This is a rare, standalone HR Business Partner opportunity to shape the people agenda of a growing, fast-moving food and drink business with an international footprint.

You will work closely with operational leaders, supporting teams across the UK and overseas as the organisation continues to evolve, scale, and strengthen its culture.

This is not a role for someone who wants to sit behind policy documents, it is a hands on, high-impact generalist position where you will move confidently between strategic people planning and practical day-to-day delivery, helping leaders make better people decisions while ensuring employees feel supported, engaged, and set up to succeed.

If you are an experienced HR professional who enjoys variety, pace, ambiguity, and the opportunity to genuinely influence how a business grows, this could be the next meaningful step in your career.

What you’ll do

As HR Business Partner, you will act as a trusted adviser to managers and employees across the business, providing pragmatic, commercially aware HR support across the full employee lifecycle.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Partnering with senior operational leaders to shape people strategy, support business growth, and drive effective organisational change.

• Providing confident, practical guidance on employee relations, performance, absence, capability, and workplace matters.

• Leading complex employee relations cases from investigation through to resolution, ensuring fair, consistent, and legally compliant outcomes.

• Owning and improving the end-to-end employee experience, including recruitment, onboarding, induction, development, offboarding, and HR records.

• Supporting recruitment and talent acquisition activity, helping hiring managers attract, select, and retain strong people in a competitive food and drink labour market.

• Coordinating HR administration and payroll-related activity, ensuring accurate employee data, documentation, and compliance.

• Ensuring HR policies, practices, and employment documentation meet UK employment law requirements and support consistent standards across sites and teams.

• Working with international colleagues and external employment partners to support a multi-jurisdiction workforce.

• Supporting engagement, wellbeing, and culture initiatives that create a positive, high-performing working environment.

• Identifying opportunities to simplify HR processes, strengthen systems, and improve efficiency across the people function.

• Managing sensitive information with discretion, professionalism, and sound judgement.

What we’re looking for

We are seeking a credible, hands-on HR Business Partner who can balance strategic thinking with operational delivery. You will be comfortable working at pace, building trust quickly, and providing clear advice to leaders at every level.

You will bring:

• Proven experience as an HR Business Partner, HR Manager, or senior HR generalist within food manufacturing, food production, drink production, FMCG, grocery, hospitality, or a comparable fast-paced operational environment.

• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and practical experience managing the full employee lifecycle.

• A track record of handling complex employee relations matters and coaching managers through people-related challenges.

• Experience supporting recruitment and talent acquisition from brief through to onboarding.

• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, influencing, and relationship-building skills.

• The ability to work independently, prioritise effectively, and deliver in an environment where priorities can change quickly.

• Strong attention to detail, particularly across HR administration, employee data, documentation, and compliance.

• Confidence using HR systems and Microsoft Office; experience with HRIS platforms is desirable.

• A collaborative, flexible approach, with the ability to work across locations and time zones.

Experience supporting international teams, multiple sites, or external employment providers would be a strong advantage. A CIPD qualification is desirable but not essential if you can demonstrate equivalent practical experience.

What will make you successful

You will be pragmatic, solutions-focused, and comfortable rolling up your sleeves. You will enjoy being visible across the business, listening well, challenging constructively, and turning people priorities into practical action.

You will bring resilience, sound judgement, and a genuine commitment to creating a great employee experience. Above all, you will understand that strong HR support is not simply about process—it is about enabling leaders, protecting the business, and helping people do their best work.

Why join

This role offers genuine scope to make your mark. You will have the autonomy to shape HR ways of working, the opportunity to partner closely with operational leaders, and the chance to contribute directly to the growth and culture of an evolving food and drink business.

As the organisation grows, so too will the scope and impact of this role—making it an excellent opportunity for a senior HR professional ready for a broader, more entrepreneurial remit.