About the role
Here at DS Smith, we are looking for a highly skilled HR Business Partner who will provide support and expertise to our Corporate functions teams.
Working closely with various corporate function leaders, you will help the team drive and execute people initiatives across the evolving teams. As the successful candidate you will help create, collaborate and drive elements of their People Strategy, as well as manage the day to day HR activities.
Utilising your experience, you will provide support on all aspects of the employee lifecycle; instilling HR functional excellence and continuous improvements within people processes. You will be motivated in supporting the business stakeholders on tactical HR related activities, with a passion for embedding HR best practices. Using your experience, you will provide day to day advice on matters such as reward, talent, performance, change, culture and leadership. You will also be comfortable providing counsel on managing, mediating and facilitating sensitive employee relations matters to resolutions.
As well as the tactical HR responsibilities, you will play a pivotal role in delivering change. Delivering effective change management is a key area to the role, as such this position gives you the ability to work with the leadership teams to add value around , creating a robust corporate functions People Strategy that fosters a great culture.
Excellent collaboration and stakeholder management skills are essential to this position. You will develop trusting and effective working relationships with management, delivering on general HR operational requirements, which is a key deliverable in the role, as well as challenging leaders as a thought partner , coaching and providing advice on organisational effectiveness as well as general HR enquiries. You will also build a strong relationship with DS Smith’s Talent Team, working closely with Talent Acquisition Partners to identify long and short-term resourcing needs, effective resource planning as well as succession and talent development.
This role is an excellent opportunity for a highly skilled HR Business Partner who has partnered large and complex multi-national organisations through periods of transformation.
About you
Experience of operating as a HR Business Partner within corporate functions, preferably during large transformation programmes
CIPD qualified (or equivalent)
Up to date comprehensive knowledge of HR best practice and employment legislation and experience of deploying this in case managementExcellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to engage with all levels of business stakeholders, including exec level from time to time
Comfortable working with Microsoft Tools – particularly Excel and Word and Powerpoint
Experience of working in a complex matrix / multi-national company
Change Management experience would be desirable
Knowledge of Workday is a ‘nice to have’ and /or experience of other comparable HR systems
Benefits
Competitive salary
Company bonus
Pension scheme
Life assurance
Income protection
25 days holiday plus bank holidays
Annual Cycle to Work Scheme
About Us
We are DS Smith, together with International Paper, we are a global leader in sustainable packaging solutions and other fibre-based products. We believe a better, more sustainable tomorrow is possible with the right people, who challenge and support one another to enact positive change. We employ more than 60,000 colleagues in North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), who are experts in innovation, manufacturing, design, sales, sustainability, supply chain, and much more. Together with our customers, we make the world safer and more productive, one sustainable packaging solution at a time. Become part of a world-leading organisation and do your best work with us!
“To fulfil our purpose of redefining packaging for a changing world, we aim to build a diverse, motivated, and engaged workforce. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion where everyone is treated fairly, differences are valued, and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.
Our people come from diverse backgrounds, bring different perspectives, ideas and experiences to generate unique solutions focused on present and future sustainability challenges. We welcome all candidates to apply, even those not meeting all criteria.”
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DS Smith Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about DS Smith and has not been reviewed or approved by DS Smith.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered okay to good across many roles, with some plants indicating competitive or above‑market hourly rates for operators and similar positions. This supports a broadly fair perception of base pay even as experiences vary by site.
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Healthcare Strength — U.S. offerings include day‑one medical/vision and dental, employer HSA contributions, and 100% company‑paid life and short/long‑term disability, alongside an EAP. Some role descriptions also highlight mental‑health and fertility options.
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Retirement Support — Packages commonly reference a 401(k) with company match and, in some locations, pension eligibility or company‑funded retirement contributions. This positions retirement benefits as a meaningful component of total rewards.
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What We Do
DS Smith provides innovative packaging solutions, paper products and recycling services with a commitment to sustainability and a circular economy. Our core purpose is to Redefine Packaging for a Changing World, and our expert teams work closely with like-minded partners to incorporate renewable resources for products that minimize our environmental impact, reduce complexity and increase profitability through supply chain optimization
