Head of HR, UK

The senior HR leader for the London office of an international financial services group, sitting on the UK leadership team. Part of the job is the full HR toolkit: employee relations, organisational change and leadership development. The bigger part is making HR visible and trusted in the office again, and building the UK team around it.The workThis group runs HR globally, with a central service model and the group HR function setting much of the direction. London needs a senior HR leader on the ground: someone the UK leadership team relies on, and someone employees come to with the things they would never type into a ticket. The UK HR team is small today and needs building out. The group is growing through acquisition, so the remit is likely to grow with it.What you'll ownThe UK People Agenda, co-created with local leadership and aligned with group HR priorities. You'll be the trusted advisor to the UK leadership team, and the person who makes HR worth using again.Advise UK leadership on organisational effectiveness, succession, engagement, culture and leadership developmentSet the direction on complex employee relations, conduct and performance matters, sensitive exits, redundancies and settlements, working with Legal when neededLead workforce planning, organisational design and the HR side of restructurings, acquisitions and integrationsPartner with group Reward and Finance on annual compensation decisions and workforce cost planningKeep HR compliant with UK employment law, data protection and internal governance, and oversee audits and HR riskRepresent UK priorities in group HR discussions, and build a strong working relationship with the central HR functionsWhat you'll needJudgement and personality matter as much as the CV here. You know when to challenge, when to hold back and when to de-escalate, and you can keep local leadership and group HR on side at the same time.10+ years in senior HR leadership, HR business partnering or broad generalist HR, in an international, matrixed businessStrong UK employment law and employee relations: you've seen most cases beforeA track record in organisational change, restructuring and senior stakeholder advisoryExperience working alongside a central or outsourced HR service modelFinancial services, banking or another regulated industry is an advantage, as is M&A, integration or reward governance experienceWhat happens nextA screening call with me first. If it's a fit, I'll make the Candidate Submission, then three stages, all in person at the London office: HR leadership, the UK Country Head, then a final sign-off. The client wants to move quickly. I'll share the client name once we've had a confidential conversation.