Senior HR Business Partner (UK) - Product R&D (PI) Team

Job Title: Senior HR Business Partner (UK) – Product R&D (PI) Team

Department: EU HR

Location: Keynsham, UK

Reporting to: EU HRD

Scope: UK Product R&D team (PI/R&D-related functions), working closely with EU/HQ

stakeholders

Working Language: English (mandatory)

Mission

As the HRBP for the UK R&D organisation, you will be responsible for building and

strengthening the UK local HR operations and compensation & benefits (C&B) capability,

partnering with business leaders to drive organisation and talent outcomes, and owning

hiring delivery for critical R&D roles. Through data-driven and mechanism-based

approaches, you will improve delivery and collaboration, reduce employee relations and

compliance risks, and support stable business growth.

Key Responsibilities

1) UK Local HR Operations + Compensation & Benefits (C&B) (Must-have)

• Strong hands-on knowledge of UK local C&B and employment practices: able to

independently work with payroll/benefits providers and manage payroll execution,

payroll changes, pension (auto-enrolment), sick pay (SSP and any enhanced sick

pay if applicable), holidays and leave rules and operations

• Establish and improve the minimum viable UK local policies and governance

framework (policy definitions, approval paths, exception handling and

documentation) to reduce case-by-case negotiation and repeated disputes

• Align with Finance/Legal on benefits costs, contract term impacts and employment

risks to ensure controllable and compliant operations

2) Understanding of R&D Organisation & Business Partnering (Able to “Speak R&D”)

• Understand the product R&D delivery lifecycle (requirements/planning → design →

development → testing → release → iteration) and common R&D roles and ways of

working (PM/PO/Dev/QA/Tech Lead/Architect, etc.)

• Able to have business-level discussions with R&D leaders on organisation structure,

capability gaps, productivity, delivery cadence, risks and countermeasures

• Support workforce planning for the R&D team: critical role prioritisation, headcount

pacing, capability gaps and hiring strategy (aligned with EU HRD)

3) Hiring Delivery (R&D Hiring Delivery)

• Own hiring delivery for critical R&D roles: role scoping/capability alignment, sourcing

strategy (referrals/agency/direct), funnel management and execution cadence

• Drive interviewer calibration and interview quality (scorecards, feedback SLAs,

decision mechanisms) to reduce delays and mis-hires

• Participate in key interviews and provide input on leveling/compensation

recommendations (aligned with EU HRD/Finance), and drive offer issuance and

acceptance

• Ensure pre-boarding readiness (notice period tracking, onboarding materials,

onboarding plan) and post-joining probation objectives setup and follow-through

4) Performance & Talent Management

• Drive probation objective setting and reviews, performance goal setting,

performance reviews and calibration to ensure compliance and usable outcomes

• Lead talent reviews, retention plans, succession and development plans, and ensure

performance outcomes are applied (development/rewards/improvement/PIP/exits)

5) Employee Relations & Compliance (ER & Compliance)

• Independently manage complex ER cases for the UK R&D team, including

disciplinary/grievance, long-term sickness management, performance

improvement (PIP), non-renewal/termination, etc.

• Partner with external counsel to ensure documentation, evidence and processes are

legally compliant and executable; control dispute risks

6) People Analytics & HR Systems (People Analytics & HRIS)

• Build basic people dashboards for the R&D team (hiring funnel, attrition,

performance distribution, ER risk, etc.) to support leadership decision-making

• Participate in HRIS rollout and process digitisation to improve data accuracy,

compliance traceability and operational efficiency

7) Cross-functional / Cross-regional Collaboration Support

• Support the rollout of collaboration mechanisms for key projects: working

agreements, RACI/escalation paths, retrospectives, etc.

• Act as a neutral facilitator to drive conflict convergence and faster decision-making

(not making business decisions on behalf of leaders, but ensuring mechanisms run

effectively)

Requirements (Must-have)

• 6–10+ years of HRBP / HR Generalist experience, with hands-on UK local HR

operations and C&B implementation experience (able to independently manage

payroll/benefits/pension/sick pay topics)

• Experience supporting product/R&D/engineering/technical teams; understand R&D

organisation and delivery ways of working; able to engage deeply with R&D leaders

and provide actionable solutions

• Proven hiring delivery capability: able to manage R&D hiring funnel, drive

interviewer decisions, and support leveling and offer closure

• Strong ER capability: able to independently handle complex scenarios such as

disciplinary/grievance/sickness/PIP/termination

• Strong influencing and communication skills: able to drive leader decisions and

execution using “facts + options + impact”

• Strong project management and cross-functional collaboration capability

• Strong data mindset: able to use metrics to drive management and retrospectives

• Fluent English (written and spoken)

Nice to have

• Experience building UK local HR policy foundation from 0 to 1

• Vendor management experience (payroll, benefits, legal counsel, recruitment

suppliers)

• HRIS implementation / process digitisation experience

• Experience working with agencies, building talent pipelines, and driving employer

branding