter break

Qualifications

• Broad knowledge of human resources including talent management and employee relations.
• Significant prior experience in business partnering / HR roles in creative industries.
• Understanding of UK employment law and IR35 regulations.

Responsibilities

• Build strong relationships with client leaders and provide coaching on people issues.
• Support exceptional HR operations including onboarding and payroll.
• Drive high performance and resolve employee relations issues.

Skills

Human resources knowledge

Change management

Outstanding communication skills

Collaboration

Attention to detail

Tools

HRIS systems

Job description

Senior PX Business Partner (10 month FTC)

UK & Ireland, United Kingdom, London

As a Senior People eXperience (PX) Business Partner at Sony Music UK, you will partner a range of client groups and senior leaders; coaching and supporting them and their people, to do great things. Drive innovative initiatives and projects that push boundaries and enhance Sony Music’s culture, employee experience and business success.

People eXperience (PX) is Sony Music's global HR department.

This is a fixed term contract starting in April 2026 and completing at the end of January 2027.

What you'll do:

Business Partnering

• Build strong, collaborative relationships with leaders of your client groups; providing best practice advice and coaching on all people issues.
• Build understanding of the business goals and needs and work with People Leaders to ensure people plans support these goals.
• Meet regularly with key stakeholders to ensure that you are proactively spotting, diagnosing and troubleshooting people and organisational challenges.
• Collaborate and support organisational design activities in your client groups that help solve business challenges and enhance our offering.

PX Operations

• Coach and mentor PX Advisor and Analyst in delivering exceptional PX operations and support their development through feedback and knowledge sharing.
• Oversee and support exceptional HR operations in your client groups; ensuring accurate administration and employee experience of onboarding and offboarding processes. Signing off contracts and leaver agreements.
• Guide PX Advisor in overseeing both the probation process for new starters and administering and supporting parents taking parental leave.
• Oversee accurate processing of the monthly payroll, for changes in your client groups.
• Drive projects to optimize and innovate PX operations, that enhance the employee experience.

Employee Relations

• Drive high performance in client groups, through coaching managers to resolve performance issues, have effective performance conversations and develop their teams capabilities.
• Resolve ER issues in client groups using informal and formal routes and mediation where needed.
• Support and guide PX Advisor to ensure effective management of all people processes including flexible working requests, parents leave, absence management, leaver and joiner experiences.
• Collaborate with PX Analyst to investigate people data insights and drive strategic data-led initiatives in your client groups, to address identified trends.

Team Planning and Resourcing

• Oversee talent mapping and planning for your client groups; driving innovative strategies for structuring teams and enhancing skills and capabilities.
• Support the Talent Acquisition team in taking and challenging briefs for new roles. Join interview processes where needed.
• Perform benchmarking for new hires, request approvals and complete new hire requisition forms.
• Review requests for freelance resource and guide in approval process.
• Manage drafting and negotiations of contracts for senior employees.

Reward

• Oversee PX Coordinators completion of monthly payroll, capturing all monthly changes accurately and to deadlines.
• Perform monthly review of budget and headcount for each department, with finance team, to ensure people changes and future team plans are accounted for.
• Partner Head of Reward on benchmarking activities.
• Collaborate with business leaders on recommendations for pay increases and bonuses, driving equitable proposals.
• Oversee accurate processing and communication of approved pay increases and bonuses following the annual salary review process.

Drive Change

• Identify business needs and trends to feed into L&D planning.
• Collaborate with Learning team to design and deliver learning that addresses these needs.
• Drive attendance and connection with programmes – through regular updates and promotion to team leaders.
• Connect with delegates of L&D programmes to gather feedback and develop future programmes.
• Collaborative with global SME PX team to drive innovations and share learnings.
• Support implementation of new systems as required.

Who you are:

• You have a broad knowledge of human resources and the ability to drive best practices (including talent management, compensation practices, organisational design, employee relations, and performance management) typically gained through years of experience in a business partner human resources role.
• Significant prior experience of business partnering / HR roles in the creative industries.
• Proven experience in delivering strategic project work and initiatives, alongside day-to-day business partnering.
• Understanding of IR35 regulations and freelancer management.
• You have prior experience in change management.
• Strong understanding of UK employment law and application of it.
• Proven success in a role that required outstanding communication skills with the ability to document, support, communicate, and present recommendations and conclusions in accessible and approachable ways.
• Proven experience in a role that required strict confidentiality, outstanding organisational skills, and ability to maintain composure and effectiveness in stressful situations.
• Strong HR System experience utilising HRIS and compensation systems.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Collaborative and proactive approach to driving change.

What we give you:

• You join a vibrant global community with the opportunity to channel your passion every day.
• A modern office environment designed for you, empowering you to bring your best.
• Investment in your professional growth and development enabling you to thrive in our vibrant community.
• The space to accelerate progress, positively disrupt and create what happens next.
• We give you the platform to champion positive change, with the opportunity to contribute to our social impact, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
• We provide an excellent range of benefits like private medical cover, a generous pension scheme, life assurance, income protection, plus loads of music industry perks. There’s also time off over winter break.

Equal Opportunity and Diversity

As an active part of a culturally and socially diverse society, Sony Music’s aim is that our workforce is diverse and inclusive. Sony Music is an equal opportunity employer and supports workforce diversity.

We employ, retain, promote and otherwise treat all employees and job applicants according to their merit, qualifications, competence and talent. We apply this policy without regard to any individual’s sex, race, religion, origin, age, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition or disability.

Please note that applicants must be at least 18 years of age.