HR Business Partner
Oxfordshire - Hybrid (3 days per week in the office)
We’re looking for an HR Business Partner to act as a trusted advisor to Managers and VPs, supporting the full employee lifecycle and helping drive a high-performance culture. You’ll partner closely with business leaders, Centres of Expertise, and the wider HR team to deliver both strategic and operational HR solutions, aligned to business and global HR priorities.
Who we are
Oxford Nanopore has developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology for faster, information-rich, accessible and affordable molecular analysis. The technology is used to understand and characterise the biology of humans, animals, plants, bacteria, viruses, and diseases such as cancer. By enabling biological insights, we strive to improve life on Earth and beyond.
Responsibilities
- Shape and deliver HR strategy for your business units, aligned to global HR & talent priorities
- Provide proactive, customer-focused HR support and expert coaching to stakeholders up to senior leadership
- Deliver full-service HR support across the entire employee lifecycle
- Champion company values through policies, programmes, and day-to-day interactions
- Lead on employee relations matters including investigations, disciplinaries, grievances, and mediation
- Resolve complex ER issues with sound judgment, consistency, and compliance
- Support headcount planning and recruitment in partnership with Hiring Managers and RPO
- Coordinate immigration casework where applicable
- Ensure effective onboarding and integration of new hires
- Partner with Centres of Expertise on organisational effectiveness, talent, performance, and reward
- Drive data-informed HR decisions through audits, reporting, and insights
- Maintain accurate employee records, including contractual changes and lifecycle updates
- Identify and mitigate risks, escalating where appropriate
- Promote HR best practice in line with company policy and employment law
- Act as interface with Works Council representatives (where applicable)
- Lead or contribute to HR projects and continuous improvement initiatives
Qualifications
- CIPD Level 5 or Degree (or equivalent) in HR or relevant field
Experience
- Strong HR business partnering experience across complex environments
- End-to-end HR lifecycle expertise (including ER, recruitment, reward, payroll, L&D, OD)
- Experience supporting senior stakeholders
- Experience working in manufacturing and production environments.
Skills & knowledge
- Strong knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice
- Excellent communication and influencing skills
- Ability to work at pace, prioritise, and deliver results
- Data-driven, analytical mindset
- Proficient in Microsoft Office and HR systems (e.g. Oracle)
Please note that no terminology in this advert is intended to discriminate on the grounds of a person's gender, marital status, race, religion, colour, age, disability or sexual orientation. Every candidate will be assessed solely on their merits, qualifications, and ability to perform the duties of the job.
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About UsOxford Nanopore Technologies: Our goal is to bring the widest benefits to society through enabling the analysis of anything, by anyone, anywhere. The company has developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology for faster, information rich, accessible and affordable molecular analysis. The first application is DNA/RNA sequencing, and the technology is in development for the analysis of other types of molecules including proteins. The technology is used to understand and characterise the biology of humans and diseases such as cancer, plants, animals, bacteria, viruses, and whole environments. With a thriving culture of ambition and strong innovation goals, Oxford Nanopore is a UK headquartered company with global operations and customers in more than 125 countries.
Skills Required
- CIPD Level 5 or a degree or equivalent qualification in HR or a relevant field
- Strong HR business partnering experience in complex environments
- End-to-end HR lifecycle experience, including employee relations, recruitment, reward, payroll, learning and development, and organisational development
- Experience supporting senior stakeholders
- Experience working in manufacturing and production environments
- Strong knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice
- Excellent communication and influencing skills
- Ability to work at pace, prioritise, and deliver results
- Data-driven and analytical mindset
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office and HR systems such as Oracle
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Oxford Nanopore Technologies and has not been reviewed or approved by Oxford Nanopore Technologies.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered good to above average across many roles, with employer-provided ranges visible for several U.S. commercial and applications positions and company materials emphasizing market‑competitive base pay. Commercial and some senior technical posts, particularly in the U.S., are positioned as competitive and often paired with strong variable components.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — All‑employee share plans in the UK and a U.S. employee stock purchase plan indicate broad access to equity as part of total reward. Company communications highlight attractive bonus and share plans that add meaningful upside beyond base pay.
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Healthcare Strength — U.S. roles indicate strong health insurance and core protections, while official materials and country overviews reference private medical coverage and wellbeing support. These elements position the health package as a notable strength alongside cash compensation.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Insights
What We Do
Our goal is to enable the analysis of anything, anywhere, by anyone. We have developed the world’s first and only nanopore DNA and RNA sequencing platform. It’s a new generation of sequencing technology — the only one to offer: scalability to portable or ultra-high throughput formats, real-time data delivery, and the ability to elucidate rich biological data. We are aiming to disrupt the way that biological analyses are currently performed, and open up new applications that have a profound, positive impact on society. Our devices offer real-time analysis, for rapid insights, in fully scalable formats — from pocket to population scale — and the technology is being used in more than 100 countries worldwide. Founded in 2005 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford, the company now employs more than 600 people from multiple disciplines including nanopore science, molecular biology and applications, informatics, engineering, electronics, manufacturing and commercialisation. The management team, led by CEO Dr Gordon Sanghera, has a track record of delivering disruptive technologies to the market.
