Senior HR Officer (Maternity Cover)

Job Title: Senior HR Officer

Team: HR

Reports to: HR Business Partner

Location: Bracknell, Head Office (willingness to travel - UK&I)

Role Overview

As a Senior HR Officer at NEP UK & Ireland, you will deliver a proactive, high-quality HR service across the full employee lifecycle, with a focus on HR advisory, employee relations, manager capability and development initiatives.

You will act as a trusted advisor to line managers, providing practical, risk-aware guidance while ensuring a consistent and compliant approach to people practices. Alongside this, you will take ownership of key HR processes and contribute to a positive employee experience across the organisation.

A key aspect of the role is maintaining a strong, visible HR presence across NEP UK & Ireland. This includes regular face-to-face engagement with teams through visits to regional offices and periodic time on-site at operational locations, building relationships, strengthening commercial understanding and ensuring HR remains closely aligned to business needs.

Key Responsibilities

Employee Lifecycle Ownership

• Take ownership of the end-to-end employee lifecycle, ensuring a seamless and high-quality experience from recruitment through to offboarding
• Oversee onboarding processes to ensure effective integration and engagement of new hires
• Manage probation processes, providing guidance to managers and ensuring timely reviews
• Manage leavers and exit processes

Recruitment & Talent Support

• Own end-to-end recruitment activity, including ClearCompany workflow management, ensuring a consistent and high-quality hiring process
• Partner with hiring managers to define requirements and support effective selection decisions
• Own recruitment performance, actively managing key KPIs including time to hire and process efficiency, in line with NEP’s 2026 focus areas
• Support the HRBP by providing recruitment reporting and workforce metrics, using data to identify trends and opportunities for improvement
• Ensure compliance with right to work requirements and onboarding processes

Policy, Compliance & Data

• Ensure compliance with company policies, procedures and employment legislation, promoting best practice across the business
• Support the implementation, review and communication of HR policies and procedures
• Identify opportunities to improve HR processes, driving efficiency and consistency across the function
• Take ownership of the Employment Hero (EH) system and HERO, ensuring accurate, up-to-date and compliant HR records are maintained across all systems
• Lead the month-end data validation process, carrying out thorough checks within EH and HERO to ensure accuracy of employee data, payroll inputs and reporting outputs
• Take responsibility for the ongoing maintenance and integrity of HR data, including managing updates, audits and system accuracy
• Own the management of holiday balances, ensuring accuracy, resolving discrepancies and supporting managers and employees with queries
• Leverage Visier (data analytics tool) to produce meaningful HR data insights and reporting to support decision-making
• Ensure that individual employee files are accurately maintained

HR Advisory & Employee Relations

• Act as a first-line HR advisor, providing guidance on disciplinary, grievance, absence, performance and family leave matters
• Manage low to medium risk ER cases end-to-end, escalating complex issues to the HRBP where appropriate
• Ensure consistent application of HR policies and employment legislation
• Coach and support line managers to build confidence and capability in people management
• Provide guidance on:
  • Performance management
  • Absence management
  • Team development

Payroll & Benefits

• Ensure all payroll changes are captured, validated and communicated accurately and in line with monthly deadlines
• Develop knowledge and capability in Sage payroll processes, supporting with inputting changes including new starters, freelancers/temporary workers, and contractual updates
• Take ownership of monthly benefits administration processes, including pension contributions and benefit updates (e.g. PMI, dental, life assurance, income protection), ensuring accuracy and timely submission
• Manage benefit enrolments and lifecycle changes, liaising with providers and internal stakeholders (including Finance) to support accurate reporting and reconciliation
• Maintain and regularly update NEP UK & Ireland benefit information on NEP Anywhere, ensuring clear and timely communication of any changes

Training & Development

• Support the design and implementation of learning and development initiatives
• Continue to coordinate training sessions and development programs for employees.
• Monitor and maintain training records and ensure that refresher training is arranged proactively
• Track and report on employee training and development activities.
• Support managers in identifying training opportunities for their teams

Employee Engagement & Culture

• Support engagement initiatives and recognition programmes
• Contribute to building a positive and inclusive workplace culture
• Act as a visible and approachable HR presence across the business

Experience & Qualifications

• Proven experience in an HR generalist or HR Advisor-level role, with increasing ownership of HR processes
• Good experience managing employee relations cases
• Experience supporting and advising line managers on people-related matters
• Exposure to HR systems (e.g. Employment Hero or similar HRIS) and payroll processes
• CIPD Level 5 (or working towards) preferred

Skills, Capabilities & Behaviours

• Strong knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice
• Ability to coach, influence and support managers effectively
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail, particularly with HR data and systems
• Confidence handling sensitive and complex situations with sound judgement
• Developing capability in HR systems, Microsoft tools and data analysis, with an ability to interpret workforce metrics
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills
• Proactive, adaptable and solutions-focused, with a willingness to learn and grow
• High level of professionalism, discretion and accountability
• Ability to work independently while contributing to a collaborative team

What's in it for you?

A great opportunity to step into a more advisory HR role, gaining hands-on experience across the full employee lifecycle and building confidence in supporting managers. You’ll develop your employee relations and coaching skills while working closely with an experienced HR Business Partner within a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

Development & Training:

You’ll benefit from a blend of on-the-job learning and structured development, including hands-on experience managing employee relations cases and supporting managers. You’ll have access to a multitude of learning opportunities via NEP’s internal learning platforms. In addition, you’ll receive ongoing coaching and mentoring from the HR Business Partner, with opportunities to support and deliver in-house training to further build your capability.

More Details:

• Location: Gemini House, Bracknell with requirement to travel to other NEP UK&I sites as needed
• Working Hours: 9am – 5.30pm, Monday – Friday