People Operations Team Lead

Who are we

Founded in 1896, Knight Frank was registered as Knight Frank LLP a Limited Liability Partnership, on 3 November 2003, registered in England & Wales at 55 Baker Street, London, W1U 8AN with the registered number of OC305934. Headquartered in London, UK, Knight Frank is one of the world's leading independent real estate consultancies. We work responsibly in partnership to enhance people's lives and environments in over 50 Markets, 600+ Offices, 20,000+ People, 1 Global Network.

At the heart of all we do are our Clients. A relationship built on trust is vital. As trusted partners in property, we act with integrity and care, understanding our clients’ unique needs and consistently thinking about the bigger picture to provide personalised, clear and considered advice across all areas of property. Through our deep understanding of key markets and sectors – both emerging and established – we are dedicated to meeting and exceeding their property goals.

A true partnership is a balanced one, and our People are passionate about, and committed to, making our business inclusive and diverse. We give every individual the space and opportunity to perform at their best and be recognised for the immense value they bring. We empower everyone to have autonomy in their role and encourage them to use their voice in how we can make a positive impact as a firm and shape the future of real estate, the built environment and the impact on the communities we serve. Our collaborative and engaged teams provide excellent and dedicated client service. In our workplace, opinions are respected, everyone is invited to contribute to the success of our business and innovation, and new ideas are celebrated.

In 2021 we celebrated our 125th anniversary and set out Our Desired Future, cemented in three pillars: People Potential, Client Centricity and always Creating our Future, together. Learn more about what sets us apart here.

About The Role

Knight Frank are looking to hire a People Operations Team Lead to join their Head Office in Baker Street.

Role:

The human element in the property world is all too easily overlooked. This is why Knight Frank believes in building long-term relationships with both clients and staff. This enables us to provide clear, considered and personalised advice on all areas of property, whether commercial or residential.

Established in 1896, Knight Frank is a global network of 18,170 people in 523 offices across 60 territories. We’ve built an internationally connected, diverse organisation on a work ethos of collaboration, teamwork, leadership and adaptability. We have created a workplace where opinions are respected, everyone is invited to contribute, and excellence is rewarded. As a result, our people are highly motivated. We want your experience of working with us to be the best that it can be.

We understand that the only way we will continue to thrive is through the commitment and passion of our people and their tireless delivery of excellent client service. That’s why investing in our people is as important to us as investing in our clients. That’s what makes Knight Frank different – the difference is our people.

At Knight Frank we’re on a journey to transform our People function. Our vision is clear and supported by an actionable strategy, to truly enhance our people’s lives and environments through the creation of a high-performance people experience.

In People Operations, we have a vital role to play in building a strong, trusted foundation, as a key enabler for our wider strategy. We’ve recently deployed Workday – a leading People platform which is full of potential and which will enable our people to unlock theirs. We’re early in our journey, and on a mission to realise a future where we’re enabled by technology and powered by data; where we have simple, intuitive, employee-centric people processes, which adopt best practice and are automated wherever possible.

We’re searching for a talented and experienced People Operations Team Lead to join us on our journey. Based at our London Head Office, with dynamic (hybrid) working, you’ll oversee the day-to-day running of the People Operations department. You’ll inspire and engage our People Operations Team – managing performance, supporting development and setting a high bar around standards, quality, consistency and compliance.

You’ll build and maintain a detailed understanding of our policies, processes, systems and ways of working – monitoring and regularly reviewing with employee experience in mind, to drive continuous improvement. You’ll also support with projects and change work, particularly around stabilising, optimising and evolving our processes, ways of working and Workday setup over time.

Responsibilities:

• Oversee the day-to-day running of the People Operations department.

• Inspire and engage the People Operations team – monitoring and managing performance, building capability and supporting both team and individual development.

• Build and maintain an expert knowledge and understanding of our People Operations policies, processes, systems and ways of working.

• Provide front-line advisory and transactional support for people related matters. Take on the role of subject matter expert on our people policies and processes for the UK business.

• Coordinate the triage and escalation of people queries across the People function and beyond e.g. Payroll and Pensions, to deliver a seamless and efficient service to the business.

• Ensure that routine processes are achievable, compliant, employee-centric and delivered consistently in line with agreed SLAs.

• Facilitate cross-functional joiner, mover and leaver processes, ensuring processes are actioned in a timely manner and coordinated across TA, HR Ops, Payroll, Benefits, Tech and Facilities teams to ensure a smooth experience for employees and managers.

• Become the subject matter expert on absence management – including policies and processes for all absence types.

• Identify process inefficiencies and ways of working that require improvement.

• Ensure the transactional workload is distributed and prioritised effectively across the team.

• Ensure the quality of our people data is maintained, and improved where necessary.

• Act as a point of escalation for complex and non-routine matters, as well as those deemed sensitive, urgent and / or of critical importance.

• Establish and maintain appropriate QA processes.

• Support with change and transformation activity and / or project work as required.

• Provide transactional support and cover for the team at times of peak demand or reduced capacity.

• Collaborate with the People Analytics team to review and manage requests from across the Firm for ad hoc and routine reporting from Workday.

• Partner with the HRBP team on projects as required.

Key Experience Required:

• Significant, demonstrable experience in People Operations, gained in a volume, transactional environment.

• Demonstrable knowledge of best practice across People Operations

• Proven experience in managing operational People teams (circa 5 to 10 direct reports)

• Significant experience using HR Information Systems, which must include Workday

• Experience of change and transformation programmes, including the automation, streamlining and systemisation of processes

• Knowledge of case management systems and ways of working

Key Skills Required:

• Effective team management, engagement and delegation skills

• Excellent planning and organisation skills

• Process orientated

• Analytical and experienced working with KPIs and SLAs

• Strong attention to detail

• Collaborative and a strong communicator at all levels

• Strong work ethic, articulate, well-presented and efficient

• Flexibility to ensure key deadlines are met

• Must be able to hit the ground running – a self-starter

Competitive salary

Please note: this is a Direct Search led by Knight Frank. Applications from recruitment agencies will not be accepted nor will fees be paid for unsolicited CVs, even if provided by PSL agencies.