Salary: Up to £38,000 per annum
Location: Stratford, London (hybrid – minimum of 3 days per week in the office)
Working hours: Monday to Friday 35 hours per week
About Us
We’re Populo Living Group — Newham’s housing delivery company. We're growing rapidly, having already built nearly 1,000 homes, with thousands more in the pipeline. We currently manage over 500 private homes and more than 250 affordable homes through Populo Homes, our registered provider subsidiary.
Our developments range from small infill projects to major regeneration schemes, including the transformation of the iconic Carpenters Estate in Stratford — one of the UK’s most ambitious and exciting regeneration projects. We are committed to delivering high-quality homes for Newham residents, with a strong focus on affordability, sustainability, and community.
The Role:
As HR Officer, you will play a vital role in supporting the full employee lifecycle – from recruitment and onboarding through to employee development and offboarding. You will be responsible for ensuring the smooth running of day-to-day HR operations, maintaining compliance, and contributing to a positive, inclusive workplace culture.
Working closely with managers and employees across the business, you’ll provide practical HR support, embed good practices, and use HR data and insights to drive improvements. This is a hands-on, varied role in a small, collaborative HR team.
We’re looking for someone flexible, organised, detail-oriented, and confident managing a busy and varied workload. You will bring broad HR experience – particularly in recruitment and onboarding – along with excellent communication and administrative skills.
Key Responsibilities:
Recruitment & Onboarding
* Lead the day-to-day coordination of recruitment activity, partnering with hiring managers to ensure a smooth and efficient process.
* Manage end-to-end recruitment: drafting job adverts, scheduling interviews, liaising with candidates, issuing offers, and conducting pre-employment checks.
* Ensure all compliance and right-to-work checks are completed in a timely manner.
* Coordinate with IT to ensure all equipment and access is ready for new starters.
* Lead on staff onboarding and induction, ensuring a positive and consistent experience.
* Work with managers to ensure probation reviews are completed effectively and on time.
Employee Relations & Manager Support:
* Serve as the first point of contact for day-to-day HR queries and employee relations matters.
* Provide timely, clear and practical advice on HR policies and procedures.
* Support and attend formal meetings as needed, drafting appropriate documentation and taking meeting notes.
* Maintain accurate and confidential records of employee relations cases.
* Build trusted relationships with managers, supporting fair and consistent people management.
Learning & Development:
* Administer the e-learning platform, monitoring compliance and flagging non-completions.
* Support the coordination of internal and external training sessions and development initiatives.
HR Operations & Systems:
* Provide high-quality administrative support across the employee lifecycle, including changes to terms, contract variations, and leaver processes.
* Maintain accurate employee records via the HRIS (CharlieHR).
* Process monthly payroll changes and support the HR Manager in working with Finance to ensure accurate submissions.
* Administer key HR systems including HRIS, recruitment platforms, e-learning, and vetting records.
General Office Support:
* Monitor and manage office supplies and equipment.
* Act as the primary contact for the office cleaner and site manager.
Person Specification
Knowledge & Understanding:
* Solid understanding of the HR needs of a small to medium-sized organisation.
* In-depth knowledge of the full employee lifecycle and how to support it through effective HR practices.
* Strong experience in end-to-end recruitment and onboarding processes.
* Working knowledge of UK employment law and its practical application.
* Familiarity with HR Information Systems (HRIS) and their role in supporting effective HR delivery.
* Awareness of payroll and pension processes and how to support them with accurate HR data.
Experience:
* Proven HR generalist experience in a fast-paced environment.
* Demonstrated experience managing recruitment from advertising through to onboarding.
* Experience advising on first-stage employee relations issues.
* Experience working with Finance teams to support payroll processing.
* Experience coordinating or organising training and development activities.
* Comfortable supporting sensitive meetings and maintaining confidentiality.
Skills & Abilities:
* Excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to adapt for different audiences.
* Highly organised with strong attention to detail.
* Strong IT skills, including MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, SharePoint).
* Able to manage confidential information with professionalism and discretion.
* Comfortable juggling multiple tasks and working to deadlines.
Personal Attributes:
* Self-motivated and proactive, with a strong sense of initiative.
* Collaborative and approachable, building strong relationships at all levels.
* Resilient and pragmatic, able to remain calm and professional under pressure.
* Acts with integrity and leads by example, promoting fairness and inclusion.
We offer:
* 30 days holiday per annum (not including public holidays);
* Employer pension contribution (up to max. employer contribution of 10%, assuming employee’s pension contribution of 5%);
* 4 x salary cover for death in service;
* Income protection in case of long-term health issues preventing work (including an employee assistance / support package);
* 24/7 virtual private GP;
* £1,000 per annum on training and development courses;
* Hybrid working with minimum of 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home.
* Cycle work scheme.
* Pink salary car sacrifice scheme.
* Interest free season ticket loan.
* Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).