People Helpdesk Team Leader Location: Denton Hours: 37.5 hours per week (9am–5pm) Contract: Permanent Salary: £38,000–£40,000 (DOE) A Bit About Us At Partou, childcare is more than just a job – it’s a journey. As part of the Netherlands’ largest childcare group, we’re proud to bring world-class care and expertise to our UK nurseries. Following the acquisitions of Just Childcare and All About Children, we’re one of the UK’s largest childcare providers – with even bigger plans ahead. We support over 75,000 children worldwide through a network of 1,000 nurseries and 11,000 team members. With that scale comes a shared purpose: to support children and each other to grow and thrive. Why This Role Matters With over 100 settings and a geographically spread team, having a reliable, people-focused Helpdesk is vital. We’re looking for an experienced People Helpdesk Team Leader to lead our first-line HR support team, ensuring that queries are handled quickly, compliantly, and with care. You’ll be hands-on — answering queries, coaching the team, auditing responses, and improving processes. You’ll also collaborate with Payroll and Operations, manage onboarding/offboarding data, and help drive a brilliant employee experience through every interaction. Employment Law/ER experience, experience of running a helpdesk team previously, Freshdesk or other ticketing system experience, Zinc or an automated RTW/DBS/reference checking system, and experience with an HRIS, ideally Dayforce or similar, would be preferred. What You’ll Be Doing Leading and developing our team of People Assistants Handling first-line queries and managing escalations Ensuring all team responses are timely, accurate, and aligned to policy Auditing files and tickets for quality and compliance (GDPR, RTW, DBS) Reporting on helpdesk metrics, trends, and team performance Partnering with Payroll, IT and Facilities to support smooth onboarding/offboarding Supporting implementation of new policies and process updates Guiding team members and managers on ER topics like absence, grievances and conduct What You’ll Bring HR experience across the employee lifecycle, ideally in a regulated environment Previous experience leading a helpdesk or shared service team Confidence using HR systems (Freshdesk, Dayforce, Zinc or similar) Solid understanding of employment law and safer recruitment standards Brilliant organisational and communication skills A can-do, hands-on mindset with a calm, pragmatic approach Confidence balancing team leadership with operational delivery CIPD qualification or similar is a bonus — but we care more about your experience and your values. Apply today! otherroles This role is subject to an enhanced DBS check We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community Partou is proud be a part of the National Partnership in Early Learning and Childcare (NPELC) - a group of 10 of the largest childcare providers across England. Together, we operate over 1,300 childcare settings, employ more than 38,000 people, and take care of over 160,000 children.