Human Resources Business Partner

Key Responsibilities

• Act as a strategic HR partner to leaders, aligning people strategy with business priorities and long-term firm goals.
• Consult and provide coaching and guidance to leaders on workforce planning, team design, and role clarity.
• Lead workforce planning activities across assigned business areas, anticipating future capability needs, skills gaps, and critical talent risks.
• Drive talent management initiatives including succession planning, internal mobility, and career pathways to support a sustainable talent pipeline.
• Partner with Learning and Development to support leadership development, management capability, and firm-wide skills programs.
• Support leaders in developing high potential employees and shaping development strategies for critical roles and future leaders.
• Take a proactive and rigorous approach to underperformance, ensuring managers identify issues early, set clear expectations, and implement structured support plans.
• Partner with leaders to ensure concerns are documented, addressed consistently, and escalated when required, maintaining strong governance aligned with firm policy while minimizing business risk.
• Oversee complex Employee Relations matters, ensuring outcomes are consistent, fair, and compliant with policy and employment legislation.
• Provide expert judgment on risk mitigation, escalating appropriately and partnering with Legal and specialist HR teams where required.
• Lead or support organizational change initiatives including restructures, team redesigns, integrations, and operating model changes.
• Apply structured change management methods to ensure positive adoption and minimal business disruption.
• Champion an inclusive, high-performance culture, integrating I&D principles into hiring, development, and progression.
• Partner with Recruiting, L&D, Compensation, I&D, and People Services to deliver integrated solutions and a seamless employee experience.
• Use people analytics (turnover, I&D data, performance distribution, engagement feedback) to influence decision-making and shape action plans.
• Partner with leaders to improve engagement, wellbeing, and employee experience using survey insights and feedback loops.
• Build trusted relationships with leaders and stakeholders, ensuring clear, timely communication and high levels of transparency.
• Facilitate effective two-way communication between leadership teams and employees to support culture, clarity, and trust.

Skills & Competencies

• Exceptional ability to build trust with senior leaders and stakeholders across matrixed teams.
• Strong influencing and coaching skills, with the ability to challenge constructively and drive decision-making without formal authority.
• Skilled at identifying capability gaps and shaping development strategies for critical roles and future leaders.
• Demonstrated comfort working with people analytics and translating insights into meaningful actions.
• Clear, concise, and influential written and verbal communication style, with the ability to facilitate difficult conversations and deliver presentations.
• Able to operate effectively in a global, complex, and evolving HR environment.
• Strong commitment to fostering an inclusive, high-performance culture.

Experience & Knowledge

• Previous experience as an HR Business Partner or HR Manager, ideally within legal or professional services.
• Strong understanding of employment legislation and the ability to apply policy and legal principles consistently and practically.
• Demonstrated experience handling complex Employee Relations matters, managing change, and supporting organizational design.