Vacancy NamePeople Partner Vacancy NoVN1271 Job TypePermanent LocationHatfield Job Details
People Partner
Contract type:Permanent
Location:Hatfield (Hybrid working - 3 days in the office)
Working hours per week:40 hours
Level:Manager
Application Closing Date:Wednesday 25th March 2026
About us
Our mission is to deliver joy in every shop, through unbeatable choice, unrivalled service, and reassuringly good value.
We’re Ocado Retail, a market-leading joint venture between Ocado Group and M&S, and the world’s largest dedicated online supermarket,. Not only is Ocado.com the only place to shop a full range of M&S food online, it’s also the home to the widest online supermarket range in the UK and champion of small, independent brands. We’re also the brains behind, our same-day grocery delivery service.
About the team and the role
As part of the People Team, you’ll play a huge role in helping Ocado Retail colleagues continue to love what we do. We’re a small, close knit team, focused on recruiting, developing and retaining top talent, driving high engagement and creating an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive - both in our Head Office site in Hatfield, and our Customer Hub in Sunderland.
Your role will be to partner with Leaders to help them build an engaging, inclusive and high performance culture. You’ll use your expert generalist HR knowledge, business acumen and partnering skills to ensure we deliver strategic people initiatives that meet capability and meet our business priorities. You’ll work closely in partnership with our People Specialists (Reward, Talent Acquisition & Learning and Development) to deliver a joined up yet tailored colleague experience and there’s always opportunity to grow your specialist skills through project work with these teams.
What you’ll do
1. Strategic Partner - Partner with leaders and subject matter experts to identify, align and drive operational and strategic People priorities that drive business performance. This includes partnership on change management, workforce planning, talent management and succession, recruitment, team development, organisational design and effectiveness, engagement and culture, employee relations, and diversity and inclusion.
2. Integrated Talent & Workforce Planning - Partner, and line manager two team members, including a Talent Partner to deliver a collaborative approach to headcount and growth, translating business goals into a proactive talent roadmaps, balancing external hiring with internal mobility, to ensure source and develop the future skills to build high performing teams and organisation effectiveness.
3. Deploy core cycle people activity - Lead on Talent, Reward, and L&D activity with your leaders and functional areas, collaborating cross-functionally to ensure a joined-up approach across the business and support the entire People Team and wider People Support function to deliver the colleague life cycle.
4. A trusted sounding board - Be a source of expertise for sensitive or complex people issues across your function, providing employee relations advice across all levels of the organisation. Be a coach, advisor, challenger and collaborator with people leaders to get the best outcomes for the business and colleagues.
5. Data driven decisions - Leverage people analytics, market trends, and AI-driven insights to provide stakeholders with high-impact data. By doing so, you will inform strategic decision-making, drive consistent adoption across the team, and maintain a competitive advantage through continuous improvement.
6. Be curious and expand your knowledge - Keep up to date with external thinking and best practices, using them to inform recommendations and strategy as well as drive the development of self-service capabilities, including the integration of AI solutions, to empower both all colleagues.
Who you are
7. You'll have proven experience partnering effectively with leaders at all levels across large and diverse stakeholder groups, providing comprehensive HR guidance and be confident in assessing complex business and colleague risks, providing sound, empathetic advice.
8. Strong working knowledge of UK employment law.
9. Resilient and adaptable when working in fast-paced, ambiguous, and evolving contexts.
10. Effective at influencing, facilitating, presenting, mediating, and problem solving, with the ability and confidence to tailor communication style to work with stakeholders at all levels.
11. Confident in leveraging data and analytics to inform strategic decisions and drive actionable insights.
12. Resilient and adaptable when working in fast-paced, ambiguous, and evolving contexts.
13. Interested and experienced at completing project work alongside the day to day, from research through to design and delivery.
14. Experience of delivery through others, whether in management or via delivery of work - people management experience is desired but not essential.
What’s in it for you
By joining Ocado Retail, you’ll have the chance to experience life at the world’s largest online retailer, work with an amazing bunch of people who challenge what’s possible each day, and grow your skills and career in online retail.
If that’s not enough to tempt you, you’ll also get access to loads of great benefits to sweeten the deal. Here’s a taste of what we offer:
Health & Wellbeing: Private medical insurance with option to add your family, Digital GP appointments, market-leading family policies, mental health support, discounted gym memberships, dental insurance, and more.
Spend & Save: Annual bonus scheme split between personal and business objectives, recognition with reward platform, up to 7% matched pension contributions, 15% Ocado discount, 20% M&S discount, free breakfast every day in the office, electric vehicle leasing scheme, and free shuttle bus from Hatfield station to the office.
Never miss the moments that matter: Hybrid working, 26 days holiday plus 8 flexible bank holidays, options to buy extra holiday, 2 weeks work from anywhere, and lifestyle break opportunities.
Our Hiring Process
Lucky for us, we receive a high volume of applications and genuinely appreciate the time and effort invested by every candidate. To ensure a fair and thorough process, every application is reviewed by a member of our team. If your skills and experience are a strong match, a Talent Partner will contact you to discuss the role and guide you through the next steps of our hiring process.
Your Application and AI
In the spirit of innovation, we welcome you to use AI tools in your application, just as we use them in our own business at Ocado Retail. However, as you leverage this technology, please don't lose sight of the most important element: your unique self. Your experiences, passions, and personality are what truly set you apart. Ensure that your application still authentically conveys who you are and why you're a great fit for us.
Everyone’s welcome