Overview
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is seeking an HR Manager who contributes to the development and leads on the delivery of the Society’s People strategy. You will be the operational lead for the development of HR frameworks and systems that promote best practice in recruitment, retention and performance management of staff while managing associated risks to the organisation. Day to day you will provide a collaborative and forward-thinking human resource service to employees and managers across the full range of HR activities, ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and organisational policies and procedures. The role reports to the Head of Business Services and is supported with recruitment and other HR projects by the HR and Operations Officer on a part-time basis.
Location: Office based, central Edinburgh
Start date: As soon as possible
Closing date: 10:00 on Tuesday 14 April 2026
Interview date: w/c 27 April 2026
Note: Normal working hours are 35 hours a week, with some flexibility during the festival period.
Role and responsibilities
Your duties include but are not limited to:
* supporting and coaching managers and the Senior Management team by providing information and advice on a broad range of human resources matters
* supporting employees by providing information and assistance throughout the employment life cycle
* leading on the development and implementation and review of HR related organisational policies and procedures
* assisting managers with handling all aspects of absence including recording and monitoring absence, sickness, maternity and paternity leave, annual leave, and unpaid leave
* assisting managers with handling disciplinary, grievance, performance and any other similar employee issues
* maintaining accurate employee paper and electronic records and ensuring confidentiality in accordance with GDPR legislation
* keeping up to date with relevant employment legislation and ensuring Society policies, procedures and training are up to date and communicated to employees
* managing the learning and development, HR and recruitment budgets
* acting as the first point of contact for all HR enquiries
* leading the organisational strategy on employee engagement, enabling employee voice, and using existing software to regularly survey staff and provide insight to Senior Managers on themes and provide people-focused solutions
* leading the development of the culture transformation of the Society, including shaping the ongoing structure and delivery of this work
* line managing the Executive Assistant, providing day-to-day support, guidance and development
* design and delivery of the learning and development strategy and collaborating with managers to develop training and development plans to meet future business needs
* managing all aspects of the Society’s recruitment, including onboarding and training of the additional 100-120 staff members in preparation for the festival
* working closely with the Finance team to ensure all information is processed for weekly and monthly payroll
* any other duties as reasonably requested by the Head of Business Services
Person specification
Essential
* Demonstrable experience in a HR generalist role
* Experience of developing and implementing HR policies and developing and installing efficient and effective HR systems and procedures
* Demonstrable experience of offering high quality advice and support to a Senior Management team
* Experience of managing recruitment campaigns
* Approachable with effective interpersonal, influencing and negotiation skills and can effectively promote good working relationships at all levels
* Up to date knowledge of employment law and its practical application
* Proven ability to be flexible and adaptable in a continuously evolving environment
* Proven ability to work to tight deadlines responding to challenging priorities
* Experience in delivering HR projects to time and specification
* An ability to identify and resolve problems
* Confidence in handling confidential and sensitive information with discretion and maintaining absolute confidentiality
* Knowledge of GDPR legislation
* Knowledge and competency with Microsoft Office suite including Word, Outlook, Excel and databases
Salary and benefits
The salary for this post is circa £38,000 per annum, plus contribution towards a personal pension. 28 days holiday per year plus six public holidays.
Normal working hours are 35 hours a week, worked from 10:00 to 18:00, Monday to Friday with a one-hour unpaid lunch break. In the run up to and during the festival you may be required to work additional days and hours.
We are a flexible working employer and therefore are happy to discuss flexible working at any stage of the application process. Due to the nature of this role and the festival, we are unable to offer remote working for this position. We can offer varied start and finish times and core hours with flexibility around them, alongside the option of ad hoc remote working when suitable within the needs of the organisation.
Equality and inclusion
We use positive action under section 159 of the Equality Act in relation to disability or race. This means that if we have two candidates of equal merit in our process, we will seek to take forward the D/deaf, disabled, Black, Asian or ethnically diverse candidate in order to diversify our staff team. We are also committed to maintaining the open-access policy of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all sectors of the community. We are also proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and aim to successfully employ and retain disabled people and those with health conditions. We expect employees to support these commitments and to assist in their realisation.
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